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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of Antiquity, by Max Duncker
+
+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: The History of Antiquity
+       Vol. V.
+
+Author: Max Duncker
+
+Translator: Evelyn Abbott
+
+Release Date: December 4, 2011 [EBook #38209]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF ANTIQUITY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Adrian Mastronardi and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  THE
+  HISTORY OF ANTIQUITY.
+
+  FROM THE GERMAN
+  OF
+  PROFESSOR MAX DUNCKER,
+
+
+  BY
+  EVELYN ABBOTT, M.A., LL.D.,
+  _FELLOW AND TUTOR OF BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD._
+
+
+  VOL. V.
+
+
+  LONDON:
+  RICHARD BENTLEY & SON, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,
+  Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen.
+  1881.
+
+
+
+  Bungay:
+  CLAY AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+BOOK VII.
+
+_THE ARIANS OF EASTERN IRAN._
+
+  CHAPTER I.                                                      PAGE
+  THE LAND AND THE TRIBES                                            3
+
+  CHAPTER II.
+  THE KINGDOM OF THE BACTRIANS                                      19
+
+  CHAPTER III.
+  THE SCRIPTURES OF IRAN                                            49
+
+  CHAPTER IV.
+  ZARATHRUSTRA AND THE DATE OF THE COMPOSITION OF THE AVESTA        68
+
+  CHAPTER V.
+  THE GODS OF THE ARIANS IN IRAN                                   106
+
+  CHAPTER VI.
+  THE REFORM OF THE FAITH                                          129
+
+  CHAPTER VII.
+  THE DOCTRINE OF THE AVESTA                                       149
+
+  CHAPTER VIII.
+  THE PRIESTHOOD OF IRAN                                           184
+
+  CHAPTER IX.
+  THE LAW OF THE PRIESTS                                           201
+
+  CHAPTER X.
+  THE LATER DEVELOPMENT OF EASTERN IRAN                            239
+
+
+BOOK VIII.
+
+_THE EMPIRE OF THE MEDES AND PERSIANS._
+
+  CHAPTER I.
+  THE FOUNDATION OF THE MEDIAN KINGDOM                             267
+
+  CHAPTER II.
+  THE EMPIRE OF THE MEDES                                          292
+
+  CHAPTER III.
+  THE TRIBES OF THE PERSIANS                                       319
+
+  CHAPTER IV.
+  THE FALL OF THE MEDIAN KINGDOM                                   335
+
+  CHAPTER V.
+  THE RISE OF THE PERSIAN KINGDOM                                  382
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VII.
+
+THE ARIANS OF EASTERN IRAN.
+
+
+
+
+EASTERN IRAN.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE LAND AND THE TRIBES.
+
+
+Between the valley of the Indus and the land of the Euphrates and
+Tigris, bounded on the south by the ocean and the Persian Gulf, on the
+north by the broad steppes which the Oxus and Jaxartes vainly attempt
+to fertilise, by the Caspian Sea and the valley of the Aras, lies the
+table-land of Iran. Rising to an average height of 4000 feet above the
+level of the sea, it forms an oblong, the length of which from east to
+west is something more than 1500 miles. The breadth in the east is about
+1000 miles, but at the narrowest point, from the Caspian Sea to the
+Persian Gulf, it is not much more than 500 miles; while the western
+edge, reaching from the Persian Gulf to the mountains of Aderbeijan,
+again extends over a distance of about 750 miles.
+
+In this seclusion, neither penetrated by bays of the sea nor traversed
+by mighty rivers, the region exhibits a certain similarity to the
+highlands of Arabia. The centre of the Iranian land, like that of
+Arabia, is occupied by a great desert where only nomadic life is
+possible. But the soil of Iran is more diversified in regard to
+elevation and depression. The northern half of the land is higher than
+the southern, the centre is hollowed out in the form of a trough, so
+that in the east, at any rate, the waters from the inner slopes of the
+mountainous rim fall into the depression, and collect in fructifying
+lakes. The oases and fertile valleys are more numerous and extensive
+than in Arabia, and though the rivers of the inner table-land, like the
+streams of the northern edge, which flow to the north, are lost in the
+sand or end in unimportant lakes, they nevertheless render agriculture
+possible over wide tracts of country.
+
+The northern side is more diversified and superior in formation to
+the south. The southern edge, which sinks down to the ocean, closely
+resembles Arabia in the climate and the nature of the country; the
+mountains of the north, on the other hand, exhibit green pastures and
+splendid forests where Arabia has nothing but bare peaks: in the Hindu
+Kush, and Elburz on the Caspian Sea, as well as in Aderbeijan, they rise
+into vast Alpine districts. The eastern edge, extending over a distance
+of 900 miles, rises like a steep wall out of the valley of the Indus; a
+few long and difficult passes lead from the Indus to the high ground,
+which on the north commences with cold bare flats, and on the south with
+slopes still more desolate and barren, and at the same time intolerably
+hot. Only the terraces of the valley of the Cabul, which flows down into
+the Indus, allow a convenient exit towards the north, and present a soil
+to a great extent so fertile that three harvests can be reaped in the
+year. The western edge of Iran, on the other hand, is formed by parallel
+ridges running from the north-west to the south-east, between which,
+beside extensive mountain pastures, lie narrow and well-watered valleys.
+In the north-west the low-lying regions are rich in meadows and forest;
+while those between the abutting ridges of the western and southern edge
+are warm, and even hot, in climate, rich and luxuriant in vegetation.
+
+On this table-land the heat is softened, though not entirely, by the
+elevation of the soil. After violent storms in the spring, no cloud
+darkens the sky from May to September; the atmosphere is peculiarly dry
+and clear, and through the fine air can be seen, bright and sharp, the
+outlines of the mountains and the whole country, while at night the
+star-lit sky almost replaces the light of day. The changes in
+temperature are sudden and severe. From cold, snow-covered terraces,
+8000 feet in height, we suddenly descend to the glowing heat of the
+plains, lying barely 2000 feet above the sea. In the north-east
+oppressive heat alternates with great cold; the north suffers from a
+severe winter, with heavy falls of snow and icy storms, blowing over the
+Caspian Sea and the broad steppes; in the south the air is filled with
+the dust of the desert, here extraordinarily fine, and the hot winds
+give the heaps of sand the appearance of changing waves, and roll masses
+of it to the sky.[1]
+
+As far back as our information extends, we find the table-land of Iran
+occupied by a group of nations closely related to each other, and
+speaking dialects of the same language. On the edges of that great
+desert, which occupies the centre of the land, are tracts of pasture,
+and further inland, treeless steppes, which, however, are watered here
+and there by brackish pools, and produce a salt vegetation barely
+sufficient to provide buffaloes and camels with sustenance, until the
+soil becomes entirely barren. In the western part of these steppes
+wandered a pastoral people, whom Herodotus calls Sagartians. They were
+horsemen, but, according to the historian's statement, carried no
+weapons of attack beyond a dagger and a rope of twisted straps, at one
+end of which was a loop. In this they placed their confidence in battle;
+they threw it over men and horses, and so dragged them down and
+strangled them. In the inscriptions of the Ach�menids this nation is
+called _A�agarta_.[2]
+
+Close to the Indus, and beyond the bare, hot, treeless shores of the
+ocean, the southern part of the plain consists of sandy flats, in which
+nothing grows but prickly herbs and a few palms. The springs are a day's
+journey from each other, and often more. This region was possessed by a
+people whom Herodotus calls Sattagyd�, and the companions of Alexander
+of Macedonia, Gedrosians.[3] Among the nations of the East who were
+subject to them, the inscriptions of the Ach�menids mention the
+"_Thataghus_," which the Greeks understood as Sattagush and Gadrush.
+Neighbours of the Gandarians, who, as we know, dwelt on the right bank
+of the Indus down to the Cabul, the Gedrosians led a wandering,
+predatory life; under the Persian kings they were united into one
+satrapy with the Gandarians.[4] To the south of the Gedrosians, on the
+coast, there dwelt, according to the Greeks, a miserable race, eaters of
+fish and tortoises, who built their houses of the bones of whales
+thrown up by the sea. They wove their nets from the bark of palms, and
+their weapons were javelins hardened in the fire.[5] The edge on the
+south allows no streams of any size to flow to the sea, so that even to
+this day this coast presents only a few small fertile spots. About
+equally distant from the northern and southern edge of the table-land,
+to the east of the desert of the interior, lies a considerable lake, now
+called Hamun, but known to the Greeks as Areios. It forms the centre of
+a cultivated district, though the storms from the west often drive the
+sand of the desert to its shores. This basin is formed by and receives
+important streams flowing from the inner slopes of the northern and
+eastern edge. From the southern spurs of the Hindu Kush comes the
+Hilmend, the Haetumat of the Avesta, _i.e._ rich in bridges, the
+Etymandros of the Greeks, which has a course of about 400 miles, and
+before falling into the lake is joined by the Arghandab. The Lora, which
+flows from the east, but further to the south, does not now reach the
+lake. From the north flow the Harut and Chashrud. Round this lake, and
+on the banks of the Hilmend, the Arghandab, and the Lora, lies a
+fruitful region; higher up the walls of the valleys are covered with
+forests, until towards the east the upper course of the rivers is
+enclosed by bare cliffs. On the shores of the Hamun, and in the valley
+of the Hilmend, dwelt a people whom the inscriptions of the Ach�menids
+call _Zaraka_, i.e. dwellers on the lake. A lake in Old Persian is
+_Daraya_; in the ancient language of the East, _Zarayanh_; in modern
+Persian, _Zareh_. Hence we understand why Herodotus calls this nation
+Sarangians, the later Greeks, Zarangians and Drangians. According to the
+Greeks the Zarakas were a warlike nation, armed with Median bows and
+spears, unsurpassed in battle on horseback; and a tribe of them which
+lived under good and equitable laws bore the name of Aria�pians.[6] The
+ruins of cities and works of irrigation testify to the former prosperity
+of this region. East of the Zarakas, up the valley of the Arghandab,
+dwelt the Arachoti. In the inscriptions of the Ach�menids they are
+called _Harauvati_; in the Avesta, _Harahvaiti_, i.e. the rich in
+water. These names the Arachoti received from the river on which they
+were settled, the older name of which was Arachotus (_Sarasvati_).[7]
+Herodotus does not designate the Arachoti by this name derived from the
+river of their land, but by the tribal name of Pactyes; he tells us that
+they wore peculiar bows, daggers, and skins.[8] The Afghans, who in
+ancient times occupied the region from the Suleiman mountains on the
+east as far as the Arghandab on the west, Shorawak on the south, the
+Cabul and the range of the Sefid-Kuh on the north, and in the middle
+ages forced their way to Cabul and Peshawur, still call themselves
+Pashtun and Pakhtun, or Rohilo, _i.e._ mountaineers. They still speak
+their old rough mountain language, which is closely connected with the
+dialects of the Arian tribes on the Indus.[9]
+
+Eastward of Elburz, the point where the northern edge of Iran again
+rises into a lofty range to the west (Demavend is more than 18,000 feet
+in height), and then sinks down to the Caspian Sea, lay the Hyrcanians.
+In the inscriptions of the Ach�menids their land is known as _Varkana_;
+the modern name is Jorjan. Here, according to the Greeks, the mountains
+were covered with forests of oaks, where swarms of wild bees had their
+hives; in the valleys vines and fig-trees flourished, and the soil down
+to the sea was so luxuriant that corn grew from the fallen grains
+without any special sowing.[10] The description is hardly exaggerated.
+The waters pouring from the heights and snow-fields of Elburz water the
+soil of the coast so thoroughly, that a tropical growth flourishes in
+Jorjan, Taberistan, and Ghilan, the luxuriance of which is assisted by
+the volcanic heat of the earth. The lagunes of the coast are succeeded
+by marsh forests; higher up are fields of rice and plantations of
+sugarcane, and beyond these fertile meadows, above which splendid
+forests of oaks, planes, and elms clothe the heights of Elburz. There is
+abundance of water fruits, figs and mulberries, olives and oranges, and
+the vigorous creepers of the vines run even to the summits of the
+trees.[11] Nevertheless, these favoured regions have a darker side.
+Frequent earthquakes disturb the soil; in the winter furious north winds
+blowing over the Caspian rage along the walls of Elburz, and even on the
+outlying spurs the snow falls to the depth of several fathoms; the
+rain-clouds, hemmed in by the mountain ranges, often burst in
+water-spouts, which lay the land far and wide under water, and roll as
+torrents down the gorges; the marsh air blanches the inhabitants, while
+in the summer the hot and moist climate breeds deadly fever.
+
+Further to the east, where the Caspian Sea ends and the mountains of
+Iran descend towards the desolate, pathless steppes of the Oxus, is a
+wild, hilly country. In the depressions, and there only, the region of
+the Parthians (_Parthava_ in the inscriptions of the Ach�menids[12])
+exhibits fruitful lands, and, further eastward still, agriculture is
+favoured by the long, narrow valley of the Areios (Herirud). Springing
+from the southern slope of the Hindu Kush, the river flows towards the
+west along the inner edge of the table-land, till it bursts through the
+northern barrier in order to lose itself in the sand of the steppes. In
+this valley the district of the modern Herat, lay the Areians, who are
+called _Haraiva_ in the inscriptions of the Persian kings. The name
+points to the possession of water. To the north of the Areians, in the
+valley of the Margos (now Murghab), which rises in the northern edge of
+the table-land, and flows to the north-west, where it also ends in the
+sands of the desert, in Margiana (Old Persian, Marghush; Bactrian,
+Mouru; modern Merv), lay the Margiani, in a well-cultivated region, rich
+in vineyards, with numerous cities and a large population. But the
+fertility only extends so far as the soil can be watered from the Margos
+and the neighbouring streams.
+
+At the foot of the mountain barrier, towards the northern steppes, and
+on the edge of the steppes of the Oxus, to the north of the Hyrcanians,
+Parthians, and Margiani, in a land which only partially admits of
+agriculture, lay the Chorasmians, a people partly stationary and partly
+migratory--the _Uvarazmiya_ of the Ach�menids, the _Hvairizem_ of the
+Avesta. Further to the east, where the edge rises to the lofty Hindu
+Kush, there lies on its northern slope a favoured district in the region
+of the Upper Oxus. That river flows from the table-land of Pamire, which
+lies more than 15,000 feet above the sea, exactly at the point where the
+Hindu Kush abuts on the Belurdagh, the western edge of the central
+table-land. On the banks of the river, which flows in a north-westerly
+direction, extend broad mountain pastures, where support is found in the
+fresh mountain air for numerous herds of horses and sheep, and beneath
+the wooded hills are blooming valleys. On these slopes of the Hindu
+Kush, the middle stage between the table-land and the deep plain of the
+Caspian Sea, lay the Bactrians--the _Bakhtri_ of the Ach�menids, the
+_Bakhdhi_ of the Avesta. Curtius, following the accounts of the
+companions of Alexander, tells us of the land of the Bactrians that it
+was much diversified in character; in one part were pastures, another
+was rich in beautiful fruit-trees and vines, and frequent springs
+watered the rich soil, on which corn was cultivated. These districts
+supported a large number of oxen and horses. Under the range of
+Paropanisos (_i.e._ on the slope of the Hindu Kush) lay the city of
+Bactra, on the river of the same name, which washed its walls. But a
+great part of the country was covered with waste tracts of sand. If the
+winds blew from the Caspian Sea, they swept the sand into high hills,
+under which not only did every trace of the road disappear, but
+travellers were at times overwhelmed; and, as if voyaging by sea, it was
+necessary to guide the course by the stars.[13] Strabo remarks, after
+Apollodorus of Artemita, that Bactria was the best part of East Iran
+(Ariana). In ancient times the Bactrians were hardly distinguished from
+nomads; but their land was extensive, and produced fruits of all kinds,
+with the exception of the vine. The fertility of the land enabled the
+Hellenic princes to make great conquests. Their cities were Bactra,
+traversed by the river of the same name, Darapsa, Aornus (_avarana_,
+_i.e._ protection), Kariata, and many others, and besides these cities,
+the Bactrians had citadels on lofty rocks.[14] According to Strabo,
+Bactra was also called Zariaspa, and Pliny asserts that at any rate in
+earlier times it was called by that name. In Arrian Zariaspa is the
+largest city of Bactria, while Ptolemy places Zariaspa to the north of
+Bactra, on the bank of the Oxus. Zariaspa means golden horse. A river
+might possibly be known by such a name, but hardly a city, unless it
+belonged to a tribe of the name of Zariaspians, and was inhabited by
+them. In fact Ptolemy places the tribe of the Zariaspians in his
+Zariaspa.[15]
+
+The air on these north-western terraces of the Hindu Kush is warm, and
+the soil sufficiently vigorous, under irrigation, to produce rice and
+southern fruits. Eight leagues below the snow-fields of the mountains,
+which resist even the hottest months of the year, two good leagues to
+the north of the place where the Dehas, after forcing a passage through
+the last heights, reaches the plains, lies the city of Balkh, on the
+banks of that river. At this day it is a town only partially inhabited;
+but the ruins of the ancient city are said to cover a circuit of several
+leagues. The adjacent soil is now well cultivated; the fields are
+thickly planted with trees, and beside old water-courses, now dried up,
+and extensive ruins of yet older aqueducts, eighteen channels still
+convey their rills to fields under active cultivation.[16]
+
+North of the Bactrians, beyond the Oxus, on the western slope of
+Belurdagh, in the valley of the Polytimetus (Zarefshan, _i.e._ strewing
+gold), which flows towards the Oxus from the east, but, instead of
+joining it, ends in Lake Dengiz, lay the Sogdiani of the Greeks, the
+_Suguda_ of the Old Persian inscriptions, and _�ughdha_ of the Avesta,
+in the region of the modern Sogd. As the Oxus in its upper course
+separates the Bactrians from the Sogdiani, the Jaxartes, further to the
+north, separates the latter from the Scyths. According to Strabo, the
+manners of the Bactrians and Sogdiani were similar, but the Bactrians
+were less rude.[17] Maracanda (Samarcand), the chief city of the
+Sogdiani, on the Polytimetus, is said to have had a circuit of 70
+stades in the fourth century B.C. The soil is not without fertility, but
+the climate varies between great heat and severe cold.
+
+Herodotus observes that the Bactrians, who carried bows of reed and
+short lances, closely resembled the northern Indians in armour,
+clothing, and mode of life, and then informs us that the Areians,
+Parthians, Sogdiani, and Chorasmians resembled the Bactrians. All these
+tribes of the east, according to the account of Herodotus, carried the
+Indian bow of reed; the Areians alone used the Median bow, which
+Herodotus states to have been in vogue not only among the Medes, but
+also among all the nations of Western Iran. He adds that in ancient
+times the Medes were called Areians by all men. Strabo uses the name
+Ariana for the land of all the nations of Iran, except that of the Medes
+and Persians, _i.e._ for the whole eastern half of Iran.[18] In
+Diodorus also the nations of Eastern Iran are Arians.[19] The Avesta,
+which, as we shall show, belongs to the east of Iran, calls its native
+land _Airyao Dahvyu_, i.e. abode of the Airyas; or _Airyao Danhavo_,
+_i.e._ land of the Airyas, in contrast to the _Anairyao Danhavo_, i.e.
+the non-Arian lands.[20] In his inscriptions king Darius styles himself
+"a Persian, son of a Persian, an Arian (_ariya_) of an Arian tribe,"[21]
+and therefore the name must have held good of the west of Iran also, and
+have included all the nations of Iran, though afterwards it continued in
+use more especially for the tribes of the east. The inhabitants of the
+modern Persian kingdom call their kingdom by the general name of Iran.
+Iran is only the regular new Persian form of the old name, which in the
+west was pronounced Ariyana, and in the east Airyana.
+
+We remember that the ruling nation of India called themselves Arya, and
+this name compared with Airya and Ariya shows us that the nations of
+Iran assumed the same title with very little difference. Among the
+Greeks Ariya and Airya became Areioi and Arioi, and the name of the
+land, Ariyana and Airyana, became Ariana. We have learnt the meaning of
+the names Aryas, Ariyas, Airyas; they signify "the noble or ruling
+people" (IV. 8). Much the same is the sense of the name Art�ans,[22]
+which, according to the assertion of Herodotus, was the title by which
+the Persians called themselves; it signifies "the exalted," or "mighty."
+The Persians may have assumed it after they became the ruling people in
+Iran and Hither Asia.
+
+These distinctions show us that the Aryas whom we found on the Indus and
+in the Panjab, and who forced their way from thence to the conquest and
+colonisation of the valley of the Ganges, and then extended their
+dominion over the Deccan, and imported their religion and their
+civilisation into those wide regions, were closely connected with the
+group of nations which occupied the table-land of Iran. It is obvious
+that this relationship was most strictly maintained and most strongly
+marked where the intercourse between the neighbouring nations was most
+lively, _i.e._ among the nations of Eastern Iran. The conclusion drawn
+from the common title of the two nations on the west and east of the
+Indus, and from the statements of Herodotus about the manners of the
+eastern and the name of the western nations of Iran, is confirmed by the
+examination of the existing remnants of the ancient languages of Iran,
+whether spoken in the east or the west. This evidence derived from the
+names and the language is confirmed yet further by the coincidence in
+certain traits of religion and worship.
+
+We are not in a position to fix the place from which and the time when
+the Arian tribes entered the table-land of Iran and peopled it. That
+Iran was not their native country is clear from the divergence of the
+Arian stock from the common stem of the Indo-Europeans (IV. 4). Still
+less can we decide whether the Arians found an older population already
+settled in Iran. So far as the ancient monuments of east and west allow
+us to form an opinion, there exist no elements of an alien language from
+which we could deduce the existence of an earlier population, which the
+Arians conquered. Yet we cannot deny that tribes of an alien origin and
+character were settled on the western spurs of the mountain wall of
+Iran, in the north no less than in the south.[23] The foreign elements
+which the later forms of the language of Iran have adopted are due to
+the influence which the Semitic neighbours of the Arians on the west,
+and the dominion of the Arabs, exercised on Iran. As to the direction in
+which the Arians entered Iran, we can only conclude, from their close
+relationship to the Arians of India, that they peopled the east of Iran
+before the west. If the Arians of India came into the Panjab, as we
+assumed, soon after 2000 B.C., the Arians of Iran entered the eastern
+part of that country at a date certainly not later. According to the
+list of dynasties furnished by Berosus, the Arians about 2500 B.C. were
+not only settled in Iran, but already possessed the western part of the
+country. He represents the Medes as conquering Babylonia in 2458 B.C.,
+and from this date down to 2224 B.C. mentions eight Median kings as
+ruling over Babylon (I. 241, 247).
+
+In spite of their cruel treatment, the nucleus of the ancient Arian
+population of Iran has not succumbed to the alien dynasties, the
+Seleucids, Arabs, and Mongols who have invaded the land since the fall
+of the Ach�menids; and the ancient territory has been maintained, with
+some losses, even against the incursions and immigrations of the Sac�,
+Yu�chis, and Turkish hordes. As in the vast regions of the Indus and the
+Ganges, so in Iran the ancient language still lives on the lips of the
+modern population. Yet the changes have been great. Under the Arsacids
+the Old Persian passed into Middle Persian, which at a later time was
+known by the name of the Parthians, the tribe at that time supreme in
+Persia. Pahlav and Pehlevi mean Parthian, and, as applied to language,
+the language of the Parthians, _i.e._ of the Parthian era.[24] In the
+west this older Middle Persian grew up out of the Old Persian, in the
+east out of the Old Bactrian. In the latest period of the dominion of
+the Sassanids, the recent Middle Persian or Parsee took the place of
+Pehlevi. When the kingdom of the Sassanids succumbed to the Arabs, and
+Arabic became the language of the ruling people in Iran, the reaction
+which took place in the eastern districts of the country against the
+dominion of the Abbasids brought about the formation of the new Persian,
+which was finally completed when the national reaction broke out in the
+beginning of the eleventh century of our era. Beginning from Merv,
+Balkh, and Sejestan (the ancient Haetumat), that rising found its
+strongest point in Ghasna and Cabul. It did not preserve the religion,
+but it saved the language, nationality, and independence of Iran. The
+change from the Middle Persian to the modern began with the
+north-eastern dialects; in the south-east the Afghans and Beluchees
+still speak in ancient forms, closely akin to the dialects of the
+peasants of the Panjab. To this day the greater part of the entire
+population of Iran consists of the descendants of the Arians, in spite
+of all the distress and ruin which the land has suffered,[25] though the
+residuum of foreign elements is larger here than beyond the Indus,
+especially in the north-west, in Aderbeijan, and above all in Bactria
+and Sogdiana, in the north-east. The descendants of the Arians are still
+recognised by the formation of their bodies, which appeared so striking
+to Western nations in antiquity--the slender growth, the semicircular,
+united eyebrows, and the yellow skin, which becomes browner towards the
+east. The Persians and Afghans still possess a sound judgment, a keen
+intelligence, and lively sense of poetry--characteristics which, as we
+saw, belonged in a pre-eminent degree to the Arians of India.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Ritter, "Erdkunde," 7, 234-240; 8, 721.
+
+[2] Herod. 1, 125; 7, 85; Lassen, "Z. D. M. G." 6, 55. Herodotus reckons
+the Paretaceni among the tribes of the Medes (1, 101); the Sagartians,
+whom he represents as armed partly like Persians, partly like Pactyans,
+with the Carmanians, he places among the Persians. Yet the nomad
+Sagartians seem rather to have had relations with the Medes than the
+Persians; for, according to the inscription of Behistun, a rebel obtains
+a following among the Sagartians by giving himself out to be a
+descendant of Cyaxares, the Median king. Ptolemy places the Sagartians
+in Media; cf. Plin. "Hist. Nat." 6, 29.
+
+[3] Arrian, "Anab." 6, 22 ff.; "Ind." 25, 26; Curtius, 9, 10, 5.
+
+[4] Behistun, 1, 6; Persep. 1, 17; Herod. 3, 91.
+
+[5] Strabo, p. 711; Arrian, "Ind." 25, 26; "Anab." 6, 23.
+
+[6] Arrian, "Anab." 3, 27; Diod. 17, 81; Strabo, p. 724.
+
+[7] Vol. IV. p. 33.
+
+[8] The city of Kapisakani, which Darius, according to the inscription
+of Behistun (3, 9, 1), conquered in the land of the Arachoti, is no
+doubt the Capissa of Pliny, in the district of Capissene; "Hist. Nat."
+6, 25. Pliny speaks of the city and river of Cabul as belonging to the
+Arachoti. The inhabitants of the southern slope of the Hindu Kush are
+known to the Greeks as Paropanisad�. The explanation of the name by
+Paropanisos (Paropamisus), Paropanishadha, given by Lassen, is quoted in
+Vol. IV. p. 21, _n._ 2. In the Babylonian text of the inscription of
+Behistun, the Gandaras of the Persian text are called Parupanisana. In
+the narrower sense the name denotes the south-western part of the range
+of the Hindu Kush, the group which forms the cradle of the Herirud and
+Hilmend, the modern Ghuristan, to the west of the plateau of Ghasna.
+
+[9] Lassen, "Indische Alterthumskunde," 1, 428. Fr. M�ller ("Ueber die
+Sprache der Afghanen") is of the opinion that the Afghan does not come
+between Indian and Persian, but belongs to the Iranian stem, and the
+Afghan has preserved the old Bactrian relations of sound more faithfully
+than the Persian, and thus shows itself to be a direct descendant of the
+old eastern dialect of Iran. Trump proves that Afghan is an ancient
+independent language of strong Indian type. "Z. D. M. G." 21, 10 ff.
+
+[10] Strabo, pp. 508, 514, 724; Plin. "Hist. Nat." 6, 29; Diod. 17, 75.
+
+[11] Ritter, "Erdkunde," 8, 425 ff.
+
+[12] Isid. "Charac. Mans. Parth." 10-14. The Parthians rose with the
+Hyrcanians against Darius; Parthians and Hyrcanians formed one satrapy.
+The Parthians are the Pahlav of Moses of Khorene, the Pehlew of later
+writers. The mention of them in the inscriptions of Darius proves that
+they are not a later immigrant Scythian, _i.e._ non-Arian, nation, as
+Justin, Strabo, and others maintain. The cities which the inscription of
+Behistun mentions in Parthia (2, 95; 3, 4), Vi�pauzatis and Patigrabana,
+we cannot fix more definitely; Ammian (23, 6) mentions Patigran in
+Media. Parthunisa, with the graves of the Parthian kings, mentioned in
+Isidorus, "which the Greeks call Nis�a," is Parthava-Ni�aya, and must be
+sought for near the modern Nishapur. It must be the Ni�a which the
+Vendidad places between Mouru and Bakhdhi. Justi, "Beitrage," 2, 6
+compares Isidorus' [Greek: Batzigraban, ho esti tel�nion].
+
+[13] Curt. 7, 4.
+
+[14] Strabo, pp. 118, 516, 682; Arrian, "Anab." 3, 29. On Aornus, cf.
+Vol. IV. p. 395.
+
+[15] Ptolem. 6, 11; 8, 7; Strabo, pp. 514, 516; Arrian, "Anab." 3, 29;
+4, 1, 16, 22; Plin. "Hist. Nat." 6, 17, 18; Steph. Byz. _sub voc._
+Firdusi mentions a hero Zarasp.
+
+[16] Elphinstone, "Kabul," 2, 213, 214.
+
+[17] Strabo, _loc. cit._
+
+[18] Herod. 7, 62; Strabo (pp. 516, 517, 724) includes in Ariana,
+Gedrosia, Arachosia, Drangiana, Paropanisus, Aria, Parthia, and
+Caramania. Cf. Pausan. 2, 3, 8.
+
+[19] Diod. 1, 94. Damascius ("De Primis Principiis," p. 384) speaks of
+the [Greek: Magoi de kai pan to arion genos].
+
+[20] "Vendid." 19, 132; "Mihr Yasht," 4, 13; "Tistar Yasht," 9, 56, 60.
+
+[21] Naksh-i-Rustem, a., 14.
+
+[22] Herod. 7, 61. Cf. Steph. Byz. [Greek: Artaia].
+
+[23] On the tribe of the Brahuis in the south-east, on this side of the
+Indus, cf. Vol. IV. p. 10.
+
+[24] Haug, "The book of Arda Viraf," p. xxv. Mordtmann has shown on the
+coins of the Arsacids and Sassanids the stages between the older forms
+and the language of Firdusi; "Z. D. M. G." 4, 84 ff., 8, 9 ff. On the
+forms of the Old Bactrian on the coins of the Gr�co-Bactrian and
+Indo-Scythian princes: Lassen, "Indische Alterthum." 2^2, 834 ff.
+Spiegel, "Parsigrammatik," s. 116 ff.
+
+[25] It has been recently proved that the inhabitants of the mountain
+country between Cabul and Herat, the Aimaks and Hazares, speak Persian.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE KINGDOM OF THE BACTRIANS.
+
+
+Among the ruins of the residence of the kings of Asshur at Chalah, on
+the confluence of the Greater Zab and the Tigris, was discovered the
+obelisk which Shalmanesar II., who reigned from 859 to 823 B.C. over
+Assyria, erected in memory of his successes. In the tribute offered to
+him we find the rhinoceros, the elephant, the humped ox, and the camel
+with two humps (II. 320). This species of camel and the yak are found
+in Bactria, on the southern edge of the Caspian Sea, and in Tartary,
+and we afterwards find elephants in the possession of the rulers of
+Bactria.[26] Hence, in order to obtain these animals for tribute, the
+armies of Shalmanesar must have advanced as far as the eastern tribes
+of the Iranian table-land. From the inscriptions of Tiglath Pilesar II.,
+it is clear that he advanced along the same table-land as far as the
+Hilmend and the Arachoti, if not as far as Bactria. Among the lands
+subjugated in 745 B.C., he enumerates Nisaa, Zikruti, and Arakuttu. In
+Nisaa we cannot mistake Nis�a in the east of Media (p. 31). The Zikruti
+were no doubt the Sagartians of Herodotus, the A�agarta of the old
+Persian inscriptions.[27] Arakuttu represents in a Semitic form the
+name of the Arachoti, the Harauvati of the Ach�menids (p. 8). So far as
+we can at present judge from inscriptions, the successors of Tiglath
+Pilesar did not carry their campaigns further to the east of Iran, and
+we can assert with certainty of both the sovereigns who raised the power
+of Assyria to its summit, Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal (681-626 B.C.),
+that they made no conquests in this direction.
+
+If the inscriptions of the Assyrians leave us in almost total darkness
+about Bactria, the Medo-Persian epic poetry can give us full information
+about the country. When Ninus, king of Assyria, had subjugated all the
+nations of Asia as far as the Nile and the Tanais, he made an attempt
+upon Bactria, but without success. The entrance into the land was
+difficult, the number of warriors great, and they knew how to fight
+bravely. Then Ninus collected an army of two millions of soldiers, which
+was opposed by Oxyartes, the king of the Bactrians, with 400,000 men.
+When the Assyrian army came in detachments out of the passes, Oxyartes
+attacked and drove them back into the mountains with the loss of 100,000
+men. The army of Ninus then combined, outnumbered and overcame the
+Bactrians, and scattered them into their cities, which Ninus took with
+little trouble. But Bactra, where was the palace of the kings, was large
+and well supplied, and had a very strong citadel in a high position,
+while the city extended over the plain. It resisted for a long time,
+till Semiramis ascended the citadel, and Ninus was enabled to take
+possession of the treasures of gold and silver which were in Bactra. At
+a later time Semiramis collected her vast army for the invasion of India
+in Bactria, and returned to Bactra after she had been defeated on the
+Indus, and had lost two-thirds of her army (II. 10). Such are the
+descriptions given by the epic poetry of the Medes and Persians, in the
+account of the rise of Assyria and subjugation of Bactria. The Bactrians
+are again brought forward in the narrative of the overthrow of Assyria,
+which was the proper theme of these poems. When Sardanapalus has already
+thrice defeated the Medes and Babylonians, a strong force comes to his
+assistance from Bactria. The leader of the Medes determines to attack
+this first, if it would not join in the contest for freedom against
+Assyria. The Bactrians joined the Medes, the power of Assyria was
+broken, and Nineveh destroyed (III. 253).
+
+From these poems it follows that in the first half of the sixth century
+B.C., in which the Medo-Persian epic attained its original form, the
+tradition, or at any rate the opinion, existed among the minstrels of
+Media that a powerful kingdom and large metropolis once existed in
+Bactria, the situation of which is correctly described. This kingdom
+possessed a strong citadel and abundant treasures, and could put in the
+field a large army of brave warriors. Without such a conception they
+could not represent the first attack of the Assyrians on Bactria as a
+failure, the second as successful only after considerable time and
+trouble had been spent, and the conquest as the last and greatest
+achievement of Ninus, the mightiest sovereign of Assyria, which he only
+performed with the aid of Semiramis.
+
+The inscriptions of the Assyrians have already informed us that no
+dominion of Assyria over Eastern Iran existed in the earliest period of
+the kingdom; on the contrary, even when her power was at the highest
+Assyria could only carry on temporary excursions into that region. The
+western part of the country was first trodden by the armies of
+Shalmanesar II.; his inscriptions mention tribute of the Medes, and
+from the inscriptions of his successors it is distinctly clear that only
+the nations of Western Iran were tributary dependants of the kings of
+Asshur from the period of Tiglath Pilesar, _i.e._ from the middle of
+the eighth century B.C., till the period of Phraortes and Cyaxares of
+Media, _i.e._ till the middle of the seventh century B.C.[28]
+
+The conquests of Cyrus, who overthrew the power of the Medes, founded
+the Persian empire, and extended it to the east, would give us more
+accurate information about Eastern Iran if connected accounts of these
+were in existence. Herodotus contents himself with stating that Cyrus,
+after subjugating the Lydians, determined to march against the Bactrians
+and Sac�. He conquered all the nations of Upper Asia, one after the
+other, without omitting any.[29] Ctesias relates that the Bactrians
+after a doubtful battle submitted voluntarily to Cyrus. According to the
+account of Xenophon, the Hyrcanians, Cadusians, and Sac� joined Cyrus,
+and in the fragments of Nicolaus also the Hyrcanians, Parthians, and
+"the other nations" passed over to Cyrus immediately after the conquest
+of the Medes. However this may be, there is no doubt that the east of
+Iran was subject to Cyrus. He marched through the land of the Arachoti,
+entered into relations with the Aria�pas (p. 8), and subjugated the
+Gandarians on the south of the Cabul. He is also said to have imposed
+tribute on the A�vakas to the north of the river (IV. 384). The
+Sogdiani, in any case, were his vassals. On a stream which flows into
+the Jaxartes he built a fortress called by his own name, known to the
+Greeks as Cyresbata (_ultima Cyra_, or with others Cyropolis), _i.e._
+the furthest Cyrus. The walls and citadels were strong and spacious, and
+in the neighbourhood were six other citadels.[30] The value placed by
+Cyrus on the regions of Eastern Iran is not only clear from these
+fortresses, but may be deduced from the statement that his second son
+Bardya, whom the Greeks call Smerdis, was intrusted with the government
+of Bactria, if indeed the statement is genuine.[31]
+
+The nations and condition of Eastern Iran can be ascertained more
+clearly from the inscriptions of Darius. According to his inscription at
+Behistun, his empire in that direction comprised the Parthians,
+Sarangians, Areians, Chorasmians, Bactrians, Sogdiani, Gandarii,
+Sattagyd�, Arachoti, and Sac�; and to these the Idhus, _i.e._ the
+Indians on the right bank of the upper course of the Indus, are added in
+the inscriptions of Persepolis and Naksh-i-Rustem.[32] Further
+information is preserved by Herodotus with respect to the tribute
+imposed by Darius on these nations. As these statements are undoubtedly
+derived from Persian tribute lists, they serve to throw a side light on
+the state of civilisation existing in the east of Iran at the division
+of the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. The Sarangians, who, as we have
+seen (p. 7), inhabited the fertile land round Lake Areios (Hamun),
+together with the Sagartians and some neighbouring nations on the south,
+paid yearly 600 Babylonian talents into the treasury of the king. The
+Areians (Haraivas), Parthians, Sogdiani, and Chorasmians, who formed the
+sixteenth satrapy of the Persian empire, had to pay 300 talents; the
+Gedrosians and Gandarians together paid 170 talents; the Caspiani
+(_i.e._ no doubt, the Tapurians and other tribes on the southern shore
+of the Caspian Sea) and the Sac�, who traversed the steppes of the Oxus,
+_i.e._ the fifteenth satrapy, paid 250 talents; and the Bactrians, the
+twelfth satrapy of the empire, paid 360 talents.[33] These sums, which
+do not include the whole of the burdens of the provinces, but are only
+the land taxes which they had to pay,--in addition, tolls were levied
+and contributions in kind to the court of the king and the satraps, as
+well as for the maintenance of the army,--show that at the time of
+Darius agriculture and wealth had proceeded far beyond the earliest
+stages in the eastern districts of Iran. The Babylonian silver talent
+amounts to more than 2000 thalers (6000 shillings).[34] If a sum of more
+than 1,200,000 thalers (�180,000) could be raised every year in land tax
+from the districts round Lake Hamun, extensive though they were, and
+720,000 thalers (�108,000) in a similar manner from the land of the
+Bactrians, the gardens, fields, and pastures of these regions must have
+been considerable in breadth, and of great fertility.
+
+Beyond this indication of the state of the civilisation in these
+districts, we learn but little of their fortunes under the dominion of
+the Persians. Darius (521-485 B.C.) informs us, at the beginning of his
+reign, that his father Hystaspes (Vista�pa), his viceroy in Persia, the
+native land of the kingdom, and with him Vivana the Persian, the satrap
+of Arachosia, and Dadarshis the Persian, the satrap of Bactria, had
+quelled the rebellions of the Parthians, Hyrcanians, and Margiani; that
+the Mede Takhma�pada had conquered the rebellious Sagartians, and
+captured their leader, Chitratakhma, whom he, Darius, had crucified at
+Arbela. The army of the second Pseudo-Smerdis, which attempted to gain
+possession of Arachosia, Vivana had defeated at the fortress of
+Kapisakani, in Arachosia, and the leaders, with their chief associates,
+had been captured in the fortress of Arsada and put to death. Hystaspes
+had slain 6560 men of the Parthians and Hyrcanians, and taken 4182 of
+them captives. Dadarshis had subjugated the Mardians by slaying 4203 of
+them in battle, and taking 6562 of them captive.[35] Xerxes, the
+successor of Darius, successively intrusted two of his brothers,
+Masistes and then Hystaspes, with the government of Bactria.[36] In the
+great campaign against Hellas, the Bactrians, like all the other nations
+of the kingdom, had to furnish their contingent; and when Mardonius had
+to select the best troops in the army in Hellas, in order to winter with
+them in Thessaly, he retained, besides the Persians and Medes, the
+infantry and cavalry of the Bactrians, Sac�, and Indians.[37] The
+Bactrians, under their viceroy Hystaspes, revolted against Artaxerxes,
+the brother of Hystaspes. The first battle was not decisive; in the
+second Artaxerxes conquered, "because the wind blew in the face of the
+Bactrians," and subjugated the land.[38] To the army of Darius III. with
+which he met the Macedonians in Assyria, the Bactrians contributed
+30,000 cavalry; and in the battle of Arbela they fought with the
+Arachoti on the left wing. Accompanied by Bactrian horsemen, Darius
+escaped from the field of battle to Media, and sought afterwards to
+maintain his position in their country. The Caspian gates, the pass of
+Damaghan, were gained, when the satrap of Bactria got possession of the
+king, and put him to death before he reached Bactria. The satrap hoped
+to establish an independent power there,[39] but without success. Though
+Alexander at first overcame the Bactrians, who were astonished at his
+rapid approach, he soon found a stubborn resistance in Sogdiana and
+Bactria, which occupied him for two years.[40] Not till then could he
+make his preparations in Bactria for the invasion of India, and collect
+at Bactra the army intended for the subjugation of that country, in
+order to pass over the Hindu Kush into the valley of the Cabul.
+
+In the contests which the successors of Alexander carried on for the
+supremacy after his death, the valley of the Euphrates and Tigris, and
+the table-land of Iran, finally fell to the lot of Seleucus. But in the
+middle of the third century (256 B.C.), Arsaces in Parthia and the
+satrap Diodotus in Bactria rebelled against the second successor,
+Antiochus Theos. The descendants of Arsaces not only succeeded in
+maintaining their independence against the Seleucids, in spite of severe
+reverses, but Mithridates I., the sixth Arsacid (174-136 B.C.), united
+all Iran under his dominion. The Greeks lost their supremacy, and Iran
+again became subject to native princes.
+
+Meanwhile Diodotus had founded an independent supremacy in Bactria. His
+son, of the same name, was succeeded by Euthydemus, against whom,
+towards the year 200 B.C., Antiochus III. marched, in order to force
+Bactria to submission. Euthydemus was defeated at the river Areios (p.
+10), and fled to Zariaspa. By the surrender of his elephants he obtained
+an established recognition from Antiochus. Demetrius and Eucratides, the
+successors of Euthydemus (after 180 B.C.), extended the sphere of their
+dominion to the east over the land on the Cabul to the Indus. The
+kingdom of Chandragupta, Vindusara, and A�oka, which, as we know,
+included the east of Iran, and has left us inscriptions at Peshawur
+(IV. 525), fell to pieces under A�oka's grandsons. Apollodorus of
+Artemita told us above that the fertility of the Bactrian soil enabled
+the Greek rulers to make important conquests (p. 12); he informs us that
+Eucratides founded the city of Eucratideia in Bactria, and subjugated a
+thousand cities in India. We may assume that Bactria under these princes
+was not merely powerful, but prosperous. According to the statement of
+Justin, a thousand cities were at that time enumerated in Bactria,[41]
+and we possess satisfactory evidence that these rulers and their courts,
+and the Greek settlements which Alexander founded in the distant East,
+were able permanently to establish the style and art of Hellas. The
+coins of these princes, who are designated in Greek as "kings," "great,"
+"invincible," rival the best work which proceeded from Greek mints. The
+faces present the heads of the princes, in characteristic and individual
+portraits; the reverses exhibit Heracles, Athena, Apollo with a crown of
+rays, the Dioscuri on horseback, lance in hand. But by degrees the
+national types of the East are again employed on these coins. The
+reverse presents the galloping horse, the animal of Bactria, the
+elephant, and the humped ox.[42] The head of Demetrius, who first
+conquered territory in India, and that of some of his descendants, is
+covered by a helmet adorned with the tusks and trunk of an elephant.
+Besides the round, numbers of rectangular coins have also been found,
+from which we can discover the native traditional form of the Bactrian
+coinage. After the reign of Eucratides these rectangular coins present
+on one side Greek inscriptions, which are repeated in other characters
+on the reverse. To the inscriptions of king A�oka at Kapur-i-Giri, and
+to these coins, together with those of the Gr�co-Indian kings, and some
+later coins belonging to the Arsacids and the Indo-Scythian princes, we
+owe the information that the east of Iran possessed a peculiar alphabet
+and mode of writing, while the Medes and Persians of the west borrowed
+their earliest letters from the Assyrio-Babylonian cuneiform writing,
+and afterwards, from about the fourth century B.C., adopted the cursive
+character of the Aram�ans.
+
+Although, as we may conclude from these indications, the Greek
+sovereigns of Bactria resolved to pay a certain respect to the
+civilisation of their subjects, their kingdom was short-lived. The
+nations of the steppes of the Oxus, themselves under pressure, began to
+advance to the south (after 160 B.C.); in the west the Parthians rose
+into power. Mithridates I. of Parthia incorporated Bactria in his
+kingdom about 140 B.C., and Bactria subsequently became a part of the
+Parthian empire. Heliocles, the son of Eucratides, was thus limited to
+the land of the Cabul and Indus, but on the borders of India the power
+and influence of the Greeks remained unbroken. Greek captains--Menander,
+and after him Apollodotus, who had previously no doubt been subject to
+the Bactrians--issued from the southern slope of the Hindu Kush in the
+last decades of the second century B.C., and conquered the land of the
+Indus as far as the mouth of the river, and the Panjab. They advanced to
+the Yamuna, and reduced Surashtra (Guzerat) and Cashmere to dependence.
+Even at the end of the first century B.C. coins of these princes were
+current on the coast of Surashtra, and they are still found on the
+banks of the Yamuna.[43]
+
+On the western coast of India, from the Gulf of Cambay to Bombay, we
+find from one hundred to one hundred and fifty thousand families whose
+ancestors migrated thither from Iran. The tradition among them is, that
+at the time when the Arabs, after conquering Iran and becoming
+sovereigns there, persecuted and eradicated the old religion, faithful
+adherents of the creed fled to the mountains of Kerman. Driven from
+these by the Arabs (in Kerman and Yezd a few hundred families are still
+found who maintain the ancient faith[44]), they retired to the island of
+Hormuz (a small island close by the southern coast, at the entrance to
+the Persian Gulf). From hence they migrated to Din (on the coast of
+Guzerat), and then passed over to the opposite shore. In the
+neighbourhood of Bombay and in the south of India inscriptions have been
+found which prove that these settlers reached the coast in the tenth
+century of our era.[45] At the present time their descendants form a
+considerable part of the population of Surat, Bombay, and Ahmadabad;
+they call themselves, after their ancient home, Parsees, and speak the
+later Middle Persian (the Parsee, p. 17). Their worship and life they
+regulate by the rules given in certain scriptures which they brought
+with them from their ancient home. These are fragments of a much larger
+whole, part of a book of law, and a collection of sacrificial songs and
+prayers. The Parsees no longer speak or understand the language of these
+scriptures (the Avesta), and even the priests, who use them every day,
+ascertain the meaning through an accompanying translation into the later
+language.
+
+That these scriptures arose in the east of Iran is clear from the
+language of the Avesta. It exhibits a close relationship with the forms
+of the Veda and Sanskrit, the ancient language of the Arians in India.
+If, on the other hand, we compare the language of the Avesta with the
+ancient language of Western Iran as we possess it in the inscriptions of
+the Ach�menids, we find that both are merely different dialects of one
+language, but they differ in such a manner that the language of the
+inscriptions of Darius and Xerxes is less closely connected with
+Sanskrit than the language of the Avesta. This language then we may
+regard as the ancient speech of Eastern Iran, and this assumption is
+raised into evidence by the contents of the Avesta. These prove that the
+Avesta arose in the east of Iran, with even greater certainty than the
+songs of the Rigveda prove that that collection arose in the land of the
+Indus and the Panjab. The Avesta entirely ignores the west of Iran. No
+mention is made of Ecbatana and Pasargad�, the abode of the Median and
+the Persian kings, though they reigned over the whole of Iran and Hither
+Asia; nor even of the nations of the west, the Medes and Persians. It
+speaks of the land of the seven streams, _i.e._ India (IV. 12), and
+the heat which prevails in that land;[46] it mentions the beautiful
+Harahvaiti (Arachosia) and Haetumat (afterwards Sejestan[47]): the
+latter is extolled as a beaming, glowing, brilliant country.[48] The
+knowledge of the Avesta is most accurate in the north-east. Here we
+find Airyana Vaeja, _i.e._ home or canton of the Airyas,[49] �ughdha
+(Sogdiana), Bakhdhi (Baktra), Mouru (Margiana, Merv[50]), Ni�a, between
+Bakhdhi and Mouru, Haraeva (Haraiva in the inscriptions; Herat, the land
+of the Areians), and Vehrkana, _i.e._ land of wolves (Hyrcania).[51]
+The furthest point known to the west is Ragha in Media, which,
+according to the Avesta, consists of three citadels or tribes.[52] These
+statements carry us very distinctly to the east of Iran, the region
+from Ragha to the Indus. Mouru is "the high," "the holy," and Bakhdhi's
+"high banner" is extolled. In this way this city was no doubt marked out
+as the seat of an important dominion, the centre of a kingdom.
+
+If we might assume that in these fragments of the sacred books of the
+Parsees we have not only the ancient language, but also the ancient
+religion of Eastern Iran before us, we might also hope that we should
+meet in them with remnants of the tradition, with native accounts of the
+fortunes of the country, enabling us to supplement the scanty
+information which we could glean from the inscriptions of the Assyrians
+and Darius, and the accounts of Western writers. Leaving out of sight
+for the present the question, At what period did these writings come
+into existence? we may collect what we can find in them on the early
+history of Iran.
+
+In the Avesta the god Haoma says, Vivanghana was the first who crushed
+out the juice of the Haoma. As a reward there was born to him the
+brilliant Yima, the lord of the nations, the most famous of all who
+have seen the sun. While Yima Kshaeta (Yima the king) reigned there was
+neither cold nor excessive heat, neither age nor death, nor envy, caused
+by the evil spirits: fathers and sons equally had the vigour of men
+of fifty years. Yima caused the means of support for mankind to be
+inexhaustible; he liberated the waters and trees from drought, and the
+herds from death.[53] In an invocation to the goddess Ardvi�ura, the
+giver of water, to whom Yima sacrifices a hundred horses, a thousand
+oxen, and ten thousand head of small cattle on Hukairya, the summit of
+the divine mountain, he prays, "Grant to me, Saviour Ardvi�ura, that I
+may be the sovereign of all lands, that I may carry away from the Daevas
+(the evil spirits) increase and health, fodder and herds, joy and
+glory." To the goddess Ashi vanguhi, Yima also offers a prayer "that he
+may bring food and flocks to the creatures of Mazda, and immortality,
+and may remove hunger and thirst, age and death, the hot wind and the
+cold from the creatures of Mazda for a thousand years." And the morning
+wind, Vayu, is entreated that "Yima may be the most merciful of all
+creatures, and that under his dominion he may make cattle and mankind
+immortal, that the waters and trees may never dry up and wither." In the
+fragments of the book of the law in the Avesta, Zarathrustra inquires of
+Auramazda to whom he (the god) had first revealed the true doctrine.
+Auramazda answers, "I spoke first with Yima, the excellent one. I said
+to him, Yima, thou beautiful son of Vivanghana, be thou the preacher and
+bearer of my doctrine. But Yima answered, I am not fitted to be the
+preacher of the doctrine. Then I, Auramazda, spoke and said, If thou
+wilt not obey me, Yima, to be the bearer of my law, yet make my world
+fruitful; be the keeper of my earthly creatures, their protector and
+lord. And Yima, the excellent one, answered, I will cause thy creatures
+to prosper and increase; I will be the keeper, protector, and lord of
+them. Therefore I, Auramazda, gave to him two instruments, a golden
+staff and an ox goad adorned with gold, and three hundred years passed
+by. And the land was full of herds and beasts of draught, of men, and
+dogs, and birds, and red flaming fires. And there was no more any room
+for the flocks, and men, and beasts of draught. Then I warned Yima: O
+Yima, excellent one, son of Vivanghana, there is no more any room for
+the herds, and beasts of draught, and men. And Yima went forth to meet
+the stars and the path of the sun (_i.e._ towards the east). He struck
+with the golden staff upon the earth, and smote it with the goad, and
+said, �penta Armaiti (O holy earth), arise, part thyself asunder, thou
+bearer of animals and of men. And Yima pushed the earth asunder so that
+it was a third part greater than before. Then the flocks found a home,
+the beasts of draught, and men, according to their wish and desire."
+Again three hundred years passed, and there was no more any room for
+herds, beasts, and men; and at Auramazda's command Yima again caused the
+earth to stretch asunder, and it became two-thirds greater than before;
+and after another three hundred years Yima caused the earth to become as
+large again as before.[54] Then a thousand years passed, and Auramazda
+said to Yima, "Bitter cold and sharp frost will fall upon the earth, and
+the snow will lie deep on the summits of the mountains and in the clefts
+of the valleys. Make an enclosure (_vara_) of the length of a horse's
+course on each of the four sides. Bring into it a stock of herds and
+beasts of draught, of men and dogs, and birds and red flaming fires, and
+make the enclosure to be a dwelling for men and a stall for the cattle.
+Carry water thither, and build houses and tombs, and a fortification and
+palisade round about, and drive them with the golden staff into the
+citadel, and shut to the door. And Yima made a citadel of the length of
+a horse's course. Thither he brought a stock of all men and women who
+were the tallest, best, and most beautiful of earth, and a brood of all
+animals which were largest, best, and most beautiful, and the seeds of
+all fruits and growths which were best and most beautiful. And he
+provided that a pair were ever together. There was no evil speaking
+there, nor strife, nor injury, nor deception, nor meanness; nothing
+crooked, no mal-formation of teeth, no crippled form, nor any other of
+the signs which are the signs of Angromainyu. In this enclosure which
+Yima made men lived the happiest life. A year was a day, and every forty
+years two children, a male and a female, were born from each pair of
+human creatures, and so also of each kind of animal."[55]
+
+In an invocation in the Avesta we are told that the bright gleaming
+majesty in the form of the bird Varaghna had passed from Yima when he
+began to love lying speech. Yima fell terrified to earth, and Mithra,
+the lord of wide pastures, seized the majesty. When it passed a second
+time from Yima, Thraetaona seized it, and when it passed a third time,
+Kere�a�pa seized it.
+
+The second who crushed the juice of the Haoma was Athwya. Hence there
+was born to him a son, Thraetaona, in the land of Varena. The evil
+spirit Angromainyu had created a wicked being, "with three heads, three
+throats, six eyes, and a thousand strengths"--the Azhi dahaka, _i.e._
+the biting serpent, which swallowed horses and men, and threatened to
+desolate the world. But Thraetaona sacrificed a hundred horses to
+Ardvi�ura, a thousand oxen, and ten thousand head of small cattle, and
+called on the goddess, and with bound bundle of rods, on Vayu on his
+golden throne, with golden footstool and golden canopy, to grant that he
+might smite the strong Druj, which Angromainyu had created as the
+strongest to bring death upon the pure world; and he overcame the
+monster, because Verethraghna was with him, the most victorious of
+mortals.[56] And Thraetaona obtained the splendour of the dominion when
+it departed a second time from Yima. In the prayers of the Avesta,
+Thraetaona, who has slain the great serpent, is invoked as helper
+against the "pain which is caused by the serpent," against fever and
+sickness.[57]
+
+The third who crushed the juice of the Haoma for the sacrifice was
+Thrita, of the race of �ama. Thrita was the first who by skill in
+medicine kept back sickness and death from the bodies of men. He wished
+for means to withstand the pains, the sickness, the death, the hot and
+cold fever which Angromainyu had created for the bodies of men. "Then I,
+Auramazda, caused healing plants to grow by hundreds, by thousands, by
+tens of thousands around the one Gaokerena." And in reward for his
+offering of Haoma two sons were born to Thrita--Urvakshaya, who put in
+order the law, and Kere�a�pa (_i.e._ having slim horses), the youth of
+beautiful form, the bearer of the weapon Gae�u.[58] Kere�a�pa smote the
+poisonous green serpent �ruvara, on which flowed poison to the thickness
+of a thumb, and it swallowed men and horses. Afterwards, after he had
+sacrificed to Ardvi�ura on the shore of Lake Pi�ano (_i.e._, no doubt,
+in the valley of Pishin in Sejestan), he smote the giant Gandarewa, who
+dwelt in Lake Vourukasha, and the descendants of the nine robbers, and
+�navidhaka, who had attempted to overcome Auramazda and Angromainyu. And
+when his brother Urvakshaya had been slain by Hita�pa, Kere�a�pa
+besought the wind, who works on high, to grant to him to slay Hita�pa in
+revenge for the death of his brother. And he conquered him, and yoked
+him to his chariot. When for the third time the majesty departed from
+Yima, Kere�a�pa seized it, the strongest of men after Zarathrustra. In
+the prayers of the Avesta, Kere�a�pa's help is invoked against robbers
+and hostile hosts.[59]
+
+Yima, Thraetaona, Kere�a�pa, and the forms which are genealogically
+connected with them, Vivanghana, Athwya, �ama, Thrita, and Urvakshaya,
+are collected by the Avesta under the name _Paradhata_, i.e. those who
+first exercised dominion.[60] Indications in our fragments show that
+other names were also included in them. Thraetaona's son was Airyu, and
+Airyu's son was Manuschithra.[61] These most ancient sovereigns were
+followed by a second group, whose distinguishing mark is the surname
+_Kava_. The first of these Kavas, whom the Avesta mentions merely as the
+wearer of the divine majesty, is Kava Kavata.[62] He is succeeded by the
+agile, brilliant Kava U�a, who sacrifices to Ardvi�ura on Mount Erezifya
+in order to obtain the dominion over all lands, over Daevas and men,
+wizards and Pairikas, and this favour the goddess granted him. After U�a
+the royal majesty united itself, to use the phrase in the Avesta, with
+the beautiful pure body of Kava �yavarshana. He died by a violent
+death.[63] His son was Kava Hu�rava, "the brave uniter of the Arian
+lands into one kingdom," as the Avesta tells us, which then goes on to
+relate that he was without sickness or death. He had to contend against
+the destructive Franghra�ianas, the Turanians (_tura_, _tuirya_). He
+besought Ardvi�ura that it "might be granted to him to put an end to the
+long dimness, and bind the Franghra�ianas in their abundance and pride."
+This prayer the goddess granted. Haoma himself desired "to bind the
+destructive, murderous Franghra�iana and carry him away as a captive of
+the king Hu�rava, and that Kava Hu�rava should slay him behind the lake
+Chaecha�ta, the deep lake with broad waters."[64] Kava Hu�rava was
+followed by king Aurvata�pa, the son of Naotara, the son of
+Manuschithra, the son of Airyu; and Aurvata�pa was succeeded by his son
+the strong and warlike Vista�pa.[65] Of the twenty-nine sons of this
+king, the Avesta mentions the strong �pentodata, and informs us that
+Frashaostra and his brother Jama�pa, of the race of Hvova, were men of
+importance with the king. Like Hu�rava, Vista�pa had to contend with a
+Turanian, Arejata�pa, _i.e._ the winner of horses, who sacrificed to
+Ardvi�ura in order to obtain the victory over Kava Vista�pa and the
+warrior on horseback, Zarivairi (the brother of Vista�pa). The goddess
+heard him not, but heard Vista�pa when he sacrificed to her behind the
+water of Frazdana, in order to overcome the hostile Arejata�pa, born of
+darkness, skilled in evil, who sought to smite the lands of the
+Arians.[66] But Zarathrustra, the son of Pourusha�pa, of the race of
+Haechata�pa, sacrificed to Ardvi�ura that he might unite with the mighty
+Vista�pa, the son of Aurvata�pa, and to Drva�pa, "that he might unite
+with Hutao�a, and she might impress on his memory the good law."[67]
+Zarathrustra proclaimed a new law, the law of Auramazda. The heroes and
+kings before him were known in the Avesta by the name _Paoiryotkaesha_,
+i.e. the men of the earliest custom, the earliest law.
+
+These are all the traits and pictures of the antiquity of East Iran, of
+any importance, which can be gathered from the remaining fragments of
+the Avesta. Of the antiquity and genuineness of the narrative there is
+no doubt. The close relationship and coincidence which they exhibit with
+the form and views of the Veda are proved on both sides. As we saw, the
+Veda distinguishes the sacrificers and sages of the ancient time, the
+earlier time, and the present (IV. 29.) The god Haoma is the well-known
+god Soma of the Arians in India, the variation in the name being due to
+the change of sounds which distinguishes the Old Bactrian from the
+language of the Veda. Here, as there, he is the sacrificial libation,
+and at the same time the god who pours the libation, and is its power.
+The great heroes Yima, Thraetaona, Kere�a�pa and Zarathrustra were born
+to their fathers as a reward for offering the libation of Soma. King
+Yima (Yima Kshaeta) in the Avesta is no other than the Yama (Yama Rajan)
+of the Veda. Yama is the son of Vivasvat, the brilliant, the shining,
+the giver of light; and in the Avesta Yima is the son of Vivanghana. In
+the Veda he is the assembler of the people, the first king, the first
+mortal who shows to men the way which leads from the depths to the
+height of heaven; who first experiences death, but returns into heaven
+as the son of the god of light, where he gathers round him the brave and
+pious for new life in imperishable joy (IV. 61). Yima is also the
+assembler of men, the first king; he rules with the golden staff; he
+founds the religious worship, a merit which in the Veda belongs to Manu.
+Under Yima the earth is filled with red-glowing fires; he worships Vayu
+and Ardvi�ura. He is the representative of the golden age; in his reign
+there is neither heat nor cold, age nor death, hate nor strife; and his
+dominion continues a thousand years. It was the first happy period of
+the world, which men passed under the dominion of the son of the god of
+light. At what an elevation Yima must have been placed in the oldest
+form of the mythus of East Iran is clear from the fact that creative
+acts and the triple extension of the earth are ascribed to him. After
+the close of this golden period, winter comes upon the earth, heat and
+cold, strife, sickness, and death. The happy life of the golden age
+only continues within certain limits, in the enclosure of Yima, where he
+carries on the blessed and immortal life with selected men, trees,
+animals, and food. Here Yima is to live till the end of all things, when
+his companions will again people the earth. As in this garden of Yima
+the sun, moon, and stars shine together,[68] it must be sought in the
+sky, or at any rate on the bright, divine mountain Hukairya, where there
+is neither night nor gloom, and which is at the same time described as
+Yima's place of sacrifice.
+
+If the Indians have placed the old Arian legend of a golden age on earth
+in the days of Yima's reign, they have also, after their manner,
+depicted his heavenly kingdom with brighter colours, while among the
+Iranians this part of the legend is combined with the heavenly garden
+into which Yima receives the men he has selected as the best.
+Nevertheless, a reminiscence of Yima's garden has remained beyond the
+Indus in the story of the Uttara Kurus, who dwell beyond the holy
+mountains to the north.[69]
+
+The most striking variation from the common Arian myth in the Avesta is
+the statement that Yima is subordinate to a deity, Auramazda, of whom
+the Arians of India knew nothing. The old legend is thus brought within
+the sphere of new views, which must have exercised still further
+influence upon it. It is Auramazda who places in the hand of Yima the
+control, superintendence, and protection of animals and men. It is not
+through Yima's own desire, as was certainly the case in the old legend,
+but at Auramazda's bidding, that the enclosure is made, and the selected
+men, animals, and trees brought into it. The main reason for this change
+was the necessity of giving an answer to the question, Why did not the
+golden age continue? and if, long after Yima, Zarathrustra proclaimed a
+new and better law, why had not Auramazda revealed this law to the
+favoured Yima? In order to answer this riddle, the Avesta represents
+Auramazda as asking Yima to become "the preacher and bearer of his
+doctrine," and Yima refuses to accept this mission. Hence Yima becomes
+guilty of a fault, and a reason is given why the golden age, the
+thousand years of the reign of Yima, came to an end. Without the good
+doctrine, the invasion of evil spirits, and with them of heat and cold,
+sickness and death, strife and blight, could not be kept back from the
+earth. This trait of the guilt of Yima, which is entirely unknown to the
+earlier legend, is carried out still further. According to the prayer in
+the Avesta (p. 34) blessing and immortality continued in the kingdom of
+Yima, "till he began to love lying speech." When he had rejected
+Auramazda's law he cannot himself resist the seduction of evil spirits.
+The first offence brings on the second, and this causes the triple loss
+of majesty, which at length ends in the fall and violent death of Yima,
+an incident already indicated in the Avesta.[70] How this form of the
+legend allowed the garden of Yima to be placed on the divine mountain,
+and whether the contradiction was removed or not, our fragments do not
+enable us to decide.
+
+In the Veda it was Indra who had to contend against Vritra and Ahi,
+_i.e._ the serpents, and the black spirits, which desired to drink up
+the water of the sky and veil its light. In Iran, as we shall see, this
+office is transferred to other spirits, and also to Thraetaona. The Azhi
+dahaka of the Avesta is the Ahi of the Veda. Ahi and Azhi are the same
+word, with the same meaning; the addition _dahaka_ refers to the
+destructive power of this demon. Verethraghna, _i.e._ the slayer of
+Vritra, stands in the Avesta at the side of Thraetaona in his struggle
+with Azhi (p. 35), and the morning wind supports him just as in the Veda
+the winds assist Indra against Ahi and Vritra. Among the Indians,
+Traitana is a spirit of the air, who dwells in the remotest regions of
+the sky, who hews off the head of a giant from his shoulders, and in the
+Veda, Trita, the son of Aptya, drinks the draught of Soma, in order to
+win strength for the slaying of Vritra; he slays the snake with three
+heads and seven tails; with his iron club he splits the hollows in the
+rock in which the demons have hidden the cows of the heaven (the rain
+clouds).[71] In the Veda, Aptya is the father of Trita; in the Avesta,
+Athwya is the father of Thraetaona. Of Trita, whom it represents as
+sprung from �ama, the Avesta declares that he was the first physician;
+in the Veda we are told of Trita he knew how to heal sickness as the
+gods had taken his sickness from him; that he bestowed long life.[72]
+The two figures of Trita and Traitana gradually unite in the Veda; in
+the Avesta, Thrita and Thraetaona remain separate persons. The Kere�a�pa
+of the Avesta seems to correspond to the Kri�a�va of the Indians, whom
+we first find in the Epos, where he is celebrated as a warlike
+Rishi.[73]
+
+If the Paradhatas, Yima, Athwya, Thraetaona, Thrita, and Kere�a�pa in
+the original conception are spirits of the sky, if the monsters with
+which Thraetaona and Kere�a�pa struggle are not to be sought on earth
+but in the heavens, if in these dragons we find once more the
+cloud-serpents, against which Indra and his company have to contend--we
+do not at once set foot upon earth, when we come to the Kavanians.
+According to the later tradition of Iran, Kava Kavata was fetched from
+the divine mountain in order to reign over the country; two white
+falcons bring him a golden crown. The Rigveda mentions Kavya U�anas,
+_i.e._ U�anas, the son of Kavi, who brings the cows of the sky, _i.e._
+the clouds, to the pasture.[74] In the Avesta, Kava U�a sacrifices not
+only to rule over the whole earth but also over the spirits. According
+to a later tradition this sovereign--now called Kai Kaus--causes
+beautiful castles to be built on the divine mountain by the demons, and
+is then carried by four eagles into heaven. Kava Hu�rava, for whom in
+the Avesta the god Haoma contends, is without sickness and death
+(p. 37). In the later tradition, in which he is known as Kai Chosru, he
+begins a pilgrimage to heaven after conquering and slaying his opponent
+the Turanian Frangha�iana, like the sons of Pandu in the Mahabharata
+after their victory over the Kurus and their happy reign. Like them
+also, Kai Chosru climbs the mountains and disappears from his companions
+at a well. Against his command they seek him in the mountains, and are
+all buried in a great snow-storm. From the name Manuschithra (p. 37),
+_i.e._ scion of Manu, we may conclude that the twin brother of Yama,
+"father Manu," was not unknown to the Arians of Iran. But the genealogy
+in which the Avesta has preserved these names has no greater claims to
+historical value than the figures which have passed in review before us.
+Airyu is the son of Thraetaona; _i.e._ from the mightiest hero, the
+slayer of the great dragon, are sprung the sovereigns and the nation of
+the Airyas; the son of Airyu is Manuschithra; from whose son, Naotara,
+are derived the two last Kavas, Aurvata�pa and Vista�pa.
+
+If the coincidence of the forms from Yima to Kava Hu�rava with the Veda
+is a proof of the antiquity and genuineness of the tradition of the
+Avesta, the gain for history becomes less instead of greater. No one
+would take mythical persons for historical. Yet the style and form in
+which we find these traditional statements in the fragments of the
+Avesta supply certain guides for the lost history of Eastern Iran. The
+splendour of the royal majesty is so often and so distinctly brought
+into prominence, that the conclusion forces itself upon us, that the
+regions in which the Avesta arose, _i.e._ the north-east of Iran, must
+have been acquainted with a powerful and highly-respected monarchy. The
+ancient spirits of the sky are changed in the Avesta into mighty
+warriors and far-ruling kings, a circumstance in favour of the
+supposition that an empire once existed here, the image of which is
+reflected on prehistoric times. It is in Epic poems that the spirits of
+the first sky become heroes, and Epic poetry only arises in and follows
+on periods of war and conflict. The fact that the forms of the spirits
+thus changed into heroes by Epic song are turned into the forefathers of
+the kings and progenitors of the nation, further establishes the
+conclusion that a military monarchy must have been in existence here;
+only warlike princes could appear as the heirs of heroes. Moreover, the
+Avesta extols the high banner of Bakhdhi and speaks of the neighbouring
+regions as favoured; the later tradition of Iran marks out Bactria very
+clearly as the abode of Aurvata�pa and Vista�pa; in the third century
+B.C. Bactria supplied its princes with means not merely to achieve their
+own independence, but to maintain it against the great kingdom of the
+Seleucids and to subjugate the land of the Indus (p. 25 ff.); and if, in
+addition to these facts, we bear in mind the conceptions found in the
+Median poems of the great power of the kings of the Bactrians, their
+treasures in gold and silver, their fortified city, the conquest of
+which was the greatest achievement of Ninus--we may venture to assume
+that before the days of the Medes, _i.e._ before the year 650 B.C.,
+there must have existed an important monarchy in the north-east of Iran.
+
+With the assistance of the Avesta we may go a step further. We saw that
+Kava Hu�rava no less than Vista�pa is represented as fighting against
+the Turas or Tuiryas. Who were these enemies? In Old-Bactrian the word
+means the enemy, the oppressor. Strabo speaks of a region of Turuia in
+the north of Parthia, towards the steppes of the Oxus.[75] In the later
+tradition of Iran the Turanians are the constant and most dangerous
+enemies of the kings of Bactria. The steppes of the Oxus and Jaxartes
+were inhabited by nations to whom the Persians gave the collective name
+of Sac�, while the Greeks called them Scythians. They found but scanty
+pasture on the steppes, and it was natural that they should look with
+longing eyes on the more fertile regions of Bactria and Sogdiana. It has
+already been mentioned how careful Cyrus was to protect these countries,
+when he had conquered them, against the nations of the steppes. At a
+later time, from the middle of the second century B.C. downwards (p.
+28), we have definite information of the pressure of these nations on
+Parthia, Margiana, and Bactria. When freed from the attacks of the
+Seleucids on the west, the Arsacids had to defend the east of the
+kingdom. Phraates II. and Artabanus II. fell in battle against the
+nomads; Mithridates II. succeeded in protecting Parthia, but about the
+year 100 B.C. the Sac� were able to force a way through Bactria. They
+possessed themselves of the best land in the east of Iran, the valleys
+of the Hilmend (p. 7), bequeathed their name to the country (Sikashtan,
+Sejestan), and from the valley of the Cabul extended their dominion
+beyond the Indus. The white Huns, or Yu�chis, followed the Sac�; and
+they also reached the Indus. Is there any reason to doubt the Avesta
+that even before the Medes and Cyrus the princes of Bactria and Sogdiana
+were occupied with beating back the tribes of the steppes?
+
+In ancient times, as Strabo tells us, the Bactrians and Sogdiani were
+little removed from wandering shepherds. The Avesta exhibits them in
+close connection with horses. The names compounded with _a�pa_ (horse)
+are common; Kere�a�pa, Aurvata�pa, Vista�pa, Haechata�pa, Jama�pa,
+Pourusha�pa. Of Zaria�pa and the Zaria�pians we have already spoken. The
+most important source of wealth must have consisted in horses, for which
+the mountains supplied ample pasture. The horse-sacrifice is the chief
+sacrifice of the Avesta. One hundred horses were equal to 1000 oxen,
+and 10,000 head of small cattle. We found that Bactria could furnish the
+last Darius with 30,000 cavalry, and the horse was the symbol of Bactria
+on the coins of the Greek princes of the land (p. 27).
+
+From all these indications we may assume that when the Arians had
+settled in Margiana, Bactria, and Sogdiana, and agriculture became of
+importance beside the breeding of cattle, the necessity of protection
+against the migratory tribes of the endless plains stretching to the
+north, created among the Arians a warlike nobility who took upon
+themselves the duty of defence. The valley of the Zarefshan (Sogdiana),
+the terrace of Bactria, the region of Merv, became in the hands of the
+Arians advanced posts of civilisation in the desert. If Western Iran was
+protected in the north by the Alps of Aderbeijan and the Caspian Sea
+against attacks from that quarter, Eastern Iran lay open to the nomads
+of the steppes, and had nothing but arms to defend its cultivated lands.
+We have already seen that Bactria even in the sixth century had passed
+beyond the earliest stages of civilisation (p. 24). But even a less
+degree of prosperity was sufficient to excite the sons of the desert to
+invasion. Hence we may assume that the incursions and raids of the
+nomads of the steppes began with the increase of the flocks and the
+prosperity of agriculture in the valleys of Merv, Bactria, and Sogdiana.
+The increasing severity of these attacks compelled the Bactrian soldiery
+to collect their forces for more successful resistance, and to place the
+best warriors at the head of the community. Thus it was not by
+spontaneous development, but rather by the opposition to the nations of
+the steppes, that the north-east of Iran first outgrew the tribal life,
+and became transformed into a larger state. Of this kingdom Aurvata�pa
+and Vista�pa became the rulers; in the Avesta they are distinguished
+from the Paradhatas and from Kava Kavata, Kava U�a, and Kava Hu�rava, by
+a new addition to the name and other peculiar traits, and form a third
+group. The progress of our investigation will show that the formation of
+this Bactrian kingdom cannot be placed later than 1100 B.C.; the date of
+Vista�pa must be put about 1000 B.C., and it was the successors of
+Vista�pa who sent to Shalmanesar II. the tribute of camels with two
+humps, and yaks (about 850 B.C.), who found themselves menaced once more
+by the advances of Tiglath Pilesar II. to Arachosia in the year 745
+B.C., and at length succumbed to Cyrus. We shall find that this kingdom
+was not without its warlike races and priestly families, that Zaria�pa
+and Bactria were the centres of it, and that the sovereigns attained
+despotic power. Yet the old warlike families must have preserved a
+certain importance under the monarchy, unless they regained it when lost
+under the viceroys of the Ach�menids. It was the chieftains of the
+Bactrians whom Alexander summoned to Zaria�pa, and who with the Sogdiani
+at their side took the lead in resistance. The most powerful of them
+stubbornly defended their rocky citadels against the Macedonians.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[26] Polyb. fragm. 34 f.; below, p. 26.
+
+[27] Above, p. 6; Vol. III. p. 3, "Zikruti in rugged Media I added to
+the land of Assyria;" _ib._ p. 4.
+
+[28] Vol. III. p. 77.
+
+[29] Herod. 1, 153, 177, 201, 204.
+
+[30] Strabo, p. 517; Arrian, "Anab." 4, 23; Plin. "H. N." 6, 18; Ptolem.
+6, 12.
+
+[31] Ctes. fragm. Pers. c. 12.
+
+[32] Behist. 1, 6; Persep. 25; Naksh-i-Rustem, 12-14.
+
+[33] Herod. 3, 91, 92.
+
+[34] Vol. I. p. 285. The amount is about 2096 thalers.
+
+[35] Behist. 2, 14-16; 3, 10-12.
+
+[36] Herod. 7, 64, 82; 9, 113.
+
+[37] Herod. 8, 93.
+
+[38] Diod. 11, 69; Ctes. Pers. ecl. 31.
+
+[39] Arrian, "Anab." 3, 21.
+
+[40] Arrian, _loc. cit._ 3, 29.
+
+[41] Justin. 41, 4.
+
+[42] As was shown in Vol. IV. p. 278, the Vishnu Purana represents the
+sacrificial horse of Pushpamitra, who sat on the throne of Magadha
+between 178 and 142 B.C. (Vol. IV. p. 550), to have been carried off by
+an army of Yavanas on the right bank of the Indus, and then restored.
+The dominion of the Gr�co-Bactrian princes in the East existed from 200
+to 150 B.C.
+
+[43] Strabo, p. 516. I need not prove that [Greek: I�man�s] must be
+read here for [Greek: Isamos], or that [Greek: Saraostou paralia] is
+Surashtra; cf. Wilson, "Ariana antiq." p. 281. Apollodotus, Apaladata
+on the Arian legends of his coins, is no doubt the Bhagadatta of the
+Mahabharata, just as the Dattamitra there mentioned is Demetrius; Vol.
+IV. p. 80, _n_. Among the Indians Menander appears in the form Milinda.
+
+[44] In the year 1843 there were about 1000 Guebre families in Yezd, and
+a hundred in Kerman. Westergaard, "Avesta," 1, 21: the persecution of
+1848 considerably reduced their numbers.
+
+[45] Haug, "Pahlavi-Pazand Glossary," pp. 80, 81.
+
+[46] "Vendid." 1, 73-76.
+
+[47] "Vendid." 1, 46.
+
+[48] "Vendid." 19, 130; 1, 50.
+
+[49] Burnouf, "Jour. Asiat." 1845, pp. 287, 288. It seems to me doubtful
+whether we should look for Airyana Vaeja on the sources of the Oxus.
+The statement in the Bundehesh that Airyana Vaeja was situated beside
+Atropatene is, however, of very little weight against the fact that the
+Arians of East Iran are nearest to the Arians of India. I shall return
+to this point below. The remark in Stephanus, "[Greek: Ariania], a
+nation among the Cadusians," would be of some importance if it were
+taken from Apollodorus of Artemita, and not from the grammarian of that
+name. The district of Arran on the Kur may possibly be meant.
+
+[50] "Vendid." 1, 14-18.
+
+[51] "Vendid." 1, 30, 42.
+
+[52] "Vendid." 1, 60.
+
+[53] "Ya�na," 9, 4.
+
+[54] "Vendid." 2, 1-21, after Karl Geldner's translation. [Cf.
+Darmesteter's translation in M. M�ller's 'Sacred Books of the East,'
+Vol. IV.]
+
+[55] "Vendid." 2, 21-43.
+
+[56] "Aban Yasht," 9; "Farvardin Yasht," 131; "Bahram Yasht," 40; "Ram
+Yasht," 23.
+
+[57] "Farvardin Yasht," 131 ff.
+
+[58] "Ya�na," 9, 30; "Vendid." 20, 11 ff.
+
+[59] "Vendid." 20; "Ya�na," 9, 32, 39; "Ram Yasht," 7, 28; "Farvardin
+Yasht," 136; "Zamyad Yasht," 41 ff. According to the "Mainyo-i-Khard,"
+Kere�a�pa, besides slaying the serpent �ruvar, slew the wolf Kapod, the
+water demon Gandarsi, the bird Kamak, and kept back much oppression from
+the world. West, "Mainyo-i-Khard," c. 27.
+
+[60] Justi, "Handbuch," _s. voc._
+
+[61] "Farvardin Yasht," 131.
+
+[62] "Farvardin Yasht," 132; "Zamyad Yasht," 71.
+
+[63] "Gosh Yasht," 18; "Ashi Yasht," 38.
+
+[64] "Aban Yasht," 49; "Gosh Yasht," 18; "Ashi Yasht," 38; "Afrin
+Zartusht," 7; "Zamyad Yasht," 77; "Ram Yasht," 32.
+
+[65] "Aban Yasht," 76, 98; "Ashi Yasht," 46; "Farvardin Yasht," 102;
+"Ram Yasht," 36.
+
+[66] "Aban Yasht," 109, 117; "Farvardin Yasht," 38; "Gosh Yasht," 29,
+30; "Ashi Yasht," 50, 81; "Zamyad Yasht," 87.
+
+[67] "Aban Yasht," 104-106; "Farvardin Yasht," 142; "Gosh Yasht," 26;
+"Ram Yasht," 36.
+
+[68] "Vendid." 2, 39, 40.
+
+[69] Vol. IV. 21 _n._ Spiegel, "Avesta," 3, Einl. s. 58. The favourite
+comparison of the enclosure of Yima with the deluge of the Hebrews
+appears to me anything but apposite. Iran, and still more Bactria, is
+unsuited to give rise to the legend of a flood. Nor is there any
+question of the destruction of evil men (if there had been, Yima would
+have been the most guilty and the least deserving of pardon), but of the
+end of the golden age, as is shown in the Vendidad, the Ya�na, and the
+Yashts: the earth becomes more thickly peopled, men and animals do not
+grow old or die. If we must bring together things which have really no
+relation to each other, it would be more apposite to compare the
+paradise of the Hebrews. The reason for the end of the golden age is the
+guilt of Yima. [Cf. Kuenen, "Religion of Israel," 3, c. 9, E. T.]
+
+[70] "Zamyad Yasht," 46.
+
+[71] "Rigveda," 1, 158; 10, 8, 5.
+
+[72] Westergaard in Weber's "Ind. Studien," 3, 413 ff., 426 ff. Kuhn
+combines Trita with Triton and Tritogeneia; Hofer's "Zeitschrift," 1,
+276, 289.
+
+[73] Haug, "Essays," pp. 235, 236.
+
+[74] Kuhn, "Beitr�ge," 4, 44; Haug, "Essays," pp. 235, 236.
+
+[75] Strabo, p. 517. [[Greek: Toriouan] is a _v. l._ for
+[Greek: Tapurian].]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE SCRIPTURES OF IRAN.[76]
+
+
+The statements of the Avesta concerning the ancient rulers of Eastern
+Iran were proved to be without historical value, yet we found in them an
+ancient and genuine tradition, the form of which allowed us to draw
+certain conclusions about the political condition of that region in a
+period for which we have no other records except the poetry of Western
+Iran. But what the Avesta tells us of the rulers of ancient days is of
+secondary importance for the book, which comprises the doctrines and
+ordinances of the faith proclaimed by Zarathrustra, and the rules of
+life which he is said to have laid down. May we assume that we possess
+these in a genuine and unaltered form in the Avesta, though they have
+only come down to us in fragments?
+
+A book of the Parsees of India, which tells the story of their flight
+from their ancient home, relates that Iskander (Alexander of Macedon)
+burned the revealed scriptures, and the faithful were persecuted for 300
+years. When Ardeshir (the first Sassanid) ascended the throne, the true
+faith was restored, under the superintendence of Arda Viraf. After this
+the true religion was again suspended till king Shapur (Shapur II.) rose
+and once more made the faith famous, and Aderbat Mahresfant girded his
+loins in the good cause. The same account is given in the Book of Arda
+Viraf, also a book of the Parsees of India. From this we learn that the
+religion received by the pious Zarathrustra lasted for 300 years in
+purity. Then the evil one stirred up Iskander Rumi, so that he spread
+war and devastation over Iran, and slew the rulers of the land. The
+Avesta which was preserved at Stakhar Papakan (Persepolis), written on
+cow-skins with golden ink, he burned, and put to death many priests and
+judges, pillars of the faith, and spread hatred, strife, and confusion
+among the people of Iran. They had now no lord, guide, and high priest,
+who knew their religion; they were full of doubts and had different
+modes of belief and worship of various kinds, and different laws
+prevailed in the world till the time when Ardeshir came to the throne
+and listened to the words of the holy Arda Viraf and believed him. But
+after Ardeshir's death a schism broke out, and more than 40,000 souls
+fell away from the true faith, till the day when the holy Aderbat
+Mahresfant arose.[77] An older writing of the Parsees, the Dinkart
+(composed under the Sassanids), tells us, apparently on the ground of a
+proclamation of the Sassanid Chosru Parvez (590-627 A.D.) that king
+Vista�pa of Bactria had commanded that all books which were written in
+the language of the Magians should be collected, in order that the faith
+of the worshippers of Auramazda might have some support, and all men
+were to go to Frashaostra (whom the Avesta mentions as a companion of
+Zarathrustra) to be instructed in the faith. And Darai, the son of Darai
+(Darius Hystaspis is meant), commanded that two copies of the entire
+Avesta, precisely as Zarathrustra had received it from Auramazda, should
+be preserved, the one in the treasury at Shapikan, and the other in the
+city of scriptures. Then Valkosh (Vologeses), the descendant of Ashkan
+(Arsaces), gave orders that so much of the Avesta as had escaped
+destruction and the ravages of Iskander and the warriors of Rum, and
+existed in fragments or in oral tradition, should be sought out and
+brought from every city. And king Artakshatr (Ardeshir) summoned the
+Herbedh (_i.e._ the priest)[78] Tosar with the holy scriptures, which
+were scattered, to his residence, and when Tosar came he gave command to
+the other priests that everything, which differed from that which was
+now considered to be knowledge and wisdom, should be suppressed. The son
+of Artakshatr, Shapuhar (241-272 A.D.), the king of kings, gave command
+that all writings on medicine or astronomy or other subjects in
+Hindostan, Rum, and other lands, should be collected, and again united
+with the Avesta, and that an exact copy should be deposited in the
+treasury of Shapikan. Lastly Atropat (Aderbat) in the reign of Shapuhar
+(Shapur II, 309-379 A.D.), the son of Auharmazdi, purified the sayings
+of Zarathrustra and enumerated the Nosks (chapters) of the sacred
+scriptures.[79]
+
+In the rivayats of the Parsees in India, _i.e._ in the collections of
+the sayings of the priests on their doctrine, we find an enumeration of
+these sections of the scriptures. At each book this list notes how many
+chapters were re-discovered "after Alexander." According to this
+enumeration the scriptures of Iran consisted of twenty-one books.[80]
+The first book contained the songs of praise to the supreme spirits in
+33 chapters; the second (22 chapters) treated of good works; the third
+(22 chapters) of the sacred word; the fourth (21 chapters) of the gods;
+the fifth (22 chapters) of the earth, of water, of trees, of wild
+animals; the sixth (35 chapters) of the heavens and the stars; the
+seventh (22 chapters) of pure and impure kinds of food, and of the
+celebration of the great festivals; the eighth (50 chapters) of the
+kings and priests, of pure and impure animals; the ninth (60 chapters)
+of the laws according to which the kings and judges were to give
+sentence; the tenth (60 chapters) of virtue and wisdom; the eleventh (60
+chapters) of the reign and conversion of king Vista�pa; the twelfth
+taught agriculture in 22 chapters, the planting of trees, the duty of
+the priests and laity, and treated of the orders; the thirteenth (60
+chapters) was occupied with the sacred sciences, the teachers and
+pupils, and the miracles which Zarathrustra worked; the fourteenth book
+(22 chapters) spoke of the life of men from birth to death; the
+fifteenth (17 chapters) contained songs of praise; the sixteenth (54
+chapters) laid down rules for what was permitted and what was not; the
+seventeenth (64 chapters) contained the doctrines of medicine and
+astronomy; the eighteenth (65 chapters) the doctrine respecting animals
+and their treatment; the nineteenth (52 chapters) contained the civil
+and criminal law; the twentieth (22 chapters) the rubrics for the
+removal of impurity; the twenty-first gave in 30 chapters the history of
+creation.[81]
+
+According to this list the scriptures of Iran must have been of very
+considerable extent. The Arabian author Masudi, who lived about the
+middle of the tenth century A.D., also puts the number of books at
+twenty-one. "Zartusht," he says, "gave the Parsees the book which is
+called the Avesta. It consisted of twenty-one sections, of which each
+amounted to 200 pages. This book was written in the character which
+Zartusht invented and which the Magians call the religious character, on
+12,000 cow-hides, and these were kept together by bands of gold. It was
+composed in the old Persian language, which no one now understands."[82]
+From the list of the books and chapters it is clear that these writings
+comprised not only the religious doctrine and law, together with the
+rules for correct conversation, but also the rubrics for the liturgy and
+ritual. They were at the same time the code of criminal and civic law,
+and in them was deposited what was known of medicine and agriculture,
+and the sum total of the science of their authors.
+
+Can we assume that writings of this importance, nature, and extent
+existed in Iran before Alexander of Macedon overthrew the kingdom of the
+Ach�menids? Herodotus tells us that the Magians or priests of the
+Persians recited the theogony, _i.e._ long poems, at their sacrifices.
+The disciples of the sophist Prodicus are said to have asserted that
+they were in possession of writings of Zoroaster, who taught the
+Persians their religion.[83] Hermippus of Smyrna, who wrote in the
+second half of the third century B.C., and devoted especial attention to
+the religions of the east, stated that the Magians maintained two
+principles, a good and an evil deity; the one they called Zeus and
+Oromasdes, the other Hades and Areimanius.[84] Zoroaster, who founded
+the doctrine of the Magians, had composed twenty books, each of 100,000
+lines, and Hermippus gave the contents of the various books and quoted
+regulations from them. Pliny tells us: "The doctrine of the Magians
+prevails to this day among a great part of the nations, and in the East
+is supreme over the king of kings" (_i.e._ the Arsacids); and vouches
+for Hermippus that he had written with great care about the Magians,[85]
+from whose work no doubt he quotes some particulars of the doctrine of
+Zoroaster. According to Zoroaster's rule the sowing of the fields should
+take place when the moon is in the sign of Taurus; and it was forbidden
+to expose the person before the sun or moon, or to defile a man's
+shadow. Pliny also mentions the precious stones, of which Zoroaster had
+extolled the brilliance; the herbs, used by the Magians; and enumerates
+a number of remedies, which they applied. Finally, he speaks of the
+Nyktegertos, a herb growing in Gedrosia, which the Magians used when
+making vows.[86] Philo of Byblus quotes a passage, apparently from "the
+sacred collection of Zoroaster," on the nature of the deity, and assures
+us that the Persian Osthanes maintained the same in the Octateuch.[87]
+Plutarch gives us a short but accurate account of the system of
+Zoroaster; his contemporary Dio Chrysostom asserts that Zoroaster and
+the sons of the Magians had sung of the balance of Zeus and the
+constellation of the day in strains more sublime than those of Homer or
+Hesiod;[88] and Pausanias relates that at the kindling of the
+sacrificial fire the invocation was sung by the Magians from a book in a
+barbarous language wholly unintelligible to the Greeks.[89]
+
+This evidence from the West confirms the existence of sacred writings
+in Iran after the time of Alexander, and also indicates that they
+existed previously to that date; it contradicts the story of their
+destruction by the Macedonians. The books must have been in existence
+when Hermippus could speak of their extent, and quote rules from them;
+and writings of the kind must have been known when, in the days of
+Pausanias, the Magians could sing their invocations from a book. From
+other sources we are sufficiently informed that Alexander's efforts were
+not directed towards destroying the national character and traditional
+religion of the Persians. Arrian tells us that Magians no less than
+Greek soothsayers took part in their festivals.[90] Nor were the
+Seleucids more desirous than Alexander to effect the destruction of the
+Iranian nationality; just as the Ptolemies never attempted to set aside
+the Egyptian religion and life. Even if they had cherished such views,
+they were far from being strong enough to carry them out, for the Greek
+empire over Iran lasted in its integrity only eighty years. The Arsacids
+also, who recovered Iran from the Seleucids, were not averse to the
+Greek nation. They called themselves friends of the Hellenes, and not
+only was Greek spoken, but even the tragedies of Euripides were acted at
+their courts. The scanty remains of the monuments present us with echoes
+of Greek;[91] their coins, with few exceptions, bear Greek legends like
+those of the Bactrian princes whom they overcame. But though the
+influence of the Hellenic character continued under the Arsacids, and at
+the same time the Aram�an language and manners obtained even greater
+recognition than Hellenism during their dominion, the reign of the
+Arsacids was a restoration and revivification of the Iranian
+nationality. According to the evidence of western writers the Magians
+together with the members of the royal race formed the council of the
+Arsacids.[92] Pliny has already told us that these princes obeyed the
+rules of the Magians, and we also find that they invoked Mithra as the
+Ach�menids had done, and "saluted the sun."[93] Like the Ach�menids,
+too, they would not permit their armies to fight by night, and we are
+told that in their time the greatest weight was given to the love of
+truth and fidelity, _i.e._ to the virtues which, according to Herodotus,
+the Persians of his time considered the most important, and on which the
+Avesta insists above all others.[94] We also learn from western writers
+that the founder of the kingdom (Arsaces I.) was a descendant of
+Phriapites (Friyapaiti), and with his brother Tiridates and five others
+he slew the satrap of Antiochus Theos, and drove out the
+Macedonians;[95] just as Darius with the six Persian princes overthrew
+the dominion of Gaumata; and the Arabs relate that the Arsacids trace
+back their stock to �yavarshana, the son of Kava U�a, a story which
+cannot have been invented in Arabia.[96] In the list of the Arsacids we
+also find the name Chosru (108-130 A.D.), the Kava Hu�rava of the old
+legend (p. 37); on the coins we find a Vologeses and a Phraates before
+the fire-altar, the characteristic symbol of the ancient worship of
+Iran. Just as the old Arian character appears beside the Greek on the
+coins of the Greek princes of Bactria, the Greek character on the coins
+of the Arsacids gradually degenerates until at length it gives way to a
+new Iranian character and language. The tradition sketched in the
+Dinkart, as we have seen, represents the Arsacid Vologeses (which of the
+four princes of the name is meant is not clear)[97] as collecting what
+fragments remained of the holy scriptures in the memory of the priests.
+The burning of the scriptures by Alexander, as related in the books of
+the Parsees on their exodus and the Arda Viraf, is merely a transference
+to him of the conduct of the Moslems on their conquest of Iran. Of the
+continuance of the ancient religion of Iran under the Arsacids there can
+be no doubt, though it is true that along with it, in the Greek cities
+which Alexander and the Seleucids founded, and which were independent
+within their walls even under the Parthians, Hellenic rites were
+practised. In these cities Syrian modes of worship were also permitted,
+and the Aramaic language and culture found entrance into Iran.[98]
+
+In the land of Persia, among the Persians whom Mithridates I. subjugated
+to the dominion of the Arsacids, reminiscences of the ancient time, of
+the splendour and glory of the Ach�menids, were naturally more lively
+than in Parthia, which was formerly subject to the Persians, and now
+under the Arasacids stood at the head of Iran. In Persia, Artakshatr
+(Ardeshir), the son of Papaki, the grandson of Sassan, rebelled against
+king Artabanus IV. In three great battles the Persians contended with
+the Parthians; the latter were conquered, and Artabanus fell, and with
+him the kingdom of the Arsacids after a continuance of 476 years (225
+A.D.). With the reign of Ardeshir began a more energetic restoration of
+Iran. He and his successors after him revered the memory of the
+Ach�menids, and strove to continue their achievements[99]. We again hear
+of seven houses, and seven princes who had the right to wear diadems
+beside the king, like the seven tribal princes of the old Persian
+kingdom;[100] we find the fire-altar before the tent of the Sassanids as
+well as the Ach�menids; and in the army of the Sassanids, no less than
+in that of Darius and Xerxes, was a troop of "immortals." Ardeshir, like
+the founder of the Persian empire, caused a portrait of himself on
+horseback to be cut in a rock-wall to the north-west of Persepolis
+(Naksh-i-Rustem) in remembrance of the achievements which established
+his kingdom--the rock on which 700 years before Darius had marked his
+tomb by a portrait and inscription. The inscription under this portrait
+(in the Pehlevi of East and West Iran, with a Greek translation) runs
+thus: "Portrait of the worshipper of Mazda, the god Artakshatr
+(Artaxares in the Greek), the king of kings of the Arians (of the kings
+of Airan, in the Pehlevi texts), the scion of the sky (_minu chitri_),
+the son of the god Papaki, the king."[101] Ardeshir's son, Shapur I.
+(241-272 A.D.), caused his victory over Valerian and his capture of the
+emperor to be recorded on the same rock; we see Shapur on horseback, and
+Valerian kneeling before him, a representation which recurs at the old
+Persian city of Darabgerd. At Naksh-i-Rejeb, between the rock-wall of
+Naksh-i-Rustem and Mount Nachmed, on which abutted Persepolis, the proud
+citadel of the Ach�menids, and in the grotto of Haiyabad, we find in the
+one case a portrait of Shapur, and in the other inscriptions which
+mention this ruler and king Varahran. At Kermanshah, on the western side
+of Mount Behistun, on the eastern side of which mountain Darius
+inscribed the proudest memorial of his achievements, we see king
+Ardeshir, and beneath him the corpse of Artabanus; behind the king is
+Mithra with the club which gave him victory, and before him Auramazda
+who presents the ring of empire to Ardeshir. Not far from this portrait
+Shapur II. (309-379 A.D.) caused a grotto to be excavated in the rock.
+In the sculpture of this cave we see the goddess Anahita, who presents
+to the king the ring of empire; at some distance are the hunting
+expeditions of the king; a second grotto close to this exhibits the
+pictures of king Auharmazdi II., the father of Shapur II., and of Shapur
+III. his second successor.[102]
+
+Though the Sassanids sought to restore the kingdom of the Ach�menids,
+and immortalise their own achievements beside those of the early kings,
+the religious revival which they undertook was far more thorough than
+the political. In this direction they went further than the Ach�menids;
+they caused the forms which the old faith of Iran had retained and
+forced on the East, to be current throughout the whole kingdom. Agathias
+assures us that Ardeshir was eagerly devoted to the study of the
+doctrine of the Magians, who since his accession had gained an
+importance such as they never enjoyed before. The business of the State
+was decided upon their advice and predictions; they assisted individual
+persons in their private matters and suits at law, and the Persians did
+not regard anything as legal and right which was not confirmed by a
+Magian.[103] At the head of the Magians, we are told in another account
+coming from a western source, a Grand Magian was placed under the
+Sassanids,[104] and as a fact the Magians now received a thorough
+organisation. At the head of their caste was the High Magian (_Magupat_,
+Mobedh); and over all the High Magians was the Grand Magian (_Magupatan
+magupat_); to the Magians belonged the judicial power; and the Grand
+Magian performed the coronation of the king. The Sassanids erected
+fire-temples in Persia no less than in Aderbeijan; their coins always
+exhibit the fire-altar, and as a rule two priests before it. They
+carried their genealogy beyond Sassan through �pentodata (p. 38) to
+Vista�pa of Bactria, who is now said to have established the seven
+princes; they call themselves by the names of the ancient heroes who met
+us in the Avesta; Kavadh (Kava Kavata) and Chosru (Kava Hu�rava). While
+styling themselves the worshippers of Mazda (Auramazda) like the
+founders of their empire, they went so far as to assume the names of the
+gods of the Avesta; some even called themselves after Verethraghna
+(Varahran, Bahram), others Auharmazdi after Auramazda himself. The
+numerous Christians on the Euphrates and Tigris as well as in Armenia
+had to undergo severe persecutions; especially under Shapur II.,
+Varahran V., and Yezdegerd II. (438-457 A.D.), whose viceroy declared to
+the Armenian Christians that the Daevas (Dews) of Ahriman had deceived
+them; it was not the good God who had created evil and death but the
+wicked spirit. Defection from the faith of Auramazda was punished with
+death. In the treaties of the years 422, 533, and 563 A.D. Theodosius
+II. and Justinian obtained the concession that the Christians in the
+kingdom of the Sassanids should not be compelled to conform to the rules
+of the Magians; they were to be at liberty to bury their dead,[105]
+whereas the doctrine of Zarathrustra required that the corpses should be
+exposed.
+
+As such was the attitude of the house of the Sassanids, we may believe
+the books of the Parsees that Ardeshir eagerly took in hand the revival
+of the true faith, and that he was assisted in this by competent
+Magians; by Arda Viraf, according to the book of the Exodus and of Arda
+Viraf (p. 50); according to the Dinkart, by the Herbedh Tosar. The book
+of Arda Viraf relates at length how he fell asleep in the assembly of
+priests before Ardeshir, and his soul was carried by the god �raosha
+through heaven and hell. And when the Dinkart represents a standard of
+true religion as being set up under Ardeshir, there is no reason to
+doubt the statement. After the reign of Ardeshir, we are told in the
+Book of the Exodus, the true religion was again suspended, or, as the
+Book of Arda Viraf tells us, a schism arose. The cause of this division
+is sufficiently known from other sources. In the reign of Shapur I.
+(241-272 A.D.) a native of Ctesiphon, of the name of Mani, came forward
+with a new doctrine which attempted to mingle Chald�an, Jewish, and
+Christian elements in the faith of Iran, and to resolve it into
+abstractions. He found numerous adherents.[106] Varahran II. (276-293
+A.D.) allowed him to dispute with the Magians, and then put him to
+death. Under Shapur II., who succeeded his father Auharmazdi II. as a
+posthumous child (309-379 A.D.), in order to check Manicheism and the
+advance of Christianity, it was necessary to go back to the principles
+of the old faith, and to invigorate these by the collection and
+establishment of the sacred scriptures. We may therefore have the
+fullest confidence in accepting from these three books of the Parsees
+the facts that Shapur "made the sacred faith to be famous;" that
+Aderbat, whose work under Shapur is confirmed by Hamza of Isfahan,
+collected the scriptures, purified the sayings of Zarathrustra, and
+enumerated the chapters. It is on this redaction of the canon by Aderbat
+Mahresfant under Shapur II. that the list of the books and chapters
+rests, distinguishing what were originally in existence and what were
+then preserved. What was not discovered "after Alexander" means what was
+not discovered or not accepted at this redaction. Instead of the 815
+chapters which the Avesta is said to have previously contained, the new
+canon amounted to only 348 chapters. That Aderbat was the founder of
+this canon is clear not only from the epithet which the books of the
+Parsees give him (Mahresfant, Old Bactrian Manthra�penta, meaning "the
+sacred word,") but also from the confession of faith still in use among
+the Parsees: "I abide in the law which Zarathrustra taught to Vista�pa,
+to Frashaostra, to Jama�pa, and �pentodata, which came in the succession
+of generations to Aderbat, who duly corrected and purified it."[107] It
+was shown above that the language of the sacred books thus again
+collected was that of Eastern Iran (p. 30). When Aderbat revised the
+canon it had long ceased to be spoken. But there were already
+translations of the sacred books into the later forms which the language
+of Iran had received in the time of the Parthians, or at any rate such
+translations were made after the revision of the canon.[108] Masudi
+informed us that the Avesta was composed in the old Persian language,
+which at that time (tenth century A.D.) was no longer understood. Ibn
+Haukal, who travelled in Persia in the same century, tells us: "In Fars
+three languages are in use; the Farsi, in which the inhabitants converse
+with each other; the Pehlevi, which was the language of the ancient
+Persians, and in which the Magians wrote their historical books, but
+which in our time is no longer understood by the inhabitants of Fars
+without a translation; and the Arabian.[109]" When Aderbat revised the
+Avesta in the middle of the fourth century B.C., the Parsi (Farsi),
+_i.e._ the later Middle Persian, was still in formation; the older
+Middle Persian or Pehlevi was still intelligible, but translations of
+the Avesta into this language did not make clear to every one the
+meaning of the ancient language in which the scriptures were composed.
+In the time of the Parthian empire the old mode of writing was given up
+in the West as well as in the East of Iran, and exchanged for new
+methods. In the West a cuneiform character derived from the writing of
+Babylon and Assyria had been adopted; the East used the Arian alphabet.
+Under the Arsacids the Pehlevi became common. Like the old Persian
+cuneiform this is borrowed from a Semitic pattern. The chief city of the
+Parthians lay on the Tigris in the midst of a Semitic population. The
+cursive character of the Aram�ans, as we find it on the coins of the
+satraps of the Ach�menids of the fourth century B.C., with a few
+modifications, forms the base of the Pehlevi; and the earlier shapes of
+this character are seen in the coins of the Arsacids of the first
+century A.D. But it is not the character which forms the peculiar mark
+of Pehlevi. Along with the Aramaic letters the Parthians took the
+Aramaic vocabulary; they wrote the Aramaic word instead of the Persian,
+and to this they attached the termination or case-ending of the
+corresponding Persian word; the reader must understand Aramaic and
+substitute the Persian word for the Aramaic when reading.[110] Hence
+Pehlevi was in reality a secret mode of writing, intended exclusively
+for the learned, _i.e._ for the priests. It is a proof of the close
+connection between the priests of the East and West that this character,
+which arose in the West out of the contact with the Aramaic population
+on the Euphrates and Tigris, spread to the East also and was adopted by
+the scholars there. Nor was this all. The variations in the Eastern
+dialect brought about certain modifications in the forms of the letters,
+and thus there arose an Eastern alphabet of Pehlevi beside the Western
+alphabet. When Ardeshir destroyed the empire of the Parthians in the
+year 226 A.D. these two alphabets were in existence. The Eastern
+alphabet finally triumphed over the Western. It became the royal mode of
+writing, and as such was used on the coins. The letters in the
+manuscripts of the Pehlevi translation of the Avesta in the possession
+of the Parsees agree throughout with the characters on the legends of
+the coins of the Sassanids about the year 600 A.D.[111] The characters
+also, in which the text of the Avesta is written in the manuscripts of
+the Parsees, belong to the later East-Pehlevi alphabet, which, owing to
+the greater wealth of the old Bactrian alphabet in sounds, especially in
+vowels, possesses a greater number of letters.[112] The coincidence of
+the letters in the manuscripts of the Parsees with those on the coins of
+the later Sassanids, proves beyond contradiction that although the
+oldest existing manuscripts belong to the fourteenth century of our
+era,[113] they are nevertheless true copies of the characters in which
+the Avesta was written in the last century of the empire of the
+Sassanids.
+
+All that the Parsees of India now possess are some not very extensive
+remains of the revision of the sacred scriptures made in the reign of
+Shapur II. The existing part of the laws corresponds in the title, the
+divisions and their arrangements, with the twentieth book of the text
+(p. 52). It contains the rubrics for purification, for repelling and
+removing the evil spirits. The title is the Vend�dad, or, in the older
+form, the Vidaevodata, _i.e._ "given against the Daevas," or evil
+spirits. Obviously this book was regarded as the most important and
+valuable part of the law, and to this circumstance it owes its
+preservation. Besides this we have invocations and prayers, chiefly
+belonging to the liturgy. They form a considerable collection, known by
+the title of Ya�na, _i.e._ worship. The remainder of the 348 chapters
+was lost in the invasion of the Arabs into Iran, owing to their
+fanatical zeal for conversion.[114]
+
+Though we were able to establish the fact that these fragments belonged
+in their language, their contents, and their written character to
+Eastern Iran, and the evidence of Western writers proved to us that at
+the time when Alexander of Macedon overthrew the kingdom of the
+Ach�menids, there were sacred scriptures of considerable extent in
+Iran--this does not enable us to decide the date of the origin of these
+scriptures. We have to inquire whether these writings were known in the
+West of Iran also, before the date of the Sassanids; whether the new
+collection and revision about the year 350 of our era was satisfied with
+faithfully representing the old condition of the scriptures, so far as
+it could be discovered, or whether it altered their contents; whether
+the influence exercised by Hellenic and Aramaic elements in the time of
+the Seleucids and Parthians--so obvious in the one case and so searching
+in the other--affected the contents of the Avesta.[115] This question
+cannot be set aside, because even under the Sassanids, in spite of their
+zeal for the Avesta and for Iran, these elements were not unknown. We
+are aware that Greek and Jewish schools flourished in Syria and
+Mesopotamia at the date of the Sassanids, that Chosru Nushirvan (531-578
+A.D.) gave his protection to Damascius and the Platonists in his
+kingdom, and caused Greek works to be translated. However much other
+virtues, required in the Avesta, were extolled in this ruler, such as
+the foundation of fire-temples, and appointment of sacristans for them,
+the promotion of agriculture (no temple was to be without cultivated
+lands) and of marriages--nevertheless sects sprung up within the true
+religion. Even in official documents of the fifth century we find a
+certain deviation from the doctrine of the Avesta; under king Kavadh
+(488-453 A.D.), Mazdak, who proclaimed the community of goods and women,
+found adherents, and the Arabs speak of sects in Iran which opposed the
+teaching of the Magians.[116] They mention the Zarvanites, the
+Gayomarthians, and others, of whom the Zarvanites sought to derive the
+good and evil deity from some higher abstraction,[117] while the
+Gayomarthians represented the evil deity as proceeding from the thought
+of the good deity. Had conceptions of this kind, and other later views
+which we find in their doctrines, influence on the restoration of the
+canon? The fact that the sacred writings were composed in a language no
+longer current, when the canon was restored, is not a complete safeguard
+against changes and interpolations, for the priests at that time may
+have understood the language, and therefore may possibly have been able
+to compose in it.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[76] [Cf. Darmesteter, "Zend-Avesta," Introduction, c. iii.]
+
+[77] Haug, "The Book of Arda Viraf," p. 142 ff.
+
+[78] Herbedh is the old Bactrian _athrapaiti_.
+
+[79] Haug, "Pahlavi-Pazand Glossary," p. 144, 146.
+
+[80] It is found in the so-called "Great Rivayat."
+
+[81] Vullers, "Fragmente �ber die Religion Zoroasters," s. 15-42; Haug,
+"Essays," p. 125.
+
+[82] Quatrem�re, "Journ. des Savants," 1840, p. 413.
+
+[83] Clemens Alex. "Strom." p. 598.
+
+[84] Diogen. Laert. prooem. The corrupt passage in Athen�us (p. 478) is
+not a sufficient reason for refusing to accept Hermippus of Smyrna as
+the author of the treatise on the Magians. Pliny could not quote the
+Berytian Hermippus.
+
+[85] Plin. "H. N." 30, 2.
+
+[86] "H. N." 37, 49, 55, 58; 26, 9; 27, 35; 28, 19, 27; 29, 38; 21, 36.
+
+[87] Philon. Bybl. fragm. 9, ed. M�ller.
+
+[88] Dio Chrysost, ed. Dind. 2, 60.
+
+[89] Pausan. 5, 27, 3.
+
+[90] "Anab." 7, 11, 8.
+
+[91] _E.g._ the bas-relief on Mount Behistun in the winged victory,
+which refers to the battle between Vardanes and Gotarzes, between 40 and
+50 A.D. [Cf. Rawlinson, "Sixth Monarchy," p. 389, where a sketch of the
+relief is given.]
+
+[92] Poseidonius in Strabo, p. 515; Justin, 42,1.
+
+[93] Herodian, 4, 30.
+
+[94] Plut. "Crassus," c. 29; "Anton." c. 47; Joseph. "Antiq." 18, 9, 3;
+Justin (12, 3), and Horace ("Ep." 1,2, 112), are of another opinion in
+regard to the latter point.
+
+[95] Above, p. 26. Arrian, "Parth." 2, ed. M�ller; Eunap. p. 222.
+
+[96] Al Biruni in Droyson, "Hellenismus," 3^2, 372.
+
+[97] Vologeses I. reigned 50-80 A.D.; Vologeses II. 130-149 A.D.;
+Vologeses III. and IV. 149-208 A.D.; the son of the fourth, also
+Vologeses, reigned beside Artabanus IV.
+
+[98] Joseph. "Ant." 18, 9, 1; "Bell. Jud." Prooem. 1, 2; Ammian.
+Marcell. 23, 6.
+
+[99] Ammian. Marcell. 17, 5.
+
+[100] N�ldeke, "Tabari." s. 437.
+
+[101] De Sacy, "Memoires de l'institut Cl. Hist." 2, 162-242.
+[Rawlinson, "Seventh Monarchy," p. 70, 606.]
+
+[102] Rawlinson, _loc. cit._ p. 602, 607, 92 ff.
+
+[103] Agathias, 2, 26.
+
+[104] Sozomen, "H. Eccl." 2, 10, 12.
+
+[105] Menandri Protect. fragm. 11, ed. M�ller.
+
+[106] [Cf. Rawlinson, "Seventh Monarchy," p. 96 ff.]
+
+[107] Spiegel, Avesta, 3, 214, 218, 219, 227.
+
+[108] Above, p. 17. On the date of these translations, Haug,
+"Pahlavi-Pazand Glossary," p. 147.
+
+[109] Quatrein�re, "Journal des Savants," 1840, p. 412.
+
+[110] Haug, "Pahlavi-Pazand Glossary," p. 120 ff.; 128 ff. West,
+"Pahlavi Texts," part 1. Introd. � 2.
+
+[111] Lepsius, "Zendalphabet, Abh. B. Akad." 1862, s. 338; Lenormant,
+"Sur l'alphabet Pehlevi Journ. Asiat. 1^{er}." 6, 6, 180 ff.; Levy,
+"Beitr�ge Z. D. M. G.", 21, 459 ff. From Ardeshir down to Narses, _i.e._
+from 226 to 302 A.D., the writing on the coins agrees with the West
+Pehlevi of the monuments of the Sassanids. From 302 to 600 A.D. the
+character on the coins is different. From 600 the writing on the coins
+agrees with the MSS. of the Parsees; Mordtmann, "Z. D. M. G." 8, 12 ff.
+
+[112] Lepsius, _loc. cit._ s. 306.
+
+[113] Westergaard, "Avesta," 1, 4 ff.
+
+[114] That the author or authors of the Bundehesh,--for the work
+consists of a collection of fragments of various character,--had before
+them larger remains of the Avesta, or a commentary which included more
+than our fragments, may be conceded. The composition of the work cannot
+be placed before the time of the Arabs, for the whole period of the
+Sassanid empire is given, and even on an extended scale (p. 82), mention
+is made of the empire of the Arabs, and Arabian words occur. Cf. Justi,
+"Bundehesh," p. ix. ff; cf. below, p. 73. [West, "Pahlavi Texts," 1,
+Introd. p. xci. ff].
+
+[115] On the Aramean sketch of the dialectic of Aristotle which was
+written for Ohoeru, cf. Renan, "Journ. Asiat." 1852, p. 311.
+
+[116] [Cf. Rawlinson, _loc. cit._ 448 ff.; 342 ff.]
+
+[117] "Sharastani," by Haarbr�cker, 2, 284. The son of Mihr Narses is
+called Zarvandadh.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+ZARATHRUSTRA AND THE DATE OF THE COMPOSITION OF THE AVESTA.[118]
+
+
+The examination of the difficult questions, whether, from what period,
+and to what extent, the Avesta was known in Western Iran before the time
+of Alexander, when the book came into existence, whether its contents
+have come down uninjured from an ancient period, or whether it underwent
+alterations in the time of the Parthians and the Sassanids, will be best
+opened by collecting and testing the accounts which have been preserved
+in the West about Zarathrustra and his work. Herodotus does not mention
+him, but Xanthus the Lydian is said to have spoken of him, before the
+date of Herodotus. Plato describes Zoroaster as the founder of the
+doctrine of the Magians, and calls him a son of Oromazes.[119] With
+Hermodorus, a pupil of Plato, Zoroaster is a Persian, the first
+Magian.[120] Deinon concludes from the name that he was a worshipper of
+the stars. Hermippus of Smyrna speaks of him as a Bactrian, and is said
+to have described him as a pupil of Azonakes (or Agonakes).[121]
+Diodorus informs us that Zoroaster gave out among the Arians that the
+good spirit had revealed to him the laws which he published.[122] Trogus
+Pompeius relates that Ninus finally carried on war with Zoroaster the
+king of the Bactrians, who discovered the art of the Magians, and
+inquired accurately into the primal forces of the world, and the
+movements of the stars; he was slain by Ninus.[123] Pliny observes that
+Zoroaster, the founder of the doctrine of the Magians, smiled on the day
+of his birth, and beat his head vigorously as a symbol of his wisdom;
+for thirty years he lived in the desert on cheese. Plutarch's account is
+that Zoroaster took no other food or drink all his life but milk, and
+like Lycurgus and Numa, he associated with the Divine Being.[124] Dio
+Chrysostom tells us that Zoroaster from his love for wisdom and justice
+lived remote from men in solitude on a mountain, which had been kindled
+by fire from above, and burned continuously, and when the king
+approached the mountain with his leading men to offer prayer to the god,
+Zoroaster came unharmed out of the fire, and bade them offer sacrifice
+for the god had visited the place. After this Zoroaster did not
+associate with all men, but only with those who were most adapted to
+receive the truth and converse with the god, whom the Persians called
+Magians, _i.e._ those who have skill to serve the Divine Being.[125]
+Kephalion asserted that Zoroaster the Magian, the king of the Bactrians,
+fought with Semiramis and was vanquished by her.[126] Theon of
+Alexandria also speaks of the conflict between Semiramis and the
+Bactrian Zoroaster. Arnobius is aware of the battle of Ninus with
+Zoroaster and the Bactrians,[127] and in Eusebius Zoroaster, the Magian,
+the king of the Bactrians, fights against Ninus.[128] According to the
+treatise of Eubulus of Athens on Mithras, Porphyrius related that
+Zoroaster had consecrated a natural cave, in which were flowers and
+springs, in the neighbouring mountains of Persia, in honour of Mithra,
+the creator and father of all, and since that time the favour of the god
+had been sought in a cave.[129] Ammianus Marcellinus calls Zoroaster a
+Bactrian, and tells us that Hystaspes, the father of Darius, spread
+abroad the doctrine of the Magians.[130] Agathias remarks that the
+Persians of his time asserted that Zoroaster, or Zaradus, as they called
+him, who gave them their religious doctrine and law, the son of
+Oromasdes, lived at the time of Hystaspes; but they made the assertion
+in such a manner that no man knew whether this Hystaspes was the father
+of Darius or some other of the name. But whatever the date of his life,
+he changed the earlier forms of worship, and was the discoverer of the
+doctrine of the Magians.[131] Suidas distinguishes between the
+Perso-Mede Zoroaster, the chief of the Magians, and the astronomer of
+the same name, an Assyrian, who lived at the time of Ninus.[132] In
+Syncellus, Zoroaster is the first of the eight Median kings, who,
+according to the statement of Berosus, reigned over Babylonia from 2458
+to 2224 B.C.[133]
+
+These statements do not amount to much. Yet we find the tradition
+maintained from the pupils of Plato down to Agathias, that Zoroaster
+founded the doctrine of the Magians; Diodorus, Plutarch, and Dio mention
+the intercourse of Zoroaster with the good spirit or the deity.
+Diodorus calls him an Arian, _i.e._ an inhabitant of Eastern Iran.
+Hermippus, Trogus Pompeius, Kephalion, Theon, Arnobius, and Eusebius
+speak of him as a Bactrian, and the king of the Bactrians, and represent
+him as fighting with Ninus or Semiramis, which is also asserted by Moses
+of Khorene.[134] Hence in the last two centuries B.C. it must have been
+known in the West that Zoroaster belonged to the East of Iran, and thus
+he was brought into connection with the most prominent fact known in the
+history of Bactria, the contest of the Bactrians against Ninus and
+Semiramis. This story, as we said, comes from the Medo-Persian Epos, and
+moreover the Epos did not authorise this connection of Ninus and
+Zoroaster. The opponent of Ninus, who reigned over Bactria, was,
+according to Diodorus, Oxyartes or Exaortes (p. 20). The fact that
+Zoroaster was the most important name in the antiquity of Iran among
+western nations obviously induced Syncellus to put him at the head of
+the supposed ancient Median dynasty. If Zoroaster, as Pliny and Plutarch
+think, lived only on milk and cheese, and passed thirty years in the
+wilderness, these are merely traits taken from the lives of the Brahman
+ascetics. The story in Dio Chrysostom, that Zoroaster came unharmed from
+the fire, and the opposite statements of the Chronicle of Alexandria and
+of Suidas, that he brought down fire from heaven and was consumed by it,
+or struck by lightning, contain traits which have obviously sprung from
+the importance which the doctrine of Zoroaster and the Magians ascribe
+to the worship of fire, and from the division between the fire of
+lightning and earthly fire, of which we shall speak below. The narrative
+of Eubulus is founded on the mysteries of Mithra, which came into the
+West in the first century B.C.[135] These mysteries are due to the
+confusion of the Mithra of the Iranians with the sun-god of the Syrians;
+the myst� were consecrated in caves, or in places called caves, and
+there underwent their probation. As the god of light and the soul Mithra
+slays in the cave, that is in the world of gloom and matter, the bull
+which is the symbol of matter, as opposed to light, in its creative
+power, and conveys the soul, the side of man akin to light, out of the
+gloom of matter through the heaven of the fixed stars, and then through
+the heaven of the planets, to the light.[136] Ammianus Marcellinus and
+Agathias have better information about Zoroaster. They are aware that he
+stands in some relation to Hystaspes. Ammianus, though he expressly
+describes Zoroaster as a Bactrian, puts Hystaspes the well-known father
+of Darius, as the supporter of the doctrine of the Magians, in the place
+of the Vista�pa of the Avesta, who opens a wide path for the teaching of
+Zoroaster; Agathias, on the other hand, expresses himself with greater
+circumspectness; he cannot decide whether the father of Darius or some
+other Hystaspes is meant.
+
+The result is this: Before the time of Alexander of Macedon, at the
+latest in the first half of the fourth century B.C., the Greeks were
+aware that Zoroaster had founded the doctrine of the Magians; in the
+last centuries B.C. and onwards it was known that he belonged to Bactria
+and Eastern Iran; but it was not till the fourth century A.D. that he
+was known to have lived under king Hystaspes; at any rate we have no
+older evidence on this point.
+
+Much more recent in date, and of far less value, is the information
+derived from the East, with the exception of the Avesta, on
+Zarathrustra. It does not go back beyond the period of the Arabian
+empire over Iran. The Bundehesh, written in this period (p. 65, _n._ 3),
+contains a genealogy, which carries Zarathrustra's origin beyond
+Pourusha�pa and Haechata�pa, from whom, according to the Avesta, he was
+sprung (p. 38), through twelve generations to Manuschithra (Minocher).
+In the Avesta, the soul of the pure Manuschithra, the son of Airyu, is
+invoked;[137] it has been observed above that the national genealogy in
+Iran placed Thraetaona, and not Manu, at the head; Airyu, the son of
+Thraetaona, was the proper progenitor of the Airyas. With the name
+Manuschithra, _i.e._ scion of Manu, who is now the son of Airyu, this
+table passed back into the old Arian conception of the father Manu (p.
+44). In the Avesta, Zarathrustra is connected by his father, the fourth
+sacrificer of the Haoma, with the old sacrificers; and by deriving his
+family from Manuschithra the Bundehesh places him in the closest
+relation to the progenitors of the Airyas. For the rest this book has
+little to say about the life of Zoroaster. It informs us that the house
+of Pourusha�pa lay on a hill on the river Daraja, a river which we
+cannot identify;[138] the Bundehesh places it in Airyana Vaeja
+(Airanvij), in a district which we must place in the high region of the
+Hindu Kush, on the sources of the Oxus (p. 31, _n_. 2), though the
+Bundehesh informs us that "it lay by the side of Atropatene." According
+to another passage in the book, Airyana Vaeja lay near the garden of
+Yima and Cashmere. In a third passage the garden of Yima, which we are
+compelled by unmistakable indications in the Avesta, to seek on the
+divine mountain, lies in the centre of Iran, under Mount Damkan.[139]
+Atropatene, as a name for the Alpine land in the north-west of Iran (now
+Aderbeijan), came into use in the time of the Greek empire; at any rate
+we cannot trace it earlier.[140] _Athrapaiti_ means "lord of fire";
+_athrapata_, "one protected by fire"; in the remote mountains of this
+district the old fire-worship was preserved with peculiar zeal under the
+Seleucids; from the time of Ardeshir the Sassanids venerated the
+fire-temple Adar Gu�asp (near Takht-i-Soliman), which lay in this
+region, above all others, and this was the reason why in the time of the
+Arabs it was thought that Airyana Vaeja must be sought there.[141] In
+any case it is impossible, out of regard to the Bundehesh and even later
+statements of the Moslem period, to place Zarathrustra in the north-west
+of Iran in order to represent him as a foreigner, reforming the religion
+of the north-east, when the Avesta, which distinctly places him in the
+east and puts him among the sacrificers and heroes of the east and
+rulers of Bactria, together with the older and more important evidence
+of the West, is on the opposite side.
+
+The "Book of Zartusht," one of the most recent books of the Parsees (it
+dates from the thirteenth century of our era), can only tell us of the
+marvellous preservation of Zarathrustra and the miracles which he
+wrought. The first miracle recorded in it is the fact that Zoroaster
+smiled at his birth. But the wicked king Duransarun sought to murder the
+newly-born child in his cradle. His arm is paralysed, and he cannot
+strike the blow home. Then the evil spirits steal the child, kindle a
+great fire in the desert, and throw him into it. But he sleeps
+peacefully in the fire, and his mother recovers him without injury. A
+herd of cattle are about to trample him on a narrow path, when the
+largest one stands over and protects him, till the herd have passed by.
+In a similar manner he is preserved when a pair of wild horses are
+driven over him. Even the wolves will not eat him. When he has reached
+his thirtieth year these trials are over, and Zarathrustra emigrates
+with his followers. On reaching Iran the good spirit Vohu mano appeared
+and conducted him to Auramazda. He had to pass over a fiery mountain,
+but the fire did not singe a hair; molten metal was poured on his
+breast, and he felt it not; his entrails were removed and then replaced
+without injury to him. Auramazda gave him the Avesta and commanded him
+to go to king Vista�pa (now Kai Gushta�p) to Balkh, and proclaim it to
+him. In Balkh Zoroaster overcame the sages of the king in argument, but
+they maligned him before their master as a wizard, and he was put in
+prison. Then the feet of the king's horse were drawn up into its belly,
+and the king bade Zarathrustra heal his horse. He required the king to
+believe in him and his doctrine; and when the king had acknowledged the
+new faith, one of the horse's feet was restored to it. Zarathrustra
+further demanded that Vista�pa's son �pentodata (Isfendyar) should
+consecrate himself to the defence of the new faith, that the king's
+consort should adopt the law, and those who maligned him should be
+punished. When these three requests had been complied with, the horse
+recovered all its four feet. After this Vista�pa did nothing without the
+advice of Zarathrustra, and built fire-altars and fire-temples. And
+Zarathrustra showed the king the place he would one day occupy in
+heaven, and made �pentodata invulnerable.[142]
+
+Hence from the Bundehesh we obtain no more than the genealogical tree of
+Zarathrustra, which though characteristic for the place allotted to him,
+is without historical value; and from the Zartusht Nameh, Sharastani,
+and Mirkhond, which repeat some miracles more or less similar to those
+quoted, we gather nothing beyond certain traits: the smiling at birth,
+the fiery mountain, the preservation of Zarathrustra in the fire, which
+Pliny and Dio Chrysostom had already made known to us, and which belong
+to the ancient tradition of Iran. In the miracles which take place by
+means of oxen and horses, we can merely recognise the ancient and close
+relation of the Arians in Iran to these animals, a relation which has
+already been remarked (p. 46). We might perhaps add that Firdusi
+represents Zarathrustra, whom he puts beside Vista�pa, as having been
+killed at a fire in Balkh when the city was captured by Turanians. The
+intercourse of Zarathrustra with Auramazda was known to Western writers,
+as we saw, at a far earlier date.
+
+If we can hardly glean anything worth notice from these accounts about
+Zarathrustra's life and work, we may perhaps gain some information about
+his date. The evidence of Ammianus Marcellinus and Agathias, when they
+represent him as a contemporary of Hystaspes, in whom we recognise
+Vista�pa of Bactria, carries us no further than the Avesta, which places
+him in the closest relation to this prince (p. 38), because his date is
+equally uncertain. Trogus Pompeius, Kephalion, Theon, and Eusebius make
+Zarathrustra an opponent and therefore a contemporary of Ninus and
+Semiramis. But as neither Semiramis nor Ninus ruled over Asshur, and
+they are to be regarded as the personification of the rise of the power
+and dominion of that country (II. 23), we must substitute for this king
+and queen the ruler or rulers of Asshur of whom it is certain that their
+campaigns reached the east of Iran. We found that so far as we can at
+present judge from the monuments it was only Shalmanesar II. who
+received tribute from the Eastern lands, and that the armies of Tiglath
+Pilesar II. trod the soil of Arachosia (p. 19). If we could assume that
+the contests of Ninus and Semiramis have taken the place of the
+achievements of these rulers in the East of Iran, the date of Vista�pa
+and Zarathrustra would have to be placed between 860 and 740 B.C. But
+this supposition is really without any basis.
+
+The more ancient statements of the Greeks carry us much further back
+than the reasoning of Trogus Pompeius and his successors. If we set
+Pliny aside, who asserts "that the kind of Magism established by
+Zoroaster was many years older than that taught by Moses," Hermippus of
+Smyrna puts Zoroaster 5000 years before the Trojan war. Even before
+Hermippus, Theopompus of Chios, and Hermodorus, the pupil of Plato, had
+ascribed the same date to him. Eudoxus of Cnidus, the contemporary of
+Plato, placed him still higher; he thought that Zoroaster lived 6000
+years before the death of Plato. According to Pliny, Aristotle ascribed
+to him the same antiquity, and, as we learn from Diogenes Laertius,
+maintained that the Magians were older than the Egyptians. And even in
+the fifth century B.C., Xanthus the Lydian is said to have written that
+from the time when Zoroaster lived to the march of Xerxes against Hellas
+a period of 6000 years had elapsed.[143]
+
+Through these statements there runs, beyond all doubt, a system, the
+knowledge of which began in the fifth century B.C. among the Greeks and
+continued beyond the time of Alexander. Whether we take 5000 years
+before the Trojan war, or 6000 years before Plato's death, we are
+equally brought back into the seventh millennium B.C. If the later
+statements of the West, which make Zoroaster a contemporary of Ninus and
+Semiramis, are the results of combining the most prominent name in
+Bactria with the conquest of Bactria by the founder of the Assyrian
+power, as related in the Medo-Persian Epos, the fixing of Zoroaster's
+date so many thousand years previously must have been taken by the
+Greeks from the Persians. In these dates we seem to be dealing with
+certain cyclic periods. We learn from Theopompus of Chios, that
+according to the doctrine of the Magians, one of the two gods Oromazdes
+and Areimanius would reign and the other be subject for 3000 years; for
+another 3000 years they would be in conflict, and one destroy the works
+of the other, until at length Areimanius would succumb and men become
+happy.[144] From this we may with certainty conclude that periods of
+3000 years were in use among the priests of Iran to denote certain
+spaces of time, and that these cycles form the base of the statements of
+the older Greeks, if we can prove the use of such periods in the Avesta
+or in the books of the Parsees.
+
+In the fragments of the Avesta which have come down to us we find
+invocations addressed to the "time without beginning," "the time that
+rules the long periods."[145] But the fact that Yima's reign is fixed
+at 1000 years shows that the priests of Iran reckoned by long periods,
+and other expressions in the Avesta (p. 33) prove that triple
+multiplications were in use,[146] which agrees with the periods given by
+Theopompus. If, therefore, the Greeks of the fifth and fourth century
+B.C. relate that Zarathrustra lived about 6000 years before their time,
+a system must by that time have been current among the priests of Iran
+in which two cycles of 3000 years were supposed to have elapsed since
+the time of the prophet, and the third cycle had commenced. A book of
+the Parsees, the Mainyo-i-Khard, which appears to have been written
+towards the close of the empire of the Sassanids,[147] tells us that
+Angromainyu made a compact with Auramazda for 9000 winters, and when
+these winters were past, Angromainyu would be destroyed, and the
+creation and all creatures would be as Auramazda had made them.[148] The
+Bundehesh also speaks of a similar compact, but divides the years in a
+different manner. All time consists of 12,000 years. In the first 3000
+Auramazda reigned alone with the creatures which he had created in an
+invisible manner; for the first 3000 of the next 9000 everything went
+according to the will of Auramazda; for the second 3000 the will of
+Auramazda was crossed by that of Angromainyu, but for the last 3000
+Angromainyu will be powerless. The Bundehesh goes into yet further
+detail in these matters: in the first 3000 years the heavenly creation
+was secure from attack; in the next 3000 Gayo maretan and the ox,
+_i.e._ the first man and the first bull, came into existence. After
+these 6000 years the enemy arose and slew the first man and the first
+bull. The reign of Yima is placed by the Bundehesh in the first
+millennium of the new period, but this reign extends only to 716 years,
+the first 284 years of the thousand being filled with creatures prior to
+Yima. The second millennium of the period is occupied with the reign of
+Thraetaona, Manuschithra, Kava Kavata, U�a, Hu�rava, and Aurvata�pa, and
+the early part of the reign of Kava Vista�pa, whose thirtieth year
+coincides with the end of the second millennium.[149] At the beginning
+of the third millennium, _i.e._ a thousand years after the death of
+Yima, Zarathrustra appears; and the period of more successful opposition
+to the evil spirits begins. According to the more ancient conception,
+which may still be plainly traced in the Avesta, the world began with
+the happy age of Yima; it is owing to later views formed within priestly
+circles that earlier creatures such as the first man and first bull are
+placed before this period; but it will be shown below that these views
+existed when the Avesta was written down. A later book of the Parsees,
+the Sad-der-Bundehesh, puts the period of the conflict between the good
+and evil deity at 6000 years, and places Zarathrustra exactly in the
+middle of it; he was created 3000 years after the period of Gayo
+maretan, and 3000 years before his own resurrection.[150] Hence it is
+clear that the formation of these cycles rose among the priests of Iran
+from the necessity of limiting the period of the old and new law, and of
+conflict between the good and evil spirits, and the desire to fix the
+date of the more successful repulse of evil which came in with
+Zarathrustra. The abbreviation of the period of Yima shows us that the
+cycles in the Bundehesh do not throughout agree with those of the
+Avesta. But it is sufficient to establish the fact that periods of 3000
+years were in use, and that Zarathrustra appeared at the beginning of a
+new millennium, in order to understand that the Persians could speak to
+the Greeks of millenniums in this sense, and of one or two cycles which
+had elapsed since Zarathrustra's time.
+
+The idea and tendency of such a scheme for the history of the world are
+easily understood: these periods of 3000 years, which can be increased
+or diminished without alteration of the sense, have only a dogmatic
+value. We cannot obtain from them any chronological date for the
+appearance of Zarathrustra, nor can we obtain such a date by the attempt
+to go back from the chronological statements in recent Parsee works to
+the older periods. We may leave unnoticed the assertion in the book of
+Arda Viraf that the true faith had existed in purity for 300 years down
+to the time that Alexander came into Iran (p. 50), which would thus
+bring Zarathrustra into the seventh century B.C. The Bundehesh allows
+460 years for the reigns of the Sassanids, 246 for the Askanids, _i.e._
+the Arsacids, 16 for Alexander, before whom come Darai the son of Darai
+with 14 years, Darai Chirazatan with 12, Huma (a queen) with 30,
+Vohumano with 112, and Vista�pa with 90,--all subsequent to the
+appearance of Zarathrustra.[151] According to this, 996 years elapsed
+between Zarathrustra and the fall of the Sassanids, and he would thus,
+if we reckon from the battle of Nahavend (640 A.D.), be placed in the
+year 356 B.C., in the reign of Artaxerxes Ochus. But even if we alter
+the incorrect items in the text of the Bundehesh in accordance with our
+better knowledge, we do not arrive at any result which is even
+apparently certain. The dominion of the Sassanids, down to the date of
+the battle, did not last 460 but only 414 years; on the other hand, the
+Arsacids reigned for 476 years, not for 264.[152] The empire of
+Alexander, if we add the reigns of the Seleucid� to his own, occupied 80
+years instead of 14, and if in the place of the 26 years of the two
+Darais of the Bundehesh, who represent the kingdom of the ancient
+Ach�menids, we put the old Persian kingdom with 229 years, and add to
+these items the numbers given in the Bundehesh for Huma, Vohumano, and
+Vista�pa, after the appearance of Zarathrustra, which amount to 232
+years, Zarathrustra would have commenced his work 1431 years before the
+battle of Nahavend, _i.e._ in the year 791 B.C. But who can guarantee
+that Cyrus, the Persian, overthrew the empire of the Medes in the year
+when Huma, the supposed daughter of Vohumano, died; or that Huma reigned
+for 30 years? How could Vohumano, the grandson of Vista�pa, and son of
+�pentodata (p. 38), have reigned 112 years, and Vista�pa himself 90
+years after the appearance of Zarathrustra? Huma is not merely a
+doubtful person, she is altogether fictitious. She is said to have been
+the mother of Darai Chirazatan, _i.e._ Darius I., and to have been
+called Shamirain, _i.e._ Semiramis, but her brother was the first
+Sassan, the ancestor of the Sassanids. As the later Arabs and Persians,
+including Firdousi, are no better informed,[153] we see clearly that the
+remembrance of the Ach�menids had almost entirely died out at the time
+when these writings were composed; only the name of Darius remained,
+and an attempt was made to connect this name with Vista�pa by two
+fictitious names, Vohumano, _i.e._ the good spirit, and Huma. Besides
+Vista�pa's son �pentodata (Isfendyar) and Hutao�a, the wife of Vista�pa,
+the Avesta mentions a woman, "the pure Huma,"[154] out of whom this
+queen must have been formed. It is clear that the tradition of the East,
+like the Avesta, broke off in the generation after Vista�pa, and that in
+the Arabian period only the names Darai and Iskander could be placed
+between Vista�pa and the Arsacids.
+
+We must attempt to reach the goal by another path. I have already shown
+what was the condition of the sacred scriptures in Iran at the date of
+Alexander and the Seleucids (p. 55). Even before Hermippus of Smyrna,
+Aristotle had taught that the Magians considered that to be the best in
+the first instance which was first created, and maintained two
+principles, a good and evil deity, Oromazdes and Areimanius.[155]
+Theopompus mentioned both these deities and the strife between them, and
+when he adds that there would one day be a time when the dead would rise
+again, and men would be immortal and able to withstand everything by
+their prayers--that after the victory of Oromazdes men would be happy
+and need no longer any sustenance, and would cast no shadow[156]--it
+will be seen below how definitely and exactly the doctrine of the Avesta
+is here reproduced. Hermodorus mentions a series of teachers, who
+succeeded the first teacher of the Magians, the "Persian Zoroaster,"
+down to the campaign of Alexander of Macedon.[157] With Eudoxus of
+Cnidus Zoroaster was the founder of the most beneficent wisdom; the
+pupils of Prodicus claimed to be acquainted with the writings of
+Zoroaster (p. 53). Plato calls him the son of Oromazdes, and adds that
+the heir to the throne was instructed in Magism as well as in the duty
+of being true during the whole of his life.[158] The importance which
+the Avesta ascribes to truthfulness will become clear hereafter. If the
+Greeks of the fourth century could speak of Zoroaster as the teacher of
+the Persians, and put him in the closest relation with Auramazda, if
+they could reproduce correctly the names of the good and evil spirits
+and the main doctrines of the Avesta, it is an inevitable conclusion
+that the religion of Zarathrustra must have prevailed in the kingdom of
+the Ach�menids.
+
+This result is confirmed by all the further information which we obtain
+from the Greeks. In Plutarch the last Darius calls on an eunuch, "to
+tell the truth in reverence for the great light of Mithra"; the eunuch
+replies that the king has no reason to accuse the evil spirit, and
+entreats "Lord Oromazdes," "that he may cause the light of the king to
+shine again."[159] Artaxerxes II. was informed by his mother Parysatis
+that the Persians had received the law which distinguished good and evil
+from god. He swears "by Mithra," and Plutarch tells us how some related
+that when Darius, the eldest son of Artaxerxes, who sought his life, was
+slain, Artaxerxes went into the court of the palace and cried aloud to
+the Persians: "Rejoice, ye Persians, and tell it to others, that the
+great Oromazdes has executed judgment on those who imagined crime and
+wickedness."[160] In Plutarch, Artaxerxes I. says to Themistocles: "May
+Areimanius ever implant such a disposition in my enemies that they may
+drive from themselves their best and bravest men."[161] According to
+Deinon the Magians prophesied with branches in their hands, sacrificed
+under the open sky, and looked on fire and water as the only symbols of
+the divinity.[162] Xenophon represents Cyrus as praising the gods and
+sacrificing to them every morning according to the instructions of the
+Magians.[163] Though Herodotus does not mention either the name of
+Zarathrustra or of Auramazda, what he says of the rites of the Medes and
+Persians agrees exactly with the rules given in the Avesta. "Temples,
+images, and altars," he says, "are not erected by the Persians, because,
+as it seems to me, they do not believe like the Hellenes that the gods
+have the form and nature of men. They call the whole circle of heaven
+Zeus, and offer sacrifice to him after ascending the summits of
+mountains. Besides Zeus they have from ancient days sacrificed to the
+sun, the moon, the earth, water, winds, and fire, which among the
+Persians is a deity:[164] the winds they also charm by songs. When
+offering sacrifice they build no altar and kindle no fire, nor pour
+libations, nor make any use of flutes, or cakes, or barley meal. If any
+one wishes to offer sacrifice he brings the victim to an open space, and
+calls on the god, after crowning his tiara with branches of myrtle.
+After cutting the animal in pieces, and cooking the flesh, he spreads
+out the most delicate grass, chiefly trefoil, and lays the flesh upon
+it. The Magian who stands by sings the theogony over it, for such,
+according to the Persians, is the nature of the prayer. After some time,
+the person who has made the sacrifice carries the flesh away and uses it
+for a feast. The Magians, in whose control is the worship by sacrifice,
+make it a great object to kill ants, serpents, and other creeping winged
+things: dogs and men only do they spare. No Persian may pollute a river,
+nor even wash in it, nor will they allow any one else to do so, for they
+have a great reverence for rivers. The bodies of the dead may not be
+burned; it is said indeed that the corpse of a Persian cannot be buried
+till it has been torn by a dog or a bird, and among the Magians this is
+an acknowledged practice. It is a meritorious act among the Persians to
+have many children, and he who can show the most receives gifts each
+year from the king. Each man celebrates the day on which he was born
+above all other days. What may not be done, may not be spoken of amongst
+the Persians: the most shameful action is lying, and the next to this is
+borrowing, for the reason that a man who has debts is generally
+compelled to lie. Any one afflicted by the itch or the leprosy may not
+come into the cities or mix with other Persians; and it is believed that
+such persons have sinned against the sun-god. Lepers from foreign lands
+are driven out of the country." When Xerxes came to the Hellespont, and
+was about to cross the bridge, Herodotus represents him as praying to
+the sun-god, pouring libations from a golden cup, and throwing it with a
+golden goblet and a Persian sword into the sea.[165] We shall see
+hereafter to what a degree the killing of noxious animals, the reverence
+for rivers, the expulsion of lepers, the delight in life and the
+increase of life, the exposing of dead bodies, and singing of the
+theogony at sacrifices, correspond to the rules and doctrines of the
+Avesta. In one point only is Herodotus mistaken: he states that the
+Persians worshipped a female deity called Mithra.
+
+From this array of witnesses belonging to the West it follows that the
+doctrines of the Avesta, and the religion of Zarathrustra, were current
+among the Persians and in Western Iran at any rate after the beginning
+of the fifth century B.C., and they must therefore have been in
+existence in Eastern Iran at a still earlier date. The inscriptions of
+the Ach�menids prove that the doctrine of the Avesta was maintained
+among the Persians with even greater clearness and for a period more
+ancient. Artaxerxes Ochus prays to Auramazda, Anahita, and Mithra for
+their protection, and in like manner Artaxerxes Mnemon prays to
+Auramazda and Mithra. In the inscriptions on Mount Behistun, Darius I.,
+the son of Hystaspes, styles Auramazda "the greatest of the gods"
+(_mathista baganam_). Besides Auramazda, "the rest of the gods" are
+repeatedly mentioned, and denoted by the name Baga. Of Auramazda, Darius
+and Xerxes say in their inscriptions: "A great god is Auramazda; he has
+created the heaven and the earth; he has created man and all that is
+good for men." After crushing in the beginning of his reign the
+rebellion of nearly all the lands which Cyrus had reduced, Darius
+repeatedly records his thanks: "that Auramazda had granted him
+assistance; that his army had been victorious by the grace of
+Auramazda." He and his successors acknowledge that they have received
+their throne and their kingdom from Auramazda; by his grace they are
+kings.[166] The reason why Auramazda has assisted him Darius finds in
+the fact that he has not been a "liar," and has committed no sin. He
+entreats Auramazda to protect the land against the invasion of hostile
+armies, against blight, and "the lie" (_drauga_). He asserts that "the
+lie" caused the provinces which had revolted to be rebellious, and
+declares that the land of Persia, which Auramazda has granted to him,
+which is beautiful, rich in horses, and well populated, has no fear of
+enemies owing to Auramazda's grace, and his own. He commends his
+inscription at Behistun to the protection of his successors, with the
+words: "If thou destroyest not this tablet then may Auramazda be thy
+friend; may thy descendants be numerous, and thy life be long, and
+whatsoever thou undertakest, may Auramazda cause it to succeed. But if
+thou destroyest it, may Auramazda smite thee, and thy house perish; and
+whatever thou doest, may Auramazda render it of no effect."[167] On his
+tomb Darius says: "What I have done I have done by the grace of
+Auramazda. O man, this is the prayer of Auramazda; think no evil, leave
+not the right way, sin not." The inscriptions of Xerxes regularly end
+with the invocation: "May Auramazda protect me, with all the gods; me,
+my kingdom, and my work."
+
+As we shall see, the fundamental principle of the religion of
+Zarathrustra is that a supreme god stands over all gods, and to him is
+ascribed the work of creation. In entire belief in the power of this
+supreme deity, whom the Ach�menids invoke by the name which is given to
+him in the Avesta, "who has created heaven and earth and all that is
+good for men," Darius ascribes to Auramazda victory in battles, the
+power of granting or refusing success to the king's undertakings, of
+protecting the land against hostile invasions, blight, and lies. To
+those who live according to his commands he grants long life and
+numerous descendants. The rebellion of the provinces is with Darius the
+work of the lie, the lie of him who had given himself out to be the son
+of Cyrus, and the lie of those who had claimed to be the descendants of
+Nebuchadnezzar and Cyaxares. We have already observed what "the lie"
+meant in the Avesta. In the same spirit--the spirit of the principal
+rules of the Avesta--Darius adjures his Persians to think no evil, and
+not to leave the right path.
+
+Nicolaus of Damascus assures us that the Persians were acquainted with
+the sayings of Zoroaster. He and others relate that Cyrus or his father
+was called Atradates, _i.e._ given by fire,[168] and that he had given
+to the Areians (p. 11), who provided his famished army with sustenance,
+the honourable title of Orosangians, i.e. _Huverez�nha_ (benefactors).
+It is in harmony with the doctrine of the Avesta that Cyrus should be
+represented by such a descent or name as the gift and nursling of fire,
+and we shall see with what emphasis the Avesta marks and distinguishes
+good thoughts, words, and actions. From these facts and the inscriptions
+of Darius there can be no doubt that Zarathrustra's doctrine was current
+among the Persians at the time of Cyrus. But if it was in force in the
+West of Iran in the sixth century B.C. the fact that Herodotus, in his
+account of the period during which the Medes obtained the dominion, down
+to the time of Cyrus, speaks of no change in religion, either among the
+Persians or the Medes, is evidence that this religion existed at any
+rate before the time of Phraortes. The statement found in Herodotus that
+Deioces had forbidden any one to spit in his presence, reminds us of the
+rules of the Avesta, by which no one was allowed to approach the sacred
+fire and gods with uncovered mouth, and on the sculptures of Persepolis
+the bearer of the fan stands with covered mouth beside Darius. The
+seven walls which Herodotus represents Deioces as building round
+Ecbatana, the seven tribes of the Persians, remind us of the seven
+girdles of the earth in the Avesta; the king of the Persians surrounded
+by the six tribal princes is the symbol of Auramazda and the six gods
+who are about him.
+
+Hence we may assume that the doctrine of Zarathrustra had reached the
+West of Iran at the time when Phraortes united the tribes of the Medes
+(about 650 B.C.), and was known among the Medes when they were still
+living under their tribal chiefs and paid tribute to Asshur, or, in case
+of refusal, were attacked by the Assyrian armies, which, as we
+ascertained from the inscriptions of the kings of Asshur, was the case
+from the time of Tiglath Pilesar II. to the time of Assurbanipal, _i.e._
+from the middle of the eighth to the middle of the seventh century B.C.
+A statement in Herodotus seems to lead us still further back. He calls
+the Magians a race or tribe of the Medes. According to his narrative
+this tribe was in existence in the time of Deioces, _i.e._ about the
+year 700 B.C. Herodotus could only speak of the Magians as a tribe or
+family when they had become an hereditary order. At that time,
+therefore, there must have been among the Medes a priesthood who
+perpetuated in their families their worship by sacrifice, their doctrine
+and wisdom, as well as their social importance. Like all Greeks,
+Herodotus ascribes the discharge of the religious functions among the
+Persians and Medes to the Magians, and we find that what Herodotus
+quotes of their rites agrees with the rules of the Avesta. The rise and
+separation of a peculiar order of priests, their more or less sharply
+marked distinction from the remaining orders, can never be the work of a
+short space of time, and such separation can only take place when the
+worship of the gods requires a knowledge which is not easily accessible
+or obtainable, when doctrine has obtained a place by the side of belief,
+when ritual has become developed, and particular duties and rules are
+prescribed for the life of the priests. When the worship of the gods
+requires the use of long and definite prayers, the knowledge of
+complicated usages, on which depends the effect of the sacrifices, and
+the observation of numerous rules of purification,--such knowledge is
+only perpetuated in families of hierophants or priests, or in schools
+which take the place of such families. The formation of a distinct
+hereditary order on such grounds can hardly have occupied less than a
+century from the time when the doctrine, on which it is formed, was
+introduced. Hence we may assume that the doctrine known as
+Zarathrustra's reached the Medes before the year 750 B.C., _i.e._ before
+the date of Tiglath Pilesar II. of Assyria.
+
+Let us hold firmly to the facts that the worship of Auramazda was
+current among the Persians about the middle of the sixth century B.C.,
+that the same worship was in force among the Medes at least a century
+earlier, about 650 B.C., and that if an hereditary priesthood was in
+existence about this time among the Medes who performed and conducted
+the worship, the doctrine which this priesthood represented must have
+been adopted before the year 750 B.C. In this way we obtain a proof that
+the doctrine of Zarathrustra was not only in existence in the East of
+Iran about the year 800 B.C., but was the dominant creed there, and had
+force enough to penetrate to the West, and win over the neighbouring
+tribes of the Medes and Persians.
+
+We cannot explain more exactly how the doctrine of Zarathrustra reached
+the nations of the West of Iran. Pliny, it is true, exclaims: "Who knows
+the Medes, who were taught by Zoroaster, Apusorus, and Zaratus, even by
+hearsay, for no memorials of them are left?"[169] According to this the
+religion of Zoroaster spread even in the West by the influence of
+eminent men among the Medes. But the date of the persons mentioned
+cannot be fixed, though Porphyry represents Pythagoras as going to the
+Chald�ans and Zabratus, by whom he was purified from the evil of his
+former life, and instructed as to the things from which the disciple
+should restrain himself, and about the nature and beginning of all
+things,[170] and this Zaratus or Zabratus may be intended for
+Zarathrustra himself. Hermodorus tells us that Zarathrustra had been
+followed by many Magians as teachers, one after the other, down to the
+time when Alexander marched against Persia: these teachers were
+Osthanes, Astrampsychus, Gobryas, and Pazates.[171] Others also assert
+that Zoroaster was followed "by Osthanes and Astrampsychus."[172] Pliny
+observes that so far as he could discover, Osthanes who accompanied
+Xerxes in the war against the Hellenes, was the first who had written on
+the doctrine of the Magians. The second Osthanes, whom Alexander had
+received among his followers, had caused this religion to be of great
+importance. From the work of one of these two persons, Philo of Byblus
+quotes a passage--the work he calls the Octateuch--and Pliny notes down
+apparently some of the doctrines of the first Osthanes. If then there
+were men under the Ach�menids in the West of Iran who could write on the
+doctrine of Zarathrustra from the beginning of the fifth century B.C.,
+we can without hesitation believe the statement that long before this
+time there were prophets and teachers of the doctrine among the Medes
+and the Persians.
+
+Can we go beyond the result thus gained by our investigation?--that the
+doctrine of Zoroaster flourished in Eastern Iran about 800 B.C., and
+advanced towards the West from this period; may we assume that at this
+date it was already in possession of written monuments, and even that
+the fragments of the Avesta which still remain were in existence then?
+We must first answer the question whether the use of writing in Iran,
+especially in the East, goes back so far.
+
+According to the statements of Herodotus, the West of Iran was not only
+in possession of the art of writing by the year 700 B.C., but made
+considerable use of it. He tells us that Deioces required complaints to
+be sent in to him in writing, and gave out his decisions also in
+writing. If processes at law were conducted in writing in Media about
+the year 700 B.C., it cannot be surprising that Herodotus should also
+inform us that letters passed between Media and Persia about the year
+560 B.C.[173] We learn from the Hebrew Scriptures that when Cyrus
+allowed the Jews, whom Nebuchadnezzar had removed to Babylon, to return
+to their homes, he gave his permission for the restoration of the temple
+in writing. This document was afterwards discovered in the archives of
+Ecbatana.[174] We know it for a fact that Darius I. gave his orders to
+the satraps in writing, and we are acquainted with the seal of Darius by
+which they were authenticated. The oldest inscriptions which have come
+down to us from the Ach�menids, not to mention a seal of Cyrus from
+Senkereh, belong, if not to Cyrus himself, to Darius, and begin about
+the last quarter of the sixth century B.C. It is the cuneiform writing
+of Assyria and Babylon which forms the basis of the writing in these
+inscriptions, but with considerable alterations. The highly complicated
+syllabarium of the Eastern Semites is reduced to a phonetic system; we
+might almost say to an alphabet of about 40 letters. A change of this
+kind can hardly have been made at one stroke. If it was after they
+entered into closer combination with Assyria, _i.e._ after their
+dependence on the king of Asshur, which began with the accession of
+Tiglath Pilesar II. (745 B.C.), that the Medes became acquainted with
+the Assyrian system of writing, this must have been completely mastered
+before it could be abbreviated and altered, as it was altered by the
+Medes, whose changes were adopted by the Persians. The cuneiform writing
+of Western Iran, as we find it in the inscriptions of Darius, can
+therefore hardly have been established before the year 600 B.C. However
+this may be, the facts mentioned prove that the writing of the Assyrians
+in the seventh century B.C. was not unknown in the West of Iran. This
+would therefore have passed into the East of Iran in its original or
+simplified form, either at some earlier period, or when the East came
+under the dominion of the Ach�menids. But it did not, and this is a
+plain proof that the East, when the cuneiform writing of the West came
+in that direction, was already in possession of another kind of writing.
+This Eastern mode of writing, the Arian, which rests on an entirely
+different basis from the cuneiform, is first known to us from coins and
+inscriptions of the third century B.C.; but it certainly would not have
+maintained its ground under the Ach�menids against the writing of the
+West, and of the rulers, magistrates, and dominant nation, unless it had
+been in vigorous use before, this period. We must therefore assume that
+the Arian character was in use in the East of Iran a considerable time
+before the date of Cyrus, and hence we have no reason to deny the
+existence of it in that region in the eighth century B.C., since we must
+allow the neighbouring Arians of India to have been in possession of
+their written characters from the year 800 B.C. at the least (IV. 155).
+
+If we may assume that the Arian character was in use in the East of Iran
+about the year 800 B.C., the prayers and sayings of Zarathrustra might
+have been written down about this date, and the doctrine might have
+passed on to the West supported by written documents. But the fact that
+the prayers might have been written down is in no way a proof that they
+were so written.
+
+It is true that at first sight it seems that the part of the law which
+has come down to us (the Vendidad) leads to the conclusion that it was
+written down long before the Persians gained the dominion over Iran, and
+Media became a powerful state under Cyaxares. The book does not mention
+the name of the Persians or the Medes, of Ecbatana or Persepolis, while
+Bactria is spoken of as the seat of the empire; the most westerly
+district mentioned in the Vendidad is Ragha in Eastern Media.[175] If we
+add that the book reproaches certain districts in the East, the land of
+the Arachoti and others, with deviations from the doctrine of
+Zarathrustra, and that Ragha is indeed Zoroastrian but wavering in its
+fidelity, we may easily conclude that the Vendidad was written when the
+doctrine of Zarathrustra had not as yet thoroughly penetrated the East,
+and was still unknown in the West, when it had just reached, but had not
+yet completely conquered, the district of Ragha. The Medes were still
+dependent on Asshur, living separately according to their tribes,
+Ecbatana was not yet the centre and metropolis of Media, and the kingdom
+of Bactra was still in existence in the East. This points to a date
+about 750 B.C. as the time when this doctrine must have spread widely
+over Media; at any rate to a date before the rise of the Median power,
+_i.e._ before 650 B.C. This conclusion is not, however, absolutely
+certain. The silence of the Vendidad and of the Avesta generally on
+Ecbatana and Persepolis, the Medes and the Persians, can be explained in
+another though a more artificial manner. The nations and chief cities of
+the West were unknown to the tradition of Eastern Iran, and the royal
+abodes of the Medes and Persians were not consecrated by the action of
+Zarathrustra. In the accounts given by the Greeks of the worship of
+these nations, in spite of much agreement, points are found at variance
+with the rules of the Avesta, and as a fact certain distinctions did
+prevail. The doctrine had arisen in the East, and the priesthood there
+was in possession of the purer and more orthodox dogma. If Persia and
+Media did not follow this in all respects, it was convenient to be
+silent about the differences in the time of the Ach�menids, or if any
+one desired to brand them, to mark out the Median Ragha as the seat of
+heresy, rather than Pasargad� or Persepolis. This explanation it is true
+is somewhat far fetched. The result that the religion known by the name
+of Zarathrustra had reached the Medes and Persians by the middle of the
+eighth century B.C. is in no way weakened by it, though the assumption
+that at this period written documents of this doctrine were in
+existence, and that the book of the law of which we have fragments arose
+in the first half of the eighth century B.C., is rendered more doubtful
+if such a mode of interpretation is admitted.
+
+The forms of language preserved in the Avesta have not survived with
+sufficient distinctness to assist us in fixing the time at which it was
+written down. As was shown above (p. 65), the manuscripts date from the
+later period of the Sassanids; they are written in the later
+East-Pehlevi character, and at a time when the old forms must have
+undergone changes owing to the language which had come into use in the
+mean time, and can in fact be proved to have undergone them. The old
+sounds are obviously modified and confounded,[176] so that the language
+of the Avesta, when compared with that of the inscriptions of the
+Ach�menids, exhibits forms less ancient and fixed, and indeed in some
+cases it is more recent than the language of the legends of the
+Gr�co-Bactrian coins (p. 27). Nor can any certain conclusions be drawn
+from the condition of political and social life shown in the Avesta. It
+is only the splendour of regal power in general, the old sacrificers,
+heroes, and kings that are extolled in it; a sacrificial prayer to
+Mithra speaks of the abode of the Arians, where "horse-guiding rulers
+govern noble troops;" for the rest we hear only of lords of villages, of
+tribes or cantons, and provinces, and of three orders into which the
+people are divided. The Vendidad, it is true, reckons by winters and
+nights, not by years and days; the amount of fines and punishments is
+computed in animals, goats, sheep, oxen, horses, or camels; and these
+facts point to an ancient period, but they may have been handed down by
+tradition. We also hear of the value of these animals and of money
+(_shaeta_).[177] This is the less surprising as the Vendidad speaks of
+palaces and pillars and various works of art, and mentions
+smelting-ovens and even ovens for making glass. We found that the Greek
+princes of Bactria struck square coins, which they would not have done
+if this had not been the traditional form in Bactria (p. 28). The
+Ach�menids did not strike coins of this kind, and this shape must
+therefore have come down from a period anterior to them. The frequent
+mention of the physician, on the other hand, ought not to be regarded as
+a proof of later composition, for we hear of the physician and his
+remedies in ancient poems of the Veda (IV. 35).
+
+In regard to the antiquity of the Avesta, then, we can only build upon
+the simple facts that it cannot have been written down for the first
+time when the Buddhists found adherents in Bactria (IV. 542), or when
+the kingdom of the Greek princes arose in Bactria, or when the Seleucid�
+and Alexander, before them, reigned over Iran. It has been proved that
+the Avesta was in existence before Alexander overthrew the kingdom of
+the Ach�menids. The series of the successors of Zarathrustra, which
+western writers could trace backwards from this point--Osthanes II.,
+Pazates, Gobryas, Osthanes I., Astrampsychus, Apusodorus--plainly shows
+that even under the Ach�menids the West was seriously occupied with
+religious questions. As Osthanes I. had written on the doctrine of
+Zoroaster about the time of Xerxes (p. 92), it is at least more probable
+than not that the Avesta was already in existence at that time. If in
+the West there was a series, and as the Greeks point out, a continuous
+series, of priestly teachers, round whom naturally pupils and schools
+grew up, and after the beginning of the fifth century a theological
+literature, similar teachers and schools must have existed long before
+in the East, and this greatly strengthens the conclusion drawn from the
+contents of the Vendidad, that it must have been written down before the
+rise of the Medes. But for any more precise determination of the date of
+the Avesta between the two limits obtained--the year 750 B.C., _i.e._
+the beginning of the formation of a priesthood in the West and the
+contemporary use of writing in the East, and the year 350 B.C.--we are
+confined wholly to internal evidence.
+
+Scriptures of such extent as the Avesta is shown to have been, by the
+accounts of the Greeks and Arabs, and the list of contents (p. 51), and
+the existing fragments, could not have been written down at once or
+within a brief space of time. We saw (p. 33) that it set up a religious
+canon, which not only regulated the doctrine and the worship, the duties
+of priests and laity, but also comprised the law, and in a word all the
+relations of life. A codification of this kind is only possible when
+belief and doctrine, culture and ritual, have arrived at fixed and
+complete formul�, have been arranged in a system and developed, and the
+consequences bearing on life, morality, and law have been drawn from
+them by an active and influential priesthood. Hence before the Avesta
+was written down and collected there must have been a priestly order in
+the East, in the circles of which the doctrine and practice went through
+this developing, revising, and fixing process. Various sketches, lists
+of prayers for certain offerings, collections of rules belonging to this
+or that priesthood or school, must have been in existence, and
+combinations of the traditional material must have been made, before a
+canon comprising the whole wisdom of the priests, and far exceeding in
+extent the law of Manu, could have been compiled.
+
+Among the existing invocations of the Avesta we find sacrificial
+prayers of a primitive character; but the greater part of the prayers
+and thanksgivings are without religious feeling or poetical power, and
+very far removed from the richness and abundance, the beauty and
+freshness of conception, which streams through the majority of the hymns
+of the Veda. There are not wanting _na�ve_ and poetical pieces which
+have obviously been handed down and preserved by their use at
+sacrifices, but these are frequently spoiled by later interpolations,
+and the form of the whole is generally dry and prosaic. We find but
+scanty relics of any vigorous conception of the gods, of a living
+mythology; on the whole the mythical element is faded, and the sacrifice
+of animals thrown into the background. The greater part of the prayers
+receive their value from a certain system and completeness; the object
+is to bring forward all the characteristics of the deity to which they
+are addressed, and to invoke him by all his names. Thus laudations and
+epithets are repeated without end. A good many of the prayers are mere
+nomenclatures, and repeat the same forms in varying order. Besides this
+tendency, which is far removed from the original simplicity of religious
+meditation, a value is ascribed to the repetition of certain prayers.
+Some are to be said a hundred, or a thousand times. In the same way the
+liturgies are long and full of detail, and sometimes take the form of
+responses between the celebrant and the ministering priest; they are
+extremely careful to neglect none of the heavenly spirits or genii, or
+to injure them by omission, or treat them with less respect than others.
+
+Beside the faded colours of the mythology, the decreasing importance of
+animal sacrifice, and the formalism of the prayers, we observe in the
+five Gathas, the invocations which alone have preserved the
+verse-measure, and present older forms of language than the rest, a
+tendency to speculation. Not only are the good and evil spirits combined
+under one head, as is always the case in the Avesta, but the Gathas
+attempt to resolve the contrast of the beneficial and harmful sides of
+nature, of the good and evil spirits, into the reciprocal play of two
+fundamental forces; they identify the prosperity and destruction of
+nature with moral good and evil, and combine the one with truth, the
+other with falsehood. The good spirits are the truth, the evil are the
+lie. The life of appearance and of falsehood is distinguished from the
+true life, and the service of truth promises life not in this world only
+but in the next. It is in harmony with these tendencies to abstraction
+that, according to other passages of the Avesta, heaven is filled with a
+multitude of the most lifeless personifications of ideas and realities.
+Could the doctrine of a new religion in an early period come forward
+with such a spiritualised system, with such elevated moral demands, such
+abstract conceptions? Could prayers of such a kind have been composed or
+written down in a primitive age?
+
+The existing fragment of the book of the law is composed in the form of
+a dialogue, and is for the most part filled with conversations which
+Zarathrustra carries on with Auramazda. Zarathrustra inquires what is to
+be done in certain cases against the evil spirits, the Daevas, on the
+commission of certain sins and impurities. What must be done when a
+woman is in labour, etc., or when any one has made himself impure by
+touching a corpse, or has slain a water-dog (otter)? Is the rain impure
+which has fallen on a corpse and then runs off from it, etc.? These
+questions Auramazda answers very precisely, and when it is a matter for
+expiation and purification, he fixes the number of stripes with the
+horse-whip or the whip of the sacred �raosha (�raosha-charana) which the
+penitent is to receive. It is a theory and practice of purity, on a
+level with the analogous rules in the laws of Manu, and in some points
+even more subtle and casuistical. The offences have already been brought
+under definite categories, and in like manner the purifications and
+punishments fall into a number of distinct classes. Not only are
+expiations required for all sins and prescribed down to the minutest
+details, but the offences must also be repented of; certain formul� of
+confession and repentance are prescribed.
+
+We need not stop to prove that a book of laws in this form could not
+have been written down _� priori_. The rules for punishment and
+purification must have grown up in long practice, before they could be
+put in the mouth of the deity; difficulties and doubts must have been
+weighed before solutions could be proposed. The book contains the
+dialogues and inquiries which were held in the schools of the priests on
+questions of this kind, the practice which prevailed in the schools and
+the catechisation of the pupils. The answer is naturally placed in the
+mouth of Auramazda, for it was the answer which he once gave to the
+question when asked by Zarathrustra. The fragments of the Vendidad are a
+catechism, the result of the labour of the priestly schools, a system of
+rules and regulations which marks and postulates the same stage of
+development for Iran as was reached for the Indians on the Ganges by the
+law of Manu. Many periods in the religious life must have been passed
+through before the religious consciousness was no longer shocked by the
+fact that the supreme deity in person answered petty questions of
+ritual, and dictated in the most exact gradation and with regard to
+every possible variety of circumstance, the number of stripes required
+for the criminals.
+
+This faded mythology and formalised worship, these speculative attempts
+and casuistry of law, are accompanied by a completely-arranged scheme of
+certain abstract categories already established. Throughout the whole
+Avesta runs the division between this world and the next, between the
+corporeal and incorporeal world, truth and falsehood, and the triple
+distinction of thinking, speaking, and acting, of thought, word, and
+deed. And when we further consider that rewards are attached to the
+reading of sections of the Avesta, that the "long study" of the
+"thoughts of the pure man," "the excellent knowledge, thought, and
+conception" are praised and invoked as divine powers, no one will be
+inclined to see in the Avesta the product of _na�ve_ religious feeling,
+or the deposit of a priestly civilisation which is as yet in its early
+stages.
+
+Still, if we wish to avoid making any false steps in the conclusions to
+be drawn from the nature of the Avesta about the time of its
+composition, we must bear in mind that it contains some conceptions
+which are the exact opposite of the characteristics just noticed. The
+myth of Yima, the form of Mithra, the descent of plants, prove older
+traits in the Avesta than we find in the Veda; the old gods still occupy
+a large space beside Auramazda and the abstract forms of heaven, and
+strict unity of system is not yet attained. We must remember also at
+what an early date the neighbours of Eastern Iran, the Arians of India,
+arrived at meditation and abstraction; how quickly and entirely they
+allowed animal sacrifice to pass into the background; with what breadth
+and detail they developed the rules for purification; how numerous were
+the daily prayers and repetitions, before the religious feeling became
+weakened. In the Avesta the time without limit is frequently invoked;
+among the Indians the gods of light are even in the oldest hymns of the
+Veda the sons of Aditi, _i.e._ of the Eternal or the Infinite. And if
+the attitude of the Avesta is for the most part by far more flat and
+prosaic than that of the Veda, the Arians of Iran were of a more logical
+nature, and the glow of imagination which the land of the Ganges kindled
+in their kindred tribes did not exist in Iran. For this reason the
+consideration of the character of the Avesta can only lead us to the
+result that a period of several centuries must have elapsed between the
+rise of the religion named after Zarathrustra and the writing down of
+the Avesta; that lists of prayers and rubrics must have been in
+existence about the year 800 B.C.; that the extensive books which then
+formed the Avesta may have been written in the first half of the period,
+which we ascribed to them, extending from 750 to 350 B.C. In any case we
+can maintain that the Gathas were composed, and that the Avesta existed
+in its essential parts in the East of Iran, before Cyrus put the empire
+of the Persians in the place of the empire of the Medes, and all the
+various parts were collected together before the "Enlightened" began to
+preach on the Ganges, _i.e._ about the year 600 B.C.
+
+We have already remarked the importance which the Ach�menids ascribed to
+the possession of Bactria (p. 23); and we were able at any rate to guess
+at the civilisation of that district about the year 500 B.C., from the
+amount of the tribute imposed upon it by Darius. That the economic
+civilisation was not behind the material was shown by indications in the
+Avesta. The kingdom which grew up there, as we saw (p. 47), long before
+the days of the Medes, and in which about the year 800 B.C. the
+doctrine of Zarathrustra was current, succumbed to Cyrus, the great
+founder of the Persian empire. If we place the beginning of the doctrine
+of Zarathrustra, which first made its appearance there, before the
+middle of the ninth century B.C., at which time the armies of
+Shalmanesar II. reached the East of Iran, and assume that it came
+forward about 1000 B.C., we shall hardly place its rise too high. We
+remember that about this time occurred the great change in the religious
+conceptions of the Arians in India, the repression and degradation of
+the old gods by Brahman. It was an analogous development when the good
+and evil spirits of Bactria were combined into unities, and placed under
+leaders, when the chief of the deities of light was made the creator of
+the heaven and the earth, and surrounded with abstract forms, which
+contest the traditional place and honour of the old god. It is the same
+religious impulse, the desire to grasp the unity of the divine nature,
+the same line of combination that we observed in its beginning and
+progress in India, which comes to the surface in the doctrine of
+Zarathrustra. We have no reason to contest with the Avesta the fact that
+Vista�pa ruled over Bactria when this change took place, or that
+Zarathrustra, a man of the race of Haechata�pa, gave the impulse to the
+reform, and that the leading idea in it belongs to him. If Vista�pa
+ruled over Bactria about the year 1000 B.C. the growth of the Bactrian
+monarchy must be placed at least a century before this time, _i.e._
+about the year 1100 B.C.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[118] [Cf. Darmesteter, "Zend-Avesta," Introduct., c. iv. � 40, and c.
+iii.]
+
+[119] Plato. "Alcib. I." p. 122.
+
+[120] Diog. Laert. prooem.
+
+[121] Plin. "H. N." 80, 2.
+
+[122] 1, 94.
+
+[123] Justin, 1, 1.
+
+[124] "Numa," c. 4; "Quaest. Sympos." 4, 1. [The reading [Greek:
+Z�roastr�n] is doubtful; cf. Wyttenbach.]
+
+[125] Dio Chrys. 2, 60, ed. Dind.
+
+[126] Euseb. "Chron." ed. Auch. p. 43; cf. Georg. Syncell. p. 167.
+[Greek: Batou] after Zoroaster should here be changed into [Greek:
+Baktrou] rather than [Greek: Magou].
+
+[127] Arnob. "Adv. Gent." 1, 5.
+
+[128] Euseb. _loc. cit._ p. 35.
+
+[129] Porphyr. "De antro nymph." c. 6.
+
+[130] Ammian. Marcell. 23, 6.
+
+[131] Agathias, 2, 24.
+
+[132] Suidas, [Greek: Magoi, Z�roastr�s].
+
+[133] Above, p. 17. Georg. Sync. p. 78, 79. Vol. I. p. 241, 247.
+
+[134] Yet with Moses Zoroaster is a Mede, I. p. 87.
+
+[135] Plut. "Pomp." c. 24.
+
+[136] Cf. Von Gutschmid, "Die Sage vom heiligen Georg;" S�chsische
+Gesellschaft d. W., 1861, s. 175.
+
+[137] "Farvardin Yasht," 131.
+
+[138] C. 20 in Justi, [c. 20; � 32 West]; cf. "Vend." 19, 15.
+
+[139] C. 30, cf. above, p. 40. [C. 29, � 14, West.]
+
+[140] Strabo, p. 515, derives it from Atropates, whom Alexander made
+satrap there.
+
+[141] Still less important than the Bundehesh is the gloss on "Vend." 1,
+60. "Many say that Zartusht was from Rak in Atropatan." Ragha is not in
+Atropatene.
+
+[142] Spiegel, "Eran," 1, 684 ff.
+
+[143] Plin. "H. N." 30, 2. Diogen. Laert. prooem. The different readings
+of 500 years in Suidas and 600 in Diogenes, as compared with 5000 and
+6000 in the other MSS., can hardly be maintained against the uniform
+evidence of other witnesses.
+
+[144] Plut. "De Isid." c. 47.
+
+[145] "Vend." 19, 33; Spiegel, "Avesta," 3, 9, 201, 206.
+
+[146] "Ashi Yasht," 17; "Vend." 2, 20 ff.
+
+[147] West, "Mainyo-i-Khard," p. x.
+
+[148] West, _loc. cit._ c. 8.
+
+[149] Justi, "Bundehesh," c. 1, 3, 34. [Cf. West's commentary on c. 34.]
+
+[150] Spiegel, "Eran," 1, 507.
+
+[151] Justi, "Bundehesh," c. 34.
+
+[152] If the rise of Arsaces is put in the year 250 B.C. It makes no
+difference in the total if we choose the year 248 B.C. for the beginning
+of the Arsacids.
+
+[153] Blau, "Z. D. M. G." 18, 686. Von Gutschmid, _ibid._
+
+[154] "Farvardin Yasht," 139.
+
+[155] Aristot. "Metaph." 13, 4. Diogen. Laert. prooem.
+
+[156] Theopom. Fragm. 71, 72, ed. M�ller.
+
+[157] Diogen. Laert. prooem., cf. Suidas, [Greek: Magoi].
+
+[158] "Alcib. I." p. 121.
+
+[159] Plut. "Alex." c. 30.
+
+[160] Plut. "Artax." c. 4, 23, 29.
+
+[161] "Themistocl." c. 28.
+
+[162] Dinon, Fragm. 9, ed. M�ller.
+
+[163] "Cyri Instit." 8, 1, 21.
+
+[164] Herod. 3, 16.
+
+[165] Herod. 1, 101, 131-140; 7, 40, 43, 113, 191; 3, 84.
+
+[166] Inscription of Darius at Elvend in Spiegel, "Keilinscriften," s.
+45, 47.
+
+[167] Behistun, 4, 73-80; 56-61; Persop.
+
+[168] Strabo, p. 719; Nicol. Damasc. fragm. 66, ed. M�ller.
+
+[169] Plin. "H. N." 30, 2; 28, 19.
+
+[170] "Vita Pythag." 12.
+
+[171] Diogen. Laert prooem.
+
+[172] Suidas, [Greek: Magoi].
+
+[173] Herod. 1, 100, 124, 125.
+
+[174] Ezra, c. v., vi.
+
+[175] The Ni�a of the Vendidad is the Eastern Ni�a, Parthorum Nis�a, not
+very far from Merv; above, p. 10, _n._ 1.
+
+[176] Lepsius, "Ueber das ursprungliche Zendalphabet," Abh. B. Akad.
+1862, s. 298, 306, 381.
+
+[177] "Vendid." 4, 120; Astad Yasht, 1.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE GODS OF THE ARIANS IN IRAN.
+
+
+The examination of the traditions of the East and West has simply led to
+the confirmation of the result, which we gain from the Avesta--that the
+name and the doctrine of Zarathrustra belong to Bactria. With regard to
+the antiquity of the doctrine, the inscriptions of Darius and the
+statements of the Greeks allowed us to draw the conclusion that it
+became current and dominant in Bactria about the year 800 B.C.; and from
+the analogy of the development of the Arians on both sides of the Ganges
+we assumed that it was possible to place the date of Zarathrustra
+himself about two centuries earlier. That the Arians of Iran were not
+without gods and religious worship before Zarathrustra, if the fact
+needed proof, might be shown from the statements in the Avesta regarding
+the time previous to Zarathrustra. The examination of the legends of
+this time established kindred forms and traits in the Avesta and the
+Veda, and if, following this path further, we find in the Avesta views
+of the nature and character of the gods corresponding to those of the
+Veda, we might be confident in regarding them as the traditional
+possession of the Arians, and their earliest forms of religion. If, in
+fine, the coincidence of the Avesta with the Veda, on the one hand, and
+with the accounts of the Greeks on the other, extended to all the
+essential points in the doctrine and the law, the question stated
+above--whether in the restoration of the canon of the sacred writings in
+the midst of the fourth century of our era, under king Shapur II., the
+Avesta underwent material alterations, would have to be answered in the
+negative.
+
+The poems of the Veda showed us in what directions the religious feeling
+of the Indians in the Panjab moved. Drought, gloom, and night were
+numbered among the injurious forces; the clear sky, the light, and
+fertilising water were beneficent. The high spirits of light, which gave
+new courage to the heart each morning, and exhibited the world in fresh
+brilliance, were praised with thanksgivings; the spirits of the highest
+heaven, Mitra and Varuna, the guardians of the world, the protectors of
+purity and justice, were invoked earnestly, but less frequently than the
+warlike victorious god who gave water, the god of storm and tempest, who
+defeated the demons which obscured the sky and wished to carry away the
+water (IV. 48). His comrades in the fight were the morning wind which
+drove away the clouds of night, the winds which shattered the gloomy
+clouds, and swept them from the sky. The spirit of fire, who by his
+brilliant glow in the darkness of night kept off the beasts of prey and
+fiends, who gathered men round the hearth, and summoned the gods to the
+sacrifice, and carried up to them the food of the sacrifice, received
+zealous worship in the hymns of the Veda.
+
+We can call to mind the invocations of the Rigveda to Ushas, the goddess
+of the dawn, who drives forth on the sky with red cows; to Surya and
+Savitar, the spirits of the sun (IV. 45, 46). In the Avesta, prayers are
+addressed to Ushahina and Hvare Kshaeta, the bright sun-god. Ushahina
+is here the pure spirit of the celestial dawn, "who is possessed of
+bright horses." Of the sun-god we are told: "Mount, bright sun, with thy
+swift horses, and shine for all creatures on the way which Auramazda has
+created in the air, the way rich in water which the gods have
+created;"[178] just as in the Veda the sun is invoked to approach on his
+ancient firm paths in the air, which are free from dust (IV. 46).
+Sacrifice is offered to the sun, according to the Avesta, when he rises
+above Hara berezaiti (the divine mountain).[179] The prayer to Mithra is
+as follows: "To the mighty Yazata (_i.e._ the worthy of prayer), the
+strong one, who brings good, will I offer sacrifice with libations; I
+will encompass him with songs of thanksgiving. With libations we offer
+sacrifice to Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, who speaketh true
+things, the wise one, comely in shape, of a thousand ears and ten
+thousand eyes, standing on a broad tower, strong, sleepless, and
+watchful, who mounts above Hara berezaiti before the immortal sun, the
+guider of horses--he who first in a form of gold ascends the beautiful
+summits. For him the creator Auramazda has prepared a dwelling above
+Hara berezaiti, where is neither night, nor darkness, nor winds chilling
+nor scorching, nor the corruption of the slain; no filth created of
+demons nor vapours ascend Hara berezaiti. From thence the giver of good
+beholds the abode of the Arians, whose horse-guiding lords govern
+splendid hosts, whose high mountains, rich in water and in pastures,
+supply nourishment for the ox, where are deep lakes with broad streams,
+and wide navigable rivers burst forth in tumult, on Iskata and
+Pourata,[180] on Mouru (Merv), Haraeva (p. 11), and Gao, �ughdha
+(Sogdiana), and Hvairiza (Choaresm). Where first they sacrifice to him,
+there Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, descends with the victorious
+wind. From anguish and pain, O Mithra, carry us, undeceived. Come to us
+for our protection; come to us with joy; come to us with mercy; come to
+us with healing; come to us with purification, the mighty, the strong,
+the all-knowing, the tamer of dragons, the undeceived. Never lulled to
+sleep, Mithra protects with his weapon the creatures of Auramazda. On
+him the lord of the land, of the canton, the village, the house, calls
+for help with uplifted hands, whose voice of woe, whether his voice be
+loud or soft, reaches up to the stars and down to the earth. He to whom
+Mithra is favourable, to him he cometh with aid; but with whomsoever he
+is angry he destroys his house and village and canton and land, and the
+glory of the land. Mithra gives swift horses to those who do not deceive
+him; to the habitation in which he is satisfied he gives troops of
+cattle and men. The fire of Auramazda gives the straightest path to
+those who do not deceive Mithra. But if the lord of the house, the
+village, the canton, the land deceives him, then Mithra in anger
+destroys house and village, canton and land. Not all evil deeds, not all
+deception, are seen by Mithra, saith the wicked man. But Mithra sees all
+that is between heaven and earth. With ten thousand eyes he beholds the
+man who hates and deceives him. His long arms with the might of Mithra
+grasp what is in Eastern India (Hendu), and what is in Western, and what
+is in the midst of this earth. The swiftest deceivers of Mithra do not
+reach the goal; they do not escape on horseback, nor reach the goal in
+chariots.
+
+"Mithra, the lord of lands, whose countenance beams like the star
+Tistrya, travels forth to the right end of the earth from the brilliant
+Garonmana (the abode of the gods), equipped with golden helmet, and
+silver coat of mail, with sharp long-shafted lance and swinging arrow,
+on a beautiful chariot with a golden wheel and silver spokes, which four
+white horses draw, their fore-hoofs shod with gold, their hinder hoofs
+with silver, harnessed in the yoke which is bent over them. In his hand
+is a club with a hundred studs, and a hundred blades, heavy at the end,
+making havoc of men; bound with brass on the handle, mighty and golden,
+the strongest and most victorious of weapons. Before him goes
+Verethraghna in the form of a boar, sharp of tusk, fat, enraged,
+striking at once with feet, claws, tail, and back of brass.[181] Next to
+him goes the kindled fire, the strong, royal grace. As a protection of
+the chariot are a thousand bows of bone, whose strings are made of the
+sinews of oxen, a thousand arrows plumed with feathers of the Kahrka�a,
+with golden points and wooden shafts, and flakes of bone and iron, a
+thousand lances with sharp points, a thousand missiles of copper, a
+thousand two-edged swords. Strong as spirits they travel onward, strong
+as spirits they fall on the skulls of the Daevas.
+
+"Before him of a truth, Angromainyu (the evil spirit) trembles, the
+deadly one; before him trembles Aeshma, the wicked-minded, and
+body-destroying; before him trembles Bushyan�ta, the long of hand, and
+all invisible Daevas and the sinners from Varena. When the evil one, who
+works wickedness, runs forth with swift step, Mithra, the lord of wide
+pastures, swiftly harnesses his chariot, and �raosha, the pure and
+strong, and Nairyo�angha, the herald, beats him and his ranks. When
+Mithra comes where the lands are against him (_i.e._ do not honour him)
+he brings down his club on horse and rider. Against them he brings
+mighty destruction and terror; he bears away the heads of the men who
+deceive Mithra. Their arrows, swift-feathered, sent swiftly forth by the
+string from the well-stretched bow, strike the air only; the lances,
+sharp and running out with long shafts from the arm, strike the air
+only; the missiles from the strings strike the air only; the
+well-directed swords and well-slung clubs beat the air only; meanwhile,
+angry, enraged, and not propitiated, Mithra approaches, the lord of wide
+pastures. Thou, O Mithra, angry and mighty, takest the force from their
+arms; thou takest the force from their arms, and the sight from their
+eyes, and the hearing from their ears. The wind carries away the lances
+which the opponents of Mithra throw; even though he throws well and hits
+the body he inflicts no wound. Standing on the field of battle Mithra
+annihilates the ranks; the wings quake, and he makes the centre to
+tremble. They say: Our war-horses were led away by Mithra; by him were
+our strong arms and swords annihilated. Mithra scares men before and
+behind; �raosha, the pure, assists in slaying on all sides. Mithra
+sweeps them away, slaying them by fifties and by hundreds; by hundreds
+and by thousands; by thousands and tens of thousands, and without
+number. We cannot sustain the weight of the angry lord who with the
+force of a thousand meets the foe; who dashes on in his rage, and rests
+not from the slaughter; who destroys all at a blow. May not the
+mightiest, the swiftest, the most victorious of the Yazatas fall upon
+us. Come to our help, O Mithra, high lord, when the arrow hisses aloud
+and the horse neighs in his nostrils, and the missiles whizz, and the
+strings speed forth the sharp, bony arrows. Whomsoever Mithra protects,
+him the well-sharpened lance cannot reach, nor the arrow flying past
+him.
+
+"In his might Mithra approaches; in power he goes forth to dominion, and
+beholding from afar directs his glance with his eyes. Thou protectest
+the lands which seek after the beneficence of Mithra, lord of wide
+pastures; thou destroyest the lands which are wicked. O Mithra, lord of
+wide pastures, master of the house, of the villages, the land!--let us
+be protectors of thy fields, not the destroyers of them. As the sun
+arises above Hara berezaiti so may I obtain my desires over the evil
+Angromainyu. With uplifted arms, Mithra, the lord of wide pastures,
+conveys us to immortality. With sacrifice named by name, with becoming
+speech, O strong Mithra, will I make offerings to thee with libations.
+Listen, O Mithra, to our sacrifice. Come to our sacrifice; come to our
+libations. Carry them away to the place of meeting (_chinvat_); deposit
+them in Garonmana. Thou, O Mithra, art the saviour and helper of lands
+and men. Thou makest the dwellings, from which impurity is removed,
+famous for women and chariots. Thou hast power over the peace and the
+disquiet of lands; prosperous art thou in the battle, and strong. Give
+us the gifts for which we entreat thee; abundance and power, prosperity
+and purity, renown and bravery, and victory given by Ahura, the
+overwhelming power of the highest purity (_asha vahista_), and
+instruction in the sacred word, that so we may slay all enemies and
+haters, and annihilate the hate of men and Daevas, of magicians and
+Pairikas, of the violent, blind, and deaf. Stretch out thy widely
+grasping hand, O Mithra; thou art the protector of the dwelling, and of
+them that deceive not. Protect us in both worlds, the corporeal and
+incorporeal, from the evil death, the evil Aeshma, the evil hosts, who
+seek to raise their cruel banners, from the attacks which Aeshma may
+make with Vidhatu the Daeva-created."[182]
+
+The modern traits which have been introduced into this poem are easily
+distinguished and removed. The relation in which Mithra is placed to
+Auramazda, the chief of the good spirits, to the corporeal and
+incorporeal world and the maintenance of the law, to Rashnu, the spirit
+of justice, and other spirits of an abstract nature, and to the
+instruction in the sacred word, are like the "Western and Eastern
+India," obviously of the later origin. Setting them aside, the old form
+of the god of light of the Arians in Iran meets us in vigorous and
+powerful outlines. Indeed we have here more original conceptions of
+Mithra than in the Veda, and find that idea of the god which formed part
+of the yet undivided stock of the Arians in Iran and on the Indus (IV.
+51). In the Avesta Mithra is still in direct conflict with the evil
+spirits, from which in the Veda he is displaced by the storm-god, who
+first came into prominence in the Panjab. That Mithra was once the
+supreme deity of the Arians of Iran, is clear, not only from his
+position as the most victorious opponent of the demons, but also from
+the difficulty--which the Avesta betrays in more than one passage--of
+subordinating him to Auramazda, who subsequently became supreme, and
+establishing the precedence of the latter. In Mithra's habitation it is
+never night. Highest of the spirits of light, he goes before the sun,
+and first plants himself on the summits of the mountains. He is the
+mightiest warrior against night and the spirits of night who tremble
+before him. His light overpowers and destroys them. Thus he is able to
+give victory in the battle to the army which worships him in truth; the
+host with which he fights he fills with courage and power; that with
+which he is angry he fills with terror, and causes their arrows to fly
+forth in vain. In brilliant armour he travels onward, his club in his
+hand; before him is victory, and beside him is fire. Mithra's club is
+called Vazra, Indra's club is Vajra; the word is the same, the
+distinction is due to the change of sound which separates the old
+Bactrian from the language of the Veda and Sanskrit.[183] Lord of the
+lands and nations, he looks down on the abode of the Arians; most
+brilliant of deities, he sees all that is between heaven and earth. He
+cannot be deceived and beguiled; the most secret wickedness is not
+hidden from him; the swiftest criminal does not escape from him, and the
+strongest succumbs to his anger. God of purity and truth, he watches
+over purity and truth among men, punishes falsehood, rewards justice and
+fidelity; he blesses the nations and houses which worship him with
+goodly increase in men and flocks.
+
+We saw what importance the Veda ascribed to the conquest over Vritra,
+the cloud serpent, the black demon. The Arians in Iran also are
+acquainted with the slaying of Vritra. The prayer to Mithra represents
+Verethraghna as going before Mithra's victorious car (p. 110).
+Verethraghna means slayer of Verethra, or Vritra, and is the same word
+as Vritrahan. Hence the attribute of Indra, which denotes the most
+important achievement among his actions, is among the Iranians an
+independent spirit. As the club of Indra belongs in the Avesta to
+Mithra, so is Verethraghna his companion. No doubt at one time Mithra
+had himself the surname Verethraghna in Iran, the attribute signifying
+the conqueror of the worst and strongest of the evil spirits. But just
+as in the Panjab, owing to the tropical storms of that region, the form
+of Vritra came into prominence, and with it the form of Indra, so in the
+Avesta did Verethraghna fade away when separated from Mithra. Here
+Verethraghna is only the victorious strength, the conquest and slaughter
+of the enemy,--victory itself. Verethraghna is the best armed of the
+heavenly spirits, the strongest in might, the most victorious. Yet even
+in the Avesta the Soma is offered to Verethraghna before the battle, as
+in the Veda it is offered to Indra. Auramazda says to Zarathrustra:
+"When the armies meet in battle, the orderly ranks are not defeated in
+which sacrifice is liberally offered to Verethraghna, whom Ahura
+created. The Arian lands should offer him sacrifice, and strew
+sacrificial branches for him. They should offer beasts to him, bright
+and gold-coloured." "To him the pure Zarathrustra offered sacrifice, and
+Verethraghna came to him in the form of a strong wind, in the form of a
+beautiful bull with golden ears and golden hoofs, in the form of a
+shining horse, of a large, biting, and fierce camel, in the form of a
+boar with strong tusks (as also in the prayer to Mithra), in the form of
+a youth, in the form of a man carrying a sword with a golden handle, in
+the form of the swiftest and largest of birds, in the form of a ram, and
+a fighting goat. And Verethraghna gave Zarathrustra strength of arms,
+health and vigour of body, and power of vision, like that of the horse
+which sees in the night, and the gold-coloured vulture." In the battle
+Verethraghna hastens through the ranks and inquires with Mithra and
+Rashnu: "Who lies against Mithra? to whom shall I give death and
+destruction, for I have the power?" "Verethraghna, the created of
+Ahura, the bearer of splendour, I will praise"--such is a prayer in the
+Avesta--"with audible praise, with offering. To Verethraghna will I
+sacrifice. I will bring Haoma in order that I may conquer this army,
+which comes up behind me. Verethraghna holds back the hands of the ranks
+of the men who lie against Mithra; he veils their sight, and dulls their
+ears, and suffers not their feet to advance. Verethraghna brings the
+ranks together in battle; he destroys the ranks, and annihilates
+them."[184]
+
+In the Veda, the winds, the swift and strong Maruts, aided Indra against
+the demons; Vayu, _i.e._ the blowing, the morning wind which chases away
+the dark clouds, was Indra's charioteer (IV. 49). In the Avesta also,
+Vayu, who blows before the morning light and the sun, and scares away
+the goblins of the night, who first drinks "the Soma draught at the
+morning sacrifice," takes a prominent position, and under his Vedic
+name. The heroes of ancient days cried aloud to Vayu for victory, and he
+brought help to them all. He is the strongest of the strong, the
+swiftest of the swift, girded up and active, higher in stature, broader
+in the hips and shoulders, than the rest of the gods. He sits on a
+golden throne (p. 35); wears a golden helmet, golden armour, a girdle
+and neckband of gold, and rides on a golden chariot. He says to
+Zarathrustra: "I am called the beneficent, because I do good for
+Auramazda. I am called the pure, the strong-winged, the mightiest, the
+swiftest, the powerful for defeat, the expeller of the Daevas. I am
+called the Hurling one, the Biting one, the sharp lance, the flashing
+lance. I am called the Conqueror. These names must thou invoke at the
+shock of the ranks in battle, in the stress of the conflict."[185] In
+the Avesta, as we saw, Verethragna also appears in the form of the wind.
+The "pure swift winds," the air, "which works on high, which purifies
+the heaven from the right hand," are frequently invoked; the "strong
+wind, created by Ahura," brings the rain-clouds which Tistrya (p. 120)
+has liberated over the earth; the wind carries away the lances, which
+those hurl who are hostile to Mithra. We saw above, how the Bactrians
+were defeated by Artaxerxes I., "because the wind blew in their faces"
+(p. 25). If in the Avesta, in accordance with the character of the
+doctrine, the purifying force of the winds and fresh air is made
+prominent, the other traits quoted are sufficient to permit us to
+recognise the original conception formed by the Iranians of the spirits
+of the winds.
+
+The pure waters, the well-flowing, the waters of the springs, pools, and
+rivers are often mentioned in the Avesta and highly extolled. As with
+the Arians in India, so in the Avesta, the great waters are placed high
+up in the sky. The stars contain the seed of water; just as among the
+Arians in India certain constellations at the appearance of which rain
+fell, were considered to be the home of the waters. In the Avesta also
+the water of the sky is the source and origin of the waters on earth. In
+that book a female deity is the guardian of these waters, the goddess
+Ardvi�ura Anahita, _i.e._ the lofty, stainless one, "to whom Auramazda
+gave the waters in charge." She is at one and the same time the source
+of the heavenly water, which springs up on the golden height of
+Hukairya, the summit of the divine mountain, and the spirit of this
+source and of the water coming from it. At the height of a thousand men,
+the spring Ardvi�ura flows down from the golden Hukairya; it has a
+thousand basins, and a thousand streams, each stream is forty days'
+journey in length for an active traveller.[186] The goddess who pours
+out this water is a strong, well-grown maiden of brilliant countenance,
+and beautiful arms, which are more brilliant and larger than horses. On
+her brow she bears a golden diadem, adorned with a hundred stars; she
+has golden ear-rings and neck-band, a flowing lower garment with many
+folds of gold, and golden shoes on her feet. Her breasts fall down over
+her girdle; her upper robe is of bright otter skins, _i.e._ of the
+smooth skins of the animal of the water. She carries a golden Paitidana,
+and holds the reins of her chariot which is drawn by four white beasts
+of draught. The deity of the water of the sky is in the Avesta the most
+beneficent of the goddesses; the source of water is also the source of
+fruitfulness and life. She cleanses the seed of men, and gives a happy
+delivery to women; those who are with child entreat her assistance. To
+men she gives swift horses and strong comrades, if duly invoked and
+worshipped. We have already seen how the heroes of old days, Yima,
+Thraetaona, Kere�a�pa, Kava U�a, Kava Hu�rava, Vista�pa, sacrificed
+horses, cows, and smaller cattle to Ardvi�ura, in order to win victory
+over the evil spirits, the dragons, the giants, and the enemies of Iran
+(p. 32, 34 ff.). Zarathrustra asks the stainless Ardvi�ura what
+sacrifice he must offer to her, in order that Auramazda may not hold
+back his course in the height above the sun, that serpents may not
+injure the water by their sweat and poison. And Ardvi�ura gave command
+that prayer and sacrifice should be offered to her from the ascent of
+the sun till daybreak; the sacrifice was to be consumed by the
+sacrificers and priests in honour of the goddess; the impure, blind,
+dumb, and all afflicted with infirmities were to be kept far from it.
+"Come to me, come down, Ardvi�ura," is the invocation, "from the stars
+to the earth which Auramazda made; to thee, the excellent, mighty lords
+of the lands, the sons of the lords of the lands, will offer
+sacrifice."[187]
+
+The divine mountain, on which the Ardvi�ura rises, is in the Avesta "the
+mighty navel of water (_apam napal_)," "in a course swift as the horse,
+Auramazda causes the water to stream forth from it." On this mountain is
+the deep lake Vourukasha, _i.e._ having wide shores, in which the waters
+collect together. Out of this lake the water-clouds rise, which are to
+bring the fertilising rain to the earth. Though the tropic storms are
+wanting in Iran, the fertilising of the land by the water of the
+springs, rivers, and lakes, and by rain was of no less importance there
+than in the Panjab. Hence in the Avesta we again meet with the contest
+of the good spirits against Vritra, and in Iran also these spirits are
+opposed to the demons of blight. It is demons of this kind, which,
+according to the Avesta, keep back the rain-clouds above Vourukasha, and
+men say: "When will Tistrya (Sirius) rise, the bright, the majestic,
+the lord of the stars? When will the streams of water flow which are
+stronger than horses?" And Tistrya, whom Angromainyu slays not, nor the
+magicians and Pairikas, nor the magicians among men, gleams forth from
+the navel of the waters; he runs to Lake Vourukasha like an arrow, in
+the form of a horse, a beautiful brilliant horse, with yellow ears, and
+golden horse-cloth. Auramazda and Mithra prepare the way for him. Ashi
+vanguhi and Parendi follow in his wake with swift chariots. There goes
+to meet him the Daeva Apaosha, _i.e._ the witherer, in the form of a
+black, bald horse, with bald ears, bald back and tail, and ugly brand.
+For three days and three nights they struggle; and the Daeva Apaosha
+scares away the brilliant Tistrya from Lake Vourukasha for the distance
+of a _Hathra_. And Tistrya speaks and says: "If men honour me with the
+sacrifice named by name, with duly performed sacrifice, and prayer, then
+at the appointed time I shall come to the pure men; hostile chariots and
+uplifted banners will not come nigh to the Arian lands, and I shall have
+gained the strength of ten horses, ten bulls, ten mountains, and ten
+flowing waters." And Auramazda sacrificed to Tistrya and brought him
+that strength, and Tistrya fought with the Daeva Apaosha till midday,
+and conquered and overpowered him, and scared him away from Vourukasha.
+And Tistrya announced blessing for the waters and the trees; the streams
+of the waters will come to you without opposition, the cloud rises out
+of Lake Vourukasha, and the vapours gather above on Mount Hendava in the
+midst of Lake Vourukasha, and Tistrya drives forth the vapours, the pure
+ones, whence clouds are formed, and the strong wind drives clouds and
+rain to the villages and hamlets, to the seven Kareshvare (the seven
+parts of the earth). And Auramazda gave command to Zarathrustra that the
+Arian lands should offer sacrifice to Tistrya, should sprinkle
+sacrificial rice, and sacrifice a bright, light-hued, Haoma-coloured
+animal in order that he might withstand the Pairika Dushyairya (_i.e._
+blight). "If I had not created Tistrya," Auramazda says, "this Pairika
+would have carried on war day and night, but Tistrya binds her with two
+and three fetters." "We praise Tistrya, the brilliant majestic star,
+which drives away the Pairika; he blows her away from Lake Vourukasha;
+then the clouds draw up, spreading themselves afar, which contain the
+fertilising water."[188]
+
+Another spirit which fights against the demons in the Avesta is called
+�raosha. On the divine mountain stands "his triumphant dwelling with a
+thousand pillars, on the topmost height of the great mountain, illumined
+within with a light of its own, decked with stars without;" his chariot
+is drawn by four spotless horses, which are swifter than clouds, swifter
+than winds, swifter than storms, swifter than birds with strong wings. A
+strong, well-armed, victorious youth, the strongest and swiftest among
+young men, who fears not the Daevas, and before whom they fly in terror
+to the darkness, �raosha is the companion of Mithra; with him he
+overthrows the ranks of the hosts with whom Mithra is angry (p. 111).
+Thrice in each day he comes to smite the Daevas, with the axe of a
+woodman in his hand. Thus he fights against the evil Angromainyu,
+against Aeshma, and the Daevas Kunda, Banga, and Vibanga; thus he forces
+the conquered Daevi Druj to answer him. In the dark he is wakeful
+against the evil ones; he protects the world from them when the sun has
+set; in each night he comes thrice upon the earth with his weapons in
+his hand. About the third watch of the night he arouses the bird
+Parodarsh, _i.e._ the cock, that by his cry he may scare away the
+goblins of the night, and may banish the Daevi Bushyan�ta, which holds
+men imprisoned in sleep.[189] �raosha, moreover, protects the sacrifices
+which are offered to the good gods, and which the evil one would carry
+away or defile. One of the priests who took part in the sacred
+ceremonies held a club, the �raosha-club, in his hand, in order to scare
+the demons and keep them back. Of the two instruments which in the book
+of the law are used for flagellation, and by which the evil spirits are
+driven from the bodies of men, one is called the �raosha-whip (_�raosha
+charana_).
+
+We remember the numerous hymns of the Veda which celebrate the benefits
+conferred upon men by Agni, the spirit of fire, who is born from the
+double wood, and descends to earth in the lightning from the water-bed
+of the storm-cloud; the glow of this bright youth preserves men from
+beasts of prey, from murderers and evil spirits, helps the gods to
+victory, and contends in battle in the van; at the same time a royal
+house-lord and priest, Agni is in the Veda the upholder of the religious
+worship, the mediator between heaven and earth (IV. 40). The Avesta is
+filled with similar conceptions, though less poetical in form. Here the
+power as victorious of fire against the demon takes the first place. We
+saw that Mithra's chariot carried the kindled fire. "The sacred, strong
+fire" is invoked as a "warrior," as a "protector," as a slayer of the
+evil spirits, as the giver of good. To whatever side, we are told in the
+book of the law, the wind carries the smoke of the fire, it comes back
+thence as a slayer of thousands. "Happy is the man," we are told in an
+invocation, "to whom thou comest in strength, O Fire, son of Auramazda,
+more friendly than the friendliest, worthy beyond others of
+supplication. O Fire, we approach thee with perfect purity, with a good
+spirit; mayest thou come down to us bringing help."[190] He who uses dry
+selected wood for the fire, him the fire blesses, saying: "May herds of
+cattle gather round thee, and abundance of men; may all things succeed
+according to the wish of thy soul. Live out thy life happily to the full
+extent to which thou wilt live. The fire speaks with all those for whom
+it shines the whole night through, and cooks food; from all it demands
+good nourishment. The fire looks on the hands of all who come; what does
+the friend bring to the friend, he who approaches to him who sits
+alone?[191]" The Gathas of the Avesta also speak of the pieces of wood
+for friction, out of which springs the fire that shows the way;[192] and
+in another passage we hear of the fire Urvazista which dwells in wood.
+The Avesta distinguishes between the fire �penista, _i.e._ the
+house-lord, the hearth-fire (it is the same name that is given to the
+hearth-fire in India), the most victorious fire Verethraghna, which
+slays all the demons, and by which, according to the custom of the
+Parsees, the fires of the hearth must be renewed year by year, and the
+fire of lightning, which is called Vazista. This last, which comes down
+direct from heaven, is the "most sacred of all fires, which slays the
+demon �penjaghra."[193] In the Avesta the priests are called Athravas, a
+name which, no doubt, goes back to the worship of fire (_athar_); among
+the Indians Atharvan entices the fire from the wood, and together with
+Manu and Dadhyanch kindles the first sacrificial fire; the fourth Veda
+is called after him (IV. 280). In the Avesta also the red glowing fires,
+which gleamed on the earth in the days of King Yima, are repeatedly
+mentioned (p. 32); it extols "the brilliance of the Arian lands,"
+denotes the fire-priests as possessors of the true faith, and assures us
+that what is right may be known from the clear, blazing flames.[194]
+
+The sacrifice offered by the Arians beyond the Indus to Indra, the
+Maruts, and spirits of light, to strengthen them against the demons, the
+draught prepared from the Soma, is known to us; we have shown how this
+Soma which strengthens the gods became itself a god in the fancy of the
+Indians--a mighty nourisher and sustainer of the gods. The same custom
+and deity are found in the Avesta, only the name has become Haoma,
+according to the phonetic laws of the Bactrian language. The legend has
+already shown us what importance was ascribed in Iran to the worship of
+the god Haoma, and the sacrifice of this liquor. Yima was born to
+Vivanghana as a reward because he had first poured out the Haoma and
+worshipped the god. To Athwya, the second worshipper of Haoma,
+Thraetaona was born; and to Thrita, the third, Kere�a�pa, the hero (p.
+27, 28). To Zarathrustra, who was born to Pourusha�pa for a similar
+service, when he is dressing the sacred fire at the break of dawn, and
+singing the sacred hymns, the god Haoma appears: "Who art thou," asks
+Zarathrustra, "who appearest to my sight as the most perfect in the
+corporeal world, with thy brilliant, immortal body?" Haoma answered him:
+"I am the pure Haoma, who protect men from evil. Call on me, press out
+my juice in order to enjoy me; praise me as all other fire-priests
+praise me." Then said Zarathrustra: "Supplication to Haoma! Haoma, the
+good, is well-created; duly-created is he, and gives health; he bestows
+kindness, is victorious, and of golden colour. Thy wisdom, O golden one,
+I praise; thy strength, thy victory, thy healing power, thy greatness. I
+praise the mountains, the high ones, where thou, Haoma, growest; I
+praise the earth, the wide and patient, thy mother, O pure Haoma. Mayest
+thou grow on the paths of the birds. To the horsemen, who spur their
+horses, Haoma gives power and strength; to the maidens who have long
+remained unmarried, he gives true and vigorous husbands, gifted with
+good understanding, and to wives beautiful children and a pure
+posterity. To those who repeat the Na�kas (the chapters of the Avesta)
+he gives sanctity and greatness. Praise to thee, Haoma; thou knowest the
+words which are spoken with truth. Praise to thee, Haoma, who by thine
+own power art a mighty king. To thee Auramazda first gave the girdle
+glittering with stars; girt with this thou lingerest on the summits of
+the mountains in order to maintain in sincerity the commands of the
+sacred sayings. O Haoma, lord of the house, of the village, of the land,
+lord of wisdom, I call on thee for greatness and victory, for favour to
+my body, and rich food. O thou who art of golden colour, I entreat thee
+for skill and power, passing through the whole body, for beauty and
+health, for prosperity and increase, for greatness spreading over the
+whole form. The first boon for which I entreat thee, O Haoma, who
+removest death, is that I may attain to the excellent habitation of the
+saints, the bright dwelling where there is abundance of all good things;
+the second boon is that this body may endure; the third, that my life
+may be long; the fourth, that I may go through the earth powerful and
+glad, troubling the tormentors, and slaying the Druj; the fifth is that
+I may walk victorious on the earth and slay the evil. For this thing
+also, as a sixth boon, O Haoma, who removest death, I entreat thee: may
+I be the first to see the thief, the murderer, and the wolf: may none of
+these previously see me. Keep far from us the hatred of those who hate
+us; tear out the hearts of those who give poison. If in this house, this
+place, this village, this sacrifice, there is a man who does harm, take
+from him the power to go, obscure his reason, break asunder his heart
+with the commandment. Let him not be mighty in the feet, let him not be
+mighty in the hands. O Haoma, I make a prayer to thee, that thou mayest
+go a sovereign lord through the worlds, triumphing over hatred and the
+evil. Thou shouldest triumph over the hatred of all who hate thee, over
+the hatred of the Daevas and men, the evil spirits and magicians, the
+perverse, blind, and dumb, the two-footed murderers and insidious
+creatures, the four-footed wolves, and the numerous hosts which creep
+and fly."[195]
+
+Further, we find in the Avesta that the "priest" offers Haoma to Mithra,
+�raosha, and Drva�pa on the divine mountain.[196] The plant of which
+this god is the genius, grows, according to the books of the Parsees, as
+white heavenly Haoma only on the tree Gaokerena, _i.e._ the heavenly
+tree which stands on the divine mountain or in the spring Ardvi�ura; the
+yellow Haoma which grows upon the earth is only a copy or descendant of
+the white Haoma. In Iran also the preparation and expression of the
+Haoma juice is accompanied by a long and minute ritual; and the offering
+of the sacrifice, which is still performed among the Parsees of India,
+requires long invocations and responses between the celebrant and the
+ministering priests. At the present day the Parsees send from time to
+time one of their priests to Kerman in order to bring from their ancient
+home twigs of Haoma for the sacrifice.
+
+The coincidence which we find above, in the forms of the legend, between
+the Avesta and the Veda--Vivanghana, Yima, Athwya, Thrita, Kere�a�pa,
+and U�a are found in both--is not less marked in the conceptions of the
+gods and their functions, and in the character of the worship. There can
+be no doubt that the Arians of Iran believed themselves to be protected
+and injured by the same spirits as the Arians in the Panjab. If on the
+Indus invocations were addressed to Vritrahan, Vayu, the Maruts, and
+Mitra, in Iran men prayed to Verethraghna, Vayu, and Mithra. In both
+places Vritra and Ahi are the opponents of the god of light; in both
+fire was worshipped; in both the power of the sacrificial liquor was
+elevated into a mighty life-giving god. Among the Indians, as we saw,
+the priest who addresses the invocation to the god at the sacrifice is
+called Hotar; in the Avesta the Zaotar utters the prayers. Further
+coincidences in the number and nature of the gods, in the worship, in
+the laws and forms of purification, in the ceremonial, and even in the
+shape of the universe, will show themselves as we proceed. It is true
+that differences may also be found. Many of the numerous spirits of the
+Rigveda are wanting in the Avesta; and again, some spirits in the
+Avesta, such as Anahita, �raosha, Tistrya, are unknown to the Indians.
+Variations such as these must occur where there has been a separate
+development from a common root. But the factors in the coincidence of
+the most important forms of the gods and heroes, and the distinctive
+modes of worship, in the Avesta and the Rigveda, the very oldest
+monument of the Arians in India, are so great that any doubt whether the
+Avesta remained free from alterations and influences of an alien or
+later nature in the revision under Shapur II., is entirely removed, and
+we know that we possess in it the remains of an original document of
+Iran, going back beyond the time of Cyrus. In the Avesta we have before
+us the faithful expression of the ancient Iranian faith. Though not in
+its original form this result is the more certain, because on the one
+hand some deities, as for instance Mithra, and some myths like that of
+Yima, exhibit older forms in the Avesta than in the Rigveda, while in
+others we have almost an identity of language between the two. In the
+Avesta as in the Veda the Soma is praised as "gold-coloured;" in both
+fire is the "house-lord;" the sun goes on his "path free from dust;" the
+power of the gods is increased by the sacrifice (p. 120). In both one
+god offers sacrifice to another, in order to strengthen him; and the
+invocations of the Avesta, like those of the Rigveda, ask for health and
+long life for the suppliant; for possessions and wealth and favour, for
+the power to see the thief, the murderer, and the wolf before they are
+seen by him.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[178] "Gah Ushahin," 5; "Mihr Yasht," 13, 143.
+
+[179] "Mihr Yasht," 118.
+
+[180] Pouruta may be referred to the [Greek: Pary�tai] of Ptolemy, whom
+he places in the north of Arachosia.
+
+[181] Cf. "Mihr Yasht," 127, where the boar is not Verethraghna but the
+"curse of the sage."
+
+[182] Windischmann, "Mithra; Abhl. f�r Kunde des Morgenlandes," 1, 1 ff.
+
+[183] Haug, "Essays," p. 185. The Sassanids also carry the club now
+called _guzr_.
+
+[184] "Yasht Bahram," 57-62. Burnouf, "Commentaire sur le Ya�na," p.
+285.
+
+[185] "Ram Yasht," 43-57.
+
+[186] "Aban Yasht," 64 ff.; "Ya�na," 74.
+
+[187] Hang, "Essays," p. 179. The passages given in the text from the
+Aban Yasht, notwithstanding the swelling breasts, shows how definitely
+the form of Anahita belongs to the Iranian conception, how peculiarly
+this goddess of fountains is represented in this form, and how
+intimately connected she is with the whole Iranian system of the boon of
+water, and the legends of the heroes. A brass tablet found at Gr�chwyl
+in the canton of Berne, which exhibits the Persian Artemis with swelling
+breasts, surrounded by four lions, with a bird of prey on her head and
+serpents instead of ears, and wings on the shoulders, has decided J.
+Stickel ("De monumento Graechwyliano") to regard the Persian Artemis as
+identical with the Semitic goddess of birth. This tablet is due to the
+syncretism of Roman times. Certain similarities between the Syrian
+goddess of birth and fertility, Mylitta-Derceto, and the Persian goddess
+of water, might lead to such a syncretism even under the Ach�menids, and
+this coincidence might determine Artaxerxes Mnemon to erect images of
+Anahita in Ecbatana and Susa after the pattern of the Semites. Beros.
+fragm., 16 ed. M�ller, and below.
+
+[188] "Tistar Yasht," 24 ff., 40, 49-58.
+
+[189] "Ya�na," 56; "Vend." 18, 39.
+
+[190] "Vend." 8, 248-250; "Ya�na," 26, 61, 23; "Yasht Farvardin," 77.
+
+[191] "Vend." 18, 57-63, 19, 134.
+
+[192] Roth, "Ueber Ya�na, 31," T�bingen, 1876, s. 6, 20.
+
+[193] "Vend." 19, 135; "Ya�na," 17, 69.
+
+[194] "Ya�na," 31, 3, 19.
+
+[195] "Ya�na," 9, 10, according to Burnouf, "Journ. Asiat." 1844-1846.
+Cf. Spiegel "Avesta," 2, 68 ff.
+
+[196] "Gosh Yasht," 17; "Mihr Yasht," 88; "Ya�na," 56, 8.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE REFORM OF THE FAITH.
+
+
+In the Gathas of the Avesta the spirit who keeps watch over the increase
+of the flocks speaks to the heavenly powers, saying: "All creatures are
+distressed; whom have ye for their assistance?" Auramazda makes answer:
+"I have one only who has received my commands, the holy Zarathrustra; he
+will proclaim my exhortations and those of Mazda and Asha, for I will
+make him practised in speech."[197] Then Auramazda sacrificed to
+Ardvi�ura that he might unite with Zarathrustra the son of Pourusha�pa,
+to the end that the latter might think, speak, and act according to the
+law.[198] Pourusha�pa, _i.e._ rich in horses, of the race of
+Haechata�pa,[199] was the fourth who offered the sacrifice of Haoma in
+Airyana Vaeja after Vivanghana, Athwya, and Thrita. For this
+Zarathrustra was born to him.[200] At his birth and his growth the grass
+and the trees increased, and all the creatures of Auramazda greeted each
+other because the priest had been created who would sacrifice for them
+and spread abroad the law of Auramazda, over the seven Kareshvare of
+the earth.[201] �raosha, accompanied by the sublime Asha, appeared to
+Zarathrustra, and the latter declared himself ready to swear enmity
+against the liars, and to be a mighty source of help to the truth. And
+the god Haoma appeared to Zarathrustra and commanded him to press out
+his juice and to praise him, as other fire-priests praise him. And
+Zarathrustra praised Haoma and his mother the earth, and addressed six
+prayers to him (p. 125). Ashi vanguhi also came at Zarathrustra's
+command on her chariot, and inquired: "Who art thou who callest on me,
+whose speech is the most beautiful which I have heard from all those who
+invoke me? Come nearer to me; approach my chariot." Then she surrounded
+him with her right arm and her left and said: "Beautiful art thou,
+Zarathrustra, well grown, with strong legs and long arms. To thy body
+has been given brilliance, and to thy soul long prosperity."[202] And
+when Zarathrustra sacrificed to Verethraghna, he granted him strength of
+arm, health, and vigour of body, and power of vision, such as that of
+the horse, which sees by night, and the gold-coloured vulture.[203] But
+Auramazda taught Zarathrustra "the best words," prayers, and
+invocations, and charms against the evil spirits.[204] "How,"
+Zarathrustra inquires of Auramazda, "how ought I to protect the
+creatures from the evil spirits, from the wicked Angromainyu?" Then
+Auramazda answers: "Praise Auramazda, the creator of the pure creation;
+praise the victorious Mithra; praise the Amesha �pentas (the immortal
+saints), which rule over the seven parts of the earth; praise the holy
+�raosha, who holds the club against the head of the Daevas; praise
+Verethraghna, created by Ahura, the bearer of the splendour; praise the
+shining heavens, and the glowing Tistrya; praise Vayu, the swift; praise
+�penta Armaiti (the holy earth), the beautiful daughter of Auramazda.
+Praise the tree, the good, the pure, created by Ahura, the well-grown
+and strong; praise the glittering Haetumant (Etymandros); praise Yima
+Kshaeta, the possessor of good herds. Praise the good laws, the law
+against the Daevas, the law of the worshippers of Auramazda; praise the
+splendour of the Arian land; praise the abode of the pure. Praise the
+fire Vazista (p. 123), which smites the Daeva �penjaghra. Bring hard
+wood and perfumes, and water of purification to the fire."[205]
+
+Zarathrustra first proclaimed the words which Auramazda had taught him
+to Maidhyomao,[206] the son of Ara�ta, his father's brother, and spoke
+to the members of his race, the Haechata�pas: "Ye holy Haechata�pas, to
+you will I speak; ye distinguish the right and the wrong." The
+announcement did not remain confined to the circle of the family and the
+race: "To you that come," we are told in another passage, "I will
+announce the praises of the all-wise lord, and the praises of Vohumano.
+Look on the beams of fire with pious mind. The fair sayings of the
+fire-priests are the way of Vohumano. Thou gavest ancient sayings, O
+Ahura; by these will I annihilate among you the sacrifices of the lying
+gods. The worshipper of fire should accurately understand the correct
+words which have come from Vohumano (the good disposition and its
+spirit) in order that truth may be his portion." In other poems
+Zarathrustra laments: "The liar possesses the fields of the true man,
+who protects the earth; none of the servants worship me; none of the
+lords of the land, who are unbelievers. The dominion is in the hands of
+the priests and prophets of the lying gods; whither shall I go for
+refuge?--to what land shall I turn? I cry for help for Frashaostra and
+myself. May the fire grant this help to both of us."[207] Frashaostra of
+the race of Hvova, is mentioned in the Avesta as the closest adherent of
+Zarathrustra, and often in connection with Jama�pa. The help for which
+Zarathrustra cried in this invocation was granted to him by King
+Vista�pa. Zarathrustra offered the Haoma draught in Airyana Vaeja to
+Ardvi�ura, and prayed to her: "Grant to me that I may combine with the
+son of Aurvata�pa, the strong Kava Vista�pa, to the end that he may
+think, speak, and act according to the law;" and the goddess granted him
+this favour.[208] And Zarathrustra sacrificed to the Drva�pa (the
+goddess of flocks) in Airyana Vaeja, to the end that he might unite with
+the good and noble Hutao�a (the wife of Vista�pa), that she might
+impress the good law on her memory.[209] Finally, we read: "Who is thy
+true friend on the great earth; who will proclaim it? Kava Vista�pa, the
+warlike, will do this."[210]
+
+Of King Vista�pa and Frashaostra the Avesta then tells us, "that they
+prepared the right path for the faith which Ahura gave to the
+fire-priests." In the prayers Kava Vista�pa is praised because as an
+arm, an assister, and helper, he has subjected himself to the law of
+Ahura, the law of Zarathrustra; because he has opened a wide path for
+purity, and has established the law in the world. The mighty brilliance
+of the ruler supported Zarathrustra, "in establishing the law and
+making it highly esteemed."[211] When Jama�pa saw the army of the
+Daeva-worshippers approach, he sacrificed to Ardvi�ura a hundred horses,
+a thousand oxen, and ten thousand head of small cattle, and Ardvi�ura
+granted to him to fight victoriously against all the non-Arians. And
+Zairivairi, the brother of Vista�pa, besought Ardvi�ura that he might
+smite the skilful Peshana, who worshipped the Daevas, and Arejata�pa.
+Kava Vista�pa himself offered sacrifice in order to obtain the victory
+over Asta-aurva, over the Daeva worshippers �pinjauruska, and Darsinika,
+and the murderous Arejata�pa.[212] And Vista�pa smote Peshana and
+Arejata�pa, and Zarathrustra blessed him: "I praise thee, O ruler of the
+lands. May life be given to thy wives and thy children, which shall be
+born from thy body. Be thou possessed of swift horses, like the sun,
+shining like the moon, glowing as fire, sharp as Mithra, a conqueror of
+enemies like Verethraghna, well grown and victorious as �raosha. Mayest
+thou be a ruler like Yima; mayest thou be victorious and rich in cattle
+like Thraetaona, bold and strong as Kere�a�pa, wise as Urvakshaya,
+brilliant as Kava U�a, without sickness and death, like Kava Hu�rava,
+stainless as �yavarshana, rich in horses as Pourusha�pa, a friend of the
+heavenly ones, and conqueror of men."[213]
+
+The Avesta gives Zarathrustra three sons: Urvatatnara, Hvare�ithra,
+Daevotbi (Punisher of the Daevas); and three daughters: Freni, Thriti,
+and Pourushi�ta.[214] His work is summed up in the fact that he
+compelled the Daevas, who previously had been in human form upon the
+earth, to hide themselves in the earth.[215] His doctrine prevents the
+Daevas from injuring the creation, as before, and gives to all the
+creatures of the good god the means of protecting themselves more
+effectually against the evil. Hence Zarathrustra is the increaser of
+life; in this sense he is described, invoked, and worshipped as the lord
+and master of all created life. But in time �aoshyant will be born, who
+will make the evil creatures wholly powerless, and bring on for man the
+time of undisturbed happiness, in which there will no more be any
+battle; the time of uninterrupted life, _i.e._ of immortality. In this
+period all who once had life will have life again; _i.e._ the life
+destroyed by Angromainyu and the evil spirits will be restored, and the
+dead will rise to a new life.
+
+Zarathrustra's birth and growth struck terror into the evil spirit
+Angromainyu. "The Yazatas" (the gods), he exclaimed, "have not forced me
+from the earth, crossed with paths, round, and wide-reaching; but
+Zarathrustra will drive me from it."[216] And the Daevas took counsel on
+the summit of Arezura, whither they are wont to come together from their
+caves with the Druj: "Alas! in the dwelling of Pourusha�pa the pure
+Zarathrustra has been born. He is the weapon with which the Daevas are
+smitten; he takes away the power from the Daevi Druj, and the Daevi Na�u
+([Greek: nekys], _i.e._ the spirit of the dead), and the false lies; how
+shall we compass his death?" And from the region of the north
+Angromainyu dashed forward, who is full of death, the Daeva of Daevas,
+and said: "O Druj, go up and slay the pure Zarathrustra." And
+"Zarathrustra said in the spirit: The wicked, evil-minded Daevas are
+considering my death. And he arose and went forth, bearing in his hand
+stones of the size of a Kata, which he had received from the creator
+Auramazda, and he praised the good waters of the good creation, and the
+law of the worshippers of Auramazda, and uttered the prayer: _Yatha ahu
+vairyo_. The Druj ran round about him, and the Daeva Buiti, the deceiver
+of mortals; and the Druj ran in alarm from him and said to Angromainyu,
+the tormentor: In him, in the holy Zarathrustra, I see no death. And
+Zarathrustra said to Angromainyu: Evil-minded Angromainyu, I will smite
+the creation which is created by the Daevas; I will smite the spirit of
+the dead which the Daevas have created, until �aoshyant the victorious
+shall be born from the water of Kan�ava, in the region of the east.
+Angromainyu answered him: Wherewith wilt thou smite my creatures? With
+what weapons wilt thou destroy them? Then spake Zarathrustra: The
+pestle, the bowl, the Haoma, these are my best weapons, and the words
+which Auramazda has spoken. By this sacred word will I annihilate thy
+creatures, O evil Angromainyu. Slay not my creatures, O pure
+Zarathrustra, answered Angromainyu. Thou art the son of Pourusha�pa, and
+hast life from a mother. Curse the good law of the worshippers of
+Auramazda, and attain the prosperity which Vadhaghna has attained, the
+ruler of the lands. But Zarathrustra spake: I will not curse the good
+law of the worshippers of Auramazda; no, not though my bones and soul
+and power of life were torn asunder. Then the evil Daevas ran and took
+counsel on the summit of Arezura, and Angromainyu spoke: What will the
+Daevas bring thither? But they said: 'The evil eye;' and hastened to the
+bottom of hell, the dark, the evil, the wicked."[217]
+
+With Zarathrustra, according to the Avesta, a new era begins. He is the
+proclaimer of a new law. But along with this we are told that even in
+Yima's time the earth glowed with red fires; the power of the old
+sayings of the fire-priests is extolled; the professors of the first,
+and those of the new law receive commendation. Zarathrustra is born to
+his father as a reward for offering an ancient sacrifice, the sacrifice
+of Haoma. He himself dresses the fire at daybreak before he comes forth
+to announce his new doctrine; and even while announcing it he sacrifices
+to the old gods Verethraghna and Ardvi�ura; the gods whom the heroes of
+the old days invoke appear to him also, the prophet of the new teaching;
+they demand that he shall offer sacrifice, and insist on their worship;
+they grant him favour and gifts. It is precisely the ancient sacrifice
+of Haoma, the common possession of the Arians in Iran and India, which
+is declared by Zarathrustra to be the best means of repelling the evil
+ones, and not Zarathrustra only, but also Auramazda sacrifices to an
+ancient divinity that the son of Pourusha�pa may be obedient to his
+commands, and then directs the latter to invoke the ancient gods,
+Mithra, Verethragna, �raosha, Vayu, and Tistrya, and to worship fire.
+Hence it was no new religion which Zarathrustra taught; it was nothing
+more than a reform of the ancient faith, and traditional modes of
+worship.
+
+We were able definitely to ascertain from the fragments of the Avesta
+that it arose in the east of Iran; the districts of the north-east are
+especially prominent in it. It denotes Bactra as the abode of dominion
+(p. 31). A doctrine which, as we shall see, lays the greatest stress on
+the cultivation of the land, could not have grown up in the deserts of
+the Gedrosians, or the steppes of the Sagartians. If, according to the
+Avesta, "the evil custom of the burial of the dead prevails" in
+Arachosia (Harahvaiti);[218] if Haetumat (Drangiana) is reproved for the
+sins which are practised there;[219] if we are told of Haraeva (the land
+of the Arians) that it is indeed rich in houses but full of poverty and
+idleness,[220] and of Ragha that it is indeed Zoroastian but full of
+utter unbelief[221]--if the sin of burning corpses prevails in Chakhra
+(Chirhem?),[222] it is clear that these lands are distinct from the
+region in which the pure doctrine of Zarathrustra, proclaimed in the
+Avesta, arose, and became so firmly established as to be universally
+current. Hence of all the lands in Iran, mentioned in the Avesta, only
+Airyana Vaeja, Margiana, Sogdiana, and Bactria remain. In the Avesta
+Zarathrustra is famous in Airyana Vaeja; in that land he sacrifices;
+and, as the Avesta allots but two months of summer and ten months of
+cold winter to this region, we must look for it on the high mountain
+range of the North-east (p. 73). Zarathrustra stands in a close relation
+to Queen Hutao�a and King Vista�pa, who fights against the worshippers
+of the Daevas and Arejata�pa, and prepares a way for the new doctrine.
+Among the heroes of the ancient time and the spirits of the pious who
+are invoked in the prayers of the Avesta, the immortal part of King
+Vista�pa is repeatedly invoked besides Zarathrustra and Frashaostra. We
+have already shown in what a contrast the Bactrians and Sogdiani stood
+to the nations of the steppes of the Oxus, and what a position is
+allotted to King Vista�pa as repelling the Iranians. In thus celebrating
+him as the protector of Zarathrustra, the Avesta plainly puts
+Zarathrustra himself in Bactria.
+
+If we may assume the fact that the reform of the religion must have
+proceeded from Bactria and Sogdiana in the north-east of Iran, the next
+question to be decided is, whether it is possible to determine the
+meaning and import of this reform. The forms and views, which are found
+to agree in the Avesta and Rigveda, we have already established, with
+complete certainty, to be the ancient possession of the Arians of Iran.
+The elements of the religious conception, and several very definite
+forms and traits in the belief and worship, were the same in the Panjab
+and Iran. The leading principle was the contrast of the bright
+beneficent powers who give life and increase and the evil spirits of
+darkness, drought, and death. This possession was therefore in existence
+before the reform. This principle must have become more prominent among
+the Arians of Iran owing to the nature of their country. The fertile
+land and the desert were in far greater proximity there than in the
+Panjab. The centre of Iran was filled with a vast desert; wide and
+barren table-lands spread out on north and south; the most favoured
+regions were almost like oases. Closely adjacent to the most fruitful
+valleys and slopes lay endless steppes; blooming plains, shaded by thick
+groups of trees, were surrounded by hot deserts of sand. If the alpine
+districts of the north possessed the most splendid forests and luxuriant
+pastures, yet the snow fell early, and the winter was severe; if
+vegetation ran riot on the fringe of the Caspian, fever and reptiles
+infested the marshy plains. Close beside abundant productiveness lay
+drought and desert, bare flats of rock, deserts of sand, and fields of
+snow. The inhabitants of Iran had not only to suffer from the heat of
+summer but also from the cold of winter, from the scorching winds of the
+desert as well as from the snow-storms which came from the table-lands
+of the north. On the one hand, pastures and fields were covered for many
+weeks with snow; on the other, sand-storms from the desert ruined the
+tillage; in one district camels succumbed to the cold of the lofty
+terraces, or slipped from the icy slopes down the precipices; in
+another, the desert wind dried up fountains and springs. Here the
+winter, "which flies past to slay the herds, and is full of snow," as
+the Avesta says, was "of endless duration;" it was "on the water, the
+trees, and the field," and "its cold penetrated to the heart of the
+earth;" there the herds were tormented by the fly in the heat, bears and
+wolves fell upon the folds, and it was necessary to find protection
+against serpents and ravenous beasts of prey.[223] In this land life was
+a conflict against the heat of summer and the south, against the chill
+of winter and the mountain heights, a struggle for the maintenance and
+protection of the herds; and as soon as these tribes had become settled
+in the more favoured regions and passed over to agriculture, there began
+on the edge of those oases the struggle against the desert and the
+steppe. Here water must be conveyed to the dry earth, there the tillage
+must be protected against the sand-storms of the desert. To these
+difficulties and contrasts in the nature of the land was added a
+contrast in the mode of life of the population. The majority of the
+tribes of the table-land of the interior, and a part of the inhabitants
+of the mountainous rim, could not, owing to the nature of the land, pass
+beyond a nomadic pastoral life, and even to this day the population of
+Iran is to a considerable extent nomadic;[224] while other tribes
+toiled laboriously in the sweat of their brows, these wandered with
+their herds in idleness, ever ready for battle; and thus there could be
+no lack of ambuscades and plunder, of attacks and raids on the
+cultivated districts.
+
+All these contrasts are most marked on the slopes of the north-eastern
+edge, in Margiana, Bactria, and Sogdiana, which lay open to the steppes
+of the Caspian Sea. Here were fruitful, blooming valleys with luxuriant
+vegetation on the banks of the mountain streams, yet, wherever the
+mountains receded, the endless desert at once began. If the stars shone
+clear through the night on mountains and table-lands, in the pure and
+vapourless atmosphere of Iran, sand-storms and mist lay on the northern
+desert. The winds blowing from the north brought icy cold in the winter;
+in the summer they drove the sand of the deserts over the fruitful
+fields, to which water has to be laboriously conveyed in the time of the
+greatest heat, while eternal winter reigned in the heights of Belurdagh
+and Hindu Kush. There was also the continual fear of the nomads who
+dwelt on the steppes to the north, who made attacks on the fruitful
+slopes and valleys. We have already shown that it was precisely on the
+slopes of the Hindu Kush that the necessity of protection against the
+nations of the steppes led to a combination of the forces of the tribes
+who were settled there, and gave the impulse to the formation of a
+larger polity.
+
+In such a territory, when the tribes had once become settled in the more
+favoured regions, amid such struggles against nature and the plundering
+neighbours, it is clear that the conception of the contrast between good
+and evil spirits must become more widely developed and sharply
+pointed--that it should indeed form the hinge of all religious ideas.
+The good spirits had given fruit and increase to many excellent lands;
+but the evil spirits destroyed these blessings with their storms of sand
+and snow, their cold and heat, their beasts of prey and serpents.
+Wherever the herds throve and the fields were fruitful, there the good
+spirits were gracious; where the pastures withered, and the fields were
+covered with sand, the wicked spirits had maliciously rendered of no
+avail the labours of men. In the valleys of Bactria and Sogdiana there
+was labour, industry, increase and fruit; beyond, in the steppe, all was
+barren; the storms went whirling round, and wild hordes of robbers
+roamed to and fro. Thus in these regions the conception of the struggle
+of the good spirits, and the evil, which injure, torment, punish and
+murder men, was most lively, the religious feeling of these conceptions
+most completely penetrated and governed the minds of men.
+
+All creatures were oppressed by the evil spirits, so the Avesta told us
+(p. 129); and therefore Auramazda determines to teach Zarathrustra "the
+wise sayings." No new belief or new forms of worship are to be
+introduced; the means of protection against the evil ones were to be
+multiplied and strengthened. We know what importance the Arians in India
+ascribed to the correct prayer and invocation, what power over the
+spirits and indeed over the deities themselves they ascribed to the
+correct words, what a defensive power they attributed to the sayings of
+the Atharvan. The same ideas were current among the Arians of Iran. The
+heaven of the good god and holy spirits is, in the Avesta, the "dwelling
+of invocations" (Garonmana). Hence the first point in the reform was
+that new formul� and prayers should be added to the old prayers and
+incantations. The fire that slays demons is to burn day and night on
+the hearth, and must always be tended with hard, dry, well-hewn wood;
+the spirits of light, the great Mithra, the sun, the stars, are to be
+earnestly invoked along with the victorious Verethraghna, and �raosha
+the slayer of demons, the life-giving god, to whom Haoma is to be
+offered; and the libation of Haoma is to be frequently offered to the
+spirits of light. If men prayed constantly to the good spirits, and
+cursed the evil, if they made use of the holy sayings when they observed
+that the evil beings came, then wicked creatures would certainly remain
+far from house, and farm, and field. According to the Avesta,
+Zarathrustra first uttered the Ahuna vairya, and Angromainyu says that
+though the deities have not been able to drive him from the earth,
+Zarathrustra will smite him with the Ahuna vairya.[225] In the minds of
+the priests of the Avesta, this prayer is itself a mighty being to which
+worship is to be offered, just as in the Vedas the holy prayers and some
+parts of the ritual--nay even the verse-measure of the hymns--are
+treated as divine powers.
+
+It was an old Arian conception, which we have observed widely spread on
+the Ganges, that filth and pollution and contact with what is impure and
+dead gave the evil spirit power over those who had contracted such
+defilement. This uncleanness must be removed, and its operation checked.
+The reform, which bears the name of Zarathrustra, must have extended and
+increased in Iran the rules for purification and the removal of
+uncleanness. These regulations, carried out in long and wearisome detail
+on the basis of this new movement, are before us in the Vendidad. The
+Avesta says: Zarathrustra was the first who praised the Asha Vahista
+(_i.e._ the best truthfulness which is at the same time the highest
+purity) and represents Angromainyu as exclaiming; "that Zarathrustra
+made him as hot by the Ashi Vahista as metal is made in the
+melting."[226]
+
+Whatever gave increase and life, water and trees and good soil, and the
+animals which were useful to men, were the work of the good spirits, the
+good creation; the steppes, the desert, the heat, the fierce cold, the
+beasts of prey, these were the work of the evil ones, the bad creation.
+Did not a man increase life and growth if he industriously cultivated
+his field, watered it well, and extended it towards the desert, if he
+destroyed the animals and insects which did harm to the fields and
+trees, if he gave room to fruitfulness against unfertility? Did he not
+extend and sustain the good creation, and lessen the evil, if he planted
+and watered, and diminished the harmful animals, the serpents, the
+worms, and beasts of prey? By such work a man took the side of the good
+spirits against the evil, and fought with them. It was in the will and
+power of man by the act of his hands, by labour and effort, to
+strengthen the good creation. The importance which the Avesta ascribes
+to the cultivation of the land, we may regard as a prominent trait of
+the reform, as an essential part of its ethical importance. Beside
+warriors and priests the Avesta knows only the agricultural class.
+
+In the Veda the gods of the light and the highest heaven, Mithra and
+Varuna, are the guardians of truth and purity, the avengers and
+punishers of evil deeds. The invocation of Mithra in the Avesta, given
+above, showed us that the Arians of Iran recognised in this deity the
+spirit of purity, the inevitable avenger of injustice. With his
+all-penetrating eye he watches, not only over purity of body, but also
+over purity of soul. We may regard it as certain that the reform carried
+a long step forward the ethical impulse which lay in this conception of
+Mithra--a conception current on both sides of the Indus. This view is
+supported by the great importance which the Avesta ascribes to
+truthfulness, in the decisive value given to this virtue for the purity
+of the soul, and the identification of purity with truthfulness. As
+filth defiles the body, so, according to the Avesta, does a lie defile
+the soul. Lying and deception are the worst sins of which a man can be
+guilty. The ethical advance is obvious when the evil spirits are not
+merely regarded as doing harm to men, but it is emphatically stated that
+they deceive men, and a lie is the essence of the evil spirits. In the
+Avesta a part of them have simply the name of the spirits of deception,
+of the Druj. The suppliants of the true gods are called _Ashavan, i.e._
+the true, the pure; the worshippers of the evil spirits are liars.
+
+The ideas of the Veda about the hosts of the spirits of ancestors, and
+the entrance of the good and pious into the heaven of light, are also
+current among the Arians of Iran. These the reform could not leave
+untouched. From the ethical characteristic which marks them, from the
+severe inculcation of a pure, true, active life, it proceeded to the
+idea of a sort of judgment on the souls after death. The detailed form
+in which this idea is presented to us in the Avesta will be given below.
+
+In all religions, when they have reached a certain stage of development,
+the impulse arises to find the unity of the divine being among the
+multifarious crowd of deities. On the Ganges the Brahmans or priests
+attained to this unity by elevating the power of the holy acts which
+controlled the deities, and was mightier than they, into the lord of the
+gods, by uniting with this conception the great breath or world-soul,
+the source of life springing up in nature. In Iran the reform did not
+look on nature as one, like the Brahmans on the Ganges, and owing to the
+character of the land and the strong contrasts there met with it could
+not easily perceive in it any single whole; on the contrary, it
+comprehended in unity, on the one hand, the good beneficent side of
+nature, which gives increase, light, and life to men; and, on the other,
+ranged the harmful powers together in opposition to the good. Hence it
+came about that the spirits which worked on either side were, so to
+speak, combined, and the two totals came forward in opposition. To these
+totals the reform sought to give unity by placing a chieftain at the
+head of each, the good and the bad. The chief of the good was Ahura,
+_i.e._ the lord, who is also denoted by the name Mazda, _i.e._ the wise,
+but he is generally invoked by the united title Ahura Mazda (Auramazda
+in the dialect of Western Iran), the wise lord; occasionally, in the
+Avesta, he is called �pentomainyu, _i.e._ the spirit of holy mind, the
+holy spirit. In the Rigveda the name Ahura Mazda, in the form Asura
+Medha, is used for more than one god of light. The chief of the evil
+spirits was Angromainyu, _i.e._ he that thinks evil, the destroying
+spirit.
+
+The good and the evil spirits are regarded as active, the one on the
+beneficent, the other on the injurious side of nature. It was a step in
+advance when the reform arrived at the conception, that as the good and
+evil spirits ruled the life of nature and man, so in the beginning of
+the world, at the time of its origin, the good and evil spirits must
+have been active; the good was from the beginning the work of the good;
+the evil the work of the evil. As the heavenly and infernal spirits were
+regarded as in perpetual activity, the reform could not here, as in
+India, look on nature and men as emanations from a being in repose--from
+the world-soul--the nature of which became ever less pure and bright,
+less really itself, as the emanations advanced. Instead of an emanation,
+the active force and contrast of the spirits gave rise to the idea that
+the world was brought into being by the will and power of the two
+supreme spirits to a creation of the world. The good side of the world
+must have been the work of the chief of the good spirits, the evil side
+the work of the evil. Auramazda created the good, but immediately he
+created it, Angromainyu created the evil in order to destroy the good.
+And as at the creation, so also in the created world, the mutual
+opposition of the good and evil god, the struggle of their hosts, goes
+on. There is no direct contest between Auramazda and Angromainyu; they
+operate against each other for increase and destruction, life and death,
+and for the souls of men; the direct conflict against evil remains, even
+after the reform, with the old spirits, with Mithra, Verethragna,
+�raosha, and Tistrya.
+
+From this we may without hesitation draw the inference that Auramazda
+and Angromainyu did not belong to the original belief of the Arians of
+Iran. From the absence of any myth about Auramazda, and the character of
+the names, "the wise lord," "the destroying spirit," it further follows
+that the gods thus named could not be the creation of any primitive
+religious feeling. These names belong to a period of reflection, which
+strives to make a presentment of the general operation of the good and
+evil powers, of their intellectual and ethical characteristics, and at
+the same time seeks to express their nature, as well as their relation
+to the world. Finally, the wavering position which Auramazda takes up in
+the Avesta towards the old deities, shows that he is of later origin.
+Though now the supreme deity, he sacrifices to Tistrya, in order to give
+him strength for the victory over Apaosha (p. 120); to Ardvi�ura, that
+Zarathrustra may be obedient to him (p. 129); and to other gods of the
+old period. Beside him Mithra is praised in the old style as the highest
+power; he instructs Zarathrustra to invoke the old gods, who still
+continue in their traditionary activity. But we have express evidence
+that Auramazda belongs to the reform. "The first man," so the Avesta
+says, "who sacrificed to Auramazda was the sacred Zarathrustra."[227]
+In the transformation, however loose, of the divine nature into "the
+wise lord," with his change from a natural force to an ethical and
+intellectual power, and elevation to be the creator "of the heaven and
+the earth" (p. 87), lay the most decisive step taken by the reform; by
+these conceptions it had raised the ancient possession of the Arians of
+Iran to a new stage.
+
+It is a remarkable fact that the evil spirits in the Avesta bear the
+name of Daevas. The Arians of India called their good gods, the gods of
+light, Devas; from the same root has sprung the general name of the gods
+among the Greeks, Italians, and the Celts. Hence among the Arians of
+Iran also it must once have been in use for the spirits of light. Why
+the names Bagha and Yazata became used in the Avesta for the good gods,
+while the evil spirits received the name of Daevas we cannot discover;
+nor can we decide whether this change of name came in with the reform.
+We can only discover that an analogous change has taken place in India
+also. In the Rigveda the good gods are comprised under the name Asura
+(old Bactrian Ahura), _i.e._ the lord; at a later time the evil spirits
+among the Indians were always called Asuras, while in Iran the name is
+allotted to the highest among the good spirits.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[197] "Ya�na," 29; Roth; "Z. D. M. G." 25, 6 ff. _Geus urva_ means soul
+of the bull; the priests identified the soul of the first created bull
+with the protectress of the flocks, the Drva�pa, _i.e._ having mighty
+horses. Spiegel, "Avesta," 3, 74.
+
+[198] "Aban Yasht," 17-19.
+
+[199] "Afrin Zartusht," 4.
+
+[200] "Ya�na," 9, 42.
+
+[201] "Farvardin Yasht," 93, 94.
+
+[202] "Ashi Yasht," 17 ff.
+
+[203] "Bahram Yasht," 28-33.
+
+[204] "Ya�na," 13, 18; 64, 38; 69, 65.
+
+[205] "Vend." 19, 36-137.
+
+[206] "Farvardin Yasht," 95.
+
+[207] "Ya�na," 28, 9, 44, 45; 46, 1-4; 49, 8; 50, 16, 18, according to
+Haug's translation, which however has been called in question.
+
+[208] "Aban Yasht," 104-106.
+
+[209] "Gosh Yasht;" cf. "Ram Yasht," 36; "Farvardin Yasht," 142.
+
+[210] "Ya�na," 45, 14 ff.
+
+[211] "Farvardin Yasht," 99; "Zamyad Yasht," 84 ff.
+
+[212] "Ashi Yasht," 49; "Aban Yasht," 112.
+
+[213] "Afrin Zartusht," 1-4.
+
+[214] "Ya�na," 52, 3; "Farvardin Yasht," 98.
+
+[215] "Ya�na," 9, 46.
+
+[216] "Ashi Yasht," 19.
+
+[217] "Vend." 3, 23; 19, 1-32, 140-147.
+
+[218] "Vend." 1, 46-48.
+
+[219] "Vend." 1, 50-52.
+
+[220] "Vend." 1, 30-32.
+
+[221] "Ya�na," 19, 51, 52; "Vend." 1, 60-62.
+
+[222] "Vend." 1, 64-66.
+
+[223] "Vend." 1, 9-12, 24; 7, 69.
+
+[224] Herodotus states expressly that some tribes of the Persians were
+nomads (1, 125); beside the Sagartians nomadic tribes are also mentioned
+among the Carmanians, Areians, etc.
+
+[225] "Ya�na," 9, 41; "Ashi Yasht," 20.
+
+[226] "Ashi Yasht," 20.
+
+[227] "Ashi Yasht," 18.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE DOCTRINE OF THE AVESTA.
+
+
+When the tribes of the Aryas advanced from the Panjab towards the East,
+and established themselves on the Ganges, the gods to whom they had
+offered prayers on the Indus faded away amid the abundant fertility of
+the new land; and the lively perception of the struggle of the gods of
+light against the spirits of darkness made room for the conception of
+the world-soul, from which nature and all living creatures were thought
+to have emanated. Similar religious principles led the Arians in Iran to
+a religious reform of an opposite kind. The idea of an emanation of the
+world, proceeding without any opposition, could not maintain itself in a
+life occupied in labour for the means of sustenance, in toiling and
+struggling against nature. Luxuriant growth and dreary desolation,
+scorching heat and severe winter, such as were found alternating in
+Iran, could not flow from one and the same source. There man must be
+active and brave, and therefore the divine being could not be regarded
+as existing in repose. The nature of the table-land, divided between
+fertile tillage and desert, between heat and cold, not merely caused the
+old idea of the conflict between good and evil spirits to continue, but
+even increased and extended it. All nature was made subject to this
+opposing action of the gods, and the old conception of the conflict was
+developed into a complete system. With the extension of the operation of
+the beneficent and harmful power over the whole of nature, man was drawn
+into the conflict as active force. He must not only invoke the
+assistance of the good spirits; he must himself take part in the
+struggle of the good against the evil. In this way he provided for his
+soul and salvation better than by prayer and sacrifice; he strengthened
+so far as in him lay the life and increase of the world, and lessened
+the sphere in which the power of the evil spirits could operate. If the
+Indians by the elevation of Brahman arrived only at the great contrast
+between nature and spirit, between soul and body; if all nature was
+regarded as something evil and to be annihilated, so that the
+mortification and torturing of the body and annihilation of self became
+the highest ethical aims--the Bactrians or Arians in Iran were directed
+by their reform to more energetic work and activity against the harmful
+side of nature, and the evil part of the soul. With the free choice of
+this or that side, with the duty of working on nature, and educating
+self, the conditions of a more happy and powerful development were given
+them.
+
+It was the duty of any earnest and eminent adherents of the reform, and
+afterwards of the priestly races who joined it, or grew up in it, to
+guide the impulse it had given, and bring the new ideas and the rules to
+be deduced from them into harmony with the old conceptions. If the
+contrast between the beneficent and harmful powers once took the shape
+of opposing spirits, the next object was to represent more exactly the
+character and nature of these spirits, and define more closely the good
+and evil Deity. As the reform tended to elevate the natural side in
+these shapes into ethical qualities, it was inevitable that advance in
+this direction should lead at an early time to abstract views--that both
+spirits should be identified with the pure contrast of light and
+darkness, of truth and lying, of moral good and moral evil.
+
+If the good spirit was supreme purity and truth, he must originally have
+created the world in accordance with his nature. Whence then came the
+injurious, the evil? Had the evil spirit also a creative power? Or was
+the evil first introduced after the creation of the world? If this was
+the case, and evil was not always in the world, then it must again
+disappear from it; if the pure god was the more powerful, he must again
+overcome the resistance of the evil. Moreover, with the subordination of
+the light and dark powers to Auramazda and Angromainyu, and their
+combination into these two forms, an impulse was given which gradually
+forced the ancient deities into the background. The first point was, to
+put the latter in the right relation to the new god, who had created
+heaven and earth, and even these ancient gods. In the same way the old
+Arian legend of the golden age of Yima must be harmonised with the new
+doctrine of the creation, and a relation must be established between the
+sacrificers of the old days, who were without the good law of
+Zarathrustra, and the latter. The sayings which held in check the evil
+spirits, and which the reform took from the body of ancient invocations
+or added to them in their spirit, must be accurately preserved if they
+were not to lose their force, especially the prayers and incantations
+which Zarathrustra himself had spoken or was thought to have spoken.
+Lastly, the mode of worship must be regulated in accordance with the
+tendencies of the reform. Which and what kind of sacrifices, which
+invocations and songs of praise were the most efficacious, was a matter
+which required settling. The old customs of purification so
+indispensable for keeping at a distance the evil spirits, which the
+reform, as we ventured to assume, largely increased by new prescripts,
+must be united with the increased importance attached to truth and
+purity and combined into a comprehensive rule for the life pleasing to
+Auramazda. What means were there for wiping out offences against this
+rule, and sins when committed, for turning aside the anger of Mithra,
+for expiating falsehood, lying, and deception? We have already indicated
+(p. 101) how numerous and complicated were the duties of the priesthood
+arising out of pollution and its removal. The answers which the
+priesthood of Iran gave to all the questions which successively arose
+have been collected in the Avesta.
+
+The Gathas of the Avesta, in which the metre has been retained, and
+along with it the older forms of the language--poems which, according to
+another part of the Avesta (the �rosh Yasht), Zarathrustra composed and
+�raosha first sang[228]--are the most speculative part of the book. They
+tell of the existence of the good and evil spirits, place both in the
+beginning of things, identify Auramazda with the truth and Angromainyu
+with the lie, bring forward Auramazda as the creator of the world and of
+living creatures, as the source of what is good in man and nature, and
+describe the duties of the true worshippers and the rewards which they
+may expect, together with the punishments which will come upon the
+worshippers of the Daevas. The ancient gods, Mithra, Haoma, Tistrya,
+Anahita and Drva�pa are not mentioned in the Gathas; though emphasis is
+laid on the blessing of the "imperishable red fire of Auramazda." In
+their place we have Asha (Truthfulness), and Vohumano (Good
+disposition), Armaiti (Piety), and Kshathra (Dominion); these are at
+times merely ideas, at times they are personified beside Auramazda.
+
+In these poems Zarathrustra addresses a number of questions to
+Auramazda: "This question I will ask of thee; answer it truly, O Ahura.
+Who is the first father and begetter of truth? Who created their paths
+for the sun and stars? Who causes the moon to wax and wane? Who sustains
+the earth and holds the clouds above it? Who created the water and the
+trees of the field? Who is in the wind and the storms that they move so
+swiftly? Who created the beneficent lights and the darkness? For whom
+didst thou create the imperishable cow Ranyo�kereti (the Earth)? Who
+formed the earth with its great blessings? Who are the Daevas, which
+fight against the good creation? Who slew the hostile demons? Who is the
+truthful one, who is the liar? How are we to chase away the lies, how
+shall I put the lies into the hand of Asha (Truthfulness)? How can I
+come to your dwelling (the dwelling of the gods), and to your song? Give
+me now the command, what ought to be and what ought not to be, in such a
+way that we attentive ones may understand it, O Mazda, with the tongue
+of thy mouth, how am I to convert all living creatures, and guide them
+to the right path, which leads to him who hears the praises of the truly
+pious in heaven (Garonmana). Tell me clearly, what ye command me as the
+best, that I may keep it in my heart, and remember what has been
+forgotten, Mazda Ahura, all that ought to be, and ought not to be. Teach
+us, O True one, the way of Vohumano created by thee. Let us, O Mazda,
+receive thy sayings which bring blessing."
+
+"On thee have I looked as the source in the creation of life, because
+thou, O rich in gifts, didst establish the sacred customs and announce
+the words. He who first willed that the spaces of the sky should clothe
+themselves with lights, he in his wisdom establishes the law of duty for
+the pious. In the spirit a man must think of thee that thou art ever the
+same, Ahura. I regarded thee as the most excellent, O Mazda, whom thy
+people have to worship in spirit, as the father of the pious, since I
+saw thee with my eye, as the eternal law-giver of the world, living in
+his works. Since thou of old, O Mazda, didst create all beings and
+spirits according to thy will, and gave them reason and a material body,
+all men, the wise and the unwise, cause their voices to sound, each
+according to his heart and mind; he who strives after wisdom proves in
+his spirit on which side is error. All gleaming bodies with their
+manifestations, everything that by Vohumano has a bright eye, the stars
+and the sun, the herald of the day, move for thy praise, O Mazda. In
+thee the holy earth exists, and the highly-intelligent framer of the
+body of the earth, O living spirit Mazda. Thou didst create the world,
+the earth with the fire that rests in its bosom. With pleasant fields
+thou didst adorn it, after taking counsel with Vohumano, O Mazda. Thou
+didst first create the fields, and didst devise the sayings by thy
+spirit, and the various kinds of knowledge; thou didst then create this
+world of existence, by holy acts and speeches. To Mazda belongs this
+kingdom which he causes to grow by his grace."[229]
+
+"To you, all ye that come, I will announce the praises of Mazda the
+all-wise lord, and the hymns to Vohumano. O wise Asha, I will entreat
+that friendship may display itself through the stars. Hear with your
+ears the glorious, see with your spirit the clear, that every one for
+himself may choose his faith before the great work begins. Those two
+prim�val spirits, which are twins, represent themselves in thought,
+words, and works as this dualism, the good and the evil, and between
+both the virtuous know how to decide, but not the evil. When these two
+deities first came together, they created the good creatures and the
+bad, and (arranged) that at the last hell should be awarded to the bad
+and blessedness to the good. Of these two spirits the evil one chooses
+the worst way of action; but the increase-giving spirit chooses virtue,
+he whose robe is the firm heaven,--and those who in faith make Auramazda
+content by truthful acts. Between them the worshippers of the Daevas,
+the deceived, cannot rightly decide; they chose the worst disposition,
+and came to the evil ones when in council, and together they hastened to
+Aeshma, that by him they might bring plagues upon the life of men. But
+when the punishment of their evil deeds shall be accomplished, and thy
+kingdom as the reward of piety shall come upon those who put the Druj
+(the lie) in the hands of Asha (Truthfulness), then destruction overtake
+the destroying Druj; but those who possess high renown will gather as
+immortal in the beautiful dwellings of Vohumano, of Mazda, and Asha.
+Thus then let us work to make this world eternal, O Auramazda, O Asha
+that givest blessing; may our thoughts be there, where wisdom is
+enthroned."[230]
+
+"Teach me to know both, that I may walk in the way of Vohumano, the
+sacrifice, O Mazda, which is fit for a god like thee, and the pure
+words of thanksgiving; give me the duration over which Ameretat
+presides, and the blessings of Haurvatat.[231] May he be praised, who in
+complete truth, so far as he knows it, will tell the charm of Asha, the
+utterance of prosperity (Haurvatat, _i.e._ health--and afterwards the
+spirit of prosperity and the waters) and of immortality (Ameretat
+immortality, and afterwards the spirit of long life and good
+plants)."[232] "The acts, words, and sacrifices by which I, O Mazda,
+might attain immortality, purity, and power over Haurvatat, I will, so
+far as I can, perform for thee.[233] Grant to me, O most holy spirit,
+Mazda, thou who didst create the cow, the waters, and the plants, grant
+me immortality and health, power and duration, that I may follow the
+doctrine of Vohumano."[234] "From thee comes the nourishment of
+Haurvatat and Ameretat; may piety (Armaiti) increase with truth
+under the dominion of Vohumano, and power and continuance as a
+counter-protection."[235] "Send us the blessing of a long life."[236]
+"I ask thee, answer me truly, Ahura, When shall I win this reward by
+truthfulness?--ten mares with their stallions and a camel, that
+Haurvatat and Ameretat may be in my possession, and I make an offering
+to thee of their blessings."[237] "I will proclaim what the most holy
+one says to me, the best word for mortals to hear; those who for its
+sake lend ear to me, to those will Haurvatat and Ameretat come." "To
+every one who is a friend to him in thought and word, Auramazda has
+given power over the rich Haurvatat (health), over the rich Ameretat
+(freedom from death); he has given him dominion and independence and
+the riches of Vohumano."[238] "Let none of you listen to the counsel
+and command of the evil one, for he brings farm and community, canton
+and land, into distress and ruin, but punish him with the weapon."[239]
+"On the day when Asha will slay the Druj, on the day of immortality,
+when that comes forth, that was denied, when the Daevas and men will
+receive their reward; then, O Ahura, a mighty song of praise will be
+raised to thee."[240]
+
+"To thy kingdom and thy truth, I offer praise, Ahura, Asha. Listen to
+this with kindly spirit, Mazda; incline thine ear, Ahura. Let the
+worshippers of the liar be few; may all these turn themselves to the
+priests of the truthful fire! The good must rule over us, not the evil!
+Ahura, the all-knowing, cannot be deceived. I will think of thee, most
+glorious one, at the final departure of life. With prayers, O Mazda,
+Asha, will I come forward to praise thee, and with the works of
+Vohumano. In your dwelling, O wise one, sound the praises of them that
+give thanks. I will be called the singer of thy praises, and will
+continue to be so as long as I can, by advancing the laws of life, that
+the life of the world may continue of itself. With the verses which have
+been composed and handed down for your praise, I will approach both of
+you, and with uplifted hands. As a worshipper I will invoke you one and
+all, ye who give blessing, as well as all those who attain to the strong
+bridges of your blessedness, Auramazda, Asha, and Vohumano; those
+bridges which belong to you. Come ye to my aid."[241]
+
+These are the essential traits of the doctrine of the Gathas. Auramazda,
+himself a shining one (_hvathra_), has created the shining bodies of the
+heaven, the earth, the waters, the trees, and men; he has appointed
+their paths for the stars. He is the sustainer of the world, inasmuch as
+he devises the good sayings (_daena_) for the protection of the good
+creation. He is light and truth, and therefore is not to be deceived; he
+shows the right way to Zarathrustra, and gives him the proper charms
+against the evil spirits. That at this stage of ideas there can be no
+myth attached to Auramazda, _i.e._ to the concentrated essence of the
+gods of light, is obvious. In the Gathas it is only the quite abstract
+forces of Vohumano and Asha, of good disposition and truthfulness, which
+stand beside him. Auramazda is simply the creator and lord; and the same
+position is ascribed to him as we saw (p. 87) in the inscriptions of the
+Ach�menids. In spite of the strongly-marked trait of spiritualisation
+and abstraction which runs through the Gathas, there is no lack in them
+of unreflecting and na�ve conceptions, which have come down to us from
+ancient days. It is true that the contrasts in nature and men are
+elevated to the opposition of truth and falsehood, and the service of
+truth is proclaimed as the highest command; but on the other hand, it is
+the strong fire of Auramazda which causes the right to be recognised,
+and gives the decision in battle.[242] It is the good sayings which
+sustain the world, _i.e._ the old magic of prayers and invocations is to
+keep off the evil, and increase the strength of the good, spirits.
+However high may be the conception of Auramazda, he who walks in his
+way, and performs the commands of purity, not only expects his reward,
+but insists on it; he desires to obtain ten mares and stallions, and at
+least one camel; he wishes for the blessings of Haurvatat in order to
+sacrifice from them; he desires continuance and power, health and long
+life. In these traits the old contrast between powers that give
+increase, blessing, and life, and powers of destruction, is plainly
+retained.
+
+From the beginning the evil one was ranged over against Auramazda as his
+twin brother. He has created all that is evil, but nevertheless he is
+without any independent power of creation. If the Gathas express this
+merely in such a manner that they give prominence to Auramazda as the
+creator, they were as far from setting up a dualism of equally-balanced
+forces, as any other religion has been from attempting such a task, and
+carrying it out. The other fragments of the Avesta leave no doubt of the
+fact, that Angromainyu was not in a position to create the world
+according to his own will; he can only implant the form of evil in the
+good creation of Auramazda; he puts desolation, destruction, and death
+in the place of increase. The Vendidad quotes a whole series of lands
+which Auramazda created good, and enumerates the evils which the deadly
+Angromainyu brought into each:--into one winter, into another excessive
+heat; in one case vermin, in another disease, in a third beasts of prey.
+In the same way, in opposition to moral good, the evil one creates
+idleness, lies, lust, doubt, disbelief. An equally poised power of the
+two deities would have led to a direct conflict between them, which
+occurs nowhere in the Avesta; God and the devil only contend for the
+increase and injury of the world, and for the souls of men. The relative
+inferiority of the evil deity has not escaped the Greeks. "Some are of
+opinion," Plutarch says, "that there are two opposite deities, one of
+which framed the good, the other the evil. Others, however, name the
+better power the god, the other the demon, as Zoroaster the Magian. He
+calls one Oromazdes, the other Areimanius, and states that Oromazdes
+most resembles light among perceptible things, and Areimanius gloom and
+uncertainty."[243] It is a later speculation, diverging from the Avesta,
+which formed the good and evil spirits into simple forces, and ranged
+them against each other with equal powers.[244]
+
+In the Gathas we have the nucleus of the conceptions from which the
+reform of the ancient faith of Iran arose, but not in their original
+state. On the contrary, they have been systematised in the circles of
+the priests. Hence the contents and prescripts of other parts of the
+Avesta, which do not present a speculative tendency, are not on that
+account to be regarded as of later origin than the Gathas--least of all
+the invocations to the ancient deities. It was an essential object of
+priestly meditation to bring these old gods, which existed vividly
+before the soul of the nation, into harmony with the new faith. On every
+page of the Avesta it is clear that the priests of Eastern Iran did not
+attain to an accepted system in this direction; that the old gods
+remained in existence beside Auramazda, and the direct contest against
+the evil spirits, after the reform as before it, was carried on by
+Mithra, Verethraghna, and Vayu, Tistrya and �raosha, while Auramazda is
+in the background, and sits somewhat passively on his golden throne in
+the heaven of Garonmana. When the Avesta was written down and collected,
+the ideas of the priests were still so na�ve, or still preserved such a
+respect for the traditional forms of the gods of light and water, as
+they obviously lived in the mind of the people, that they represent
+Auramazda himself as offering sacrifice to Mithra,[245] Anahita, Vayu,
+and Tistrya, with Haoma and the sacred bundle of twigs, in order to
+strengthen their power or carry out his own wishes, just as the gods of
+the Aryas in India offer sacrifices to one another. In India the old
+gods received a subordinate position as protectors of the world after
+the rise of Brahman, but in Iran this was not the case; nor were they
+brought into any genealogical connection with their new head Auramazda,
+though fire is occasionally spoken of in a figure as the son of
+Auramazda, and the earth (Armaiti) is once or twice called his
+daughter.[246] The only bond of union between the new god and the old
+gods in the Avesta is the fact that Auramazda is made the creator of the
+old gods, and even of Mithra. Yet the old position of Mithra appears,
+when Auramazda says to Zarathrustra: "When I created Mithra, the lord of
+wide pastures, I created him as mighty to pray to, mighty to worship as
+myself." Tistrya also was created by Auramazda as worthy of adoration
+and praise as himself.[247] We are already acquainted with Auramazda's
+command to Zarathrustra to invoke and worship Mithra, Vayu, the other
+ancient gods, and fire (p. 131). The existence and extent of this
+worship is proved not only by the prayers of the Ya�na, but also by the
+accounts of western writers which we have already examined.
+
+As a compensation for the independent life of the ancient gods by the
+side of Auramazda, the priests surrounded his throne with six spirits,
+who were his associates and helpers. These are called Amesha �pentas,
+_i.e._ the holy immortals; as good and wise kings they rule with
+Auramazda over the seven girdles of the earth,[248] as in India the
+eight protectors of the world rule over the eight zones. The views out
+of which these spirits arose are found in the Gathas, but they did not
+receive their complete form till the Gathas had been composed and
+generally received. Plutarch tells us that, according to the faith of
+the Persians, Oromazdes had created six gods: the first, the god of good
+disposition ([Greek: eunoia]); the second, the god of truth ([Greek:
+al�theia]); the third, the god of order and law ([Greek: eunomia]); the
+three remaining deities were the gods of wisdom ([Greek: sophia]), of
+wealth ([Greek: ploutos]), and of delight in the beautiful ([Greek: epi
+tois kalois h�de�n]). The two first, good disposition (Vohumano), and
+truth or truthfulness, we already found frequently mentioned in the
+Gathas, but chiefly as ideas rather than persons. With the priests
+Vohumano and Asha vahista (the most excellent truthfulness) became the
+Amesha �pentas, who stand next to Auramazda. The Avesta speaks not only
+of the good way of Vohumano, but also of his acts, his dwelling, and his
+kingdom. According to the books of the Parsees it is his duty to protect
+the flocks. Asha vahista, as the truthful one, is the protector of fire,
+which points the right path, and, according to the Gathas, gives the
+decision in the contest against the liars. According to the books of the
+Parsees, Asha builds the bridge of Chinvat, to which the souls come
+after death, making it wide when the pious souls step upon it. Not less
+correctly does Plutarch describe the third Amesha �penta as the spirit
+of order and law. Kshathra, _i.e._ the kingdom, the dominion, is
+mentioned impersonally in the Gathas; and this idea the priests have
+elevated into Kshathra vairya, _i.e._ the good spirit of the desired
+dominion, of good order and law, which is the third Amesha �penta.
+Metals were allotted to him as the king of the Ameshas.[249] The fourth
+figure in this circle, which Plutarch correctly describes as the spirit
+of wisdom, though he is wrong in calling it a god, is the earth spirit
+Armaiti. In the Rigveda Aramati (the earth) is a maiden worthy of
+praise, who, morning and evening, brings butter to Agni. In the Avesta
+Armaiti is "the beautiful daughter of Auramazda, the bearer
+(_barethri_) of cattle, of beasts of draught, and men;" with "her hands
+Auramazda performs pure actions," while the Gathas also ascribe to her
+special relations to the corporeal world.[250] Among the priests the
+spirit of the "patient humble earth" has become the spirit of humility
+and piety. According to the books of the Parsees Armaiti gives patience
+and firmness.[251] The fifth and sixth spirits also, whom Plutarch calls
+the gods of wealth and delight in the beautiful, were found in existence
+by the priests, and merely ranged by them in the circle of the Amesha
+�pentas. These are Haurvatat and Ameretat. We saw how earnestly the
+Arians of India besought the gods for wealth and length of life; and in
+this matter the Arians of Iran were not behind them. Here, as there, the
+powers which could grant such gifts were elevated into special spirits,
+to whom, naturally, all that gave wealth and long life, good and healing
+plants and refreshing water, belonged. The good plants were the kingdom
+of Ameretat, refreshing water the domain of Haurvatat. In the fancy of
+the Arians of Iran good plants sprang from the tree of heaven, the
+Gaokerena, which grew in Ardvi�ura (p. 126); the water flowed down from
+this source in heaven, or came from Vourukasha, the lake on the divine
+mountain. Those two spirits, who ruled over plants and water, were
+brought by the system of the priests into the circle of the Amesha
+�pentas; the province over which they ruled had long been apportioned to
+them. They were distinguished from the first four by the fact that those
+were personifications of moral ideas, these two were personifications of
+real goods.[252] With wealth, prosperity and happy life is given, with
+length of life the complete enjoyment of its blessings, and so the
+Greeks could arrive at the conclusion that these two spirits were gods
+of wealth and delight in beauty. Thus Auramazda now ruled surrounded by
+six sacred forms. The semblance of this circle on earth was the throne
+of Cyrus and his successors, which was surrounded by the six tribal
+princes of the Persians.
+
+The personification of ideas--the process of transforming old figures,
+and changing them into abstractions--did not come to an end with the
+Amesha �pentas. We are acquainted with �raosha, the warrior against the
+Daevas, his habitation on the divine mountain, his horses, his club, and
+how he fights at the side of Mithra, and keeps watch in the dark of the
+night against the demons (p. 121). Now it is he who first sang the
+sacred four Gathas of Zarathrustra, who first bound the sacred withes,
+"three twigs, five twigs, seven twigs;" he not only knows the sacred
+word; the sacred word is the body of �raosha. Instead of the club which
+he held raised against the head of the Daevas, the invocations of the
+Avesta and the prayer Ahuna vairya are now the weapons with which he,
+"the pure lord of the pure," "advances the world." We remember the
+process by which the Arians in India came to represent Indra as smiting
+Vritra, and shattering his cave, not as formerly with the lightning, but
+with Brahman, the power of the prayer and the sacred acts. Obviously we
+have some influence of these old Arian conceptions of the mysterious
+power of prayer, and the control of the spirits possessed by the correct
+invocations and sayings against gods and spectres, when we find �raosha
+fighting with the prayers of the Avesta, and in the Avesta the sacred
+word is praised as a Divine power--[253] when Zarathrustra offers
+sacrifice to the good law.[254] More liberal creations on the part of
+the system of the priests are the elevation of "excellent thought,
+knowledge, and conception," of "the long study," "and the thought of the
+pure man," which are invoked and praised in the Avesta, into Divine
+powers. Of not less abstract nature are other forms, like Rashnu
+razista, _i.e._ the most straight-forward justice,[255] which, according
+to the Dinkart, tests the souls on the bridge of Chinvat; time, which is
+invoked as unlimited, as the ruler of the long periods, and like the
+genius of the five portions into which the priests divided the day. Of
+older origin, though also modified by the reform, is the invocation of
+the heights, which Mithra first illuminated with his light. In the
+Avesta this invocation is mainly addressed to the high "navel of the
+waters," the Divine mountain, which reaches to the sky, "on which were
+asked the holy questions," _i.e._ on which Zarathrustra has received the
+revelation; "by reason of the revelation of the sacred word we invoke
+the height, which preserved the knowledge."[256] Many of the traditional
+forms of ancient times were partly modified by the priests and partly
+allowed to fade away. The goddess Drva�pa, to whom the ancient heroes
+had sacrificed, they changed into the soul of the primeval bull, which
+Angromainyu had slain.[257] Nairyo�angha, the Nara�ansa of the Veda, an
+ancient name of the spirit of fire, which we learned to know in the Veda
+as the messenger of men to the heavenly beings, as priest and mediator
+between heaven and earth (IV. 39), appears in the Avesta merely as the
+messenger of the gods.[258] The form of Vayu, the more ancient
+conception of which still plainly breaks through (p. 116), becomes
+merely the air "whose operation is on high;" and Ashi vanguhi, whom the
+ancient sacrificers and heroes invoked, together with Ardvi�ura, for
+victory, bears traces which can hardly any longer be recognised. We
+merely perceive that she could once confer power, fertility, beauty, and
+wealth. We saw above how she called Zarathrustra to her chariot, and
+promised splendour to his body, and long prosperity to his soul (p.
+130). If the luminaries of heaven, in spite of the creation described to
+Auramazda, are extolled as "having no beginning," we have in this fact a
+glimpse of the old position of the spirits of light. The struggles of
+Tistrya against the demons of drought were allowed to remain (p. 120).
+Plutarch observes that, according to the doctrine of the Magians,
+Oromazdes had placed Sirius (Tistrya) as a watchman and advanced guard.
+On the other hand, the worship of the sun-god appears but faintly in the
+Avesta--in our fragments at any rate. Yet Herodotus informs us that with
+the Persians the neighing of horses at sunrise was regarded as a
+favourable sign from the gods, and Xenophon states that the Magians
+offered bulls to Zeus, but horses to the sun-god, and that on the
+journeys of the Ach�menids the chariot of Zeus went first, then that of
+the sun-god; both were white and crowned; and these were followed by a
+third chariot covered with purple, which as it seems was the chariot of
+fire. In the march of Xerxes to Hellas, according to the account of
+Herodotus, a sacred car, yoked with eight white horses, went before him;
+and ten sacred horses were led, clothed in the most beautiful trappings.
+Curtius represents the emblem of the sun as glowing over the tent of
+the last Darius, who invokes "the sun, Mithra, and the sacred eternal
+fire;" and he tells us of the chariot of Zeus in the army, yoked with
+white horses, behind which was led a horse of remarkable size, the horse
+of the sun, with golden bridle and white covering, like those before the
+chariot. Dio Chrysostom tells us that the Magians reared a yoke of
+Nisaean horses for Zeus, _i.e._ for Mithra, which were the largest and
+most beautiful in all Asia, and a horse for Helius.[259] We can call to
+mind the battle-chariot of Mithra, "with golden wheels and silver
+spokes" (p. 110). These were imitations of the divine chariots of which
+the Greeks tell us, and if they were not in a position to distinguish
+accurately what belonged to Mithra (Auramazda does not come into the
+question), and what to Hvare Kshaeta (the sun-god)--Strabo is of opinion
+that the Persians called the sun Mithras[260]--we may still conclude
+with certainty from these statements, that the worship of Mithra and the
+sun-god remained more vigorous and effectual among the princes and
+nations of Iran than our fragments of the Avesta would allow us to
+assume, if the old invocations to Mithra, Tistrya, Haoma, Vayu, and
+Verethraghna had not been preserved in them. Yet the fragments do
+present us with an invocation to the sun-god, though weakened, it is
+true, and adapted to the new faith. "We celebrate the brilliant,
+immortal sun, whose horses are unwearied. When the sun gleams in heaven,
+the heavenly spirits come by hundreds and thousands, and spread the
+light over the earth for the salvation of the pure world, for the
+salvation of the pure bodies. As the sun rises, the earth purifies
+herself, and the fructifying waters of the springs, pools and lakes;
+the sun-god purifies all creatures that belong to �pentomainyu. If the
+sun came not, the Daevas would slay all that inhabits the seven girdles
+of the earth, and the heavenly beings would not be able to withstand
+them; they could not drive them away. He who sacrifices to the sun in
+order to withstand the dark Daevas, the thieves and robbers, he
+sacrifices to Auramazda, to the Amesha �pentas and to his own
+soul."[261] In the time of the Sassanids, the worship of the sun comes
+definitely forward.
+
+Plutarch states that the demon Areimanius had created an equal number of
+evil spirits to match the six good gods of Oromazdes, _i.e._ the Amesha
+�pentas. The Vendidad mentions five of them: Andra, �aurva,
+Naonghaithya, Tauru, and Zairicha,[262] to which we have only to add
+Akomano, which has been mentioned already in the Gathas, in order to
+make up the number. They are all of them creations of the priests,
+partly invented to match the Amesha �pentas, partly borrowed from older
+forms, which had lost their brightness among the Arians of Iran.
+Akomano, _i.e._ Bad disposition, is naturally the counterpart of
+Vohumano, or Good disposition: opposite Asha vahista, _i.e._ the most
+excellent truthfulness, the priests placed the demon Andra (Indra),
+_i.e._ an old Arian name which the Arians beyond the Indus had elevated
+to be the best warrior against the demons, the god of the storm. No
+special qualities of Andra are known or mentioned in the Avesta; the
+books of the Parsees can only say that he brings care and sorrow of
+heart to men, and makes narrow the bridge of Chinvat. The demon �aurva
+is the opponent of Kshathra vairya, of order and law, of good dominion;
+hence, according to the Sad-der-Bundehesh, he leads kings astray into
+despotism, and nations into lawlessness and robbery. Naonghaithya is the
+opponent of Armaiti, the spirit of humility and piety; this spirit
+therefore, as the Bundehesh maintains, makes men impatient and proud;
+the science of languages claims to find in this name a Vedic name for
+the two A�vins,--Nasatya (IV. 42). Only the last two opposing spirits of
+the Amesha �pentas, the opponents of Haurvatat and Ameretat, display,
+like these beings, real characteristics. If they are the spirits of
+water and plants, of prosperity and long life or immortality, then Tauru
+is the spirit of thirst and sickness, and Zairicha of hunger and
+death.[263]
+
+If the ancient gods have preserved more lively traits than the Amesha
+�pentas, the old demons have also more definite outlines than the
+opposing spirits. Such are the Daeva Apaosha, who parches up the land
+and keeps back the water from the earth; �penjaghra, the comrade of him
+who was struck by lightning; Zemaka, the spirit of the cold winter; and
+finally Azhi, who seeks to steal away the fire from men in the night.
+Among these evil spirits may further be reckoned a female demon
+Bushyan�ta, with long hands and of a yellow hue, who leads men astray
+into much sleep and idleness, who does not allow them to see the rise of
+the sun, and shortens the joy of existence;[264] the three Daevas of
+drunkenness, Kunda, Banga, and Vibanga; the Daeva Buiti, the spirit of
+lies and falsehood, who deceives men;[265] the spirit of flattery,
+Ashemaogha;[266] and the very wicked Ashma "of evil glance," who
+attempts to slay the sleeping, and withstands �raosha by night with
+terrible weapons.[267] Very evil also is A�tovidhotu, _i.e._ the
+destroyer of bodies, and a female goblin, the spirit of the Daevas, the
+Druj Na�u. This spirit enters the body immediately after death, and
+exercises power over all who come in contact with it.
+
+Under Auramazda are united the gods, the Amesha �pentas, the rest of the
+Yazatas (those worthy of adoration), in opposition to the troops of
+hell, the Daevas, Druj, Pairikas and Jainis, which are led by
+Angromainyu. The first are found in the light of sunrise, in the clear
+gleam of the pure sky; the latter in the gloom of sunset, or in the
+distant clouds of the north; in burial-places, and where the dead are
+placed; in all corners into which the light of heaven does not pierce;
+in the dark abyss under earth; in "the worst place."[268] On the summit
+of the mountain Arezura (Demavend, apparently), they take counsel how
+they are to turn the evil eye on men; how they can injure and slay
+them.[269] To them belong gloom, cold, drought, the barren land and the
+wilderness, thorns and poisonous herbs, hunger and thirst, sickness,
+death, dirt, laziness, lying, sin. Theirs are the harmful beasts, the
+Khraf�tras; beasts of prey, wolves, serpents; all animals which live in
+holes and corners, lizards, scorpions, toads, frogs, rats, mice, gnats,
+and lastly mosquitoes, lice, and fleas.[270] To the good spirits belong
+light, water, springs, rivers, the fruitful earth, good plants,[271]
+trees, fields, pastures, good food, purity, truth, life in this world
+and the next; and theirs are the good animals, the animals of the
+flocks, the birds which nestle on the heights, and live in the clear
+air. The dog and the cock are worshipped in the Avesta as fighting with
+men against the Daevas. The first protects the flocks against the beasts
+of prey of Angromainyu. Of the cock the Avesta says: "The bird
+Parodarsh, which evil-speaking men call Kahzkata� (_i.e._ Kikeriki or
+the like), lifts up his voice in the last third of the night, roused by
+the holy �raosha at every divine dawn. He cries: 'Rise up, ye men;
+praise the most excellent truth; drive away the Daevas.' Who gives a
+pair of these birds to a pure man, in purity and kindness, gives as much
+as if he had given a palace with a thousand pillars and a thousand
+beams, ten thousand windows, and a hundred thousand turrets." "And
+whoever gives to a pure man as much meat as makes the size of a
+Parodarsh"--the book of Auramazda tells us in another place--"I who am
+Auramazda will ask him no other question on his way to Paradise."[272]
+According to the Avesta the dog and cock unite their powers against the
+Druj.[273] The bird Asho-zusta fights against the Daevas, and the bird
+Karshipta (the sacred hawk) announces the good law in the garden of
+Yima. Two other mythical birds, the two eagles (_�aena_) of the sky,
+Amru and Chamru, are invoked as helpful powers.[274] They nestle on the
+tree of life in the heaven. Besides the tree Gaokerena, which grows in
+Ardvi�ura and bears the heavenly Haoma, the Avesta has also the tree
+Vi�pataokhma, which grows in the Lake Vourukasha, and bears all seeds.
+When Amru sits on this tree, the seeds fall down, and Chamru carries
+them away where Tistrya collects the water, who then rains down the seed
+with the water to the earth. In the book of kings of Firdusi, Simurgh
+(�inmurv), the king of the birds, carries Rustem on his pinions over the
+broad earth as far as the sea of Chin (China) to the tree of life.[275]
+A prophet of the Hebrews represents Jehovah as saying of Cyrus: "I
+summoned from the East the eagle, the man of my counsel."[276] Xenophon
+tells us that Cyrus, and the Ach�menids who succeeded him, carried as a
+standard a golden eagle on a tall lance;[277] and Curtius says, that a
+golden eagle with outspread wings was attached to the chariots of the
+Persian king.[278]
+
+The fragments of the Avesta which have been preserved do not give us
+very full information on the sacrifices. The essential matters are hymns
+of praise and prayers. The chief sacrifice is offered to one of the old
+deities, Haoma, the supporter and protector of life. When Plutarch
+represents the Magi as pounding a certain herb of the name of Omomi in a
+mortar, with invocations to avert Hades, he gives a correct account of
+the supposed tendency of this sacrifice. According to the Avesta the
+utensils for this sacrifice--the mortar, cup and bundle of twigs--were
+found in every house. The sacrifice consisted in the offering, _i.e._
+the elevation of the cup filled with the juice of the Haoma, during the
+recitation of the proper prayers. Beside this offering, which even now
+is offered twice each day by the priests of the Parsees, the fire is to
+be kept up perpetually, and fed with good dry wood and perfumes. The
+flesh of the sacrifice (_myazda_) is not often mentioned; yet the book
+of the law provides that a thousand head of small cattle must be offered
+in expiation of certain offences,[279] and we are told in the
+invocations that the heroes of old time, from Thraetaona down to King
+Vista�pa, had offered great sacrifices of animals to Ardvi�ura and
+Drva�pa, in order to gain the victory, viz. 100 horses, 1000 cattle, and
+10,000 head of small cattle. Herodotus tells us that the Magians, when
+Xerxes marched into Hellas, sacrificed 1000 oxen on the summit of
+Pergamus to Athene of Ilium, and at a later time white horses in Thrace;
+Xenophon maintains that the Persians sacrificed beautiful bulls to Zeus,
+_i.e._ to Auramazda, and horses to the sun, and burnt them whole;
+Athen�us tells that with the king of the Persians a thousand animals
+were daily slaughtered as sacrifices; camels, horses, oxen, apes, deer,
+and especially sheep. According to Arrian, the Magians who kept guard
+over the burial-place of Cyrus received a horse every month, and a sheep
+every day, for sacrifice.[280] Herodotus has already told us, that the
+animals were led to a pure place, and when the sacrificer had invoked
+the god were killed, cut up, cooked, and then laid out on delicate
+grass. The Magian then sang the theogony, and after some time, the
+person who offered the sacrifice "carried away the flesh, and used it at
+his pleasure" (p. 85). Herodotus is better informed than Xenophon;
+according to the Avesta only the head of the animal belongs to the
+gods.[281] Obviously, as the nature of the gods became more
+spiritualised--and the reform prepared the way for this--the sacrifice
+of animals was restricted in this manner, so that it consisted
+essentially in the offering of the animals, _i.e._ in the consecration
+of the flesh. We may conclude from the statement in Athen�us, that only
+consecrated flesh could be eaten at the court of the kings. Xerxes
+certainly would not have sacrificed to Athene, "a lying deity" of the
+Greeks, on the summit of Ilium; but he might very well have selected the
+last eminence in Asia Minor, "the many-fountained Ida," in order to
+offer there a sacrifice of 1000 oxen to Ardvi�ura for his victory beyond
+the sea--a sacrifice which corresponds exactly to the first offering
+made by Kava Hu�rava and Kava Vista�pa to the same goddess for victory
+over the Turanians.[282]
+
+Temples and images are unknown to the Avesta. The reform preserved for
+the nations of Iran the traditional form of worship without images, on
+which it was founded. The accounts of western writers, from Herodotus
+and Xenophon downwards, establish the fact that there were only
+sacrificial places on the heights and consecrated fire-altars in
+Iran.[283] But this must not be taken to mean that the forms of worship
+and the images of the nations with which the Persians became acquainted
+after the foundation of their supremacy, especially of their nearest
+neighbours, the Semites on the Tigris and Euphrates, remained without
+influence on them. On the monuments of Darius we see the picture of
+Auramazda, cut exactly after the pattern which the Assyrian monuments
+exhibit in the portraiture of their god Asshur. We are also told of
+images of Anahita. Berosus maintains that Artaxerxes Mnemon erected
+statues to Aphrodite Anaitis at Babylon, Ecbatana, and Susa, and taught
+this form of worship to the Damascenes and Lydians.[284] From this
+statement, taken in connection with the account of Herodotus that the
+Persians had learnt to sacrifice to Mylitta,[285] the conclusion has
+been drawn that Artaxerxes II. introduced the worship of Bilit among the
+Persians. But it was not necessary to teach this worship to the
+Damascenes and Lydians (I. 358, 563), and even in the Avesta, Anahita as
+the goddess of the heavenly water is the goddess of fertility. Hence the
+statues made by Artaxerxes were, no doubt, images of Anahita the
+goddess, whom he invokes along with Auramazda and Mithra in his
+inscription at Susa. Strabo describes the worship of the Magians at the
+fire-altars of Cappadocia in a manner which completely agrees with the
+accounts given in the Avesta, and then adds that these functions were
+also performed in the enclosures ([Greek: s�koi]) which were consecrated
+there to Anaitis, Amardatus, and Omanus, and the image of Omanus was
+carried round in processions. He concludes with the words: "this (_i.e._
+the form of worship described) I have myself seen."[286] According to
+this account, then, Amardate,[287] _i.e._ the Amesha �penta Ameretat,
+who averts death, was worshipped there beside Anahita, and Omanus,
+_i.e._ the Amesha �penta Vohumano, the protector of the flocks, had an
+image. As this is all that we can discover about the image-worship of
+the Persians, it is clear that the influence of the picture-worship of
+Hither Asia and Egypt had no great influence even on the western nations
+of Iran. It is limited to the facts that Darius added the symbolical
+picture of Auramazda to his inscriptions without, however, building him
+a temple; that a century after him Artaxerxes II. erected statues and a
+temple to Anahita at Ecbatana; and that at a later time a portable image
+of Vohumano was in existence in Cappadocia.
+
+The nucleus of the old religious conceptions of the Arians--the desire
+to obtain increase and life from the gods--has been sufficiently
+disclosed; and that which could not be obtained in this world, the
+continuance of the individual life, heaven was to bestow upon them. This
+line was followed up by the reform; the spirits of health and long life
+were added by the priests to the circle of the Amesha �pentas. When
+Zarathrustra had increased the means for the protection and support of
+life; when it became a fixed maxim that purity preserved life in this
+world and ensured it after death; the sharp insistence on the command of
+the pure and active and truthful life which men ought to lead in this
+world, became developed into the conception of a judgment on the souls
+after death. He who had lived purely, and given the Daevas no room to
+exercise their power on his body, became himself pure and bright, and
+could therefore enter after death as a pure spirit among the spirits of
+light. Thus the Avesta announces that "when body and soul have
+separated," the soul on the third night after death, as soon as the
+brilliant sun arises, and the victorious Mithra seats himself with "pure
+brilliance" on the mountains, comes over the Hara berezaiti to the
+bridge of Chinvat, _i.e._ the bridge of assembly or of assembling, which
+leads to Garonmana, _i.e._ to the dwelling of hymns, the abode of the
+good gods. Here the Daevas and the gods contend for the soul;[288] the
+judgment of the souls takes place;[289] here Auramazda asks the souls
+about their conduct.[290] The pure soul, whose odour the Daevas
+dread,[291] which approaches with virtue and sanctity, is joined by the
+other pure souls and by the souls of the dogs which keep watch over the
+bridge of Chinvat,[292] and the host of the heavenly Yazatas brings the
+soul of the good over the bridge into heaven. In contentment the pure
+soul goes to the golden throne of Auramazda, to the thrones of the
+Amesha �pentas, to the dwelling of the pure. And Vohumano rises from his
+golden throne and inquires of the pure one: "How hast thou, O pure one,
+come hither out of the perishable to the imperishable world?"[293] But
+the souls which come to the bridge full of terror and sick, find no
+friend there; the evil spirits, Vizaresha by name, lead them bound down
+into the place of the bad, into the darkness, the dwelling of the
+Druj.[294]
+
+In the Veda the spirits of the fathers are invited to the sacrificial
+meal; they are to enjoy the gifts which are laid for them on the grass,
+to support the prayers of their descendants, to keep away the evil
+spirits, and to increase wealth. Each day water was poured there for the
+forefathers, and corns of rice were scattered for them; on the new moon
+the clans held the funeral feast for the dead; and we are acquainted
+with the consequences which attended expulsion from this banquet.[295]
+The belief in the spirits of the ancestors, and their continued relation
+to their descendants, existed also among the Arians of Iran, and the
+Avesta alters it only so far as to limit consistently the assistance
+given by the spirits of the fathers to the souls of those who have lived
+in truth and purity, and have thus found entrance into heaven. According
+to the Avesta the Fravashis of the pure--this is the name given to the
+Pitaras, or fathers of the Indians--protect their descendants against
+the Daevas, help them in distress and danger, and fight for their
+families on the day of battle, if they are honoured and satisfied by
+their descendants. It is only an old conception, repeated in the Avesta,
+when we are told: "We invoke the good, strong, holy Fravashis. Where
+strong men fight in severe conflict, there come the Fravashis with
+strong shield, iron helmet, and iron weapons; with Mithra and the
+victorious wind they go forward; strong warriors against the enemies,
+they are mighty saviours; strong conquerors, they destroy the victory of
+the enemy--the Turas (Turanians)."[296] It is due to the additions and
+modifications introduced by the priests that we hear that the hosts of
+the Fravashis watch the body of Kere�a�pa till the resurrection, and the
+seed of Zarathrustra, and protect the sleepers from the rising of the
+stars till midnight.[297] As among the Arians of India the ancient
+belief in the fathers was retained in spite of all changes of the
+religious system, so also in Iran. At the close of the year, on the
+intercalary days which were added to it, the Fravashis come to their
+families, abide among them for ten nights, and ask: "Who will receive
+us, and sacrifice to us, and praise us?" and "if any one offers to them
+prayers and flesh and clothes, him they bless, and in his dwelling there
+will be abundance of oxen and men, swift horses and a strong car."[298]
+The Greeks had therefore reason to say that according to the doctrine of
+the Magians the air was full of spirits.[299]
+
+In another direction the system of the priests deviated far more widely
+from the ancient conception of the spirits of the ancestors. They held
+that only the pure and bright part of the soul could live on after
+death. Hence, even in the living they distinguished this part from the
+polluted part, and in the pure immortal half they saw the side created
+by the good gods, its true being, the Fravashi or protecting spirit
+allotted to each man. In the Avesta therefore rules can be given for the
+invocation of this pure part and nature of the individual soul, of the
+separate Fravashis. The priests then transferred this notion to the
+heavenly spirits, and even to Auramazda himself. His purest nature, his
+best self, must be praised and invoked for aid. Auramazda says to
+Zarathrustra in the book of the law: "O Zarathrustra, praise thou my
+Fravashi, the Fravashi of Auramazda, the greatest, best, most
+intelligent, best-formed, highest in holiness, whose soul is the holy
+word."[300] And in the prayers we are told: "We praise the Fravashis of
+the Amesha �pentas, of the holy �raosha, of Mithra, together with all
+the Fravashis of the heavenly Yazatas. I invoke the Fravashi of the holy
+Zarathrustra, the Fravashis of the men of the ancient law, and the
+Fravashis of the men of the new law, the good mighty Fravashis of the
+pure, of the nearest relations, and of my own soul."[301] The Persians
+at the king's gate, according to the Greeks, set apart a separate table
+at each meal with bread and food for the "demon" of the king, and at a
+Persian banquet the host, according to Plutarch, calls on his guests,
+"to honour the demon of king Artaxerxes." Hence it clearly follows that
+the priestly doctrine of the Fravashis of the living was current even in
+Western Iran under the Ach�menids.[302]
+
+Zarathrustra had increased the means for keeping off the evil ones, and
+had made the struggle against the wicked spirits easier for men. But the
+time will come when the struggle will be no longer necessary, and the
+bright spirits alone will rule. This doctrine is indicated even in the
+Gathas.[303] In the book of the law Zarathrustra says to Angromainyu: he
+will smite the Daevas till �aoshyant is born from the water of Kan�ava
+in the eastern region.[304] �aoshyant, _i.e._ the useful, the saviour,
+is called in the Avesta, "the sublime, the victorious;" he will smite
+the Druj, and Aeshma will bow before him. He will make the world to live
+for ever, without age and death; the dead will rise again, and the
+living will be immortal. Vohumano will smite Akomano, Asha will kill the
+lies. Haurvatat and Ameretat will destroy thirst and hunger: "The
+evil-doer Angromainyu, robbed of his dominion, bows himself."[305] This
+doctrine of the Avesta also was well known to the western world. In
+Herodotus Prexaspes tells Cambyses that when the dead rise again he will
+see Smerdis and Astyages.[306] Theopompus of Chios tells us: Zoroaster
+had proclaimed that there would be a time in which the dead will arise,
+and men will be immortal, and everything will be done by their
+invocations. Last of all, Hades will pass away; men will then be happy;
+they will need no nourishment, and throw no shadows, and the god who
+will accomplish this rests for a time, but not a long time for a
+god.[307] It is true that men required no nourishment when �aoshyant had
+appeared, in the meaning of the Avesta, for Haurvatat and Ameretat had
+overcome hunger and thirst as well as sickness and death; and as the
+dark side of man was taken away, and only the bright side remained, they
+could not cast any shadows.
+
+As already remarked, it was part of the duty of the priests to bring the
+ancient legends of the old time into harmony with the new doctrine. We
+saw that the legends of Iran began with the happy age of Yima, and his
+reign of a thousand years full of increase and blessing. This conception
+of a perfect age for the creatures of earth at the very beginning of
+things did not suit with the struggle, which, according to the new
+doctrine, Angromainyu commenced immediately after the creation. The
+priests, therefore, conceived the beginning of things in a different
+manner. In their system Auramazda first created the heaven, then the
+water, then the earth and the trees, and after these the four-footed
+bull, and the two-legged pure man Gayo maretan.[308] In the Avesta the
+primeval bull and man are at the head, and time extends from Gayo
+maretan to �aoshyant.[309] The books of the Parsees then tell us that
+Angromainyu killed the primeval man and bull, but from the seed of the
+bull proceeded a pair of oxen, and then all kinds of good animals; and
+out of the seed of Gayo maretan grew up the first man and the first
+woman. As we have already remarked, our fragments of the Avesta identify
+the soul of the first created bull with the Drva�pa, the ancient
+guardian spirit of the flocks; next to Gayo maretan they place
+Haoshyangha, the Paradhata (p. 36), and represent him as sacrificing to
+Ardvi�ura, Vayu, and Ashi vanguhi, in order to obtain the dominion over
+the evil spirits.[310] After him Takhmo urupa rules the earth of seven
+parts; he sacrifices to Vayu in order to obtain grace to restrain
+Angromainyu for thirty years.[311] Then, according to the system of the
+priests, follows the dominion of Yima the son of Vivanghana, during
+which there was no cold and no heat, no age and no death, as was
+represented in the old views. Yima kindles the red-glowing fire. Flocks
+and men, _i.e._ life, increase; and the earth must be made larger. The
+end of this happy period, and the death of Yima, is brought about,
+according to the priests, by the fact that Yima refused to be the
+preacher of the doctrine of Auramazda, that he was unable to maintain
+purity and truth, and began to "love lying speech" (p. 41). As Yima was
+born to Vivanghana as a reward for his Haoma sacrifice, there follows a
+series of those who have offered the sacrifice: Athwya, Thrita,
+Pourusha�pa, and their sons. To the first Thraetaona was born, who
+smites the serpent Dahaka; to Thrita Kere�a�pa, who smites the serpent
+�ruvara; and to Pourusha�pa was born Zarathrustra, who receives the law
+of Auramazda and proclaims it; by this law the Daevas will be warded off
+till �aoshyant appears, when everything which has once had life will
+come to life again.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[228] "Ya�na," 56, 3, 1-3.
+
+[229] "Ya�na," 28, 29, 42, 43, 44, 46, according to Haug's translation,
+which is not universally accepted; "Ya�na," 31 after Roth. "Z. D. M. G."
+25, 6 ff.
+
+[230] "Ya�na," 30, after H�bschmann's rendering.
+
+[231] "Ya�na," 33, 8.
+
+[232] "Ya�na," 31, 6.
+
+[233] "Ya�na," 34, 1.
+
+[234] "Ya�na," 50, 7.
+
+[235] "Ya�na," 34, 11.
+
+[236] "Ya�na," 41, 10, 11; cf. 57, 20.
+
+[237] "Ya�na," 43, 18.
+
+[238] "Ya�na," 44, 5. The passages in the text concerning Haurvatat and
+Ameretat are given after Darmesteter, "Haurvatat et Ameretat," p. 35 ff.
+
+[239] "Ya�na," 31, 18.
+
+[240] "Ya�na," 47, 1.
+
+[241] "Ya�na," 47-49, according to Haug's translation.
+
+[242] "Ya�na," 31, 3, 19; 33, 3; 46, 7.
+
+[243] Plut. "De Isid." 46.
+
+[244] From the invocation of the time without limit, _Zrvana akarana_,
+in the Avesta (p. 79), some have sought to draw the conclusion, that
+this is the supreme principle, and that Auramazda and Angromainyu
+proceeded from it. This is no less incorrect than if it were maintained
+that according to the Christian dogma God and the devil owed their
+origin to eternity. In the Avesta Zrvana akarana does not assume an
+important place either at the creation or in the worship. I have already
+remarked above, that the spirits of light are called in the Rigveda sons
+of Aditi, _i.e._ of the unlimited, the eternal. Parallel similitudes
+which, however, mean no more than the eternity of the gods, could be
+made even among the Arians of Iran. But there is a difference between
+speaking in similes, and derivation from a principle. The faith of Iran
+was not a philosophical system, but a religion; a religion cannot
+combine the good and evil god into one unity. It is only when
+speculation becomes master over religion, that conceptions of this kind
+can find a place; and this speculation, which sought for primeval
+cosmical unity, arrived as a fact at an identical origin for the good
+and evil spirit; but this was not the case with the Avesta. Centuries
+after the establishment of the canon we find the oldest form of such
+teaching in a demand made to the Armenian Christians that they should
+join the faith of Auramazda. In this we are told that the great deity
+Zrovan had sacrificed for a thousand years, and had received two sons,
+Ormuzd and Ahriman. The first had created heaven and earth, the other
+had opposed him with evil works. About the same time Theodorus of
+Mopsuestia in Cilicia (Phot. "Biblioth." p. 63, ed. Bekker), tells us:
+"Zoroaster called the creator of all things Zaruam, and described him as
+fate;" and in the sixth century Damascius ("De prim. princip." p. 384)
+writes: "The Magi and the whole Arian nation call the Whole and One in
+thought, space and time respectively; from this One arose the good and
+evil god, Oromasdes and Areimanius, or as others say light and darkness
+were divided before these." The sect of the Zarvanites, who deviated
+from the faith of Zoroaster, inasmuch as they carried these principles
+still further, has been already mentioned (p. 67).
+
+[245] "Mihr Yasht," 123.
+
+[246] Ashi vanguhi is in one passage called the daughter of Auramazda
+and Armaiti; "Ya�na," 44, 4; "Vend." 19, 45; "Ashi Yasht," 16.
+
+[247] "Tistar Yasht," 50.
+
+[248] "Vend." 19, 40; "Ya�na," 56, 10, 2.
+
+[249] "Vispered," 23, 1.
+
+[250] "Ya�na," 44, 4; 46, 2; 13, 6; "Vend." 19, 45; Haug, "Essays," p.
+231.
+
+[251] Spiegel, "Eran," 1, 435.
+
+[252] Darmesteter, "Haurvatat et Ameretat," p. 68, 81 ff.
+
+[253] "Vend." 19, 30-34, 54.
+
+[254] "Din Yasht," 2.
+
+[255] "Rashnu Yasht," 8.
+
+[256] Burnouf, _l. c._ p. 417, 468.
+
+[257] "Gosh Yasht;" Ya�na, 29; 39, 1.
+
+[258] "Vend." 19, 111, 112; 22, 22.
+
+[259] Herod. 7, 40, 55; Xenoph. "Cyr. inst." 8, 3, 12; Curtius, 3, 3, 8;
+4, 48, 12. Dio Chrysost. 2, 60, ed. Dindorf.
+
+[260] p. 732.
+
+[261] "Khorshed Yasht," in De Harlez, "Avesta," p. 34.
+
+[262] 10, 17, 18.
+
+[263] "Zamyad Yasht," 96; Darmesteter, _l. c._ p. 10.
+
+[264] "Vend." 18, 38.
+
+[265] "Vend." 19, 6, 146.
+
+[266] Burnouf, "Journ. Asiatic," 1845, p. 433.
+
+[267] "Vend." 10, 23. Windischmann, "Zoroastrische Studien," s. 138.
+
+[268] "Vend." 19, 147.
+
+[269] "Vend." 4, 139.
+
+[270] "Vend." 12, 65, 71; 14, 9 ff.; Plut. "De Isid." c. 46; Agath. 2,
+24.
+
+[271] Plut. "De Isid." c. 46.
+
+[272] "Vend" 18, 34-37; 64-69.
+
+[273] Cf. "Bundehesh," c. 19.
+
+[274] "Yasht Farvardin," 109; "Yasht Bahram," 19-21.
+
+[275] Kuhn, "Herabkunft des Feuers," s. 125; Darmesteter, _loc. cit._ p.
+55. �inmurv has arisen out of _�aena (�in), i.e._ eagle, and _meregha_,
+"bird;" Middle Pers. _murv_; New Pers. _murgh_. In New Pers. �inmurv
+becomes Simurgh.
+
+[276] Isaiah xlvi. 11. In Aeschylus also an eagle represents the
+Persians and a falcon the Hellenes; "Pers." 205-210.
+
+[277] "Cyri instit." 7, 1, 4.
+
+[278] 3, 7.
+
+[279] "Vend." 18, 137, 138, 149.
+
+[280] Xenophon, "Cyri instit." 8, 3, 11, 24; Athen. p. 145; Arrian,
+"Anab." 6, 29.
+
+[281] "Ya�na," 10. 38, 11, 16. Strabo, p. 732, tells us that the deity
+of the Persians received nothing from the sacrifice.
+
+[282] What Herodotus tells us of the sacrifice of girls and boys by the
+Magi in Thrace contradicts his own statement that the Magi did not
+venture to kill any one, and the whole conception of the Avesta. If
+Cambyses is said to have caused twelve Persians to be buried alive, this
+is not to be regarded as a sacrifice, but as a barbarous form of
+execution, which occurs also under the Sassanids. What Herodotus says of
+the fourteen boys offered by Amestris as a sacrifice, if true, must have
+its origin in some other superstition, not in the Avesta; and the
+actions of Amestris and Parysatis in this direction, as recorded by
+Ctesias, were in any cases crimes, not sacrifices.
+
+[283] Strabo, p. 732.
+
+[284] Fragm. 16, ed. M�ller.
+
+[285] 1, 131.
+
+[286] Strabo, p. 733.
+
+[287] Windischmann has shown, "Abh. Bair. Akad. phil. philol. Kl." 8,
+90, 120, that, [Greek: Amardatos] must be read for [Greek: Anandatos].
+
+[288] "Vend." 7, 132-136; 19, 90-100.
+
+[289] "Vend." 19, 89.
+
+[290] "Vend." 18, 68, 69.
+
+[291] "Vend." 19, 108.
+
+[292] "Vend." 13, 22, 25.
+
+[293] "Vend." 19, 100-108.
+
+[294] "Vend." 8, 252, 310; 19, 94; cf. 3, 118-121. In the Dinkart the
+proceedings on the bridge are related at greater length.
+
+[295] Vol. IV., 61, 163, 230.
+
+[296] "Farvardin Yasht," 35-48, 70, 71.
+
+[297] "Farvardin Yasht," 61, 62.
+
+[298] "Farvardin Yasht," 50-52.
+
+[299] Diogen. Laert. "Prooem." 6.
+
+[300] "Vend." 19, 46, 48.
+
+[301] "Ya�na," 1, 47; 23, 6; Burnouf, "Commentaire," p. 571.
+
+[302] Plut. "Artax." 15; Theopomp. Fragm. 135, ed. M�ller.
+
+[303] "Ya�na," 45, 3; 47, 1; above, p. 156.
+
+[304] "Vend." 19, 17-19; above, p. 135.
+
+[305] "Zamyad Yasht," 89, 95, 96.
+
+[306] 3, 62.
+
+[307] Theopomp. Fragm. 71, 72, ed. M�ller.
+
+[308] "Ya�na," 19, 16-18.
+
+[309] "Ya�na," 26, 32; "Farvardin Yasht," 135.
+
+[310] "Aban Yasht," 21-23; "Farvardin Yasht," 157; "Ashi Yasht," 24;
+"Zamyad Yasht," 26.
+
+[311] "Ram Yasht," 11; "Zamyad Yasht," 28.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE PRIESTHOOD OF IRAN
+
+
+In the form in which we have them the books of the Avesta are the work
+of the priests of Eastern Iran. According to the evidence repeatedly
+furnished by them, there were three orders in Sogdiana and Bactria:
+priests, warriors, and husbandmen. This sequence, which is uniformly
+preserved both in the invocations and in the book of the law, shows that
+the priests had risen above the warriors, and claimed to be the first of
+the three orders.[312]
+
+In considering the civilisation of the Bactrian kingdom we found
+ourselves compelled by the proximity of the nations of the steppes to
+assume, that when the Arians had become established there, the tribes
+which had a capacity or love for battle, undertook the protection of the
+land, the flocks and fields, against the incursions of the nomads of the
+north, and made battle and strife their special vocation. Such attacks
+increased with the increasing culture of Bactria, and led to a
+consolidation of powers; these clans raised one of their number
+distinguished in battle to be their leader, or followed him, and thus
+was laid the basis for the foundation of a great state. The importance
+ascribed in the Avesta to the splendour of majesty--we find the
+personification of good government in the Avesta among the Amesha
+�pentas--in combination with the battles which, as we learn from the
+book, the princes of Bactria carried on against the Turanians, and with
+the statements in the West Iranian Epos about the kingdom of the
+Bactrians, together with the later condition of the country, allowed us
+to draw the conclusion that at one time the kings of Bactria were not
+without power and importance. They reigned, surrounded by the families
+of the warriors, who were enabled by their possessions in lands and
+flocks, to devote themselves to the practice of arms and to battle. The
+invocations to Mithra, Verethraghna, and Vayu, bear upon them very
+evident traces of a war-like spirit (p. 110, 114). That the spirits of
+the sky, which once fought with the cloud-dragons, have become mortal
+heroes in the Avesta, also proves--since even among other nations the
+Epic poetry which follows periods of warlike excitement transforms
+shapes of the sky into heroes of old time--that once on a time Bactria
+had experienced a period of warfare, when difficulties arose which it
+was mainly the business of the monarchy and the nobles to settle. The
+Avesta can tell us of arms and robes as well as of palaces with pillars
+and turrets; of earthen, iron, silver and golden vessels; of mats,
+carpets, and adornments of gold,[313] such as are found among noble
+families; and those hecatombs of horses, cattle, and sheep which the
+heroes in the Avesta sacrifice to Anahita and Drva�pa, in order to
+obtain their favour by victory, are no doubt borrowed from the
+sacrifices which princes and nobles were wont to offer in cases where
+the numbers must be enlarged in honour of the heroes. Yet we see that
+Xerxes orders a thousand oxen to be sacrificed at one time. We have
+already shown (IV. 390), how important and pre-eminent was the position
+which the races of the warriors, "the princes," occupied on the Indus
+and the Ganges, and what respect they commanded among "the free Indians"
+in the Panjab, even in the fourth century B.C. That a warlike nobility
+of a similar character, attitude, and position, existed in Eastern Iran,
+is the less to be doubted, as the order of warriors in the Avesta is
+denoted by a name (_rathaestar_) which goes back to the chariots of war.
+The husbandmen, who were settled beside and among them, bear in the
+Avesta the name of Va�trya,[314] but the word Vae�u is also used for
+them, which simply repeats the name of the Indian Vai�yas.
+
+Like the Arians of India, the Arians of Iran believed in the power of
+the correct invocations, prayers, and sacrifice; among them also the
+sacrifice strengthens the gods and increases their power. In India too,
+the priests, and minstrels, and sacrificers handed down in their
+families the knowledge of the effective invocations and ceremonies which
+exercised compulsion on the gods, and the same was the case in Eastern
+Iran; priestly families arose at a very early period. They did not here
+retain the name of supplicators, as in India; but are called Athravas in
+the Avesta. In the Veda Atharvan kindles the sacrificial fire, and among
+the Arians of India the incantations of the race of Atharvan passed from
+the most powerful. In a similar way powerful invocations and sentences
+were handed down in Iran from father to son in the race of the
+Athravas. These families preserved the ancient invocations to Mithra,
+Verethraghna, Anahita, Tistrya, which are preserved to us in the Avesta,
+though in a modified form. The god Haoma instructs Zarathrustra to
+praise him, as the other fire-priests had done (p. 124). The reform
+which bears the name of Zarathrustra cannot have left the condition of
+the priests unchanged. The doctrine may, as invocations in the Avesta
+would seem to show, have first found adherents in the race of
+Haechata�pa, to which Zarathrustra belonged, and to which he first
+proclaimed his law (131), and next in the race of Jama�pa and
+Frashaostra, who are spoken of as Zarathrustra's most zealous followers.
+According to the creed of the Parsees the good law also came to Aderbat
+Mahresfant by family descent (p. 62). These new races of priests, who
+knew the sayings, invocations, and prayers of Zarathrustra, would then
+be joined by those among the races of the old fire-priests who approved
+of the reform, and the priesthood thus formed would be further
+strengthened by those who, deeply impressed by the new doctrine, sought
+and found reception as pupils into a family of the priests, thus
+entering into their circle, and becoming members of their families.
+United by a new doctrine and settled tenets, the priests who represented
+the reform would become united together more firmly than the priestly
+families of the old time.
+
+The priesthood could very well claim precedence of the warriors; on
+their prayers and sayings, their knowledge of the custom of sacrifice,
+depended the favour of the gods, the power of averting evil spirits, the
+removal of pollution, salvation in this world and the next. Yet they
+could not obtain such a position as the Brahmans held on the Ganges
+after the reform of the ancient faith, and the victory of Brahman over
+Indra. For in Iran there was no order of �udras, no vanquished remnant
+of an old population, which created a sharp line of division even among
+the orders of the Aryas; and moreover the Brahmans were the first-born
+of Brahman, a purer incarnation of the divine nature than any other
+order. The world had not emanated from Auramazda; there were in Iran no
+gradations of beings in which the divine essence existed in a more or
+less pure condition. All had to fight against evil deities and against
+evil; the priests were the leaders in this struggle--this leadership and
+nothing more could they claim. In their lives they studied especial
+purity of body and mind; and they were pre-eminently "the pure men."
+Only by their means, at any rate with their assistance, could sacrifice
+be offered; from their mouths alone could the correct invocations be
+uttered to the gods, and the evil ones be driven away. Men were
+compelled to submit to the rules of the life acceptable to the gods of
+light, of pure conversation, which were accurately known to the priests
+only; they had to take upon themselves the expiations which the priests
+prescribed, in order to wipe out offences and sins and their
+consequences--but they had not to reverence in them, as was the case
+beyond the Indus, a class of creatures raised by birth to a higher
+level. Hence the sharp separation of the priesthood from the rest of the
+orders, in the Brahmanic fashion, was at once placed out of the
+question. The priesthood of Iran perpetuated their knowledge and wisdom
+in their families; but they had not the right to bar all entrance into
+their families or their order on the score of higher birth, or to
+prohibit the marriage of priests with women of other orders, on the
+ground of their superior nature.
+
+From our fragments of the Avesta we may assume that although, as is
+obvious, the precedence of the priests above the remaining orders was
+strongly marked, and they were especially denoted as "pure men," the
+limits of their political and social position were far more modest than
+those of the Brahmans. So far as we can see, the Avesta allots no
+special income to the priests beyond the camels, horses, or small cattle
+given to them by warriors and husbandmen in quittance for the
+purifications they have performed. The penalties also which have to be
+paid in expiation of certain offences are to be given to "the pure men,"
+and the Avesta repeatedly recommends the presentation of gifts to them.
+On the other hand, the priests do not possess the exclusive right to
+perform purifications. The Vendidad merely says that any one who wishes
+to perform purifications must have learned the law from one of the
+purifiers, _i.e._ it is only the instruction of the priest which is
+indispensable in this matter. Any one who performs purification without
+such instruction (except in the case of necessary purifications, p.
+230), will take away from the places where it is performed, "food and
+fatness, health and all remedies, prosperity, luxuriance and growth, and
+increase of corn and fodder; and corn and fodder will not return to such
+places until for three days and nights the holy �raosha has been praised
+at the burning fire with bound withes and uplifted Haoma." The
+uncertified purifier is to be put in chains, his clothes taken from him,
+and his head cut off.[315] If it was permitted to learn the
+purifications, it follows that men not of priestly descent could enter
+the order of the Athravas, and the boundary line between this order and
+the rest was not impassable. Among the Parsees of India any one can
+become a priest. The duties of the priest, according to the book of the
+law, consist in watching and tending the sacred fire, in praising the
+good spirits, in offering sacrifice, and performing purifications, and
+in the ceaseless study of the holy scriptures. The priest is to be
+provided with a mortar made according to certain rules, a cup (for the
+Haoma sacrifice), the snake-switch (a stick for killing impure animals),
+and the Paitidana, _i.e._ a piece of cloth for veiling the mouth, in
+order that he may not approach the sacred fire with breath that is
+possibly impure. For the rest, the Vendidad lays down the rule that the
+priests are to be patient and content, and satisfied with a little
+bread, and they ought to eat what is offered to them.[316] Auramazda
+says; "Many men, O Zarathrustra, carry the Paitidana, the
+serpent-switch, the sacred bundle of twigs, without being guided
+according to the law. These are wrongly called priests; do not thou call
+them priests, O Zarathrustra. He who lies the whole night without
+praising or hearing, or reciting, or learning, or teaching--call not
+such an one a priest. Call him a priest, O pure Zarathrustra, who
+inquires of the pure intelligence the whole night, of the wisdom which
+purifies from sins and makes the heart wide, which has merits in store
+on the bridge of Chinvat, and causes us to attain the purity and bliss
+of Paradise."[317] The Avesta distinguishes different classes of
+priests, but the distinction only rests on the various acts which they
+perform in the sacred rites. The first rank is taken by the Zaotar, who
+utters the prayers and invocations (the Hotar, _i.e._ the Repeater of
+the Veda); next to him apparently is the �raoshavareza, "who speaks very
+wise and truthful things;"[318] he bears the club of �raosha, in order
+to keep the evil spirits at a distance from the sacred acts; then comes
+the Atarevaksha, _i.e._ the priest who causes the fire to increase, and
+attends to the worship of it; then the A�natar (the Washer), who has to
+cleanse the instruments of sacrifice to keep them from pollution; the
+Frabaretar, _i.e._ the Carrier, etc. In the modern ritual of the Parsees
+all the duties of the sacred service have been transferred to the Zaotar
+and the Ra�pi, which latter discharges the functions of ministering
+priest.
+
+If we were only approximately correct in placing the date of
+Zarathrustra and the reform of the ancient faith at 1000 B.C., the
+formation of this priestly order, which took place on the basis of the
+new doctrine, may have come to an end about the year 800 B.C. We saw
+that from this date onwards the spread of the new doctrine must have
+begun in the west of Iran towards the Medes and Persians, since there
+existed among the Medes from 700 B.C. an hereditary priesthood, charged
+with the worship of the gods according to the regulations of
+Zarathrustra, and in this century it was already sufficiently numerous
+to be placed as an equal division beside the tribes of the Medes.
+
+We have no better information about the priests of the West than we have
+on the political and social position of the priests of Eastern Iran.
+They are not called Athravas but Magush. This name is first found in the
+inscription which Darius caused to be cut on the rock-wall of Behistun;
+afterwards it was consistently used by Western writers, from Herodotus
+to Agathias, for the priests of Iran. The Avesta has the words _magha_
+and _maghavan_, i.e. the powerful, the great,[319] but does not use it
+of the priests, which are always called Athravas. If the last title is
+taken from the fire-worship, the first allows us to see the importance
+of the priests. He who can use incantations to the gods and spirits--can
+summon or remove them--is the mighty one, the powerful. If in this name
+we have evidence of the respect with which the laity of Western Iran
+looked up to the priests, the difference between the names in the East
+and West shows that there were priestly races among the Medes and
+Persians before the religion of Zarathrustra reached them. Had not such
+existed before the reform, and had they not possessed a definite name in
+the West--had priestly families become known there for the first time at
+the rise of the reform--they would never have had any other name than
+that of Athravas. Even without this positive proof we might assume that
+from all antiquity there had been priests among the Medes and Persians
+who understood how to invoke the gods of light in the old Arian
+faith--Mithra and Verethraghna, Vayu and Tistrya--and tend the fire
+which destroyed demons. When the new doctrine reached from the East to
+Ragha and then to Media (p. 96), the old races who passed over to the
+new faith united with the families the members of which were the
+prophets of the new doctrine. The teachers of the Medes in old times,
+which Pliny called successors of Zarathrustra, might have stood at the
+head of this transformation of the ancient priestly families, of the
+creation of the Median priesthood on the basis of the new religion (p.
+92). However this may have been, the priestly families among the Medes
+were so numerous, their connection and union so close and firmly fixed,
+that they could be counted as a sixth tribe beside the other five Median
+tribes.
+
+Among the tribes of the Persians Herodotus mentions no tribe of Magi. It
+would be a mistake to conclude from this that there were originally no
+priests among the Persians, and to put faith in Xenophon's statement
+that Cyrus was the first to give the Magians the care of the sacred
+fire, "because he preferred to go on board with the pious rather than
+the impious."[320] No one will maintain that the Persians in ancient
+times were without worship and religious rites, or that when they
+accepted the doctrine of Zarathrustra, which did not permit sacrifice
+without Magians, they used the services of none but alien priests. Such
+a proceeding would be absurd. The proper conclusion from the fact that
+Herodotus does not mention a tribe of Magians among the Persians is that
+the priestly families there were less numerous; they had not broken away
+from the tribal connections to which they originally belonged, and
+formed themselves into a separate community. Further, from the fact that
+the priestly families of the Persians in old times had not formed
+themselves into a separate community, we may conclude--and indeed the
+conclusion follows from the position of Media and the notice in the
+Avesta about Ragha, and the observation about the ancient teachers of
+the Medes, who are said to have been followers of Zarathrustra--that the
+reform of the faith first came from Bactria to the Medes, that it was
+adopted and more strongly represented among them, and so passed on to
+the Persians. We cannot doubt that there were Persians belonging to the
+order of Magians. If Plato and his pupils call Zoroaster the "teacher of
+the Magians," and at the same time "a Persian," they must assume that
+there were Magians among the Persians; if, according to Plato's
+statement, the four teachers of the heirs to the Persian throne, of
+which one had to teach the Magism of Zoroaster, were selected out of
+"all the Persians;"--if at the time of Xerxes there were Persians who
+wrote on the doctrine of Zoroaster, they must have been initiated in the
+wisdom and knowledge of the Magians, and have known their invocations
+and customs; the contents of the holy scriptures and the scriptures
+themselves can hardly have been hidden from them. In order to prove that
+the Magians, _i.e._ the priests, belonged exclusively to the Medes, the
+fact has been brought forward that the Persians, after Darius had
+dethroned the Pseudo-Smerdis, celebrated each year the feast of the
+slaughter of the Magians, at which no Magian allowed himself to be seen,
+but all were obliged to remain at home.[321] The Magophonia was not the
+celebration of a victory over the Magi generally, but over the removal
+of a usurper, and the restoration of the dominion to the Ach�menids,
+which had been taken from them by one who happened to be a Magian.
+Herodotus at any rate calls this Magian a Mede.[322] Darius contents
+himself with calling him the "Magian." Hence there is no ground to doubt
+that both before and after the reform, families of the Persians were
+charged with the worship of the gods; the less so because Plato, as
+already remarked, represents the heirs to the throne in Persia as being
+instructed in the doctrine of Zoroaster, while Strabo and Pausanias
+speak expressly of "Persian Magi," and the chief Magian is enumerated
+among the tribes "which dwell in the districts of Persis."[323]
+
+When the dominion of the Ach�menids had been established over Iran, the
+priestly families of all the West must have been united into one
+community. There is no doubt that this remained an order in which the
+priestly wisdom and knowledge were traditional. Strabo, like Herodotus,
+calls the Magians a tribe; he adds that the members of it sought after a
+holy life. The tribe was large, he tells us in another place; Magians
+could be found even in Cappadocia. Ammianus also informs us that the
+Magians handed down their doctrines to later times, each by his
+descendants. Growing up through centuries from a small number, the
+Magians became a nation, and being regarded as dedicated to the service
+of the gods, they had acquired respect through their religion. They
+inhabited open villages, lived according to a law of their own, and
+possessed fruitful fields in the district called Nis�a. Agathias also
+calls the Magians a tribe.[324] But the separation of the priestly order
+in the West cannot have been more strict than that of the Athravas in
+the East. Marriage with the women of other orders was not forbidden, nor
+transition from other orders into that of the Medes. The Avesta speaks
+of the teacher and the pupil (p. 203); and it is expressly said--though
+the statement comes from the beginning of the third century of our
+era--that the Magians among the Persians, _i.e._ the Magians under the
+Arsacids, instructed even those who were not Persians in their doctrine,
+but only at the special command of the king.[325]
+
+We find the Magians in close proximity to the rulers of the Medes and
+Persians; they were not without importance and influence. In Herodotus
+they tell Astyages that they had and would have great honours from
+him.[326] Xenophon speaks of them as determining, at the time of Cyrus,
+which god is to be honoured on each day.[327] Cambyses charges Magians
+with the duty of watching the grave of Cyrus, and this office became
+hereditary in their families;[328] he also entrusts a Magian with the
+care of the royal household, while he marches with the army into the
+remote parts of Egypt and Nubia. The inscriptions of Darius showed us
+how much in earnest he was with the doctrines and regulations of the
+religion--how lively was his faith. On his march to Hellas, Xerxes was
+accompanied by Osthanes, a man skilled in the priestly dogmas, and by
+Magians; they offer sacrifice, and charm the storms.[329] The sacred
+fire which was carried before the kings[330] was conducted by Magians,
+and so also were the sacred chariot, the sacred horses of Mithra and the
+sun-god, in the campaigns of the Ach�menids (p. 167). Of greater
+importance was it that the heirs to the throne in Persia were
+instructed, as Plato tells us, in the Magism of Zoroaster,[331] which
+could only be done by Magians. Nicolaus of Damascus relates that the
+Persian princes were instructed by the Magians in truthfulness, justice,
+and the laws of their country;[332] and, according to Plutarch, Magians
+were the educators of the Persian princes; Magians also under the
+Ach�menids performed the consecration at the accession of a new
+king.[333] We are also told that this king of the Medes and that of the
+Persians, took the advice of the Magians on important occasions. Under
+the Arsacids they formed, along with the members of the race of the
+kings, the supreme council of the kingdom; in the time when this dynasty
+was at its height they ruled, as Pliny told us, "over the king of
+kings;" and we have seen (p. 60) that their influence under the
+Sassanids, at court, in the administration of law, and in politics, was
+even more powerful.
+
+Herodotus maintains that the Magians also occupied themselves with
+soothsaying and prophecy; like Ctesias, he ascribes to the Medes the
+interpretation of certain dreams and other miraculous acts. Of such
+interpretations and prophesying on the part of the priests the Avesta
+knows nothing, and those Greeks who were better informed, warmly
+contested the assertion that the Magians were occupied with such things.
+Plato tells us: "The Magism of Zoroaster is the worship of the gods;"
+and Aristotle assures us that the Magians knew nothing of
+soothsaying.[334] What Herodotus tells us, on the other side, he
+certainly did not invent, but repeats after his informants. The
+Medo-Persian Epos, which, though indirectly, forms the basis of
+Herodotus' account of the rise of Cyrus and the death of Cambyses,
+allowed a wide field, even in the account of the fall of the Assyrian
+empire (III. 264), to the astrological and prophetic wisdom of the
+Chald�ans. From this we may conclude that prophecies of the Chald�ans
+were not left out of sight at the overthrow of Astyages. In Nicolaus of
+Damascus it is a Chald�an of Babylon who expounds her dream to the
+mother of Cyrus,[335] and possibly the kings of the Medes followed the
+example of the Assyrian and Babylonian courts in having astrologers and
+interpreters of dreams from Babylon about them.
+
+Whatever was the influence employed by the Magians at the court of the
+Ach�menids, the Arsacids and Sassanids, their influence was of a moral
+nature; it was only through the effect of religion on the heart and
+conscience of the king, that they could work; their position did not
+rest on any hierarchical institutions. In Iran the priesthood had no
+real means of power which permitted it to come forward in opposition to
+the power of the State. The priest was a subject of the king like any
+one else. It was within the king's power to proceed at his pleasure with
+the severest corporal punishment against the Magi, and it is abundantly
+clear that the kings did not shrink from inflicting such punishments,
+even if we do not regard as established facts the stories that Astyages
+impaled the Magians who had given him a false report, and that Darius
+caused forty Magians to be executed at once.[336]
+
+Diogenes Laertius relates that the Magians lived on lentils, bread and
+cheese, which agrees with the Avesta to the extent that the priests are
+there commanded to be content with a little food.[337] What Herodotus
+tells us of the duties and occupation of the Magians agrees entirely
+with the rules given in the Avesta for the Athravas. No one could
+sacrifice without a Magian; the sacrifices were offered on high places
+(in this Xenophon agrees[338]) or in "pure places;" the most delicate
+grass was spread--we remember the importance of the Ku�a-grass in the
+Veda and the Brahmanas--on this grass the flesh of the sacrifice was
+laid; the Magians sang the theogony, _i.e._ long sacrificial prayers,
+and the sacred rite is fulfilled. Herodotus also asserts that the
+Magians took great pride in killing serpents, ants, and other winged and
+creeping things with their own hands; that human life was greatly
+respected by them; that the dog was held in high honour (p. 86); and the
+corpses of the Magians were exposed to dogs or birds of prey. This he
+declares that he knows to be the truth; Xenophon represents the Magians
+as beginning their songs of praise with the break of day, and as
+offering their sacrifices at certain places, which were selected for the
+gods. Curtius relates that they sang native songs.[339] Strabo told us
+above that the Magians sought after a holy life; he observes also that
+whatever was the god to which they sacrificed they first prayed to fire.
+At every sacrifice the Magians conducted the sacred rite; the victims
+were not slain with the knife but struck down with a club. No part of
+the flesh of the victim was set apart for the deity, for they declared
+that the god required only the soul of the animal; yet according to some
+they placed a small portion of the fat in the fire. "In Cappadocia there
+were enclosed places," Strabo continues, "in the midst of which was an
+altar, heaped up with ashes. On this the Magians kept up the
+unquenchable fire. Each day they went and sang for an hour before the
+fire, holding in their hands a bundle of twigs. On their heads they
+wore tiaras of felt, which fell down on both sides so far that the
+side-pieces covered the lips."[340] Pausanias, who observed the worship
+of the Magians in the cities of Lydia, says: "At both places there was a
+shrine with a cell, and in the cell is an altar; on this are ashes the
+colour of which is not the ordinary colour of ashes. When the Magian
+comes into the cell, he lays the dry wood on the altar, puts the tiara
+on his head, and sings the invocation to some god or another, in a
+barbarian manner, quite unintelligible to the Hellenes; but he sings
+from a book. Then the pieces of wood, without being kindled, ought to
+become lighted, and a flame from them should flash all round the
+cell."[341]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[312] "Vend." 2, 87-89; "Ya�na," 14, 4-6. If in "Ya�na," 19, 46 four
+occupations are mentioned instead of the four orders, and artisans are
+added to the husbandmen, this is only another theory, which does not,
+however, alter the series and system; in India the order of Vai�yas
+comprises husbandmen, merchants, and artisans.
+
+[313] "Vond." 8, 254.
+
+[314] Under the Sassanids we find a chief of the husbandmen
+(_va�triosan_), and a chief of the warriors (_arthestaran_); N�ldeke,
+"Tabari," s. 110.
+
+[315] "Vend." 9, 172-180, 187-196.
+
+[316] "Vend." 13, 126-129.
+
+[317] "Vend." 18, 1-17.
+
+[318] "Vispered," 3, 13, 14. Above, p. 165.
+
+[319] The Mobedh of Middle Persian is _magupat_, i.e. lord of the
+Magians (p. 60). The derivation of the name Magus from the Turanian
+_imga_ (apparently = honourable) can only be adopted by those who regard
+the Magians as descendants of the Turanians, or at any rate as
+containing a strong admixture of Turanians; a view which rests on the
+theory that the second series in the inscriptions of the Ach�menids is
+the Median translation of the Persian inscriptions. With this view I
+cannot agree; all that we learn from the Greeks of the customs, manners,
+and names of the Medes bears the mark of an Arian origin, and is in
+harmony with what is attributed to the Persians. In the inscription of
+the second class at Behistun, Gaumata is not called _imga_ but _magush_.
+
+[320] "Cyri instit." 8, 1, 23.
+
+[321] Herod. 3, 79.
+
+[322] Herod. 3, 73.
+
+[323] Strabo, p. 727; Pausanias, 5, 27, 3.
+
+[324] Ammian. 23, 6, 32-35; Agathias, 2, 26.
+
+[325] Philostratus in Rapp, "Z. D. M. G." 20, 71.
+
+[326] Herod. 1, 120.
+
+[327] "Cyri instit." 7, 5, 20; 8, 1, 8.
+
+[328] Arrian, "Anab." 6, 29.
+
+[329] Herod. 7, 191.
+
+[330] Curtius, 3, 7; Ammian. 23, 6, 34.
+
+[331] "Alcibiad. I." p. 122.
+
+[332] Nic. Dam. fragm. 67, ed. M�ller.
+
+[333] Plut. "Artaxerxes," c. 3.
+
+[334] Diog. Laert. prooem. 6.
+
+[335] Fragm. 66, ed. M�ller; cf. infra Bk. 8, c. 4.
+
+[336] Herod. 1, 128; Ctes. "Pers." 15. The excerpt says 40 Chald�ans,
+but obviously Magi are here meant.
+
+[337] Prooem. 7. Above, p. 190. The further statements of Diogenes about
+the white robes of the Magians, their avoidance of all ornament and
+gold, of their lying on the ground, and staff of reed, deserve little
+notice, inasmuch as the source whence they are derived is unknown.
+
+[338] "Cyri instit." 8, 7, 3.
+
+[339] "Cyri instit." 8, 7, 3; 7, 5, 20; 8, 1, 8; Curtius, 3, 3, 8.
+
+[340] Strabo, p. 733.
+
+[341] Pausan. 5, 27, 5, 6.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE LAW OF THE PRIESTS.
+
+
+The rules concerning purity and purification, the expiations and
+penances necessary to avert the Daevas, which we possess in the Vendidad
+of the Avesta, are only the remnant of a far more comprehensive law.
+From the list of books and chapters traditional among the Parsees, we
+can see that it was intended to include not only all the invocations and
+prayers which the worship required, the rules of sacrifice, and the
+entire ritual, together with the Calendar of the year of the Church, but
+also the arrangement of the process of law, the civil and criminal code,
+and, moreover, rules for agriculture and medicine. If to this we add the
+statements and quotations of the Greeks (p. 53), we may assume that the
+scriptures of Eastern Iran comprised the whole sum of the knowledge of
+the priests. In the Avesta the Athravas had sketched the ideal picture
+of the correct conduct pleasing to Auramazda in every department of
+life. How far the princes of Bactria and the viceroys of Cyaxares and
+the Ach�menids, or even these princes themselves, and the judges, wished
+or allowed themselves to be bound in their decisions by these
+regulations of the priests, may be left out of the question. The priests
+here, like the Brahmans in India, could only influence the action of
+the State and those charged with it, so far as the reverence for the
+principles of religion and the force of their own authority extended.
+
+The existing part of the law has obviously arisen out of the questions
+and considerations sketched above, which in consequence of the reform
+must have forced themselves into the circles of the priests. The reform
+also required above all things purity from men, but no supernatural
+purity, such as the Brahmans demanded. The body is not in the Avesta, as
+it was to the Brahmans and after them to the Buddhists, the impure
+prison of the soul which must be abandoned; on the contrary the Avesta
+rejoices in its health and vigour. It requires that the body should be
+kept pure from filth, from contamination by the impure, which gives the
+Daevas power over mankind, _i.e._ it demands the exclusion of the
+harmful side of nature; it desires that the soul should be pure from
+pollution, freed from untruthfulness, lying, and deceit, which are
+contradictory to the nature of the clear bright gods, and Auramazda, and
+make men companions of the Daevas, and sharers in their nature. In other
+words, it demands the invigoration of the light and wholesome side of
+man. The kingdom of the good spirits is truth, increase, and life; the
+kingdom of the evil is deception and falsehood, lying, destruction, and
+death. The Avesta praises Auramazda as purity itself; and next to him
+Asha vahista, _i.e._ the best purity; the gods are chiefly extolled as
+"the pure," and Zarathrustra as the master and teacher of purity. The
+Avesta repeatedly declares "that purity after birth is the best thing
+for men." Hence it is the foremost of all duties to keep the soul and
+body pure. The worshipper of Auramazda must preserve his purity by good
+thoughts, words, and works; truth is required in thinking, speaking,
+and acting; uprightness and honesty in all the relations of life; the
+sacredness of promises and pledges, and solemn assurances, at which
+Mithra is summoned to bear witness. It is an old function of the god
+which appears here. He is the guardian of the word, and the compact.
+"Mithra is twenty-fold between friends and kinsmen, thirty-fold between
+tradespeople, forty-fold between companions who live together,
+fifty-fold between man and wife, sixty-fold between associates in
+sacrifice, seventy-fold between scholar and teacher, eighty-fold between
+step-son and step-parents, ninety-fold between brothers, a hundred-fold
+between son and father." "Miserable are the houses, without descendants
+the dwellings, inhabited by those who deceive Mithra. Miserably does the
+cloven-footed cow go on the wrong path, which is oppressed by the burden
+of Mithra-deceiving men."[342] In accordance with this view deception is
+in the eyes of the law the worst offence; worse than robbery or theft.
+Evil-speaking and calumny also are, according to the Vendidad, "lies and
+sins" against Mithra. The gravest offence of this kind is the calumny by
+which "a pure man" is disparaged "with a man of another religion," for
+this sin is committed with full knowledge, and by a man's own
+intelligence; and the worst of all lies is teaching a false law. "One
+who teaches such a law," says the Vendidad, "does no better than if he
+killed a thousand horses, slew the men in a village inhabited by
+worshippers of Auramazda, or carried off the cows on the wrong
+way."[343]
+
+It is not the least proof of the currency of the doctrines of the Avesta
+in the West of Iran that their ethical side, which gathers round the
+command of truthfulness, was there most distinctly recognised. King
+Darius has already told us that "the lie" had brought his kingdom into
+rebellion; the leaders of the rebellious lands, who gave themselves out
+to be descendants of the ancient royal families, he calls "liars against
+the kingdom." From their youth up, Herodotus tells us, the children of
+the Persians were instructed in truthfulness. He adds: Among the
+Persians it was forbidden to speak of that which it was forbidden to do;
+the Avesta requires truth "in thought, speech, and action." Lying and
+borrowing, Herodotus says, passed with the Persians for the most
+disgraceful acts, for they were of opinion that any one who contracted
+debts was generally compelled to tell lies. The Avesta says: "He who
+does not restore that which has been borrowed, seeks day and night to
+deceive the creditor." Plato states that the heirs to the Persian throne
+had, besides three others, a teacher whose special business it was to
+instruct them in truth. Xenophon assures us that pledges and oaths were
+religiously kept among the Persians; and Diodorus, that the pledge of
+hands was the strongest security among them.[344] Practice in Persia
+was, it is true, not equal to these injunctions, however sharply
+expressed; on the contrary, we often find the two in the most glaring
+contradiction.
+
+Not falsehood and lies only, but also laziness and sloth pollute the
+soul of man. The pious man must rise early. �raosha awakes the bird
+Parodarsh, we are told in the book of the law. At the return of the
+divine Ushahina, _i.e._ of the morning (p. 108), this bird speaks to
+those who are in their beds: "Friend, up, arise. Praise purity, and the
+Daevas will fly away. Long sleep, O man, is not good for thee. The
+Bushyan�ta runs up to thee, who lays again in sleep the whole corporeal
+world. Turn yourselves not away from the three best things: good
+thinking, speaking, and acting. He who rises first will come into
+Paradise; he who first brings pure, dry, old, well-hewn wood to the fire
+of Auramazda, him will the fire bless (p. 122)."[345] The pious man
+should be industrious and work; the best work is that which increases
+nourishment and fruit for men and animals, which furthers the increase
+and life of the world, and thus diminishes the kingdom of the evil, the
+power of the dark spirits. For this reason running water and growing
+fruits should be spread over the earth; "the field should be tilled, and
+trees planted which produce food." "When there are shoots," the law-book
+says, "the Daevas are in alarm; when there are stalks, the Daevas weep;
+when there are ears, the Daevas hiss; when there are grains, the Daevas
+fly."[346] "In the house where there are most ears, the Daevas are
+smitten most heavily." "The earth is not glad which lies untilled. The
+greatest pleasure is given to the earth where a pure man builds his
+house, provided with fire and cattle, and good flocks, with wife and
+child, where most corn, fodder, and grain is produced by husbandry,
+where the dry land is most watered, where fruit-bearing trees are
+planted, where cattle and beasts of draught leave the most urine."[347]
+"He who plants fruits and trees, who gives water to the earth where it
+is needed, and takes it away where too abundant, he worships the earth."
+When a man tills the earth she bestows life upon him; "as a friend to a
+beloved friend, she gives him descendants and wealth." To him who tills
+her, the earth says: "O man, who tillest me with the left arm and the
+right, with the right arm and the left, in love will I bear thee all
+kinds of fruit." But to him who tills her not the earth says: "Thou wilt
+go to the doors of others and there stand, in order to beg for food; in
+idleness thou wilt ask for it and get but little." He who sows corn,
+sows purity; the law of Auramazda increases with the fruits of the
+field; they extend the law of Auramazda by 100, 1000, and 10,000
+meritorious works.
+
+These regulations of the Avesta were fully accepted in the West. The
+great reverence paid to splendid trees by the Ach�menids is shown by
+Herodotus' story of Xerxes, that he furnished a beautiful plane tree,
+which he saw in Lydia, with golden ornaments, and appointed a perpetual
+guardian for it.[348] Ameretat, as already observed, was the special
+protecting spirit of trees (p. 164). Xenophon tells us that the Persian
+kings gave special attention to agriculture; on their journeys they
+inquired into the tillage of the land, and demanded similar attention
+from their satraps. Round their palaces and wherever they came they
+caused the most beautiful gardens to be laid out, planted with trees and
+all the most excellent shrubs in the world.[349] The satraps also had
+gardens of this kind (_pairidaeza_) round their residences, and the
+younger Cyrus assures Lysander, "in the name of Mithra," that he never
+took food before he had induced perspiration by work in the garden or
+exercise in arms.[350] The satraps, says Xenophon, whose provinces were
+found deficient in population and poorly cultivated, were punished and
+removed from their office, while those whose provinces were in good
+order, were rewarded by presents. When the king of the Persians
+conferred distinctions, those were summoned first who had distinguished
+themselves in war, and next came those whose districts were best
+cultivated.[351] Respect and reverence for trees was so deeply rooted in
+Iran, that even Islam did not extirpate the feeling. To this day in
+Shiraz old trees are presented with dedicatory offerings, and hung with
+amulets; and the pious prefer to pray under tall trees rather than in
+the neighbouring mosques; while in the barren regions of Iran even
+groups of bushes receive offerings.[352]
+
+Besides the care of trees, plants, and the soil, the labour of mankind
+must be directed to the care of the flocks, to the increase of the
+animals of the good god, and the destruction of the Khraf�tras, or
+animals belonging to the evil spirit (p. 171). Cows are not held in such
+veneration in Iran as beyond the Indus, yet even here the "cow is not to
+be driven on the wrong way," and gomez (the urine of oxen) is the most
+effectual means of purification; in the theory of the priests Auramazda
+began the creation of living things with the bull. We have already
+mentioned the rank taken among the animals of Auramazda by the cock and
+dog. In the Vendidad Auramazda says: "I have created the dog with
+clothes and shoes of his own, with keen scent and sharp teeth, attached
+to men, savage against the enemy, for the protection of the flocks. No
+thief or wolf comes to the village or the fold and carries away anything
+unobserved, if the dog is healthy, in good voice, and among the flocks.
+The houses would not stand firm upon the earth if there were not dogs in
+the villages and flocks. The dog is patient, contented, and satisfied
+with little food, like a priest; he goes forward, and is before and
+behind the house, like a warrior; he sleeps less than the husbandmen, is
+talkative like a child, and friendly as a mistress."[353] The dogs are
+to receive good food, "for of all the creatures of Auramazda old age
+comes upon them the most quickly;" especially must the watch-dog be
+provided with milk, fat, and flesh, "the proper food" for a dog; and a
+dog must never be among those who are eating without receiving something
+to eat. Any one who gives unbroken bones or hot food to a sheep-dog or
+house-dog, and the bones injure him, and the hot food burns his mouth
+and tongue, so that he dies--is worthy of death.[354] Dogs with young
+are treated with the same care as pregnant women. It is a sin to chase
+or beat a dog which has brought forth; if she is injured or dies in
+running the sinner is worthy of death; and any one who beats a pregnant
+dog is to receive twice seven hundred stripes. It is the duty of every
+man to bring up for six months the dogs born on his ground, until they
+are able to run round in a circuit of twice seven houses.[355] Sick dogs
+are treated with the same remedies as rich men; and to the question of
+Zarathrustra--"If the dog will not take the remedies?" Auramazda answers
+that in this case "the dog can be tied, and its mouth opened with a flat
+piece of wood."[356] Wounds inflicted on dogs are to be punished with
+stripes to the number of twice eight hundred;[357] and besides this,
+compensation is to be given for the damage which thieves or wolves do to
+the village so long as the dog is prevented by his injuries from keeping
+watch. The book of the law everywhere threatens all those men who beat
+dogs that their souls will go from this world full of terror, and sick.
+To kill a water-dog is the greatest crime;[358] and is menaced with the
+worst penalties and expiations known to the Vendidad. As a general rule
+punishments do not go beyond 2000 stripes, or the necessity of killing
+2000 noxious animals; but the slayer of the water-dog is to receive
+10,000 stripes. Besides this, if he would save his soul, he must give
+10,000 parcels of hard wood, well hewn and dried, for the fire of
+Auramazda, and also 10,000 parcels of soft, fragrant wood; he must kill
+10,000 snakes, and an equal number of tortoises, lizards, and
+water-lizards, ants, flies, and rats. He must fill up 10,000 impure
+holes in the earth; give to the priests all the utensils required for
+the holy rites; to a warrior a complete set of armour; to a husbandman
+he must give all that is needed for agriculture: a house, provided with
+a beautiful mat, and arable land for tillage. In addition, he must give,
+as an expiation for his soul, fourteen head of small cattle to the "pure
+men," and bring up fourteen young dogs, and build fourteen bridges over
+running water. He must cleanse eighteen dogs from fleas, and make
+eighteen bones into edible food; and satisfy eighteen "pure men" with
+wine and flesh. If he does not perform these expiations he will go into
+the dwelling of the Druj, and "the heat which is injurious to the
+pasture will not depart from his dwelling until he has offered sacrifice
+for three days and nights for the pure soul of the water-dog, on the
+burning fire, with bound rods and uplifted Haoma."[359]
+
+In order to extirpate the animals of Angromainyu, the priest is to be
+provided with a stick, the Khraf�tra-killer. Herodotus has already told
+us, that the Magians held it a duty to kill serpents, ants, and other
+creeping and winged insects. For the expiation of sins the Avesta
+universally requires the killing of serpents, lizards, and ants; rats
+and mice, which do harm to the crops; flies, midges, fleas, lice, and
+other vermin. Plutarch tells us that the Persians count him a happy man
+who slays most water-mice; Agathias observes that in honour of the chief
+festival in Persia every one killed as many snakes, and beasts of prey,
+and animals living in the desert, as possible, and then brought them to
+the Magians as a proof of his piety. In this way they believed that they
+did what was pleasing to the good god, while they injured and distressed
+Arimanes.[360]
+
+According to the Avesta, the soul of man is kept pure by truthfulness,
+industry, and diligence, by good thoughts, good words and acts, which
+advance the kingdom of life; the body is to be kept free from dirt and
+the house from filth and dead creatures; from all that belongs to the
+evil spirits and is in their power. The soul of man is created pure; but
+from the first the body has certain impure parts, and the defilement
+which Angromainyu brought into the bodies of men. This defilement
+consists in the spittle, the excrements, dead skin, sores, etc; in
+everything that has an unpleasant smell, or is removed from the living
+body, like the hair and nails. These when cut are dead, and therefore
+belong to the kingdom of darkness; hence in Iran as in India they are
+impure things. "Wherever cut hair and nails lie," says the book of the
+law, "there the Daevas gather to these unholy places; there the impure
+animals come, which men call lice. Therefore carry away--so saith
+Auramazda--cut hair and nails, ten paces from the pure men, twenty from
+the fire, thirty from the water, fifty from the sacred bundle of rods.
+Dig a hole below the house in the earth, pronounce the prayer
+Ahunavairya thrice, six times, nine times, and then say: To thee, O
+bird, Asho-zusta, I show these nails. These nails I dedicate to thee;
+may they be thy lances, thy swords, thy bow, thy swift-flying arrows,
+thy sling-stones against the Mazanian Daevas. If these nails are not
+announced to the bird Asho-zusta, they are weapons for, not against, the
+Daevas."[361] Spittle is among the worst impurities. The priests could
+only approach the fire with veiled mouth, and even now the Parsees
+invariably cover the mouth in praying. They eat in silence, and two
+never use the same spoon, because the food would then be polluted by
+spittle. The removal of the excrements requires as much care in the
+Avesta as it did in the Brahmanic law, and the Vendidad gives minute
+regulations in regard to these matters.[362] A man is rendered impure by
+excess and debauchery; a woman by her courses, "by marks and blood," and
+by the birth of a child. She must be carried to an elevated place in the
+dwelling, which is strewn with dry sand, fifteen paces from the fire,
+from water, and the sacred bundle of rods, "at a distance also from the
+trees," and so placed that she cannot see the fire on the hearth. No one
+may touch her. Only a definite amount of certain kinds of food can be
+given to her, and that in metal jars, because these contract the least
+amount of impurity, and are most easily cleansed; the person who brings
+the food must remain three paces distant from her bed. After childbirth
+a woman is unclean for three days; then she must wash her body with
+water and gomez. If she has had a miscarriage her body is also polluted
+by the dead child: she must be placed thirty paces away from the fire
+and the sacred objects of the house, and must pass a longer period on
+her dust-bed--at the present time forty-one days are required. The first
+thing she is allowed to taste is ashes mixed with gomez--three, six, and
+then nine drops. The nine apertures of her body--that number is common
+to the Indians and Iranians--must be washed with ashes and gomez. She
+may not drink any water out of her impure hand; if she does so, she must
+receive two hundred blows with the rod, and two hundred with the
+whip.[363] Fire and water, springs, streams and rivers, the best gifts
+of the good gods, must, like the human body, be carefully preserved from
+all filth and defilement. The accounts of Western writers prove that the
+Persians and Medes observed the rules of purification given in the Book
+of the Law; it was not the custom among the Persians to spit in the
+presence of another, still less to sneeze, etc. They avoided the
+defilement of a river, or of the shadow of a man; and it was forbidden
+to uncover in the sight of the sun or moon.[364]
+
+"The sun, the moon, the stars shine unwillingly," we are told in the
+Vendidad, "on the polluted man."[365] "The impure takes away prosperity
+and increase; he brings sickness and death; after death he will not go
+into heaven."[366] "But whatever pollution a man has contracted, and
+whatever sin he has committed, the good law quenches all impurity and
+sin, if the purifications, expiations, and penalties which it
+prescribes are performed and paid; for the good law of Auramazda
+surpasses all others in greatness, goodness, and salvation, as far as
+the heaven rises above the earth, and as the sea of Vourukasha includes
+all other waters."[367] "The good law of Auramazda takes from the man
+who praises it and commits no evil actions afterwards, his deception; it
+takes away the murder of the pure man, and the burial of the dead; it
+takes away inexpiable actions, and accumulated guilt; it takes away all
+evil words, thoughts, and actions, even as the strong swift wind
+purifies heaven from the right side."[368]
+
+Slight pollution is removed by washing with pure water accompanied by
+certain prayers and imprecations on the Daevas, such as: "I contend with
+thee, O evil Angromainyu; away from this dwelling, away from the fire,
+the water, from this place, from all the blessings which Auramazda has
+created. I contend against pollution, direct and indirect; against the
+unclean spirits; I contend against the Daeva Andra, �aurva, Zairicha (p.
+169); against the Pairika, who goes to the water, the earth, cattle, and
+trees," etc.[369] More serious impurities require ablutions with gomez,
+which in certain cases have to be repeated thirty times, with various
+prayers.[370] The most efficacious purification, which removes even the
+worst taint, is that of the nine nights. This can only be performed by a
+priest, who knows the law accurately, can repeat the sacred word by
+heart, and speaks the truth. A special place must be constructed for it;
+thirty paces (which are equal to ninety times the length of the foot)
+from the fire, the water, and the sacred bundle of rods. In the middle
+of this space nine pits are dug in the earth, and round them twelve
+furrows are drawn with a metal instrument. The purifier sprinkles the
+person who requires cleansing (who is entirely naked) with gomez, from a
+leaden vessel, with many prayers. He is then rubbed fifteen times with
+earth; he must then wash himself at each of the nine pits once, twice,
+thrice with water, after which he is fumigated with fragrant wood. Then
+follow washings with water and gomez in the third, sixth, and ninth
+night. "After this," says the book, "the purified person shall bring
+water of purification to the fire, hard wood, and perfumes; he is to
+utter praises to Auramazda, to the Amesha �pentas, and to the rest of
+the pure ones--so will the man be purified." The purifier must be
+rewarded for this purification; according to the measure of the man's
+property the payment rises from small cattle and cows to camels; "in
+order that the purifier may go away contented and without hatred."
+Instead of cattle, goods of another description can be given. "But if
+the purifier goes away discontented, the wicked spirit of impurity comes
+again into the purified persons, and they are impure for evermore."[371]
+
+In the view of the Avesta impurity consists essentially in that which is
+opposed to life; hence there is no worse form of uncleanness than that
+caused by the corpse. The body, as soon as the soul has left it, belongs
+to Angromainyu. The fiend of death, the Druj Na�u, obtains possession of
+it, and from it she springs on all who touch it, or come near it. If a
+man dies, or a dog--and in this matter dogs are put quite on a level
+with men--and other men and women are in the same house--two, five,
+fifty, or a hundred--the Druj Na�u comes immediately from the north in
+the form of a fly, and settles on all the inhabitants of the house and
+makes them impure with infection, pollution, and uncleanness.[372] In
+the first instance she is to be met by incantations--the Gathas,
+Bisamruta, Thrisamruta, Chathrasamruta, must be repeated; then the fiend
+falls to pieces like grass that has been dead a year.[373] After this
+the hearth-fire must be removed from the house of the dead, and the
+sacred utensils--the mortar, the cup, the sacred bundle of rods, and the
+Haoma. In winter the fire can be kindled again upon the hearth after
+nine nights; in summer, when the need for warmth and cooked food is less
+pressing, after a month; any one who does not observe these periods is
+to be punished with twice two hundred stripes.[374] After purification
+the kinsmen are to utter prayers for the departed, and the number of
+these is fixed, in the Vendidad, in the same fanciful manner which is so
+often met with in the book of Manu. The number decreases according to
+the degree of relationship; for the nearest kinsmen thirty prayers are
+spoken; for the most remote, five; if the dead man has led an impure
+life the number of prayers is doubled in order to give efficacy to the
+petition.[375]
+
+The preservation and increase of life is the foundation of the teaching
+of the Avesta. The good life of nature is promoted by planting and
+agriculture, by tending the useful and destroying the pernicious
+animals; and by posterity provision is to be made for the life of men.
+From this point of view the Vendidad lays especial weight on marriage.
+"I declare," Auramazda says, "that the married is before the unmarried,
+and he that has a house before him that has none, and the father of
+children before the childless."[376] We can only ascertain very
+incompletely from the remaining fragments of the Avesta the rules which
+it prescribed for family life. We see that bringing about a marriage was
+regarded as a meritorious work, and marriage between close relations was
+considered happy. Yet maidens are not to be given in marriage before
+their fifteenth year.[377] To those who have long remained unmarried the
+god Haoma, the special protector of life, sends truthful, active
+husbands, gifted with good understanding (p. 125). We never hear of any
+difference of the orders in contracting marriage; nor is there the least
+hint that the priest can only marry a wife of priestly blood, or the
+husbandman a wife of his own class. On the other hand, the strictest
+directions are given that the worshippers of Auramazda are only to marry
+among themselves; marriage with those of an alien religion is severely
+reprobated. "A man who mingles the seed of the faithful and the
+unbelievers, the seed of the worshippers of the Daevas with the
+worshippers of Mazda, keeps back a third part of the flowing water, a
+third part of the increase of the blooming plants, and their golden
+fruits; he annihilates a third part of the clothing of �penta Armaiti
+(the Earth); he robs the just men of a third part of their power, their
+merits, their purity. They who do this are more destructive than forked
+serpents, than howling wolves, than the she-wolf which rushes on the
+flocks, than the thousand-fold brood of the lizard, which pollutes the
+water."[378] The Vendidad gives the house-father a similar power over
+his wife and children to that given in Manu's law--so far as we can
+conclude from certain indications. He is to be spoken of with the same
+reverence as the house-father on the Ganges; the wife is to be honoured,
+but is to "be watched perpetually, like the fire of Auramazda."[379]
+With regard to the education of children, we can only gather from the
+Vendidad they were to be tended for seven years; "protect dogs for six
+months, children for seven years;"[380] and boys are to be invested in
+their fifteenth year with the sacred girdle.[381] We remember the sacred
+girdle which the three upper castes wore and still wear beyond the
+Ganges; the investiture with this, and adoption into the family and
+caste--"the second birth" takes place, according to Manu's law, among
+the Brahman boys in the eighth year, among the Kshatryas, in the
+eleventh, and the Vai�yas in the twelfth. The habit of wearing the
+girdle, which prevails on both sides of the Indus, proves that this
+custom was in use before the two branches of the Arians separated.
+Originally the girdle was intended to be a protection or amulet against
+the evil spirits.[382] In the girdle which the priests prepare with
+traditional ceremonies, and put on boys in their seventh or tenth year,
+the modern Parsees see the bond which encloses and unites the
+worshippers of Auramazda.
+
+If I attempt to supplement the scanty hints of the Avesta on family life
+from the accounts preserved to us on this subject by Western writers, it
+must be remembered that the more ancient of these statements hold good
+only of the West of Iran. But as we have hitherto found the worship and
+manners of the Persians and Medes, as described by the Greeks, agreeing
+with the rules of the Avesta, we may suppose that in this province also
+East and West were in agreement. Herodotus states that the Persians
+married many wives, and had concubines in addition. They considered it
+honourable and right to have as many children as possible; next to
+bravery in war it was the greatest merit to have many children, and the
+king sent presents every year to the man who had most.[383] Of all days
+the Persians celebrated most the day on which they were born. A more
+abundant meal was served on this day: among the wealthy an ox, a horse,
+or a camel was roasted whole; and smaller animals among those who were
+poorer. Plato adds: "When the first son, the heir of the kingdom, was
+born to the king of Persia, all the subjects of the king celebrated the
+day, and on the birthday of the king there were festivals and sacrifices
+throughout all Asia."[384] Herodotus observes, that the respect of
+children for their parents was great. The Persians regarded the murder
+of parents by a son as impossible; if such a thing happened they
+believed that the child was supposititious.[385] Aristotle tells us that
+the power of the father over the sons among the Persians was tyrannical,
+_i.e._ unlimited; he treated them as slaves.[386] That the mother was
+also treated with respect follows from the statement that the son might
+not remain seated when the mother entered, and could only resume his
+seat at her permission. At the court of the Ach�menids the mother of the
+king had the first place, the king the second.[387] That the
+queen-mother often exercised great influence is shown by the history of
+this ruling family. Of the careful education of the heir to the throne,
+the other princes, and the sons of the wealthy Persians, both in the
+exercise and strengthening of their bodies and in moral training, the
+Western writers had much to tell.
+
+What the Greeks narrate respecting the celebration of the birthday among
+the Persians, the distinction of the satraps whose provinces were best
+cultivated and populated, and the rewards given to those who had most
+children, agrees entirely with the delight in life which runs through
+the Avesta, and the exhortations to increase life everywhere present in
+that book. The Avesta always speaks of one wife only. The polygamy
+noticed by the Greeks was limited to the rich (the number of wives among
+the Persians, says Ammian, was regulated by property[388]); in
+consequence of the religious feeling just noticed, it prevailed, no
+doubt, far more extensively among the Arians of Iran than among the
+Indians. Yet the harems of the Indian princes were large. However
+numerous the harems of the Ach�menids, only one wife was the lawful
+wife; and she alone, as in India, bore the name of queen: only her sons
+could be considered heirs to the throne. The other wives greeted the
+queen on their knees: the queen must belong to the race of the
+Ach�menids, or at any rate to one of the six tribal princes.[389] The
+same was the case among the rest of the Persians who had several wives;
+one only was the house-wife. The Avesta told us above that the wife must
+be watched. According to Plutarch the Persians were more strict in this
+matter than the rest of the barbarians; they kept not only the wife but
+the concubines shut up, and they left the houses in covered cars
+only.[390] Manu's law also requires that women should be watched (IV.
+263). The power of the father, and the respectful attitude of the
+children to the mother, correspond to the principles of family life
+which we have seen beyond the Indus. Yet, so far as we can see, marriage
+was not in Iran so close and firmly established a relation as among the
+Arians of India, where the wife belonged absolutely to the man, and
+surrendered herself in complete devotion to him; nor did the relation of
+children to parents in Iran experience that excellent and happy
+development which on the whole attended it in India, and of which we can
+still perceive the results. If Western writers maintain that it was the
+custom among the Persians to take the nearest relations in marriage, so
+that even the brother married the sister (of which Herodotus gives an
+example in Cambyses) and the son the mother after the father's death
+(the latter is said to have prevailed especially among the
+Magi)[391]--the Avesta, as we have seen, declared marriages between near
+relations to be good, and the history of the Ach�menids mentions
+marriage with sisters more than once. The more extreme assertions,
+especially in regard to the Magi, are to be regarded as exaggerations of
+the Greeks, and owed their origin to their astonishment at a custom
+which was more than revolting. On the relation of the sexes both before
+and after marriage, and other matters connected with procreation, the
+Vendidad supplies a number of minute regulations.[392]
+
+The preservation of life also receives great attention in the Avesta. We
+remember the incantations of the Rigveda which banish sickness into
+thrushes and woodpeckers, and the sentences of the Atharvaveda against
+sickness and death (IV. 281). The remedies of the Veda are water and
+plants. All remedies are in water; the waters of the springs and the
+waters of the rivers drive away sickness. The plants said, when they
+came from heaven, that they descended from the water of the sky. "The
+mortal whom we touch will suffer no harm." "May Agni protect me with the
+waters, and Soma with the plants," we are told in the Veda; and again:
+"The plants whose king is Soma, have rescued me from death."[393] The
+priest who knows the sentences is at the same time the physician, though
+the Rigveda has a separate name for the latter (IV. 35). How highly the
+Indians respected doctors and physicians at a later time, in spite of
+the theory of the Brahmans of the unworthiness of the body, and how it
+was the custom there in the sixth century B.C. to send for the physician
+in every sickness, has been mentioned in its place (IV. 323). Proceeding
+from precisely the same conceptions, the Avesta went on to fill several
+books with medical remedies. The best mode of healing is that by charms,
+and the sacred word. In such incantations of the Avesta we are told: "I
+contend against sickness, I contend against death, I contend against
+pain, I contend against fever, I contend against the corruption and
+pollution which Angromainyu has created in the body of men. Sickness, I
+curse thee; fever, I curse thee; death, I curse thee."[394] The sacred
+word is invoked to heal by its power. "Mayst thou heal me, O Manthra
+�penta. As a recompense I will give to thee a thousand stall-fed oxen, a
+thousand spotless cattle, a thousand swiftly-running horses, a thousand
+camels, swift and with strong backs. I will bless thee with beautiful,
+pious blessings; with dear, pious blessings, which make the deficient
+full, and the full to overflow, which bind the friend and make the bond
+firm."[395] As in the Veda, the remedies are water and plants, "Draw up,
+ye clouds, draw up," we are told in the Vendidad; "Let the water fall as
+thousand-fold, ten thousand-fold rain, to drive away sickness, to drive
+away corruption, to drive away death. May it rain for the renewal of the
+waters, the earth, the plants, the means of healing."[396] As in the
+Veda Soma is the king of plants, so in Iran Haoma, the god of life, is
+the lord of plants.[397] The white heavenly Haoma grows, as we have
+seen, on the Gaokerena, the tree of heaven; from it springs the earthly
+Haoma and all plants of which the seed falls from the tree Vi�potaokhma
+in Vourukasha, which the bird Chamru carries where Tistrya collects the
+clouds, in order to let the seed fall down from them to the earth.[398]
+"I, who am the giver of all blessings," says Auramazda, "created this
+dwelling (the earth), the beautiful, brilliant, and noteworthy; then
+Angromainyu, who is full of death, created nine diseases, ninety
+diseases, nine hundred diseases, nine thousand diseases, nine and ninety
+thousand diseases. Thrita desired as a favour a means to withstand
+death, to withstand pain, to withstand the heat of fever, and the evil
+corruptions and filth which Angromainyu has brought into the body of
+men. Then I, who am Auramazda, brought forth the healing plants, many
+hundreds, many thousands, many tens of thousands, around the one
+Gaokerena." The invocation then follows: "We bless thee, we invoke thee,
+we worship thee for the healing of the body of men, in order to drive
+away sickness, in order to drive away death, the hot fever and the cold
+fever."[399]
+
+Thrita, a spirit of heaven, who has a place among the sages and
+sacrificers of old time (p. 42) was, in the Avesta, the first physician
+who kept back disease and death; and every one who follows in his
+course, every physician, must appear as a willing combatant, an active
+co-operator against the evil spirits, from whom death and disease
+proceed. According to the Vendidad, those have the first place among the
+physicians who heal by charms, _i.e._ by the sacred word, the words of
+the law; these are the "physicians of physicians;" next come the
+physicians who heal by remedies; and last of all, those who heal by the
+knife.[400] These latter must first use the knife on the worshippers of
+the Daevas; when they have done so three times, and the patient has died
+each time, they are incapable for ever of practising the art of healing.
+But if they have healed three worshippers of the Daevas, they are
+capable of "healing the worshippers of Auramazda, and they can try their
+skill upon them as they please." The physician is not only to heal sick
+men, but sick animals also, and above all the sick dog. The Vendidad
+fixes the sum which the physician is to receive for his services. He is
+to heal a priest, and ask for no more than his blessing. For healing the
+overseer of a district he is to receive a yoke of four oxen, and for his
+wife a she-camel; the overseer of a canton is to pay a large beast of
+draught, and his wife a mare; the head of a village pays a smaller
+beast, and his wife a cow; the head of a house a small beast, and his
+wife a she-ass. For healing a large beast of draught the price is a
+beast of moderate size; and for one of moderate size, a head of small
+cattle, etc.[401] Pliny quotes a number of remedies and means of cure
+used by the Magi, some of them of an extraordinary character; indeed,
+the impression made on Pliny by the importance ascribed to medicine in
+the doctrine of Zarathrustra was so great, that he maintained that the
+Magism of Zoroaster had arisen out of the art of healing, and had
+introduced, as it were, a higher and sacred medicine. To this was
+subsequently added the power of religion, and the mathematical arts of
+investigating the future by the heavens, so that Zoroaster's doctrine
+had taken possession of the mind of men by a three-fold bond.[402] How
+greatly he is mistaken in ascribing to the Magians the astrology of the
+Chald�ans, has been remarked above; the mistake is explained by the
+fact, that the Avesta includes the astronomical knowledge of the priests
+of Iran in the books which treated of medicine (p. 52).
+
+The astronomical chapters are lost as well as those on medicine. From
+our fragments we cannot so much as fix the year by which the Avesta
+reckons. We merely perceive that it counted by nights, not by days. It
+is from the Bundehesh that we first learn that the year of Eastern Iran
+is made up of 360 days in twelve months of thirty days, with five
+additional days. This year is said to have begun with the vernal
+equinox, _i.e._ the period when the vigour of nature again shows itself.
+In the last five nights of the old year, and the first five nights of
+the new one, the spirits of the forefathers, the Fravashis, come to
+their descendants in the houses; they awake with nature to new life (p.
+179). The first month is called Farvardin after these spirits; of the
+remaining eleven, six are called after the Amesha �pentas, and the
+remaining five, which are inserted between the six, after Mithra,
+Tistrya, the spirits of fire and water, and lastly after the law (Din).
+The inscriptions of the Ach�menids give us nine names of months entirely
+different from these. Hence the West had its own calendar, as well as
+its own alphabet, and made use of it as early as the year 500 B.C. In
+the East the calendar of the Avesta was in use; and this seems to have
+been current in the West also in the first half of the fourth century
+B.C. There is no doubt whatever that it was the standard for all Iran at
+the time of the Sassanids.[403]
+
+We have already set forth in detail what weight the Avesta lays on
+purity, and the avoidance of contact with dead matter, which has fallen
+into the power of the Daevas. From these points of view, in consequence
+of the reform, the priests in Iran came to adopt a peculiar mode of
+burial. Among the Arians of the Panjab the oldest form of burial was
+interment, and in time cremation came into use (IV. 62). But could the
+Athravas allow anything so unclean as a corpse to be laid on fire, the
+pure "son of Auramazda"? If the corpse was thrown into water the pure
+water was defiled; if buried in the earth pollution was cast on the
+beautiful, submissive daughter of Auramazda. Nothing therefore remained
+for the priests but to leave the corpse above the earth; in this case it
+served the pure animals, the birds and dogs, for nourishment, and was
+thus destroyed in the best manner. To throw a corpse into water, to bury
+or burn it, are great sins, actions which do not admit of
+expiation,[404] and those who do such things "help the drought which
+destroys the pasture, and the evil onsweeping winter, which kills the
+flock, and is full of snow; such men are impure for ever."[405] Any one
+who buries a dead dog or a dead man in the earth, and does not dig the
+body up again within half a year, is to receive twice five hundred
+stripes; any one who allows it to remain in the earth for a year, is to
+receive twice a thousand stripes; but if a man leaves a corpse in the
+earth for more than two years, there is for him neither penalty, nor
+expiation, nor purification.[406]
+
+The dead are to be carried away on peculiarly dry paths, little trodden
+by cattle, beasts of draught, and pure men, and laid on the driest and
+barest places in the earth, on the highest eminences where carnivorous
+birds and dogs may most easily see them.[407] The soil is to be dug out,
+waist deep, if the earth is soft; if hard, to the depth of half a foot,
+and this depression is to be filled with tiles, stones, and dust; for
+damp earth contracts pollution most readily, whereas stones, tiles, and
+dust contract it very slowly. To this place (Dakhma) the naked corpse is
+to be taken on a bier, which has a foundation of stones or tiles, by
+two strong men--never by one: one bearer would pollute himself for ever,
+and the Druj Na�u would never leave him. Any one who throws a cloth on
+the dead must be punished with twice four hundred, or twice a thousand
+stripes, according to the size of the cloth. The corpse is to be placed
+on the Dakhma, with the face turned to the sun (any one who does not
+place the body with its face to the sun, is to pay the same penalty as
+is prescribed for the murder of a pure man[408]): the corpse is then to
+be secured in its place by iron, stones, or lead, attached to the feet
+or hair, in order that the birds and dogs may not carry away the bones
+and remains to water and trees: the neglect of these fastenings is to be
+punished with twice two hundred stripes.[409] If it rains or snows, or
+the wind is strong, so that the necessary preparations cannot be made on
+the day of death, the corpse can be carried on its own bed and mat to
+the Dakhma.[410]
+
+At these burial-places the Daevas hold their meetings; there they
+propagate and assemble, "in order to bring to death, fifty, a hundred, a
+thousand, ten thousand, an innumerable host of men;" there the Daevas
+are most dangerous and deadly to men: for in the places of burial are
+"infection, disease, fever, impurity, ague, trembling, and old hair." A
+Dakhma is not pure till the body has been eaten by dogs and birds, till
+the remains have entirely changed into dust, and become utterly mixed up
+with the foundation of mortar, tiles, and stones. When this point has
+been reached, the Dakhma should be levelled. Such destruction of the
+place of burial is regarded by the law-book as the annihilation of death
+itself; as one of the highest virtues of the faithful. "He who levels
+only so much as the size of his own body of a burial-place," says the
+book of the law, "has repented of all his sins which he has committed in
+thought, speech, and action; he has not only repented of them, but he
+has expiated them, and the two heavenly powers will not begin a contest
+about his entrance into paradise."[411]
+
+The prescriptions of the law for the purification of the vessels and
+clothes which have touched the corpse, are given from regard to utility,
+and from the point of view of a certain simple rationalism, which forms
+an advantageous contrast between Iran and India. Vessels of lead, wood,
+and earth, are impure for ever; vessels of gold and silver can be taken
+into use again after a number of washings with gomez. Garments on which
+spittle, moisture, or dung have fallen are to be cut in pieces and
+buried; in other cases they can be purified with gomez, water, and
+earth, and aired, and then again taken into use for women at the time of
+impurity. The house of the dead is pure when the period for the
+extinction of the fire is over, when the prayers appointed for the dead
+have been said, and the inhabitants of the house have had their bodies
+and clothes washed three times, and the sacred hymns have been sung (p.
+215).
+
+For the bearers, who have carried a corpse to the Dakhma, and those who
+in any way have come into contact with a corpse, special forms of
+purification are necessary. The washing of the bearers must be begun
+immediately after the corpse has been deposited. For this purpose the
+gomez of the nearest male and female relation of the dead is required as
+well as that of "cattle and beasts of draught." At the last washing the
+Druj Na�u springs out of the forehead between the eyebrows, from thence
+to the shoulders and under the arms, until at length by continued
+ablutions she is driven into the left toes, and is compelled to pass
+away from there to the north in the form of a fly.[412] In order to
+purify the way on which the dead has been carried to the Dakhma, a dog
+must be led along it, three times, six times, and nine times. Then a
+priest must walk along it, who pronounces the "victorious words," _i.e._
+certain exorcisms. "I drive back the Daevi Druj, so that she flies to
+the North. Avaunt! She must not slay the corporeal world of the pure.
+May Auramazda and �penta Armaiti protect us from our enemies; may
+�raosha come, and Vohumano."[413] The worst of all forms of pollution is
+that contracted by touching a corpse in a distant place in solitude, for
+here the power of the demon was greatest. Any one to whom this has
+happened, is to wash himself fifteen times with water, and rub himself
+an equal number of times with earth, to hurry away from the spot, and
+call out to every one whom he meets: "I have touched a dead body,
+without wishing it in thought, word, or deed; my desire is
+purification." Every one is to avoid him unless he wishes to bring on
+himself the guilt of the impure man.[414]
+
+Pools and streams are polluted by corpses till the corpses have been
+removed and rain has thrice fallen upon the water; after this cattle and
+men can again drink of the water. So long as the corpse lies in a river,
+the fiend of death extends over nine paces above and three paces below
+it, and six paces on either side; in a pool the domain of the fiend is
+six paces in every direction; in snow and ice-water it is three paces.
+When Zarathrustra asks, whether the water which falls from heaven on the
+corpse is impure, the god answers, "I, Auramazda, allow the water to go
+forth from Lake Vourukasha, with storms and clouds, and to fall on a
+corpse; I, Auramazda, and to flow upon a burial-place, and upon a
+dung-heap, and carry away a bone, and wash all into Lake Puitika (the
+pool of purification in heaven). When purified the waters flow from Lake
+Puitika into Lake Vourukasha. I, Auramazda, rain down herbs of all
+kinds, to be food for the pious men, food for the useful cattle. With
+such speeches Auramazda appeased the just Zarathrustra."[415]
+Zarathrustra further inquires, whether corpses which have been carried
+by dogs, wolves, and panthers to a field make the field and men impure?
+Auramazda, as frequently happens in such cases, argues from the point of
+view of the possible and attainable. "If such corpses," says the god,
+"rendered men impure, all mankind would quickly be rendered impure owing
+to the multitude of the corpses which are upon the earth." But
+Zarathrustra is not satisfied; he says: "A man dies in the hollow of a
+valley; from the heights of the mountains a bird flies down to the
+valley, and then back to the summit of a mountain, and alights on a tree
+of hard or soft wood. There he is sick and voids excrements. Then a man
+goes up from the valley to the summit of the mountain, and comes to the
+tree, on which the bird has sat, and seeks fuel for his fire. He cuts
+the tree down, splits it up, and kindles a fire with it. What is his
+penalty?" Auramazda again replies that nothing carried away by wolves,
+dogs, birds, flies, or winds pollutes men. But now it occurs to
+Zarathrustra, or rather to the priests who have written these things
+down, whether the animals which have eaten the corpses are not impure.
+This difficulty Auramazda solves by declaring the animals pure; but no
+flesh of such animals is to be eaten within a year, or offered for
+sacrifice.[416]
+
+With the exception of Herodotus, Strabo, and Agathias, the Western
+writers give us only very exaggerated accounts of the peculiar mode of
+burial in use among the Persians. Herodotus has already told us that the
+corpses of the Magians were exposed to dogs and birds; with regard to
+the corpses of the rest he had no accurate knowledge, for a mystery was
+made of the matter.[417] Onesicritus relates that those Bactrians, who
+were weakened by disease and age, were thrown to dogs brought up for the
+purpose and called buriers of the dead; and Strabo says that among the
+Caspians, parents, when they had reached seventy years of age, were shut
+up by their children, and so killed by starvation;[418] though he also
+observes that the Magians gave over the corpses to birds.[419] Cicero
+narrates that it was not the custom of the Magians to bury the corpses
+of their dead before they had been torn by wild animals: in Hyrcania a
+peculiar kind of dog was reared--by the lower classes in common; of the
+wealthier men each had his own--by which they might be torn after death,
+and this was considered the best kind of burial.[420] From Eusebius we
+hear that the Medes gave the dying to carefully-reared dogs; the
+Hyrcanians and Caspians those who were still alive; the Bactrians the
+old; others the dead.[421] Agathias, on the other hand, tells us, that
+the dead among the Persians were carried out before the gates of the
+cities naked and without a coffin, and eaten by dogs, so that the bones
+lay about in the fields. If any man's corpse was not at once eaten, the
+Persians believed that he had been of an unholy mind, that his soul was
+unjust and wicked, and so had come into the power of the evil spirits,
+and would be carried into hell. Such men were lamented by their friends,
+because they had no part in the better lot. Those who were most quickly
+eaten up, the Persians praised as fortunate; they called their souls the
+best, and like the gods, and said of them that they had gone into the
+good land.[422]
+
+The Greeks maintained that the Ach�menids were buried at Pasargadae and
+Persepolis, and that the corpse of Cyrus rested at Pasargadae.[423] Of
+Darius we are told that even in his lifetime he caused his tomb to be
+prepared on the summit of a mountain. The corpses of Artaxerxes I. of
+Damaspia, and of his son Xerxes, were buried, according to Ctesias, in
+Persia.[424] The last Darius was buried by Alexander in the royal
+sepulchre, when he had already given the honours of burial to the
+Persian queen Statera.[425] Diodorus tells us that these tombs were on
+the eastern side of the citadel of Persepolis, at a distance of four
+hundred feet, in the "royal mountain." The rock was hewn out, and
+contained several chambers. But these tombs had no entrance; the corpses
+were drawn up by machines to the summit, and so laid in them.[426]
+
+The burial-places of the rulers of ancient Persia can still be
+recognised. Some hundred paces to the east of the remains of the royal
+palace at Persepolis, towards the rising of the sun, precisely as
+Diodorus describes the place, are three stone pictures in Mount Rachmed.
+Sculptures which begin three hundred feet above the ground on the
+perpendicular front of the mountain form three high fa�ades, with
+pillars, which present a gateway with woodwork, supporting a large
+canopy, on which are seen several rows of dogs; the same animals are to
+be seen on the lower lines of ornamentation. Within this framework are
+the pictures of the buried sovereigns. In the left hand is the bow
+without a string; the right is raised in an attitude of prayer, and the
+figures are standing before an altar of burning fire. The king is
+supported on a foundation upheld by the arms of several rows of men, who
+represent the conquered lands. Two leagues to the north of Persepolis
+are four great sculptures, now called Naksh-i-Rustem, _i.e._ pictures of
+Rustem, of a similar kind, but beginning only sixty or seventy feet from
+the ground, deeply cut in the perpendicular wall of two hundred feet in
+length. Three of these pictures are close together; the fourth is on a
+spur of the rock, at right angles to the other three. The centre of the
+three marks the tomb of Darius, the son of Hystaspes. It is the only one
+among the seven monuments which has inscriptions.[427]
+
+The corpses of the princes might have been exposed to the sun, the dogs,
+and birds on the summit above these pictures. In that case they would
+merely mark the place of exposure, and these rocks would be
+burial-places like those of the modern Parsees in Bombay. But behind the
+sculptures, though not accessible from them, sepulchral chambers have
+been discovered. From this, and from the description which the Greeks
+give us of the tomb of Cyrus, we must draw the conclusion that the
+Persian custom of burial did not agree with the rule of the Avesta--with
+the exception of the priests, whose corpses, as Herodotus expressly
+states, were exposed. The Vendidad laments that in certain districts of
+the East, Arachosia and Chakhra, the dead were burned, or buried.[428]
+Under the Sassanids exposure was strictly observed both in the East and
+West, as is clear from the account of Agathias already quoted, and all
+the statements which relate to this later period.
+
+The regulations of the book of the law with regard to the burial of
+corpses and the places of exposure are still strictly observed by the
+Parsees. Great care is taken at the erection of a Dakhma that the
+rain-water can run off from the bier of the corpse. At the last moment a
+dog is brought into the presence of the dying person, so that its eye
+may be directed on him; and when a woman with child dies two dogs are
+brought, because two lives are in question. The eye of the dog has the
+power to keep the evil spirits at a distance. But every one must remain
+at nine paces distance from the dying person. After death the two
+corpse-bearers at once strip the body--their hands are protected from
+immediate contact by napkins made of old clothes--and carry it on a bier
+of iron--for metal contracts less pollution than wood--accompanied by
+the prayers of the priests, to the place of burial. The kinspeople
+follow the corpse in silence to within ninety paces of the Dakhma. For
+the first three nights the priests and kinsmen repeat continually the
+prescribed prayers for the soul of the dead; in the third night the
+decision is made at the bridge of Chinvat (p. 178). The burial-places of
+the Parsees at Bombay are situated on a mountain on the coast, on the
+summit of which several hollows have been cut. From a distance the
+relatives look eagerly to this summit, to see whether the vultures are
+already attacking the corpse, and which part of it they first consume.
+For the first year after death a prayer is said daily before meals for
+the soul of the dead to the Fravashis of the pure,[429] and a service is
+held on the day of the month on which the death took place. In the years
+that follow, on the fourth, tenth, and thirtieth day of each month, as
+the book prescribes, but above all on the festival of all souls--_i.e._
+on the feast of the ten nights during which the Fravashis come down (p.
+224)--prayers are said for the dead.
+
+It is hardly possible to ascertain the arrangement and life of the state
+from the very scanty and obscure traits in the existing fragments of the
+law. We have no rules on the rights and duties of the monarchy, though
+these were included in the Avesta, if we may trust the list of
+contents.[430] But the splendour of majesty as it dwelt with the rulers
+of old time, with Yima, Thraetaona, and Kere�a�pa, and was imparted to
+�yavarshana and Vista�pa, is brought strongly into prominence; and among
+the Amesha �pentas we found the spirit of good order, of good
+government. Of the position of the orders so much only is clear--that
+the priests claimed precedence over the warriors and husbandmen; that
+the Avesta allows them certain privileges of moderate extent (p. 187);
+and that the priestly families did not form exclusive castes, though the
+priestly functions were hereditary in them. Still less can we learn of
+the families of the warriors. We do not hear that they enjoyed a
+favoured position; they are merely mentioned before the husbandmen; and
+the Vendidad also gives us some information about their armour. It
+should consist of a coat of mail and helmet, a girdle and greaves, a bow
+with thirty arrows, a sling with thirty stones, a sword, a club, and a
+lance.[431] Under the Ach�menids there were rich families in Bactria and
+Sogdiana, in which we may no doubt venture to find descendants of the
+old military families, enjoying an influential position in politics;
+under the Sassanids the knightly nobility of Iran comes plainly to the
+front. The Avesta speaks of great and intermediate houses, of important
+and unimportant inhabitants of the villages. We also read of rich and
+poor, men who have property and beggars; and mention is made of
+tradespeople and slaves. The Avesta rises from the lord of the house to
+the lord of the village or community (_vi�_), then to the lord of the
+tribe or canton (_zantu_) and to the lord of the province (_danhu_); an
+arrangement which corresponds to the Indian government as fixed by
+Manu's regulations. When Alexander of Macedon forced his way to Bactria
+and Sogdiana, he met with resistance from the native overseers of
+cantons or chieftains, whom he had summoned to Zariaspa, "the largest
+city" in Bactria (p. 12).[432] When the castles of the most powerful had
+been taken, and their lords had submitted, he sought to gain them by
+marrying their daughters to the captains of his army, while he himself
+took to wife the daughter of the Bactrian Oxyartes.
+
+The protection of property is obviously a matter of great importance in
+the Avesta. The utility of dogs is frequently mentioned, which protect
+flocks and villages from thieves and wolves. Theft is looked on as
+especially wicked, because the thief leads a roving life, eats raw and
+unprepared food, and carries on his evil work in the darkness.[433] In
+regard to contracts the Vendidad distinguishes six kinds, according as
+they are concluded by word, by the pledge of hands, and are concerned
+with the value of a head of small cattle, a beast of draught, a man
+(_i.e._ a slave), and a piece of land. Anyone who violates the first
+kind is to receive 300 blows with the rod, and 300 with the whip, and
+the punishment increases in the violation of the other kinds up to 1000
+stripes with both instruments.[434] To check injury of the person the
+Vendidad lays down the rule, that anyone who lifts up his weapon against
+a man without beating him, is to receive twice five stripes the first
+time, and twice two hundred on the seventh occasion of committing the
+offence, if he has not expiated the preceding six offences; if he has
+expiated them, the measure of the first offence is dealt out on each
+occasion. Anyone who attacks another not in anger but with malice, is to
+be punished with twice fifteen, and on the sixth occasion with 200
+stripes, in case he has not expiated the former offences. Anyone who
+inflicts a wound on another, is punished the first time with twice
+thirty, the fifth time with twice two hundred stripes. The same
+punishment is inflicted on a man who breaks the bones of another, if he
+does not expiate the offence. If the wound proves fatal, he is to be
+punished with twice ninety stripes, and on a second offence with twice
+two hundred.[435]
+
+We have but few indications in the Avesta from which to draw conclusions
+as to the state of civilisation. The amounts to be paid to the purifier
+and the physician are given in animals; the series of contracts is
+determined according to the value of small cattle, beasts of draught,
+slaves, and landed property. But other property may be given in place of
+the animals; we find mention of money (_shaeta_),[436] and, as has been
+observed, of tradespeople; of mats and carpets, vessels of earth,
+silver, and gold, rich garments, palaces with pillars and turrets, ovens
+for smelting and for glass. The art of the physician cannot have been in
+a primitive stage, when so much space is devoted to remedies (p. 223),
+and the physicians who heal with the knife are designated as a separate
+class. So far as I can see, the Avesta betrays a state of civilisation,
+which, beginning from the pastoral condition, has remained in close
+connection with cattle-breeding and agriculture, but has also reached a
+more advanced stage. The unions of the tribes seem dissolved, and
+neither the previous importance of the warlike families nor their
+present position is brought prominently forward. This, no less than the
+liberal imposition of bodily punishment, shows that long before the
+dominion of the Ach�menids, the East of Iran must have been in the hands
+of princes who ruled with despotic power.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[342] "Mihr Yasht," 38, 116, 117.
+
+[343] "Vend." 1, 18, 20; 18, 22-32.
+
+[344] Herod. 1, 136; Plato, "Alcib. I." p. 122; Xen. "Cyri instit." 8,
+8, 2; Diod. 16, 43.
+
+[345] "Vend." 18, 35-42; 53-57.
+
+[346] "Vend." 3, 105 ff.
+
+[347] _Loc. cit._ 3, 1-20.
+
+[348] Herod. 7, 31.
+
+[349] "Oeconom." 4, 13 ff.
+
+[350] Ibid. 4, 20-24.
+
+[351] Ibid. 4, 8-12; "Cyri instit." 8, 6, 16.
+
+[352] Darmesteter, "Haurvatat et Ameretat," p. 64 ff.
+
+[353] "Vend." 13, 125-162.
+
+[354] "Vend." 15, 2, 3, 4.
+
+[355] "Vend." 15, 5, 20, 21, according to Goldner's translation. [Cf.
+Darmesteter.]
+
+[356] "Vend." 13, 97-105.
+
+[357] "Vend." 13, 26-47.
+
+[358] It is not certain whether the _udra_ of the Vendidad is the
+water-dog (spaniel?) or the otter.
+
+[359] "Vend." 13, 169-174; 14, 4-75.
+
+[360] Agath. 2, 24.
+
+[361] "Vend." Farg. 17.
+
+[362] "Wer den Urin mit vorgestrecktem Fusse l�sst macht die Drudsch
+schwanger," so dass sie neue Unholde geb�ren.
+
+[363] "Vend." 5, 45-55, 136-157; 7, 158-182.
+
+[364] Herod. 1, 133; Xen. "Cyri instit." 1, 2, 16; 8, 9, 11; Plin. "H.
+N." 28, 19.
+
+[365] "Vend." 9, 161.
+
+[366] "Vend." 9, 187.
+
+[367] "Vend." 5, 23-25.
+
+[368] "Vend." 3, 140-147; 8, 87.
+
+[369] "Vend." 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 26-28.
+
+[370] "Vend." 8, 275, 276.
+
+[371] "Vend." 9, 119-158; 19, 69-80.
+
+[372] "Vend." 5, 83-108; 7, 4 ff.
+
+[373] "Vend." 9, 168-171; Farg. 10.
+
+[374] "Vend." 5, 124-135.
+
+[375] "Vend." 12, 1-59.
+
+[376] "Vend." 4, 130-133.
+
+[377] "Vend." 14, 64-66.
+
+[378] "Vend." 18, 123-133, after Harlez' translation. [Cf. Darmesteter.]
+
+[379] "Vend." 15, 126.
+
+[380] "Vend." 15, 125.
+
+[381] "Vend." 18, 115.
+
+[382] "Vend." 18, 23.
+
+[383] Herod. 1, 135, 136.
+
+[384] Plato, "Aloib. I."; p. 121.
+
+[385] Herod. 1, 137.
+
+[386] "Ethic. Nicom." 8, 10, ed. Zell.
+
+[387] Curt. 5, 9; Plut. "Artax." c. 5.
+
+[388] Ammian, 23, 6.
+
+[389] Herod. 3, 70, 88; Dinon. fragm. 17, ed. M�ller; Ctes. "Pers. Ecl."
+44.
+
+[390] Plut. "Themist." c. 26.
+
+[391] Herod. 3, 31; Diogen. Laert. Prooem. 6; Plut. "Artax." c. 26;
+Ctes. "Pers. Ecl." 44; Agathias, 2, 23; Heracl. Cum. fragm. 7 ed.
+M�ller.
+
+[392] The regulations respecting sexual intercourse, abortion, etc.,
+which here follow in the German text will be found in "Vend." 16, 33-40;
+18, 100-122, 136, 152; _ib._ 15, 9-17, 60; 18, 115; _ib._ 18, 115-119;
+_ib._ 8, 74-82; _ib._ 8, 96-106.
+
+[393] "Rigveda," 10, 97, 17; "Atharvaveda," 2, 10, 2; 8, 1, 18 in
+Darmesteter _loc. cit._ 73, 76.
+
+[394] "Vend." 20, 19, 25.
+
+[395] "Vend." 22, 7-38.
+
+[396] "Vend." 21, 3-19.
+
+[397] Justi, "Bundehesh," c. 24.
+
+[398] West, "Mainyo-i-Khard," c. 62. Above, p. 172.
+
+[399] "Vend." 20, 11-20.
+
+[400] "Vend." 7, 118, 121.
+
+[401] "Vend." 7, 105, 117.
+
+[402] "H. N." 30, 1.
+
+[403] Von Gutschmid ("Das iranische Wandeljahr, Berichte der K.
+S�chsischen Gesellschaft der Wiss." 1862) places the establishment of
+the cycle, by which, in order to bring the year of 365 days into
+agreement with the natural time, a month was inserted every 120 years,
+and consequently the introduction of the East Iranian calendar into the
+whole kingdom, in the year 411, or between 428 and 381 B.C. That the
+beginning of the year was universally placed in the spring after the
+introduction of this calendar, and fixed between March and the middle of
+June, would follow from the importance of the Farvardin festival, even
+if it were not sufficiently vouched for by other evidence. The Bundehesh
+(c. 25) speaks of the year as fixed, inasmuch as it reckons the
+shortening of the days from a certain day in the month of Tir, and puts
+the shortest day on the 20th of the month of Din, yet it adds that the
+priests reckoned on this basis, and that the lunar year did not
+correspond to the year thus calculated. The Cappadocian names for the
+months are those of the East Iranian calendar; and the Cappadocians
+cannot have obtained these till the calendar was current throughout the
+whole kingdom of the Ach�menids. On this ground also Von Gutschmid's
+dates do not seem to be too high.
+
+[404] "Vend." 1, 48; 6, 6 and _loc. cit._
+
+[405] "Vend." 7, 65-71.
+
+[406] "Vend." 3, 122-136.
+
+[407] "Vend." 6, 93-95; 8, 13; 3, 50-54.
+
+[408] "Vend." 5, 13, 14, 47, 48.
+
+[409] "Vend." 6, 98 ff.
+
+[410] "Vend." 6, 106.
+
+[411] "Vend." 7, 126-147.
+
+[412] "Vend." 8, 34-36; 130-228.
+
+[413] "Vend." 8, 38-64.
+
+[414] "Vend." 8, 271-310; 9, 164-166.
+
+[415] "Vend." 5, 15-21, according to Geldner's rendering.
+
+[416] "Vend." 5, 1-22; 7, 189-191.
+
+[417] Herod. 1, 140; 3, 16.
+
+[418] Strabo, p. 517.
+
+[419] Strabo, p. 735. Cf. p. 520.
+
+[420] "Quaest. Tuscul." 1, 45.
+
+[421] Euseb. "Praep. Evang." p. 277.
+
+[422] Agath. 2, 23.
+
+[423] Diod. 17, 71; Arrian, "Anab." 3, 22; 6, 29.
+
+[424] Ctes. "Pers. Ecl." 44, 46; Strabo, p. 730.
+
+[425] Arrian, l. c.; Justin, 11, 15; Aelian, "Var. Hist." 6, 8; Plut.
+"Alex." c. 30.
+
+[426] Diod. 17, 71; cf. Ctes. "Pers. Ecl." 15.
+
+[427] K. Niebuhr, "Reise," 2, 150 ff.
+
+[428] "Vend." 1, 46, 48, 60, 64; cf. above, p. 137, 138.
+
+[429] "Ya�na," 26.
+
+[430] Above, p. 52. The Mainyo-i-Khard contains some rules on the duties
+of the king. The prince is to defend the city and land against enemies
+and risings, to respect water and fire, to keep at a distance bad laws
+and customs, and promote the worship of Auramazda, and good works, and
+to bring back to the right way those who have left it. A king of this
+kind is like the Yazatas and Amesha �pentas: c. 15, 20, 33, 68, ed.
+West.
+
+[431] "Vend." 14, 32-40.
+
+[432] Arrian, "Anab." 4, 1, 5.
+
+[433] "Vend." 13, 143-145.
+
+[434] "Vend." 4, 4-53 according to Harlez.
+
+[435] "Vend." 4, 54-113. Even after all that has been advanced by De
+Harlez, "Avesta," p. 101, I cannot convince myself that the stripes
+appointed here and elsewhere in the Vendidad are to fall, not on the
+guilty, but on animals of Angromainyu. If animals are to be killed, we
+are told so expressly in the Vendidad, and this duty is often mentioned
+along with the stripes (p. 209). To kill twice 90 or 200 flies or
+lizards is no equivalent for murdering a man. I allow that no one could
+endure blows by thousands, if they were given in earnest, yet in running
+a "muck" five and six hundred very severe blows have been endured. In my
+opinion the punishments of the Avesta are not intended for legal
+penalties; they mark what was needed, in the opinion of the priests, to
+expel the evil disposition, which could recur again and again.
+
+[436] "Vend." 4, 120; "Astad Yasht," 1; Justi, "Handbuch," _sub. voc._
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE LATER DEVELOPMENT OF EASTERN IRAN.
+
+
+Of the tribes of the Arians occupying the table-land called by their
+name, those which had their habitations on the northern slope of the
+Hindu Kush, in the valleys of the Murghab and Zarefshan, outstripped the
+rest in combining their forces, and uniting into a larger community. In
+these regions they held advanced posts over against the steppes and the
+migratory nations of the low plains stretching before them without limit
+towards the north. We had good reason to suppose that it was the
+repulsion of the attacks of the nomads from the steppes of the Oxus and
+Jaxartes, which brought these tribes, whose possessions consisted of
+flocks and pastures, into the habit of living in arms, and of
+undertaking the protection of the country. From their midst arose the
+monarchy intended to lead and combine the defence, the formation of
+which we placed about the year 1100 B.C., and having its centre at
+Bactria and Zariaspa. The tribes of the West, on the other hand, for
+four centuries after this time lived in isolation under their
+chieftains. The continuance of the struggles which Bactria had to
+undergo, even after the formation of the monarchy, is proved, not only
+by the proximity of the nomads of the steppes, but also by the traits of
+warlike feeling preserved in the Avesta; by the order of warriors which
+existed beside the orders of priests and husbandmen; by the chieftains
+and their citadels, which we found here in the fourth century B.C.; and
+lastly, by the circumstance, that the old shapes of the myth of the
+Arians, the spirits of the sky which smite the demons, are changed in
+the Avesta not merely into ideal patterns, but even into ancestors of
+the Bactrian kings, and connected with the genealogical tree of the
+nation. Yima, Thraetaona, Manuschithra, Airyu, U�a, and Hu�rava, are
+changed into ancestors of the kings and the people.
+
+Like the Aryas in the Panjab, the tribes of the Airyas in Iran prayed to
+Mithra, to the spirits of light, the clear air, the wind, and fire,
+which protected them against the demons of the night and gloom, and gave
+increase to their pastures and flocks, and recovered the water of the
+sky which the demons sought to carry away. As in India, the juice of the
+Soma plant was the principal offering presented to the gods; as Soma was
+not only the king of plants, the lord of nourishment and life--so the
+liquor which gave strength to the gods was here also a god, Haoma. The
+belief in the opposition of the spirits of light and the spirits of
+destruction, in the power of the correct sacrifice, in the influence of
+the good sayings, the sacred words, was on both sides of the Indus, the
+starting-point of religious ideas, and in Iran it became the hinge on
+which they turned.
+
+Iran was divided into fertile land and deserts; next to the most
+luxuriant growth lay wide tracts, in which heat or cold, morass or
+drought, storms of sand or of snow, made life and agriculture
+impossible. These contrasts were most striking on the upper Oxus, in
+Sogdiana and Margiana. Hence it came to pass that in Bactria the
+ancient belief in the struggle of the good and evil spirits made an
+essential advance. The old gods and spirits, the ancient worship of
+fire, were not indeed overthrown by the doctrine of Zarathrustra; on the
+contrary, the struggle between the good and evil powers was spread over
+the whole of nature, and the means of repelling the evil ones were
+increased. The good and evil spirits were respectively ranged under
+chiefs, on the counter-operation of whom and their spirit-armies rests
+the life of nature; and on this life depends the life of man. Henceforth
+man must not merely keep the evil ones from himself, he must take part
+in the struggle of the good against the evil powers, increase so far as
+he can the good creation which now belongs to Auramazda and has
+proceeded from him; and thus restrict the sphere in which the evil
+spirit exercises his power. After death he will receive the reward of
+his conflict; and if in and through this struggle he has been made a
+participator in the nature of the pure and bright deities, he will
+continue to live in their heaven of light.
+
+This development of the old Arian views and reform of the religion
+received the impulse which eventually called it into life at the time
+when Vista�pa was king of Bactria. It must have taken place about the
+year 1000 B.C., _i.e._ about the time when the Brahmans on the Ganges
+came to reform their ancient faith, and exalted Brahman above Indra and
+the ancient deities. From the idea of this new god, in which the power
+of the Holy and the world-soul were equal factors, the Brahmans arrived
+at a sharp distinction between spirit and matter. Their ethics,
+beginning with the rejection of nature, could not but require the
+annihilation of the body as their final goal, and this led to the vain
+pursuit of impossibilities, to the ascetic suicide of body and soul.
+The doctrine of Zarathrustra does not recognise the contradiction of
+spirit and matter. The good God has not created the world in order to
+entangle men in evil and wickedness, but in order to give to it and to
+mankind life and increase. It is only one side of nature, not the whole
+of it, and that side harmful to men, which has proceeded from evil, and
+this evil does not come from the good, but from the wicked spirit. Evil
+is here limited to gloom, desolation, drought and death. As it is this
+part, and this only in nature, which has to be removed, man is not
+called upon to lay aside his whole nature, but on the contrary to
+rejoice in the beneficial side of it. This he must tend and strengthen
+in himself, while he keeps the harmful side at a distance, struggles
+against and annihilates it so far as possible both in himself and all
+around him. He must strengthen the light side of his soul against the
+dark, and make it the master of the dark; he must banish from his soul
+lying and deceit, idleness and filthiness; purity of soul consists in
+truthfulness. Thus must a man watch and work with the good gods and
+under their eyes. It is not contemplation, meditation, or asceticism, as
+in the doctrine of the Brahmans; it is practical activity and inward
+effort that the teaching of Zarathrustra requires from men; the object
+it placed before men was not self-annihilation, but the purification of
+soul and body, and true assertion of self. If a man kept his body and
+soul pure; if he was truthful in word and work, and increased the good
+creation in meadow, field, and forest; if he slew the animals of the
+evil spirits, then all would be well with him; he would have abundance
+of cattle and descendants, long life in this world, and eternal life in
+the heaven of the spirits of light.
+
+This reform had been accomplished in its fundamental principles in
+Bactria, and Auramazda had been elevated above Mithra as the creator of
+heaven, of the gods, and the earth, when about the middle of the ninth
+century B.C. the armies of Shalmanesar II. of Asshur invaded the East of
+Iran. About this time, or soon after, the order of Athravas was formed.
+It rose, on the one hand, out of the ancient families of the
+fire-priests, who understood the custom of sacrifice, and had preserved
+the efficacious prayers to Mithra, Verethraghna, Haoma, and Tistrya, to
+Ardvi�ura and Drva�pa down to the period of the reform, so far as they
+came over to the new doctrine; and on the other hand, out of the race of
+Zarathrustra, and the families of the zealous adherents of the new
+doctrine, who devoted themselves to the service of religion. This order
+of priests, which handed down in its families the sayings of
+Zarathrustra and those of old days, the ancient invocations as well as
+those of the new teaching, took precedence of the families of the
+nobles, warriors, and husbandmen, though they were not separated from
+them by any rights of connubium or other privileges. From the whole
+tendency of the reform there could not be any thought of acquiring such
+a position as that which the Brahmans--the first created of
+Brahman--attained among the orders of India. When the army of
+Tiglath-Pilesar II. entered Arachosia about the middle of the eighth
+century B.C. the new doctrine had already advanced to the West. It was
+represented among the Medes by eminent teachers. In this region, at the
+time when the Medes were under the supremacy of Assyria, a priestly
+order grew up out of the old families of the priests or Magians, _i.e._
+the powerful, and adherents of the new doctrine; the families of this
+order abandoned their tribal connection among the Medes, and thus
+formed an hereditary caste, which preserved the name already in use in
+the West for the priests, and became so numerous that it could be ranked
+as a tribe among the other tribes of the Medes. The formation of this
+order was already complete when, after the middle of the seventh century
+B.C., the Medes rebelled against the kings of Asshur.
+
+Meanwhile the Athravas of the East were busily occupied in developing
+and fixing the contents and meaning of the new idea of God, and of the
+ethics resulting from it. They ranged the old gods under the new
+doctrine, and determined their relation to the new supreme deity; they
+peopled heaven with shapes corresponding to the reformed teaching, and
+brought mythology into harmony with it; from the commands of purity they
+developed in the spirit of the reformed religion the rules of
+purification and the removal of impurities as required in every
+occurrence of life. Thus, beside the old invocations of the gods, arose
+theories of a speculative cast which sought to regard the gods as
+ethical forces, and prayers of a formal character; from the dialectic of
+the priestly schools was developed a very complicated system of purity
+of life, of rubrics for expiation and purification, in which formalism
+and casuistry were not wanting. Enquiries arose how law and justice
+should be shaped so as to conform to the rules of religion; while, on
+the other hand, the old sacrificial songs were collected, the liturgy
+was fixed, as well as the order of the festivals and sacrifices for the
+new moon and full moon, and the course of the year; the prescriptions of
+medicine were written down, and those cycles formed which comprised the
+battle between Auramazda and Angromainyu down to the last and eternal
+victory of light and life. After various attempts at compilation, the
+priests of the East finally succeeded in uniting the sum of these
+labours into one great whole, which was the canon of the sacred
+scriptures. We may assume that the labours of the priesthood of Bactria,
+which came to an end with this result, may have occupied the same space
+of time as the growth and writing down of the Brahmanas on the Ganges.
+There are good reasons for supposing that the canon was finally
+established about the year 600 B.C., and therefore, on the calculation
+given, the labours of the priests upon it must have commenced about the
+year 800 B.C.
+
+Like the kindred tribes in India, the Arians in Iran were not destitute
+of imagination and a tendency to abstraction. But from the first these
+qualities were restrained within narrower limits owing to the nature of
+the land,--while the scenery and phenomena of the Ganges tended to
+develop them,--and the teaching of Zarathrustra provided a counterpoise
+in the practical requirements which it set up. Labour took the place of
+idle dreaming, conflict and energetic activity the place of asceticism,
+and the imagination received impulses to simple and great conceptions.
+The ethics of this religion guaranteed the conditions of a healthy human
+existence; man's effort was essentially directed to this present world,
+and the duties imposed upon him were such as he could fulfil. Thus they
+led to results different from the introspection, quietism, and
+asceticism of the Indians, and the relapse into sensuality which was the
+inseparable concomitant of the latter. The doctrine of Zarathrustra
+contributed essentially to educate the tribes which followed it in
+truthfulness and manliness, and to qualify them for energy and action.
+In their sensible, intelligent view of the world, in putting theory
+below practice, and aiming at an active life, the Iranians are as far
+before the Indians as the Romans are before the Greeks.
+
+If Eastern Iran, in the first instance, discharged a religious mission,
+the duty of politics was undertaken by the West. The empire of the Medes
+and of the Persians rose and fell, but the religion of Auramazda
+survived the fall of the Ach�menids. It rose to renewed life with the
+empire of the Arsacids and Sassanids. The national reaction against the
+dominion of the Seleucids began with the Parthians; the empire of the
+Sassanids, which subsequently took the place of that of the Arsacids,
+was supported in the first place by the tribes of the Persians, and was
+connected with the remembrance of the Ach�menids. Yet from the first the
+Sassanids were prepared to deal equal measure to the East and West of
+Iran; in opposition to any attempt at religious innovation they held
+firmly to the tradition of the East. When after a rule of more than four
+centuries the Sassanids succumbed to the invasion of the Arabs,
+Yezdegerd III. attempted to maintain himself in Merv, as Darius III. had
+attempted to maintain himself in Bactria. The attempt failed. Iran
+succumbed to Islam. Yet it was the East from which, not quite two
+centuries after the fall of the Sassanids, a reaction commenced against
+the Arabs, and this gradually increased till it rescued the nationality
+and the language of Iran. It was the viceroys in the districts of the
+East who rebelled against the Chalifate, and they found support in the
+population of their provinces. A process similar to that which had
+previously broken down the dominion of the Seleucids over Iran shattered
+the empire of the Abbasids. The impulse to this movement rose in
+Taberistan, where the Taherids appeared, as independent princes soon
+after the death of Harun-al-Rashid; some decads later the Soffarids
+rebelled in Sejestan, and towards the end of the ninth century the power
+of the Samanids sprang up in Sogdiana, Balkh, and Merv, and founded
+seats in Samarcand and Bokhara. Not long after the Ziads obtained an
+independent position in Dilem and Jorjan (the ancient Hyrcania). Towards
+the end of the tenth century the Ghasnavids, who had hitherto been the
+servants and captains of the Samanids, threw off their allegiance; and
+united under their dominion all the lands which had been subject to the
+Soffarids, the Samanids, and Ziads. Soon after the year 1000 B.C. they
+ruled from their abode in Ghasna over Cabul, Balkh, Merv, and Chovaresm
+to the north, and over Sejestan and Afghanistan to the south, and to the
+west over the lands of Elburz, while their armies crossed the Indus to
+the east, and advanced beyond the Panjab to the valley of the Ganges.
+The ancient religion of Iran was not wholly lost even in the time of
+Harun-al-Rashid; Magians were tolerated at the court of the Chalifs for
+the sake of their skill in medicine. The Barmecides, who came from
+Balkh, displayed, even under the Chalifate, a partiality for the legends
+and the religion of Iran. The Samanids boasted to be sprung from the
+Sassanids, the Ziads were reproached with being idolaters in heart and
+Moslem in tongue. They called themselves once more by the names
+celebrated in the legends of Eastern Iran: Minocher after Manuschithra,
+Kai Kobad after Kava Kavata, Kai Kaus after Kava U�a, Isfendyar after
+�pentodata; and in the list of the Ghasnavids, the Afghan princes in
+India, we meet at a later time with the name of Kava Hu�rava (Chosru).
+
+The regeneration of Old Iran, in opposition to the Arabs, found its
+firmest stronghold in Ghasna. The deeds of the Ach�menids were
+completely forgotten in the East which had no part in them; but the
+legends of Yima, Thraetaona, Kava Hu�rava, and Kava Vista�pa, had lived
+on under the dominion of the Ach�menids, the Seleucids, the Greek
+princes of Balkh and Cabul, and under the Arsacids. Then came the
+revival of the Avesta under Shapur II. about the middle of the fourth
+century A.D. (p. 61). The first Chosru (531-578 A.D.) caused the legends
+and traditions of the nation and the priests to be collected and copied;
+a comprehensive exposition of the whole was made under the last
+Yezdegerd. Thus as early as the last days of the Sassanids the tradition
+of Iran was collected and fixed, and this, transcribed in Pehlevi,
+outlived the fall of the kingdom, and descended as a legacy of ancient
+glory to the Soffarids, Samanids, and Ghasnavids.[437] On the basis of
+this "book of kings," which he possessed in an Arabic translation,
+Firdusi of Tus on the Tejend, a city of which at the present day some
+scanty ruins remain not far from Meshhed, undertook to restore to life
+the remembrance of the past of Eastern Iran and the fame of her ancient
+heroes in a great Epic poem. He gathered together the entire existing
+tradition, and under the dominion of Islam cast a new glory on the
+ancient belief in Auramazda, who was now known as Yazdan. This poem, the
+book of kings (Shahnameh) exhibits at the same time the New Persian
+language in its pure form, developed out of the Eastern dialects, and
+not yet contaminated with Aram�an and Arabic elements.
+
+The first king in Firdusi is Gayumart. He assembles men and animals, and
+teaches the first to hide their nakedness with the skins of leopards.
+His son Siyamek is torn in pieces by a demon. We are acquainted with the
+primeval man Gayo maretan; whom the priests placed at the beginning of
+things (p. 183). Then king Hoshang taught men to harness the bull, to
+tame the horse, to forge iron, to till the field, and introduced the
+worship of fire. After Hoshang king Tahmurath reigned, who overcame the
+Divs (Daevas), and compelled them to teach him the art of writing. He
+taught his people the art of weaving, and rode round the world on
+Angromainyu (now Ahriman) till the latter threw him off on Elburz, and
+so killed him. In the Avesta Haoshyangha sacrifices in order to obtain
+power over the evil spirits, and Takhmo urupa also sacrifices in order
+to curb Angromainyu for the space of thirty years (p. 183). After
+Tahmurath, Jemshid (Yima) is king. He teaches the art of forging weapons
+and weaving precious stuffs, divides men into priests, warriors,
+husbandmen, and artisans; discovers the art of healing, and compels the
+demons to build houses, and erect for him a splendid palace and a
+gorgeous throne adorned with gold and precious stones. Three hundred
+years passed away while he was king, in which the Divs were bound, and
+death could not approach mankind. Then Jemshid boasted that he had saved
+the world by his remedies from sickness and death, and demanded divine
+honours. This sin alienated from him the princes of his kingdom. Jemshid
+was compelled to fly before Zohak, the king of Babylon. Zohak pursued
+him. In the remote East, on the sea of China, Jemshid was overtaken and
+slain.
+
+The old Arian legend of the happy age of Yima shows itself even yet
+through Firdusi's version. Death could not approach men under his
+dominion; there was no sickness, and therefore Jemshid is said to have
+discovered the art of healing. The Avesta had already found a motive for
+the fall of Yima in the fact that he had refused to announce the law,
+and at length had begun to love lies (p. 41). The Zohak of Firdusi is no
+other than the ancient cloud dragon, Azhi dahaka, which attempts to
+carry away the waters of the sky, and swallows up men and horses. He is
+now a foreign, hostile, bloodthirsty king, who puts an end to the
+blessings of Yima's reign in order to bring the reverse of blessing upon
+Iran. Azhi dahaka had three heads and three throats; Zohak has two
+serpents growing from his shoulders, to which by degrees thousands fall
+as sacrifices, for they are fed with the brains of men, and for this
+purpose two youths are slaughtered every day. That Zohak is called king
+of Babylon is due to a reminiscence of the fact that the Assyrians ruled
+over Western Iran, and the Seleucids and Chalifs over the whole country.
+Zohak persecutes severely the descendants of Jemshid. Abtin, the last of
+these, finally falls into his power; he causes him to be slain for his
+serpents; but Abtin's wife carries off his young son Feridun in safety
+to Elburz. When the latter is sixteen years of age his mother discloses
+to him the fate of his father; the discontented gather round him, and
+the angel Serosh teaches him how to overcome the magician Zohak. In the
+citadel at Babylon Feridun strikes Zohak to the ground with a blow of
+the club which Kave, the smith, has forged for him. But Serosh bids him
+not to kill Zohak, who is now chained in a deep cave in Elburz, under
+Demavend, the highest summit on the chain. Abtin, the descendant of
+Jemshid, is the Athwya of the Avesta; Feridun is Thraetaona, the son of
+Athwya, the slayer of Dahaka; the angel Serosh is the well-known god
+�raosha. Feridun is not permitted to slay Zohak, because Azhi dahaka is
+also a demon.
+
+Feridun has three sons--Salm (�airima), Tur (Tuirya), and Yrej (Airyu);
+to the last, who was the youngest, Feridun gives Iran, the best part of
+his dominions, while Salm receives the West and Tur the North. Filled
+with envy at the favour shown to their youngest brother, Salm and Tur
+slay the pious Yrej. Feridun is deeply moved; but he gives the daughter
+whom Yrej has left in marriage to Pesheng. The son of Pesheng is
+Minocher, who grows up to avenge his grandfather's death. In order to
+prevent this, Salm and Tur invade Iran. The battle continues for three
+days, till Minocher has slain Tur with his own hand. He also overtakes
+Salm in flight, and slays him. Feridun can now die in peace, as he has
+seen the kingdom handed over to Minocher. After the death of the latter
+the kingdom descended to his son Naudar.[438] Then Afrasiab of Turan,
+the great-grandson of Tur, whom Minocher had slain, invaded Iran to
+avenge the death of his ancestor on the descendant of Minocher. Naudar's
+army was defeated; he was taken captive with many princes of Iran, and
+beheaded by the order of Afrasiab.
+
+Besides the race of Abtin, Jemshid had left other descendants. In union
+with the daughter of the king of Cabul, whose kingdom extends from Bost
+on the Hilmend to Ghasna (and consequently includes the region of
+Sejestan, the ancient Haetumat),[439] he had begotten Gershasp, a mighty
+hero who stood by the side of Minocher in the struggle against Salm and
+Tur; the sons of Gershasp are Neriman and Sam, and his grandson is Zal.
+The Gershasp of Firdusi is the Kere�a�pa of the Avesta, the son of
+Thrita, of the race of �ama (p. 35), who slays the serpent �ruvara and
+the giant Gandarewa. The Avesta gives him the epithet Nairimanao, _i.e._
+the man-hearted, heroic, and represents him as seizing the brilliance of
+majesty, when it departed for the third time from Yima (p. 36). This
+hint was enough to give the royal power to Kere�a�pa; his epithet and
+his tribal name are personified, and become his descendants Neriman and
+Sam. In accordance with their origin these princes from Zabul are in
+Firdusi the most faithful adherents of the race of Feridun, which has
+rewarded them with the dominion over the South. In this way the legend
+of Sejestan is woven into the closest connection with the legend of the
+Avesta. The power of the descendants of Feridun is extinguished with
+Naudar, from whose sons "the splendour of the royal majesty shines no
+longer;" thus does Firdusi repeat the metaphor current in the Avesta.
+The princes of Zabul now take their place as the protectors and
+guardians of Iran. The son of king Sam of Zabul is Zal. After Naudar's
+melancholy fall he makes peace between Iran and Turan; the Oxus is fixed
+as the boundary, Afrasiab returns to his own country, and in the place
+of the sons of Naudar Zal allows Zav to be chosen king of Iran. Zav is
+already aged and soon dies; Afrasiab invades Iran again. Then Zal
+deliberates with the Mobedhs (_i.e._ with the chiefs of the Magians, p.
+60), who is to be king of Iran. It is resolved to raise Kai Kobad to the
+throne, who like Feridun before him dwells on Elburz. Zal sends his son
+Rustem (Moses of Khorene is the first who mentions the Persian legend of
+Rustem), a youth of great strength, who as a boy had slain an infuriated
+elephant, to fetch Kai Kobad from Elburz. Rustem finds him prepared,
+for he has seen in a dream two white falcons who place a golden crown
+upon his head. Afrasiab's army, which opposes him, is defeated; Kai
+Kobad ascends the throne of Iran, the Turanians are defeated in a great
+battle, Rustem seizes Afrasiab by his girdle and drags him from his
+horse; but the girdle breaks, Afrasiab falls to the ground, and is saved
+by his own people. In the peace the Oxus is once more fixed as the
+boundary between Iran and Turan. Kai Kobad is followed by his son Kai
+Kaus. Against the advice of his vassals and of Zal he leads his army
+against Mazanderan, a land inhabited by demons, which take the king
+captive with his whole army. A single warrior escapes to bring the
+terrible news to Zal. As Zal is now 200 years old, Rustem undertakes to
+liberate the king. He has to overcome seven terrible monsters before he
+can arrive at the demons. At last he makes his way to them, and on his
+horse Reksh, he destroys the army of the demons. Then he slays their
+chief, the white demon, in the dark cave, and liberates Kai Kaus and the
+army of Iran. Kai Kaus now causes the conquered demons to build him
+splendid palaces on Elburz, and resolves to fly up to heaven, in order
+to see the course of the sun. Four eagles bound to his throne carry him
+upwards, but then allow him to fall to earth. Ashamed at his pride he
+humbles himself, and his penance appeases the wrath of heaven. When
+Afrasiab breaks the peace and again invades Iran, Kai Kaus sends his son
+Siavaksh, under the guidance of Rustem, against the Turanians. For three
+days the battle rages at the gates of Balkh, and at length Siavaksh is
+victorious. Afrasiab sues for peace, Siavaksh concludes a treaty; but
+Kai Kaus will not confirm it. That he may not break his word, Siavaksh
+gives himself up to the Turanians. Afrasiab receives him with honour,
+and gives him his daughter Feringis to wife. Subsequently he harbours
+suspicion against him, causes him to be executed, and the son, whom
+Feringis bears after the execution of her husband, to be brought up
+among the shepherds without any knowledge of his birth. To this son an
+abode is then allotted in a remote region of Turan.
+
+To avenge the execution of Siavaksh Rustem invades Turan. Victorious in
+the battle he causes Surkha, the son of Afrasiab, whom he captures in
+the battle, to be put to death in the same way as Siavaksh, pursues
+Afrasiab to the extreme border of his kingdom, and does not return till
+the whole of Turan has been laid waste: the booty is immense. Many years
+afterwards it was revealed in a dream to Guderz (Gotarzes), a descendant
+of that Kave, who had once forged for Feridun the club used against
+Zohak, that a son of Siavaksh survived. Gev, the son of Guderz, arose to
+seek in Turan the right heir to the throne of Iran. For seven years he
+seeks in vain. At length he discovers Kai Chosru, to whom his mother
+Feringis has already revealed the secret of his birth. In spite of the
+most severe persecution on the part of Afrasiab, Gev succeeds in
+carrying away mother and son to Iran; they swim through the swollen Oxus
+on horseback. But when Kai Kaus wishes to make the grandson so happily
+discovered his successor, Tur, the son of king Naudar, opposes the
+elevation of a king who has Turanian blood in his veins. Kai Chosru
+proves his higher claim by capturing a citadel of the demons, and
+erecting a fire-altar in its place. Then he sets himself to avenge the
+death of his father on Afrasiab. But the first army of the Iranians
+under Tur is defeated; and when Feriborz receives the command the
+warriors of Iran are again severely beaten in the valley of Peshen; a
+third army is shut up on Mount Hamaven. To liberate this Rustem sets
+forth, and conquers in the most terrible battle which he has ever
+fought. At length Afrasiab and Kai Chosru take the lead of their armies.
+After a bloody struggle the Turanians are compelled to retire, first
+beyond the Oxus, and then beyond the Jaxartes. Afrasiab flies for refuge
+to his fortified city Kang Bihist; the city is taken, but he escapes
+into a cave. Kai Kaus and Kai Chosru entreat the fire Adar gu�asp, that
+Afrasiab may not escape them. A pious penitent, Hom, who hears the
+lament of Afrasiab in his cave, recognises him, overpowers and binds
+him, and leads him forth. Afrasiab entreats the penitent to loose his
+bonds, and then escapes once more, into a lake. The pious Hom obtains
+possession of him again, and hands him over to Kai Chosru, who has his
+head cut off in revenge for his father Siavaksh. Kai Kaus has now seen
+the fulfilment of vengeance on Afrasiab for the death of Siavaksh; his
+days draw to a close. For sixty years after him, Kai Chosru rules over
+Iran in peace, and then resolves to enter on a pilgrimage to heaven.
+When the angel Serosh has bidden him nominate Lohrasp as his successor,
+he fulfils this injunction, establishes Rustem as general-in-chief of
+the kingdom and successor of his father Zal in the kingdom of the South,
+and after long meditation, accompanied by the sons of Naudar, Tus and
+Gustehem, and the heroes Gev and Feriborz, he begins the pilgrimage to
+the East. When high up in the mountains he advises his companions to
+return; soon they will see him no more. He disappears after bathing in a
+spring; his heroes, in spite of the command to return, seek for him, and
+are buried in a storm of snow.
+
+We saw above that in the Avesta, Manuschithra and Airyu are connected
+with Thraetaona, and that the group of the Paradhatas comes to an end
+with these names. Hence Firdusi also represents the crown as being
+brought to the first ruler of the new group, Kai Kobad, _i.e._ the Kava
+Kavata of the Avesta, from the sky by two falcons; he also represents
+him as being fetched from Elburz, _i.e._ from the holy mountain of the
+old legend, in order to overcome Zohak, just as Thraetaona descended
+from the same mountain. Kai Kaus, the Kava U�a of the Avesta, who
+succeeded Kai Kobad, betrays his divine nature in Firdusi by his march
+against the demons, by the castles which these demons build for him on
+Elburz, and by his attempt to fly into heaven. In the Avesta Kava U�a
+offers sacrifice, in order to obtain the dominion over men and Daevas,
+and this favour is granted to him. That the march against the demons is
+made in the direction of Mazanderan is due no doubt to the frequent
+mention of the Mazanian Devs in the Avesta. Siavaksh, the son of Kai
+Kaus, who honourably gives himself up to the Turanians, is the
+�yavarshana of the Avesta--from which we merely learn that he was
+spotless, and that after Kava U�a the royal majesty united with the
+beautiful body of �yavarshana, and that he died by a violent death (p.
+37). The destructive Turanian Franghra�yana, who is now called Afrasiab,
+is known to the Avesta. "Thrice," we are told, "he sought after the
+royal majesty which belongs to the Arian lands, but he found it
+not."[440] Kai Chosru, _i.e._ Kava Hu�rava, is in the Avesta also the
+son of �yavarshana; he offers sacrifice, in order that it may be granted
+to him "to put an end to the long period of dimness," "to bind the
+Franghra�yana filled with abundance;" he is said to be "without
+sickness and death." Firdusi's poem neglects none of these traits. After
+the triple war which, kindled by Afrasiab, has lasted for a long time,
+Firdusi represents Chosru as invoking the fire Gu�asp, that Afrasiab may
+not escape him. In the Avesta the god Haoma is said himself to bind
+Franghra�yana, and to carry him away as a captive of king Hu�rava, in
+order that the latter may slay him beyond the lake Chaecha�ta (p. 37).
+In Firdusi the pious Hom discovers the hiding-place of Afrasiab; he
+binds him and carries him away a prisoner. Afrasiab escapes; but Hom
+captures him once more in lake Kanyesht. As Hu�rava is "without sickness
+and death," Firdusi represents him as vanishing on a pilgrimage to
+heaven.
+
+In Firdusi, Lohrasp, whom Chosru has made his successor, erects a
+fire-temple at Balkh, his royal abode, and after reigning 120 years,
+abdicates in favour of Gushtasp, his elder son, in order to devote his
+life to pious exercises at his temple. When Zartusht proclaims the
+Avesta, Gushtasp and his wife receive the new doctrine. But Arjasp, the
+king of Turan, sent Gushtasp a command not to listen to the words of
+Zartusht. To this request Gushtasp did not accede; a battle took place
+on the banks of the Oxus, which turned in favour of Iran, owing to the
+bravery of Zarir, the brother of Gushtasp. An arrow from an ambush lays
+the hero low at the moment of victory. His death terrifies the Iranians;
+not one of them ventures to avenge it till Gushtasp promises Isfendyar,
+the strongest and bravest of his sons, that he will give him the crown
+if he succeeds in avenging the death of Zarir. Isfendyar overthrows the
+warriors of Iran, brings the arms and horse of Zarir into the camp of
+Iran, and Arjasp retires into his land. In the place of the promised
+crown, Isfendyar receives from his father the high mission of spreading
+abroad the new faith. By means of a chain which he places on his neck,
+Zartusht makes Isfendyar invulnerable, and surrounds him with a charm so
+that anyone who slays him will himself quickly die. When Isfendyar
+returns home after a long time, his mission fully accomplished, as all
+have received the law of Zartusht, accusations are made against him that
+he is collecting an army to dethrone his father. On this unfounded
+charge Gushtasp causes Isfendyar to be cast into prison. But while he
+remains in Zabul, the Turanians attack Balkh. The aged Lohrasp takes up
+arms; he cannot check the Turanians; he falls; the city is taken:
+Zartusht with the fire-priests is slain in the fire-temple, the sacred
+fire is quenched in their blood, and two daughters of Gushtasp are
+carried away to Turan. In vain does Gushtasp hasten up, when he has
+collected his army; thirty-eight of his sons are slain in the battle
+against the Turanians. Gushtasp takes to flight, and with his warriors
+finds refuge in a mountain which is quickly invested by Arjasp. Then
+Jamasp, the faithful adviser of Gushtasp, passes in disguise through the
+camp of the Turanians, to fetch Isfendyar out of prison, and urge him to
+save his father and Iran. Forgetting his deep injury and wrong,
+Isfendyar forces a way through the camp of Arjasp, and in the subsequent
+battle slaughters so many of the enemy's men that he takes to flight.
+But the task is not yet accomplished; it still remains to set at liberty
+the two sisters whom the Turanians had carried away from Balkh, and whom
+Arjasp keeps imprisoned in "the brazen fortress." After seven conflicts,
+corresponding to those which Rustem had to undergo, when he liberated
+Kai Kaus from the power of the demons, Isfendyar reaches the fortress.
+He sends his army back, and in the guise of a merchant obtains entrance
+into the citadel. Here he asks Arjasp, to whom he is unknown, for
+permission to give a feast to the principal men on the turrets of the
+citadel. When the wine has done its work, Isfendyar gives the signal of
+fire already agreed upon to his followers; the garrison is overpowered;
+Arjasp is slain by Isfendyar in single combat, and Isfendyar returns
+victorious with his sisters to Balkh.
+
+Here a new and yet more dangerous task awaits him. Rustem, who made Kai
+Kobad ruler of Iran, and has since done such good service, and achieved
+such noble acts for Kai Kaus and Kai Chosru, remains at a distance from
+the court and army of king Gushtasp. He despises the doctrine of
+Zartusht. At Gushtasp's bidding Isfendyar must break down this
+opposition, and bring him to the king. Isfendyar marches out and
+commands Rustem to follow him in chains to the court. With a heavy heart
+Rustem seeks to withdraw from the contest; he treats with Isfendyar; but
+the latter obstinately insists on his terms. Nothing remains for the
+aged hero but to give battle against his will. Isfendyar's invulnerable
+body resists his blows, and Reksh, the horse of Rustem, is wounded;
+Rustem is himself wounded and compelled to retire. He has no hope of
+conquering in the battle which is to begin again on the next day. In his
+deep distress he calls to the bird Simurgh, who comes, sucks the blood
+from his wound, and heals the horse. Simurgh is acquainted with the
+future, and advises a compromise: there is indeed a way of overcoming
+Isfendyar, but anyone who takes his life "must not expect salvation in
+this world or the next." Rustem cannot bring himself to suffer defeat in
+the battle, and therefore in the night Simurgh carries him away to the
+tree of life, on the sea of China, and bids him break off the branch to
+which Isfendyar's life is bound. Out of this branch is cut the
+death-arrow for the conflict of the morrow. With it Rustem hits the
+place in the eye in which alone Isfendyar is vulnerable. But for Rustem
+also the lot of death is cast. He is invited by the king of Cabul, a
+tributary prince, to hunt; and the king's son-in-law, Sheghad, prepares
+a pit filled with swords and lances, for the destruction of the aged
+hero. Into this Rustem falls with his horse, but even in the moment of
+death his arrow hits Sheghad, who had concealed himself in a hollow
+tree, in order to watch the success of his scheme. Rustem's son Feramorz
+avenges the murder of his father on the king of Cabul; but Gushtasp
+renounces the world, and transfers the government to his grandson
+Bahman, the son of Isfendyar.
+
+Here also we find traces of the Avesta underlying the poem. In the
+Avesta Aurvata�pa, now Lohrasp, and Vista�pa, now Gushtasp, form a group
+distinct from the most ancient princes. Firdusi represents Kai Chosru as
+making Lohrasp his successor in spite of the murmurs of the nobles.
+Arejata�pa, now Arjasp, the Turanian, sacrifices in the Avesta in order
+to obtain victory over Vista�pa, and the great equestrian, Zairivairi,
+the brother of Vista�pa. In Firdusi this brother, the bravest warrior of
+Iran against Turan, is Zarir. In the Avesta Vista�pa conquers
+Arejata�pa; in Firdusi Arjasp finally succumbs in the conflict. In the
+Avesta Jama�pa is a prince of great influence with Vista�pa; in Firdusi
+he is his faithful counsellor. In the Avesta Zarathrustra offers
+sacrifice that he may unite with the warlike Vista�pa, and that the
+king's consort Hutao�a may impress the law on her memory (p. 37); in
+Firdusi Gushtasp and his wife receive the new law. According to the
+Avesta Vista�pa has given his support and protection to the law, has set
+up the law in the world, and given it a high position, and made the path
+broad for purity. In Firdusi Isfendyar is sent to spread abroad the new
+law over the earth. The Avesta mentions twenty-nine sons of Vista�pa,
+Firdusi even more; in both �pentodata (Isfendyar) has the first place.
+In the Avesta Zarathrustra pronounces a blessing on Vista�pa, in Firdusi
+he pronounces it on Isfendyar. That the latter was extolled, even in the
+Avesta, as supporting the faith and spreading it abroad--though our
+fragments do not allow us to draw any further conclusions--is
+nevertheless clear from the creed of the Parsees: "I abide in the law
+which the lord Ormuzd taught to Zartusht, and Zartusht to king Gushtasp,
+and Gushtasp to Frashaostra (p. 62), Jamasp, and Isfendyar, and these to
+all the faithful in the world." Firdusi has made use of the spread of
+the new law by Isfendyar, in order to bring to a conclusion the legend
+of Sejestan which he connects with the tradition of the Avesta, and to
+provide an adequate motive for the fall of the mighty Rustem of Ghasna,
+the descendant of the mighty Kere�a�pa. In his zeal for the faith,
+Isfendyar demands more than Rustem can grant; the champion of the faith
+is stronger in the conflict than Rustem; and the latter, in order to
+keep his honour, avails himself of wicked magical arts. We have seen
+what was the occupation of the two eagles of the sky, Amru and Chamru,
+at the tree in Lake Vourukasha, which bears the seeds of all life (p.
+172). To these arts the champion of the faith succumbs, but by his
+success the victor has pronounced judgment on himself.
+
+In the form which Firdusi has given them, the legends of Ancient Iran
+have to some extent continued to live among the people, and to some
+extent they have failed. The Shahnameh celebrates Jemshid's (Yima's)
+glittering palace and splendid throne; hence the ruins of the great
+palace of the Ach�menids at Persepolis have gained the name of the
+throne of Jemshid; ruins near Bamiyan in the Hindu-Kush, on the road
+from Balkh to Cabul, are still called Zohak's castle. The smoke rising
+out of the crater of Demavend is the breath of Zohak chained in the
+depths of the mountain. Each year, on the last day of August, the
+inhabitants of Elburz celebrate the festival of the overthrow of Zohak
+with bonfires on every height, and demonstrations of joy. The ruins of
+Takt-i-Bostan are called the garden of Kai Chosru, and in Iran Balkh is
+still the mother of cities.[441] A lofty and steep rock in Lake Zirreh
+in Sejestan is said to have been crowned with the castle of Rustem, and
+the site of a second castle is pointed out at Aivan. Aqueducts and dams
+pass for works of Rustem. In the desert of Beluchistan, the ancient
+Gedrosia, the tracks of the camels of Rustem are still shown by large
+stones in the sand. In Mazanderan is the battle-field where Rustem
+defeated the Divs in order to liberate Kai Kaus (p. 253). The sculptures
+of the Ach�menids on the tombs at Persepolis are called pictures of
+Rustem (Naksh-i-Rustem), and in the bed of the Hilmend his grave is
+shown. When Timour's Mongols devastated Sejestan in the fourteenth
+century, the people called on Rustem to raise his head from the grave,
+and behold Iran in the hand of his enemy, the warrior of Turan. By a
+strange misconception the nobles in Mazanderan assume the name Div as a
+title of honour. A large family of nobles in Sejestan call themselves
+Ka�anids, and boast of their descent from Jemshid and the ancient
+kings, and to this family, down to the most recent times, the
+viceroyalty of Sejestan belonged as an hereditary office. When the
+holder of it died, the eldest of the family went to court in order to
+apply for the office, and was duly installed by investment with the robe
+of honour and armour.[442]
+
+While the ancient legends have lived on in Iran, the religion of
+Zoroaster has passed beyond Iran, and survives on the Malabar coast.
+Every day the Parsees utter their invocations before the sacred fire,
+and present bowls filled with the juice of the Haoma. Each month, as we
+have seen, belongs to one of the heavenly deities, who is then specially
+invoked; each of the thirty days of the month has its own protecting
+spirit, who is especially honoured on his own day. Six yearly festivals,
+each of five days, celebrate the creation of the heaven, water, the
+earth, the trees, animals, and men (p. 182); on each of which special
+prayers are said. At the close of the year the Parsees purify and adorn
+their houses, in order to receive worthily the souls of their ancestors:
+sacrificial bread, fruits, milk, wine, and meat are put ready for them.
+The Fravashis, now called Farvars, are invoked "to receive the
+sacrifice, to lift up their hands to it, and depart in peace from the
+dwelling."[443] On these days the priests read the liturgies appointed
+as prayers for the souls of the damned, and for ten days the laity have
+to repeat many thousands of times the prayers "Ahuna-vairya" and "Ashem
+Vohu." Each morning, on waking, the Parsee prays: "The best purity is to
+the just, who is pure. He is pure who does pure works. I pray with
+purity of thought, of word, and act." When removing, and again when
+putting on, his girdle (p. 217), he says, with face turned to the East:
+"May Ormuzd be king; may Ahriman be defeated and destroyed; may the
+enemies be confounded, and remain far off; of all my sins I repent."
+Then he takes gomez for ablutions, washes his face and hands with it,
+rubs himself with earth, and with gomez in his hand says: "May Ahriman
+be destroyed; may the thirty-three Amshaspands and Ormuzd be victorious
+and pure." After a prayer to �rosh (�raosha)--"the pure and strong, may
+he increase to greater majesty, whose body is the word, and whose club
+is victorious"--follows ablution with water, dressing of the fire with
+wood and perfumes, and the proper morning prayer to Ushahin, the spirit
+of the morning: "Praise to thee, high Dawn." When it is light, a prayer
+is offered to Mithra, and two others at midday and sunset. In the
+morning a prayer to Ormuzd is recited, in which all his names and
+qualities are enumerated. Before eating, the Parsee must wash himself
+and pronounce the prayer "Ahuna-vairya," and after eating, the prayer
+"King Ormuzd." When the Parsee goes to rest he must arrange his bed in
+such a way that he lies towards the fire, or the moon, or the East.
+Before sleeping, a prayer is offered to Ormuzd. On turning over in bed,
+sneezing, the discharge of natural or sexual functions, kindling a
+light, approaching water or fire, special prayers are uttered, and the
+sum of daily duties is increased on many occasions in family life--at
+the time of a birth, or death, or festivals, and when impurities have
+been incurred. However external and formal these numerous prayers and
+rituals may appear, the Parsee forms of confession are nevertheless
+evidence of the depth of their religious feeling, and their retention in
+the family and social life proves that the ancient religion still
+possesses a powerful influence.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[437] Fl�gel, "Mani," s. 407; Mohl, "Livre des Rois," Intro. Mordtmann,
+"Z. D. M. G." 19, 485 ff; N�ldeke, "Tabari," s. xv.
+
+[438] Nohodares in Ammian, 1, 14, 3; 1, 25, 3.
+
+[439] Spiegel, "Eran," 1, 557.
+
+[440] "Zamyad Yasht," 56 ff. Above, p. 37.
+
+[441] Ritter, "Erdkunde," 8, 153, 183, 491, 561.
+
+[442] Chanikof, in Spiegel, "Eran," 1, 556.
+
+[443] "Farvardin Yasht," 147.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VIII.
+
+THE EMPIRE OF THE MEDES AND PERSIANS.
+
+
+
+
+THE EMPIRE OF THE MEDES AND PERSIANS.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE FOUNDATION OF THE MEDIAN KINGDOM.
+
+
+On the northern edge of the table-land of Iran, where the mountains
+descend to the Caspian Sea, we found dwelling towards the east the
+Hyrcanians (_Vehrkana_ in the Avesta, _Varkana_ in the inscriptions of
+Darius).[444] Their territory may have corresponded to the modern
+district of Jorjan, which has preserved their name (p. 9). To the west
+of the Hyrcanians, between Elburz and the Caspian, lay the Tapurians,
+whose name has survived in the modern Taberistan, and further yet, on
+the sea-coast, and at the mouth of the Mardus (now Safidrud), were the
+Mardians. Adjacent to these, on the shores of the Caspian Sea as far as
+the mouth of the Cyrus, lay the nation whom the Greeks called Cadusians,
+but whose native name was Gaels[445]--a name still preserved in the name
+of the district of Ghilan.[446] To the south of these tribes--the
+Tapurians, Mardians, and Cadusians--the north-west of the table-land was
+entirely occupied by the Medes.
+
+The country of the Medes, Herodotus tells us, is very high and
+mountainous in the north towards the Euxine, and covered with forests,
+but the remainder of it is flat.[447] Polybius gives a more minute
+description of the nature of Media. "It is difficult to speak adequately
+of the natural strength and of the extent of the country of the Medes.
+It lies in the centre of Asia, and in the size and elevation of the land
+surpasses all other parts, while the situation enables it to govern the
+strongest and most populous nations. Towards the east it is protected by
+the desert which lies between Persia and Parthia, it has control of the
+Caspian gates, and abuts on the mountains of the Tapurians, which are
+not far distant from the Hyrcanian Sea. Towards the north it is bounded
+by the Matieni and Cadusians, on the west it extends to the Saspeires,
+who dwell close to the tribes which lie on the Euxine. Towards the south
+it extends to Mesopotamia and abuts on Persia; on this side it is
+protected by the range of the Zagrus, which reaches an elevation of one
+hundred stadia, and is broken into various ranges and groups, separated
+by deep valleys and open plains, in which dwell the Carchi, Cossaei, and
+other warlike tribes. Media itself is traversed by several ranges in the
+direction from east to west, but between them are plains filled with
+cities and villages. The Medes possess corn and cattle in untold
+abundance, and in horses their country is superior to the whole of Asia,
+so that it takes the first place, not only in virtue of its extent, but
+also owing to the number and excellence of the men and horses."[448]
+Strabo allows Media an extent of 4000 stades (500 miles) in length and
+breadth. It reached from the Zagrus to the Caspian gates. The greater
+part of the land was high and cold, but the district below the Caspian
+gates on the lower ground was very fertile. Even in the rest of the
+land, with the exception of some mountain districts, there was no lack
+of the means of subsistence, and everywhere on the high ground there was
+excellent pasture for horses.[449]
+
+The nation of the Medes belongs to the group of the Arian tribes, which
+occupied the table-land of Iran. This has been already proved by the
+statement of Herodotus that in ancient time the Medians were called
+Areans by all men (p. 14), by the religion of the Medes, and by all the
+Median words and names that have come down to us.[450] According to
+Herodotus the nation consisted of six tribes: the Arizanti, Busae,
+Struchates, Budii, Paraetaceni, and Magi. Whether certain parts of the
+land belonged to these tribes as their habitation, is not clear from
+this statement. The Magians we have already found to be a hereditary
+order of priests (p. 191), and therefore we can hardly assume a separate
+part of the country as their habitation. The question thus becomes
+limited to the remaining five tribes. The name of the Paraetaceni occurs
+in the mountain district, which the later Greeks call Paraetacene. This
+district separated Media from Persia, and there is therefore nothing
+remarkable in the fact that the Paraetaceni are counted among the
+Persians or spoken of as an independent tribe.[451] If the Paraetaceni
+had a special province, we shall be all the more justified in allotting
+the same to the Arizanti, the Budii, Struchates, and Busae, as the tribe
+of the Matieni, which Strabo reckons among the Medes,[452] had a special
+habitation and territory in the district of Matiene, _i.e._ in the
+region which after the time of the Seleucids was known as Atropatene;
+and the tribes of the Persians, who were closely akin to the Medes, were
+also settled in special regions, or marched through them with their
+flocks. The name Arizanti (_Arizantu_) might signify the noble families,
+_i.e._ an eminent tribe, which tribe might nevertheless possess a
+separate habitation. Among the Persians there was a privileged tribe, to
+which the royal family belonged, which ruled over all the tribes, and
+this tribe like the rest had a special territory.
+
+The districts of Media, as we know them from the accounts of later
+writers, are beside Atropatene: Choromithrene, Nisaea, Rhagiana,
+Cambadene, and Bagistana.[453] Atropatene is the elevated plain which
+spreads round the lake which Ptolemy calls the Matienian lake (now
+Urumiah). The inscriptions of the kings of Asshur call the inhabitants
+of this land Mati and Mala.[454] Shut in by mighty summits which reach
+a height of more than 12,000 feet, naked ridges, fields of snow,
+mountain pastures, green forests and meadows here make up the wildest,
+but at the same time most beautiful, Alpine landscape in the west of
+Iran. The snow lies on the backs of the heights for about nine months,
+but in the valleys there reigns for the most part uninterrupted spring;
+in the deeper clefts the summer is hot, and the naphtha springs must
+have caused this region to appear as one highly favoured by the gods in
+the eyes of such zealous worshippers of fire as the Arians of Iran. We
+have already seen (p. 74) that the name Atropatene, which in middle
+Persian is Aturpatkan, and modern Persian Aderbeijan, means "protected
+by fire."
+
+In the ranges of the Zagrus, which, running from the Alps of Atropatene
+to the south-east, separate the table-land of Iran from the valley of
+the Tigris--these summits rise above the hilly land of Assyria to a
+height of 15,000 feet--we must seek the territory which Ptolemy calls
+Choromithrene, _i.e._ by a name which beyond doubt goes back to the
+worship of Mithra. Further to the east, beyond the isolated
+mountain-group of Elvend, on the eastern foot of the mountains, lay the
+territory where Ecbatana was subsequently built. To the south-east were
+the "Nis�an plains" of Herodotus, on which, as he tells us, were kept
+the most beautiful and largest horses, superior to those of the
+Indians.[455] Polybius has already stated, that in regard to horses
+Media surpassed the rest of Asia; the mares of the Parthian kings were
+kept in Media owing to the excellent pastures. According to Strabo,
+there were 50,000 mares on the "horse pastures" in the time of the
+Ach�menids; these pastures any one going from Babylonia and Persia to
+the Caspian gates, _i.e._ to the Sirdarra-pass in Elburz, would cross.
+Diodorus places them seven days' march to the east of Behistun, and
+tells us that at one time there were 160,000 wild horses here, though
+Alexander found only 60,000. Arrian puts the previous number at 150,000,
+and the number found by Alexander at 50,000, as the greater part had
+been carried off by robbers.[456] That Herodotus has given the name of
+this region correctly is shown by the inscriptions of Darius, which
+speak of a province of Ni�aya in Media.[457] To the north-east of the
+region of Ecbatana, on an elevated plateau, lay the district of
+Raghiana. It takes its name from the metropolis Ragha, a city on the
+southern foot of Elburz, mentioned both in the Avesta and the
+inscriptions. Under the Arsacids Ragha was the largest city of Media.
+Its later name was Rai; the ruins (near the modern Teheran) are said to
+cover the land for leagues. Besides Ragha there were at one time
+numerous flourishing cities in Raghiana.[458] Campadene,[459] the
+Campada of the inscriptions of Darius, we must look for in the south of
+Media, to the east of the Zagrus; it is no doubt the district now called
+Chamabatan.[460] According to the statement of the Greeks, the district
+of Bagistana extended to a mountain which was sacred to Zeus. As
+Diodorus says, it was a region fit for the gods, filled with fruit-trees
+and every other kind that ministers to delight and enjoyment.[461] The
+name of the mountain consecrated to Zeus, Bagistana, and the similar
+name of the district, go back to the title under which the gods are
+comprised in the Avesta and the inscriptions of Darius (Old Bactr.
+_bagha_, Old Pers. _baga_, New Pers. _bag_); and if Diodorus tells us
+that the region was a land fit for the gods, the name Bagistana means
+the abode of the gods. The district may have been held peculiarly sacred
+by the Medes, or the name may have been intended to express their
+gratitude for its fertility and beauty. We can fix precisely the
+position of this district by the hill consecrated to Zeus near the
+modern Behistun. It lies south-west of Elvend, between that mountain and
+the Zagrus in the valley of the Choaspes, and is the district now known
+as Kirmenshah.
+
+According to the statements of Berosus, the historian of Babylon, the
+Medes in the most ancient period had already reigned over Babylonia for
+more than two centuries. They had suddenly collected an army, reduced
+Babylonia, and there set up tyrants of their own people. According to
+the succession of the dynasties which Berosus represents as ruling over
+Babylonia, the beginning of this supremacy of the Medes fell, as has
+been shown (I. 241, 247), in the year 2458 B.C. The first of the Medes
+who thus ruled in Babylon is called Zoroaster by Syncellus, after
+Polyhistor; according to this writer the seven Medes reign till the year
+2224 B.C. Whether Berosus called the first Median king who reigned in
+Babylon Zoroaster, or Polyhistor has ascribed that position to him as
+the most famous name in Iran, or the only name known in antiquity, must
+be left undecided, no less than the actual fact of the Median supremacy.
+
+The Medo-Persian epos told us that Ninus of Asshur, after subjugating
+Babylonia and Armenia, attacked the Medes. Pharnus, their king, met him
+with a mighty army, but was nevertheless beaten. He was crucified with
+his wife and seven children by Ninus; one of his retinue was made
+viceroy of Media; and for many years the Medes were subject to the
+successors of Ninus on the throne of Assyria (II. 3 ff). Herodotus'
+account is as follows: "When the Assyrians had reigned over upper Asia
+for 520 years, the Medes were the first to revolt, and as they fought
+bravely for their freedom against the Assyrians, they succeeded in
+escaping slavery and liberating themselves. Afterwards the rest of the
+nations did what the Medes had done. And as all the nations of the
+mainland lived according to laws of their own, they again fell under a
+tyranny in the following manner:--Among the Medes was a man of ability,
+called Deioces, the son of Phraortes. He desired the tyranny, and did as
+follows: The Medes dwelt in villages, and Deioces, who was previously a
+man of importance, set himself more and more zealously to the task of
+doing justice, since lawlessness reigned throughout the whole of Media.
+When the Medes of his village discovered these qualities in him, they
+chose him for their judge. And as his heart was already set on the
+empire, he acted justly and rightly, and thus got no small credit among
+his fellow-citizens, so that the men from other villages, when they
+found that Deioces alone judged rightly, gladly resorted to him, since
+hitherto they had had to endure unjust sentences, and at last they would
+not go to any one else. As the number of the applicants became greater,
+and Deioces found that everything depended upon him, he refused to sit
+any longer in court and pronounce sentence, saying, that it was of no
+advantage to himself to neglect his own business and spend the day in
+settling the disputes of others. Then robbery and lawlessness became
+more rife than ever in the villages, and the Medes gathered together and
+consulted on the position of affairs. In my belief the friends of
+Deioces were the first to speak: 'As things are, it is impossible to
+live in the land; let us choose some one to be king, and thus the land
+will obtain good government. We can occupy ourselves with our own
+business, and shall not be compelled to wander from home.' With these
+words they persuaded the Medes to set up a monarchy. And when they at
+once began the discussion who should be king, Deioces was highly
+commended and put forward by every one, so that at last he was chosen by
+all to be king. Then Deioces commanded the Medes to build him a palace
+suitable for a king, and strengthen his power by a body-guard. This they
+did, and built a great and strong palace, on the place which Deioces
+pointed out to them, and allowed him to choose his lance-bearers out of
+all the nation. When he had obtained the sovereign power he at once
+compelled the Medes to build him a large city, in order that, being thus
+occupied, they might trouble him less about other things; and when the
+Medes obeyed him in this matter also, he erected the great and strong
+citadel now known as Ecbatana. The walls formed seven circles, in such a
+manner that the inner was always higher by the turrets than the next
+outer circle, an arrangement assisted by the locality, for the town was
+situated on a hill. In the seventh wall was the palace and the
+treasure-house of Deioces. After erecting this fortification for
+himself, and his palace, the king commanded the people to settle round
+the citadel. When the building was completed Deioces first made the
+arrangement that no one should enter in to the king, but every thing was
+done by messengers, in order that those who had grown up with him, and
+were of similar age, equal in descent and bravery, might not envy him,
+and set conspiracies on foot, but that by being invisible he might
+appear a different being; it was also disgraceful to laugh or spit, or
+do anything of that kind in his presence. When he had made these
+arrangements, and thus strengthened his tyranny, he adhered strictly to
+justice. Plaints had to be sent in to him in writing, and he sent back
+the sentence. Thus he managed this and all other matters, and if he
+found that any one was guilty of insolence, and did violence to others,
+he punished him according to the measure of his offence, and his spies
+and emissaries were everywhere in the land.[462] In this manner Deioces
+united the Medes, and governed them for 53 years. After his death, his
+son Phraortes succeeded to the throne. Not content with ruling over the
+Medes only, he marched against the Persians, and first made them subject
+to the Medes. When he had become master of these two powerful nations,
+he subjugated all Asia, attacking one nation after another. Finally, he
+marched against the Assyrians, who had previously ruled over all men,
+but, though otherwise in excellent condition, were then abandoned by
+their allies, who had revolted. In the war against these Phraortes fell,
+after a reign of 22 years, and with him the greatest part of his
+army."[463]
+
+The account of the history of the Medes given by Ctesias is wholly
+different. As their subjugation to Assyria is coeval with the founding
+of that kingdom, so is their liberation coeval with the fall of it. When
+the Medes, after their conquest by Ninus, had been subject to the rulers
+of Asshur, down to his thirty-sixth successor, Arbaces, the viceroy of
+Media, with Belesys, the viceroy of Babylonia, revolted from the
+Assyrian king. The kingdom of Assyria still remains unbroken; it is only
+after severe struggles, and in consequence of the desertion of the
+Bactrians and other nations during the conflict, that it is overthrown.
+After the capture of Nineveh, Arbaces, as supreme lord, takes the place
+of the king of Asshur.
+
+According to the dates of Herodotus Deioces ascended the throne of Media
+in the year 714 or 708 B.C.[464] The time which elapsed between the
+liberation of the Medes and Deioces' elevation is not given by him.
+According to Ctesias Arbaces established the dominion of the Medes at
+least 170 years before the date given by Herodotus for Deioces. In
+Herodotus Phraortes, Cyaxares, and Astyages follow Deioces in the
+dominion over the Medes, with a total of 97 years. In Ctesias the
+successors of Arbaces, who reigns 28 years, are Mandaces with a reign of
+50 years, Sosarmus with 30, Artycas with 50, Arbianes with 22, Artaeus
+with 40, Artynes with 22, Astibaras with 40, and finally Aspadas with 38
+years. On this calculation the dominion of the Median kings lasted 320
+years, and consequently Arbaces must have overthrown the Assyrian and
+established the Median Empire in the year 878 B.C.; or as Ctesias puts
+the fall of the last Median king in 564, and not in 550 B.C.--in the
+year 884 B.C.--_i.e._ precisely at the time when Assyria began to rise
+into the position of a widely dominant power (III. 269, 270). In the
+list of kings given by Ctesias Mandaces and Artycas each rule fifty
+years, Arbianes and Artynes 22 years, Artaeus and Astibaras 40 years.
+This uniformity points to an artificial extension of the series by
+duplicates.[465] If it is reduced by striking out the three seconds in
+these pairs, and Arbaces is followed by Mandaces with 50 years, Sosarmus
+with 30 years, Arbianes with 22 years, Artaeus with 40 years, and
+Aspadas with 38 years, we obtain a period of 178 years for the kings of
+the Medes, and so arrive at a point nearer that given by Herodotus for
+the commencement of the Median kingdom, the year 736 B.C. (558 + 178),
+as the first year of Arbaces. Yet even so we do not find any coincidence
+whatever between the two narratives.
+
+In the narrative of Herodotus we find with surprise that the Medes
+attained their liberation without any combination in the people; without
+the leadership of a single head. Yet soon after the time at which he
+describes the Medes as revolting from the Assyrians, Herodotus tells us
+that Sennacherib marched against Egypt, and asserts that for 75 years
+after the accession of Deioces, "the Assyrians were indeed without
+allies, since they had revolted, but were otherwise in a good
+condition," so that Phraortes and the greatest part of his army fell in
+battle against them. If after acquiring their freedom the Medes lived
+isolated in villages, as Herodotus states, would not the Assyrians have
+made use of this anarchy close upon their borders in order to reduce the
+Medes again to subjection, rather than engage in campaigns against Syria
+and Egypt? According to the account of Herodotus, it was the justice of
+Deioces which won for him ever-increasing importance, and finally helped
+him to the throne. But had Deioces, who sits on the throne for 53 years
+afterwards, sufficient time before his elevation to make himself known
+for his love of justice throughout all Media, unless we are willing to
+assign him a very unusual age?[466] And if such dire anarchy did indeed
+prevail among the Medes, what man in such times submits to even the most
+righteous sentence? Least of all are the mighty and powerful willing to
+do so. How did Deioces obtain the means of compelling the insubordinate
+to obey his sentence?--how could he give protection to the accused,
+oppressed, and weak against their opponents? And supposing that he was
+able to do this, would he have been unanimously elected king? Herodotus
+himself remarks that Deioces knew that "the unjust are the enemies of
+the just."[467] Moreover, if the Medes at that time lived in the
+simplest manner, how could a sovereign elected from their midst change
+these conditions at a single stroke, or at any rate in the course of a
+single reign, though a long one, so entirely as Herodotus supposes?
+Village life is changed into city life, the Medes are settled in one
+city round the royal fortress, and in the place of a patriarchal
+government over a simple people, Deioces, "as the first," establishes
+the whole apparatus of Oriental tyranny. Immense palaces, citadels, and
+walls are built; the wide outer walls are adorned with gold and silver;
+the secluded life of the sovereign in the palace becomes the established
+law; the legal process is carried on by writing; and a system of
+espionage is introduced over the whole country. It is obvious that in
+this narrative elements, belonging to the tradition of the Medes, have
+been taken by Herodotus and mingled with the views of the Greeks, who
+were familiar with the combination of villages into one canton, and the
+union of hamlets into a city, and had experience of the establishment of
+a monarchy by setting up a tyranny in consequence of the services
+rendered by the aspirant to the multitude. Herodotus expressly calls the
+dominion of Deioces a tyranny. It is a fact beyond dispute that
+Herodotus was influenced by such conceptions in shaping and forming the
+material which came to him from tradition.
+
+Apart from the motives which influenced him in describing the elevation
+of Deioces, Herodotus wishes to show how the nations of Asia obtained
+their freedom, and subsequently lost it. He begins with the statement,
+that the Medes revolted from Assyria, and all the nations of Asia
+followed their example. According to his dates, which have been already
+mentioned, the Medes must have revolted precisely at the time when
+Tiglath Pilesar II. and Sargon reigned over Assyria, _i.e._ in the
+period between 745 and 705 B.C. The liberation of the remaining nations
+must therefore have taken place under Sargon or his successors,
+Sennacherib and Esarhaddon, _i.e._ between the year 705 and 668 B.C.
+That this general liberation from the sovereignty of the Assyrians did
+not take place at this period is abundantly clear from the inscriptions
+of the kings and the Hebrew Scriptures. We have seen above to what an
+extent Tiglath Pilesar caused the whole of Syria to feel the weight of
+the Assyrian arms; he reduced Babylonia to dependence as far as the
+Persian Gulf; Sargon was sovereign of Babylonia, maintained Syria, and
+received the homage of the island of Cyprus, and the islands of the
+Persian Gulf. His successor, Sennacherib, though unable to protect Syria
+against Egypt, yet retained Babylonia and the eastern half of Asia Minor
+under his dominion. Esarhaddon united the crowns of Asshur and Babel,
+restored the supremacy of Assyria over Syria, subjugated a part of
+Arabia and the whole of Egypt.[468] Hence it is clear, that precisely at
+the time when, according to Herodotus, the rest of the nations following
+the example of the Medes threw off the Assyrian yoke, that kingdom
+reached a wider extent than at any previous time. If, nevertheless, we
+wish to maintain the statement that the rest of the nations followed the
+example which the Medes are supposed to have set about the year 736
+B.C.,[469] we must place these events in the last decade of the reign of
+Assurbanipal, _i.e._ in the period between 636 and 626 B.C. We must
+therefore bring them down a full century, and this was a very late
+result of the action of the Medes.
+
+Let us attempt, by a comparison of the statements of the Assyrian
+inscriptions on the events which took place on the table-land of Iran
+and the narrative of Herodotus, to ascertain the real facts of the
+liberation of the Medes. We saw above (p. 19) that Shalmanesar II. of
+Asshur (859-823 B.C.) carried his campaigns as far as the East of Iran.
+In the year 835 B.C. he imposed tribute on twenty-seven princes of the
+land of Parsua, and "turned against the plains of the land of Amadai;"
+in 830 B.C. his general-in-chief, Dayan Asshur, went down into the land
+of Parsua, and laid tribute on the land of Parsua, "which did not
+worship Asshur," obtained possession of the cities, and sent their
+people and treasures into the land of Assyria.[470] Tiglath Pilesar II.
+(745-727 B.C.), in the campaign which carried him to Arachosia,
+subjugated "the land of Nisaa" and "the cities of the land of Media
+(Madai)." In the following year he occupied "the land of Parsua;"
+"Zikruti in rugged Media, I added to the land of Assyria; I received the
+tribute of Media;" and on his ninth campaign he again marched into "the
+land of Media." In an inscription which sums up all his achievements, he
+declares that he has imposed tribute "on the land of Parsua," the city
+of Zikruti, "which depends on the land of the Medes," and on the
+chieftains of "the land of Media."[471] The books of the Hebrews tell us
+that after the fall of Samaria in 721 B.C. "the king of Assyria carried
+Israel away, and gave them habitations in Chalah, and in the cities of
+the Medes." It was Sargon (722-705 B.C.) to whom Samaria yielded.[472]
+His inscriptions also tell us that he carried away the inhabitants of
+Samaria, and they make mention of the cities of the Medes. According to
+them, he received heavy tribute from twenty-five chiefs of the Medes in
+the year 716 B.C., and set up his royal image in the midst of their
+cities. In the next year he carried away captive "Dayauku with his
+people and his family, and caused him to dwell in the land of Amat,"
+built fortresses in order to control Media, received tribute from
+twenty-two chiefs of the Medes, conquered thirty-four cities in Media,
+and united them with Assyria. In the year 713 B.C. he marched against
+Bit Dayauku, reduced the chief districts of Media, which had cast off
+the yoke of Assyria, and received tribute from forty-five Median chiefs;
+4609 horses, asses, and sheep in great abundance. Sargon repeatedly
+boasts that "he has reduced the distant land of Media, all the places of
+distant Media, as far as the borders of the land of Bikni; that he
+brought them under the dominion of Asshur; and that his power extended
+as far as the city of Simaspati, which belonged to distant Media in the
+East."[473] The inscriptions of his successor Sennacherib (705-681 B.C.)
+tell us that on his return from his second campaign (against the land of
+Ellip), he received the heavy tribute of the distant land of Media, and
+subjugated the land to his dominion.[474] Esarhaddon (681-668 B.C.), the
+successor of Sennacherib, according to the Hebrew Scriptures, deported
+people from Persia to Samaria. He tells us himself: "The land of
+Patusarra, a district in the region of ----, in the midst of distant
+Media, on the border of the land of Bikni, the copper mountains. None of
+the kings my forefathers had subjugated this land. Sitirparna and
+Iparna, the chiefs of the fortified places, had not bowed before me. I
+carried them away with their subjects, horses, chariots, oxen, sheep,
+asses, as rich booty to Assyria." "The chiefs of the cities of Partakka,
+Partukka, and Uraka-zabarna, in the land of Media, who lay far off, and
+in the days of the kings my forefathers had not trodden the soil of
+Assyria--them the fear of Asshur, my lord, threw to the ground; they
+brought for me, to my city Nineveh, their great animals, copper, the
+product of their mines, bowed themselves with folded hands before me,
+and besought my favour. I put my viceroys over them, who united the
+inhabitants of these regions with my kingdom; I imposed services upon
+them, and a fixed tribute."[475] The period at which this tribute was
+imposed on the most distant part of Media can only be so far fixed that
+it must lie between 681 and 673 B.C. Assurbanipal, who succeeded
+Esarhaddon (668-626 B.C.), tells us: "I captured Birizchadri, the warden
+of the city of Madai (?); Sariti and Pariza, the sons of Gagi, the
+warden of the cities of the land of Sakhi, and 75 citadels had cast off
+the yoke of my dominion; I took the cities; the chiefs fell alive into
+my hands; I sent them to Nineveh my metropolis." These events belong to
+the period between the years 660 and 650 B.C.[476]
+
+To weaken the contradiction between this series of statements and the
+narrative of Herodotus, we may call to mind the gross exaggerations in
+which the kings of Assyria indulge in describing their acts and
+successes, and the grandiloquence which we have already noticed more
+than once in the statements of Assyrian history (III. 139, 200). But
+however great or however small may have been the success of the
+campaigns of Tiglath Pilesar II., Sargon, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon and
+Assurbanipal against the chiefs of the Medes, it cannot be denied that
+these campaigns took place. And if from the very frequency of such
+campaigns, after the reign of Tiglath Pilesar, we are inclined to draw
+the conclusion that they are a proof of the lax and nominal character of
+the dominion of Assyria over Media, this conclusion proves too much. The
+same repetition of warlike enterprises on the part of the kings of
+Asshur takes place, as we saw, in every direction. We shall have as much
+right to conclude that there was no such thing as an Assyrian empire,
+either before the year 736 or after it, over the Medes or any other
+nation. As I have shown (III. 185), the Assyrian kingdom never acquired
+a firm dominion over the subjugated nations, still less an organisation
+of the empire, like the subsequent kingdom of the Ach�menids. Their
+sovereignty consisted almost exclusively in the collection of tribute by
+force of arms, in the subjugation or removal of the princes who refused
+it, and setting up of others, who in turn soon withheld it. At the most,
+Assyrian fortresses were planted here and there; and no doubt Assyrian
+viceroys were placed over smaller regions. The same procedure is seen in
+the inscriptions as in use towards the Medes; and if this is not
+regarded as the sovereignty of Assyria, no such sovereignty existed
+before Tiglath Pilesar. If, to meet this objection, the existence of an
+Assyrian dominion is allowed, in the very lax form which is everywhere
+characteristic of it, we may, from the same frequency of the campaigns
+against Media, draw the opposite conclusion, that the Medes had
+struggled very vigorously for freedom, that in the first place the most
+remote tribes acquired it, and for them the liberation gradually spread,
+and the tradition of the Medes has accepted the beginning of the
+movement as the completion of it.
+
+Setting aside any conclusions of this kind, even tradition can only have
+regarded the beginning of the struggle for freedom as the beginning of
+liberation, if it covered the nucleus of a firm resistance, either in
+some definite district, or in a dynasty which took the lead in the
+struggle and carried it on. Herodotus is not acquainted with any leader
+in the struggle and does not mention any, while the campaigns of the
+Assyrians are always directed against a greater or less number of
+princes and cities; sometimes they fall on this chieftain and sometimes
+on that.[477] If, moreover, the fact that Sargon receives tribute from
+twenty-five, then from twenty-two, and then from forty-five chieftains,
+is brought forward to confirm the narratives of Herodotus about the
+anarchy which prevailed among the Medes, it is not the separation of the
+Medes under different chiefs which constitutes the anarchy as described
+by Herodotus, but actual lawlessness. His description gives us no
+chieftains in Media, ruling their lands as captains in war and judges in
+peace. The Medes dwell in villages, and the inhabitants choose the
+village judge, though it is in their power to go for decision to another
+village. Chieftains, even if they had not forbidden their tribes to seek
+for justice out of the tribe, would in any case have left the decision
+of Deioces unnoticed.
+
+However this may be, one harsh contradiction between the narrative of
+Herodotus and the inscriptions cannot be removed by any exposition or
+any deductions. According to Herodotus Deioces reigned from the year 708
+to 655 B.C., Phraortes from 655 to 633 B.C., over the whole of Media.
+The inscriptions of Sennacherib mention the great payment of tribute by
+the distant land of Media, and its subjugation under Sennacherib (p.
+282); Esarhaddon removes two chieftains with their flocks and subjects
+out of Media from the border of the land of Bikni to Asshur, and three
+chiefs from the same district bring their tribute to Nineveh; he places
+his viceroys over them, and they unite this district with Assyria. After
+the year 660 B.C. Assurbanipal is said to have taken a chieftain of
+Media captive; and in the inscriptions there is nowhere any mention of
+Deioces, Phraortes, and the Median kingdom.
+
+The inscriptions extend the land of the Medes to the East as far as the
+copper mountains, or borders of the land of Bikni.[478] The people lived
+separately under a considerable number of chieftains. The five tribes of
+the Median nation, enumerated by Herodotus, if they also possessed
+separate territory, were not isolated groups, but on the contrary broken
+up into yet smaller divisions. The booty taken by the Assyrians from the
+Medes, the tribute imposed upon them, consists chiefly in oxen, asses,
+sheep, and horses. The number of horses given by the chieftains to
+Sargon allows on an average a hundred for each, and we also hear of
+other property, treasures, and the product of copper mines. We have
+repeated mention of the cities of Media and their governors; Sargon
+conquers thirty-four cities. Though we ought to regard these mainly as
+citadels, yet civic life cannot have been so unknown to the Medes as the
+narrative of Herodotus would compel us to suppose. Other elements of
+civilisation also are known to the Medes at this time, _i.e._ in the
+second half of the eighth and first half of the seventh century B.C. It
+has been proved above that at the beginning of this period the doctrine
+of Zoroaster must have reached them, and the names could be given of the
+men in Media who published it; and the priests of the new religion
+became formed during this century into an order which perpetuated in
+their families the knowledge of the good sayings and the customs of
+sacrifice. To this order we may also attribute what the Medes acquired
+of the superior civilisation and skill of Assyria, especially the
+knowledge of the Assyrian cuneiform writing, which underwent a change in
+the hands of the Magians, and assumed the form known to us from the
+Ach�menid inscriptions of the first class. When Herodotus ascribes the
+introduction of written process at law to Deioces, the tradition
+presupposes an established and extensive use of writing.
+
+The dominion of the princes under which the Medes stood is followed by
+the dominion of the monarchy, which must have arisen out of it. One of
+the families of these princes must have succeeded in obtaining influence
+and power over the others. The position of Deioces and Phraortes must
+have arisen and developed itself in this manner. Whether the Dayauku,
+whom Sargon carried off in the year 715 B.C. with his followers to Amat,
+is one and the same person with the prince of Bit Dayauku, against whom
+the Assyrian king marched in the year 713 B.C. (p. 282), would be
+difficult to decide; and even if the matter could be determined with
+certainty, it would not be of great importance. We often find the kings
+of Asshur replacing conquered and captive princes in their dominions. On
+the other hand, it is of importance that there was a region of Media,
+which could be called Bit Dayauku, _i.e._ the land of Dayauku, by the
+Assyrians in the year 713 B.C. There must have existed at this time a
+principality of Deioces among other principalities, and the beginning of
+this must be put earlier than the date allowed by Herodotus for the
+election, _i.e._ at the latest at 720 B.C. In course of time the land of
+Deioces may have increased in extent, and the importance of the ruler
+may have grown--though he may not, after the conflict of 713 B.C., have
+taken any leading part in the resistance to the payment of tribute, the
+conflicts and successes of other chieftains against the Assyrians; at
+any rate, there is no subsequent mention of the land in the
+inscriptions. Neither Deioces nor his land is mentioned when Sennacherib
+speaks of the tribute of the whole of Media, and the subjugation of the
+country under his dominion; nor even when Esarhaddon speaks of the
+conquest of the most distant princes. Hence we can only grant to the
+narrative of Herodotus that, in the times of Sennacherib and Esarhaddon,
+Deioces, the son of Phraortes, had a considerable territory among the
+chiefs of the Medes, and greater importance than others, and we have no
+reason to look for his dominion elsewhere than at Ecbatana. His son
+Phraortes (Fravartis), who according to Herodotus came to the throne in
+the year 655 B.C., must have succeeded in uniting the chiefs of the
+Medes under his sway, and combining with the tribes of the Persians,
+among whom at that time the race of the Ach�menids had acquired a
+prominent position,[479] in order to maintain their independence against
+Assyria.
+
+From this point downwards we can date the union and independence of
+Media. Had the country been free and united at the time of Sargon,
+Sennacherib, and Esarhaddon, the rulers of Assyria would not have
+marched against Syria and Cilicia, or undertaken the conquest of Egypt.
+Assurbanipal could not have employed the forces of the kingdom to
+maintain Egypt, or reduce Babylon, or annihilate Edom, or make campaigns
+to the distant parts of Arabia, if the united power of Media had existed
+behind the Zagrus, close on the borders of his native land, the very
+centre of the Assyrian power. Still less could he have looked on in
+inaction, while Phraortes, as Herodotus tells us, conquered the
+Persians, and attacked one nation after another till he had subjugated
+Asia. On the other hand, the annihilation of Elam by Assurbanipal, and
+consequent strengthening of the Assyrian power on the borders of Persia,
+may well have determined the Persians to unite with the Medes, and
+accept a position under Phraortes.
+
+In considering the situation and importance of the powers, we may assume
+that Phraortes, in the first instance, thought rather of defence than of
+any attack on Assyria, and for this object undertook the fortification
+of Ecbatana on a large scale. What could have induced him to abandon the
+protecting line of the Zagrus, in order to attack under the massive
+walls of its metropolis the power which had just dealt such heavy and
+destructive blows on ancient states like Babylonia and Elam, unless we
+attribute to him the most reckless audacity? Nor, on the other hand, can
+we suppose that an ancient ruler like Assurbanipal, who had held his own
+successfully against the searching attack of his brother, and finally
+gained important conquests, would have allowed the formation of the
+Median power in the closest proximity, and its combination with the
+Persians, without the least attempt to prevent it. It was in repulsing
+this attack that Phraortes fell.[480]
+
+If this inquiry leads us to attribute to Phraortes the foundation of a
+consolidated government, the establishment of monarchy in Media, the
+union of the Persians and Medes, and the subordination of the former to
+Phraortes, we can yet understand that the traditions of the Medes,
+anxious to increase the glory of the country, threw the monarchy further
+back, ascribed to Deioces, the father of Phraortes, the consolidation of
+Media, and represented the liberation from the sway of Assyria as prior
+to the foundation of the monarchy. What Median poems can do for the
+glorification of their country, even in the teeth of the established
+facts of history, will soon become even more clear. How this tradition
+explained the elevation of Deioces we cannot now discover; it is clear
+that Herodotus gives a Greek turn to this part of the story (p. 280).
+And if tradition ascribes to Deioces the extensive and strong
+fortifications of Ecbatana, which more correctly belong to Phraortes and
+his successors, it is Herodotus who credits him with the discovery of
+the mode of life usual among Oriental monarchs. The Medo-Persian Epos
+shows us the successors of Semiramis in the seclusion of the palace. On
+the other hand, the Median tradition must have ascribed the reduction of
+Asia to Phraortes. We have already remarked (III. 280), that towards the
+close of the sixth century B.C. Cyaxares and not Phraortes was regarded
+by the nation as the founder of the power and greatness of Media.
+Herodotus himself tells us "that Cyaxares was far more powerful than his
+predecessors." Hence the later legend, which Herodotus reproduces,
+ascribed the foundation to Phraortes, and the extension of the Median
+power to Cyaxares. But if Phraortes was to be the conqueror of Asia, he
+must "when he had attacked and conquered the other nations one after the
+other," have finally marched against the Assyrians, against whom he did
+in fact contend.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[444] "Vend." 1, 42; Behist. 2, 92.
+
+[445] Plin. "H. N." 6, 18, (48).
+
+[446] Alexander came from Hyrcania and Parthia to the land of the
+Tapurians. According to Arrian's statements, the Hyrcanians, Parthians
+and Tapurians were all under one leader in the army of Darius III.
+"Anab." 3, 8, 4; 3, 11, 4; Strabo, p. 507, 508, 514, 524; Justin, 12, 3;
+41, 5.
+
+[447] Herod. 1, 110.
+
+[448] Polyb. 5, 44; 10, 27. Cf. Curt. 3, 2 ff.
+
+[449] Strabo, p. 523-525.
+
+[450] In the most recent times it has been maintained that the Medes
+were of Turkish-Tatar (Altaic) family, but this view rests simply on the
+assumption that the inscriptions of the second class in the inscriptions
+of the Ach�menids must have been written in the language of the Medes.
+This hypothesis contradicts everything that has come down to us of
+Median names and works, and the close relationship between the Medes and
+Persians. Whether the Arians, on immigrating into Media, found there
+Turkish-Tatar tribes, overpowered, expelled or subjugated them, is
+another question. If this were the case, the fragments of the population
+could hardly have exercised any influence worth mentioning on the Arian
+Medes.
+
+[451] Paraetacene is derived no doubt from _parvata_, mountain, or
+_parvataka_, mountainous. Strabo remarks that when the Persians had
+conquered the Medes, they took some land from them. The distance between
+Persepolis and Ecbatana was twenty marches; Alexander reached the
+borders of Media on the twelfth day after leaving Persepolis. Arrian,
+"Anab." 3, 19.
+
+[452] Strabo, p. 73; 509.
+
+[453] Under the Sassanids Media (Mah) consisted of four regions:
+Aderbeijan, Rai (Rhagiana), Hamadan (Ecbatana), Isfahan.
+
+[454] Herodotus allows the Matieni a considerable extent, for he
+includes under the name the Armenians and the inhabitants of Atropatene.
+Later authors confine the Matieni to the region round the lake of
+Urumiah; in this sense, Polybius, quoted above in the text, limits Media
+in the North by the Cadusians and Matieni.
+
+[455] Herod. 3, 106; 7, 40.
+
+[456] Strabo, p. 525; Diod. 17, 110; Arrian, "Anab." 7, 13.
+
+[457] Behist. 1, 13. Strabo's [Greek: N�saia] (p. 509, 511), the Nisiaea
+of Pliny (6, 29), the Parthaunisa of Isidore of Charax, must be sought
+in the neighbourhood of Nishapur, which was built by Shapur II. The
+Avesta puts Ni�a between Merv and Balkh.
+
+[458] Diod. 19, 44. Alexander in eleven forced marches advanced from
+Ecbatana to Ragha.
+
+[459] Isid. Ch. "M. P." c. 5.
+
+[460] Mordtmann, "B. d. Bair. Akademie," 1876, s. 364.
+
+[461] Diod. 2, 13; 17, 110. The city of Baptana, which Isidore (c. 5)
+mentions "as situated on a mountain in Cambadene," is in any case
+Bagistana (Behistun).
+
+[462] Herodotus, 1, 95-101.
+
+[463] Herod. 1, 102.
+
+[464] Vol. III. 257 ff. According to the reigns which Herodotus allows
+to Deioces and his successors, 150 years before the overthrow of
+Astyages, which took place 558 B.C., _i.e._ 708, but, according to the
+total given by Herodotus--156 years, 714 B.C.
+
+[465] Volney, "Recherches," 1, 144 ff.
+
+[466] In order to remove this objection, the dates of Deioces and
+Phraortes must be transposed, and the 22 years of Phraortes given to the
+former, the 53 years of Deioces to the latter. Phraortes would then have
+marched out against the Assyrians in extreme old age, and fallen in the
+battle.
+
+[467] Herod. 1, 96.
+
+[468] Vol. III. Bk. 4; Chaps. 1, 4, 5-8.
+
+[469] According to Von Gutschmid. Cf. _supr._ p. 278.
+
+[470] Vol. II. p. 319. I cannot accept the theory which Lenormant has
+attempted to establish on the geographical differences in the
+inscriptions of Shalmanesar II. and Tiglath Pilesar II.--that the Medes
+and Persians obtained possession of Western Iran shortly before the
+middle of the eighth century. "Lettres Assyriolog." and "Z. Aegypt.
+Spr." 1870, s. 48 ff.
+
+[471] Vol. III. 3-5.
+
+[472] Vol. III. 85.
+
+[473] Vol. III. 101.
+
+[474] Vol. III. 113.
+
+[475] Vol. III. 150.
+
+[476] Vol. III. 167.
+
+[477] That is the reason why I cannot regard the parallels which Von
+Gutshchmid suggests ("Neue Beitr�ge," s. 90 ff.) of the struggle between
+the Arsacids and Seleucids, and the relations between the Great Mogul
+and the Mahrattas, as pertinent.
+
+[478] The Patusarra of Esarhaddon might be the Patisuvari of Darius; the
+Pateischoreans, whom Strabo quotes among the tribes of the Persians; Von
+Gutschmid, _loc. cit._ s. 93, but in the Babylonian version of the
+inscription of Behistun the Pateischoreans are called _Pidishuris_.
+
+[479] Von Gutschmid, _loc. cit._ s. 88; below, c. 3.
+
+[480] Vol. III. 280. The Assyrian inscriptions are silent from 644 B.C.
+downwards. Von Gutschmid, "Neue Beitr." s. 89. From this silence I have
+concluded, and still conclude, that the liberation of the Medes took
+place towards 640 B.C., and moreover that the victory of the Assyrians
+over Phraortes, and his death in battle did not bring about a decisive
+change in favour of the Assyrians.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE EMPIRE OF THE MEDES.
+
+
+"When Phraortes had fallen, he was succeeded by his son Cyaxares. This
+prince collected all his subjects and marched against Nineveh, in order
+to avenge the death of his father and destroy the city. He defeated the
+Assyrians, and while encamped before Nineveh, there came upon him the
+vast army of the Scythians, led by their king Madyas, the son of
+Protothyas, who invaded Asia in pursuit of the Cimmerians, and as they
+did not come through the land of the Saspeires, but kept the Caucasus to
+the right, they reached the Median country. Here they attacked the
+Medes, and the latter being conquered in the battle lost their empire;
+the Scythians became masters of the whole of Asia, and ruled over it for
+28 years. With reckless cruelty they laid everything waste; they not
+only imposed tribute on all the nations, but went round and took from
+every one all that he possessed. But Cyaxares and the Medes massacred
+the greater part of them after making them intoxicated at a banquet, and
+in this way the Medes recovered their empire, and again governed those
+who had previously been subject to them. Then a horde of Scythians,
+which had separated from the rest and put themselves under the
+protection of Cyaxares, were guilty of a crime against a Median boy who
+had been entrusted to them, and fled for refuge to Alyattes, king of
+Lydia, who refused to give them up. This led to a war between Media and
+Lydia which continued for five years, and was brought to an end by a
+treaty in which Alyattes gave his daughter Aryanis to wife to the son of
+Cyaxares. Cyaxares was master of all Asia beyond the Halys, took
+Nineveh, and subjugated the Assyrians, with the exception of the
+Babylonian portion." Such is the history, given by Herodotus, of
+Cyaxares, who, on his reckoning, ascended the throne of Media in the
+year 633 B.C.
+
+If Phraortes had fallen in battle against the Assyrians with the greater
+part of his army, Cyaxares (Uvakshathra) could hardly have at once
+undertaken an attack on Nineveh, with a view of avenging his father's
+death by the destruction of that city; his first care, on the contrary,
+would have been to prevent the Assyrians from making use of their great
+victory, to guard against further advances on their part, and to
+maintain the freedom of Media. This struggle Cyaxares passed through
+with success; that his good fortune carried him as far as the walls of
+Nineveh, is indeed possible, but not probable; according to Herodotus
+the collision of the Scythians and Medes did not take place in the land
+of Asshur, but further to the East, in Media.
+
+The facts about the pursuit of the Cimmerians and the invasion of the
+Scythians have been already examined, and it has been shown that
+Herodotus has connected the immigration of the Cimmerians into Asia
+Minor, which took place in the eighth century B.C., with the incursion
+of Sacian tribes from the Oxus into Media, about the year 630 B.C. He
+was deceived by the circumstance that the Cimmerians from their abode on
+the lower Halys penetrated to Sardis and the cities of the Western
+coast, about the time when the Sac� invaded Media and inundated Hither
+Asia (III. 276). The truth is that the hordes of the Sac� not only
+overthrew Media, but passed through Mesopotamia into Syria as far as the
+borders of Egypt. Their attack shattered and destroyed the cohesion of
+the Assyrian empire.
+
+About the year 620 Cyaxares succeeded in overpowering the section of the
+Scythians which remained in Media (these hordes were no doubt widely
+dispersed), and again became master in his own dominions. He made use of
+his advantageous position as the first who could again direct the forces
+of his people. He showed himself to the Armenians and Cappadocians as a
+champion to defend them from the plundering Scythians, and at the same
+time aided in liberating them from the dominion of the Assyrians. The
+incursion of the Scythians had prepared the way for him; in a few years
+he was able to extend his power to the West as far as the Halys.[481]
+Nabopolassar, the viceroy of Assyria in Babylon, who had determined to
+turn to account the severe blow which the incursion of the Scyths had
+given to the Assyrian kingdom, had already offered him his hand in
+alliance. Amyite, the daughter of Cyaxares, had become the wife of
+Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabopolassar. But in Asia Minor, far to the
+West, the princes of the Lydians had taken advantage of the disturbance
+and confusion which the advance of the Cimmerians had carried to the
+Western coast, to extend their power over Phrygia as far as the Halys
+(III. 435). Here the two rapidly-developing powers met. Though inferior
+in numbers the Lydians showed themselves a match for the Medes. After a
+war of five years, peace was established between them by Nabopolassar of
+Babylon and Syennesis of Cilicia, in order to set the power of Media
+free to act against Nineveh. The Halys became the boundary of the two
+kingdoms, and the peace was confirmed by an alliance. Alyattes of Lydia
+gave his daughter Aryanis to wife to Astyages the son of Cyaxares (610
+B.C.[482]). Media and Babylonia now thought themselves strong enough to
+undertake the contest against the remains of the Assyrian kingdom.
+Cyaxares led out the Medes, Nabopolassar the Babylonians against king
+Assur-idil-ili. The latter offered a long and stubborn defence, and when
+at length the walls of Nineveh were broken through, he burnt himself in
+the citadel. The Assyrian country as far as the Tigris fell to the share
+of Media; Mesopotamia was united with the new kingdom of Babylon (607
+B.C.[483]). Thus Media and Babylonia took the place of Assyria; and
+Babylon, as Herodotus says, was now the chief city of the Assyrians.
+
+When the kingdom had fallen which for three centuries had ruled in the
+East and West, Cyaxares might indulge the thought of making his empire
+more complete on the table-land of Iran. According to the story which
+Ctesias has preserved for us from the Medo-Persian Epos of the fall of
+Assyria (III. 249), the Bactrians had been prevailed upon to join the
+Medes and Babylonians in the course of the war against Assyria, and the
+Persian songs which describe the contest of Cyrus and Astyages,
+represent the Hyrcanians, Parthians, Bactrians, and other nations of the
+East, as ruled by viceroys of the Median king.[484] We may regard it as
+certain that Cyaxares succeeded in subjugating the table-land of Iran to
+a considerable extent. No slight proof is afforded of the increase and
+greatness of the Median kingdom in his reign by the unusual care and
+extraordinary efforts of the successor of Nabopolassar to protect
+Babylonia and Babylon by fortifications against the event of a struggle
+between the two powers, whose united exertions had destroyed Assyria
+(III. 366).
+
+The position which the Medo-Persian poems assign to the chief of the
+Babylonians beside the chief of the Medes, during and after the common
+struggle, has been already explained. The Babylonian is the astrologer,
+the adviser, the helper; the Mede is the man of action. In the event of
+success against Assyria he promises the Babylonian the viceroyalty of
+Babylon, and has already given it to him, free of tribute, when the
+fraud is discovered by which the cunning Babylonian has acquired the
+most valuable part of the spoil of Nineveh. For this offence the chief
+is condemned to death; but the Mede pardons him, and in consideration of
+his former services and the promise made, leaves him the viceroyalty. So
+eager were the Median minstrels to conceal the independence of Babylonia
+beside Media, and represent a power as great as Babylon was under
+Nebuchadnezzar as a satrapy of their kings. This fiction is maintained
+in other episodes of the Medo-Persian Epos which have come down to us.
+We are told of the stubborn resistance which the Cadusians made to the
+Medes; and an explanation is given how this unimportant nation on the
+shore of the Caspian (p. 268) could withstand the mighty kingdom of the
+Medes. This episode has come to us in the Persian form. It is the fault
+of the Median king that the Cadusians have become stubborn and
+successful enemies. He failed to help to his rights a brave warrior in
+his service; this warrior betook himself to the Cadusians, and became
+their chief, led them well, and bequeathed his thirst for vengeance to
+his descendants. From such a point of view even a Median minstrel could
+lament the perversity of the Median king, and the power of Babylonian
+gold, the abundance of which is strongly marked in the narrative, could
+praise the ancient simplicity of the Medes: "who took no heed of silver,
+and did not regard gold," as we are told in the Hebrew Scriptures, and
+reprobate the victory of gold over strict justice. But it is a Persian
+to whom the wrong is done, who summons the Cadusians to freedom; and the
+resistance of the Cadusians to the Median kingdom, thus brought about by
+a Persian, subsequently furnishes Cyrus with a pretext for arming the
+Persians, and also provides him with allies in the Cadusians. It was the
+merit of a brave Persian to have provided this assistance for his people
+long before. The king of the Medes who was guilty of this mistake is
+called in Ctesias Artaeus; we have seen (p. 277) that Artaeus and
+Astibaras, who reigned 40 years each, are but one and the same person;
+and as the reign of Cyaxares occupies 40 years in Herodotus, we may
+conjecture that he is the king hidden behind the Artaeus-Astibaras of
+Ctesias. The king of Babylon, the satrap of the episode, is brought in
+as a descendant of Belesys (Nabopolassar), and described as an
+effeminate man. His name, in the form given by Ctesias, is Annarus.
+Evilmerodach or Neriglissar of Babylon must be meant; but, without
+doubt, we are dealing with mere fiction.
+
+The episode is as follows: There was a Persian of the name of Parsondes,
+in the service of the king of the Medes, an eager huntsman, and active
+warrior on foot and in the chariot, distinguished in council and in the
+field, and of influence with the king. Parsondes often urged the king to
+make him satrap of Babylon in the place of Annarus, who wore women's
+clothes and ornaments, but the king always put the petition aside, for
+it could not be granted without breaking the promise which his ancestor
+had made to Belesys (p. 297). Annarus discovered the intentions of
+Parsondes, and sought to secure himself against him, and to take
+vengeance. He promised great rewards to the cooks who were in the train
+of the king, if they succeeded in seizing Parsondes and giving him up.
+One day Parsondes in the heat of the chase strayed far from the king. He
+had already killed many boars and deer, when the pursuit of a wild ass
+(the Sassanids also hunt this animal) carried him to a great distance.
+At last he came upon the cooks, who were occupied in preparations for
+the king's table. Being thirsty, Parsondes asked for wine; they gave it,
+took care of his horse, and invited him to take food--an invitation
+agreeable to Parsondes, who had been hunting the whole day. He bade them
+send the ass which he had captured to the king, and tell his own
+servants where he was. Then he ate of the various kinds of food set
+before him, and drank abundantly of the excellent wine, and at last
+asked for his horse in order to return to the king. But they brought
+beautiful women to him, and urged him to remain for the night. He
+agreed, and as soon as, overcome by hunting, wine, and love he had
+fallen into a deep sleep, the cooks bound him, and brought him to
+Annarus. Annarus reproached him with calling him an effeminate man, and
+seeking to obtain his satrapy; he had the king to thank that the satrapy
+granted to his ancestors had not been taken from him. Parsondes replied
+that he considered himself more worthy of the office, because he was
+more manly and more useful to the king. But Annarus swore by Bel and
+Mylitta that Parsondes should be softer and whiter than a woman, called
+for the eunuch who was over the female players, and bade him shave the
+body of Parsondes and bathe and anoint him every day, put women's
+clothes on him, plait his hair after the manner of women, paint his
+face, and place him among the women, who played the guitar and sang,
+and to teach him their arts. This was done, and soon Parsondes played
+and sang better at the table of Annarus than any of the women. Meanwhile
+the king of the Medes had caused search to be made everywhere for
+Parsondes, and since he could nowhere be found, and nothing could be
+heard of him, he believed that a lion or some other wild animal had torn
+him when out hunting, and lamented for his loss. Parsondes had lived for
+seven years as a woman in Babylon, when Annarus caused an eunuch to be
+scourged and grievously maltreated. This eunuch Parsondes induced by
+large presents to retire to Media and tell the king the misfortune which
+had come upon him. Then the king sent a message commanding Annarus to
+give up Parsondes. Annarus declared that he had never seen him. But the
+king sent a second messenger charging him to bring Annarus to be put to
+death if he did not surrender Parsondes. Annarus entertained the
+messenger of the king, and when the meal was brought, 150 women entered,
+of whom some played the guitar while others blew the flute. At the end
+of the meal Annarus asked the king's envoy which of all the women was
+the most beautiful and had played best. The envoy pointed to Parsondes.
+Annarus laughed long and said, "That is the person whom you seek," and
+released Parsondes, who on the next day returned home with the envoy to
+the king in a chariot. The king was astonished at the sight of him, and
+asked why he had not avoided such disgrace by death? Parsondes answered:
+"In order that I might see you again, and by you execute vengeance on
+Annarus, which could never have been mine had I taken my life." The king
+promised him that his hope should not be deceived, as soon as he came to
+Babylon. But when he came there, Annarus defended himself on the ground
+that Parsondes, though in no way injured by him, had maligned him, and
+sought to obtain the satrapy over Babylonia. The king pointed out that
+he had made himself judge in his own cause, and had imposed a punishment
+of a degrading character; in ten days he would pronounce sentence upon
+him for his conduct. In terror Annarus hastened to Mitraphernes, the
+eunuch of greatest influence with the king, and promised him the most
+liberal rewards (10 talents of gold and 100 talents of silver, 10 golden
+and 200 silver bowls) if he could induce the king to spare his life and
+retain him in the satrapy of Babylonia. He was prepared to give the king
+100 talents of gold, 1000 talents of silver, 100 golden and 300 silver
+bowls, and costly robes with other gifts; Parsondes also should receive
+100 talents of silver and costly robes. After many entreaties
+Mitraphernes persuaded the king not to command the execution of Annarus,
+as he had not killed Parsondes, but to condemn him in the penalty which
+he was prepared to pay Parsondes and the king. Annarus in gratitude
+threw himself at the feet of the king, but Parsondes said: "Cursed be
+the man who first brought gold among men; for the sake of gold I have
+been made a mockery to the Babylonians." The eunuch advised him to lay
+aside his anger, and be reconciled with Annarus, for that was what the
+king desired; but Parsondes determined to take vengeance for the
+sentence of the king, and waited for a favourable opportunity in order
+to fly with a thousand horse and three thousand infantry to the
+Cadusians, whose most distinguished chief had married his sister. Then
+he persuaded the Cadusians to revolt from the Medes, and was elected to
+be their general. When the king of the Medes armed against them,
+Parsondes armed in return, and occupied the passes into the country with
+200,000 warriors. Though the Median king brought up 800,000 men,
+Parsondes nevertheless put him to flight, and slew 50,000 Medes. In
+admiration of such noble deeds, the Cadusians made Parsondes king, and
+they often invaded Media and laid it waste. At the end of his days,
+Parsondes commanded his successor to remain an enemy of the Medes, and
+pronounced a curse: "If ever peace should be concluded between the Medes
+and the Cadusians, might his race and the whole nation of the Cadusians
+perish." This is the reason why the Cadusians remained the enemies of
+the Medes, and were never subject to them.[485]
+
+Another episode tells us of the contests which the Medes had to sustain
+under the dominion of Astibaras-Artaeus, _i.e._ of Cyaxares, against the
+Parthians and the Sac�. The Parthians, whose chief was Marmares,
+revolted from the Medes, but handed over their land and city to the king
+of the Sac�, Cydraeus, that he might protect them against the Medes; and
+the sister of Cydraeus, Zarinaea (Zaranya, _i.e._ the golden), who was
+distinguished for her beauty and wisdom, her boldness and bravery (for
+the women of the Sac� took the field with the men), became the wife of
+Marmares. As the Medians intended to reduce the Parthians again to
+subjection, a war broke out between them and the Parthians and Sac�,
+which lasted for several years, and led to battles in which many fell on
+one side and the other. In one of these battles Zarinaea was wounded.
+Stryangaeus, the Mede, to whom Cyaxares had given his daughter Rhoet�a
+to wife, pursued, overtook, and threw her from her horse. But the sight
+of her beauty and youth, and her entreaties, moved him; he allowed her
+to escape. Not long afterwards Stryangaeus with other Medes was taken
+captive by the Parthians. Marmares wished to put him to death, and
+though Zarinaea entreated for his life, insisted on his execution. Then
+Zarinaea loosed the bonds of the captive Medes, caused Marmares to be
+put to death by them, and allowed Stryangaeus to escape. When, after the
+death of her brother Cydraeus, she ascended the throne of the Sac�, she
+sent messengers to the king of the Medes to conclude peace and
+friendship. The Parthians were to return under the sovereignty of the
+Medes, the Sac� and Medes were to keep what previously belonged to them,
+and to be friends and allies for ever. This was done. Stryangaeus, the
+real author of this treaty, ever since the battle in which he had first
+seen Zarinaea, had been possessed with violent love for her, and went to
+Roxanace (_i.e._ the brilliant),[486] where was the royal citadel of the
+Sac�, in order to see the beloved princess once more. Zarinaea, who
+returned his affection, came to see him full of joy, received him and
+his attendants in the most splendid manner, kissed him in the sight of
+all, and ascended his chariot, and thus, while conversing with each
+other they arrived in the palace. Here Stryangaeus sighed in the
+chambers assigned to him, and could not resist the violence of his
+passion. At length he took counsel with the most faithful of his
+eunuchs, who encouraged him to discover his passion to Zarinaea. Easily
+persuaded, Stryangaeus hastened to the queen, and after much delay and
+many sighs, sometimes blushing and again turning pale, he ventured to
+declare that he was consumed with love for her. Zarinaea answered
+quietly and gently that it would be shameful and fatal for her to
+surrender herself to him, and far more shameful and dangerous for
+Stryangaeus, as his wife was the daughter of the king of the Medes, and,
+as she heard, more beautiful than herself and many other women. He must
+be brave, not only against his enemies, but against himself, and not
+bring about a long calamity for the sake of a brief enjoyment. No other
+wish of his but this should remain unsatisfied. Stryangaeus was silent
+for a long time, then embraced and kissed the queen, and departed. He
+was far more dejected than before, and determined to take his life.
+"Thou hast been saved by me," he wrote to Zarinaea, "but through thee I
+am destroyed. If in this thou hast done justly, then may all good things
+be thine, and mayest thou be happy; if thou hast done evil, may a
+passion like mine overtake thee." When he had bound the eunuch by an
+oath to give this letter to Zarinaea immediately after his death, he lay
+back on his cushions and demanded his sword. As the eunuch refused to
+give it, he ended his days by starvation. Zarinaea ruled over the Sac�
+with wisdom and power. She conquered the neighbouring nations who sought
+to subjugate her people, caused a great part of the land to be
+cultivated, and built a considerable number of cities, and brought the
+Sac� into greater prosperity. In gratitude for the benefits received
+from her, and in remembrance of her virtues, the Sac� erected on her
+grave a three-sided pyramid, three stades in length on each side, and
+ending in a point a stadum in height, on which was placed a colossal
+golden statue of the queen. Worship was also offered to her as to a
+hero, so that she received greater honours than any of her
+predecessors.[487]
+
+We have already acquainted ourselves with the land of the Parthians (p.
+10). The Sac� were neighbours of the Hyrcanians, the Parthians, and the
+Bactrians in the steppes of the Oxus. Herodotus tells us that the Sac�
+were a nation of the tribe of the Scyths, and that their proper name was
+Amyrgians; the Persians called all the Scythians Sac�. The inscriptions
+of Darius speak of �aka Humavarka; in the second version the name is
+Omuvargap, and in the Babylonian-Assyrian version Umurga. According to
+the account of Herodotus the Sac� wore trousers, and upright, pointed
+caps, and carried bows of a peculiar character, battle-axes and daggers.
+They fought as mounted bowmen. On the monument of Darius at Behistun
+�akuka,[488] the leader of the Sac�, wears a tall pointed cap. In the
+army of Xerxes the Sac� were ranged with the Bactrians. What our episode
+tells us of the royal citadel and the cities built by Zarin�a does not
+harmonise with the nature of the steppe-country of the Sac�, and the
+statement of the Greeks, that the Sac� lived in variegated tents, and
+that their wealth consisted in flocks of sheep, but it does agree with
+the fact that the women went to battle on horseback with the men. The
+companions of Alexander describe the Sac� as strong, warlike, well-grown
+men, with flowing hair; the Macedonians only came up to their shoulders.
+Later accounts speak of heavy-armed horse among them; both horse and
+rider were covered with armour, and the weapons of attack were long
+lances.[489] From the narratives given in the episodes we may retain
+the fact that although the Persians followed the lead of the Medes from
+the time of Phraortes, Cyaxares, even after the fall of Nineveh, did not
+succeed in subjugating the remaining nations of Iran without severe
+struggles. There is no reason to doubt that the Cadusians made an
+obstinate resistance, and maintained their independence: The Parthians
+were able to combine with the Sac� in order to preserve their freedom,
+and did not become subject to Cyaxares without severe contests. That the
+Sagartians on the edge of the great desert (p. 6) were subject to
+Cyaxares, is clear from the inscription of Darius at Behistun. If the
+Medes had to fight with the Sac�, who were settled on the Oxus, Bactria
+must have been reduced to form a part of their kingdom. Beside the
+Hyrcanians, Parthians, and "other nations," the Bactrians and Sac� are
+specially mentioned as subjects of the Median kings,[490] and Arrian
+assures us that the A�vakas, whom we found north of the Cabul on the
+right bank of the Indus (IV. 393), were subjects of the Medes.[491]
+
+Herodotus tells us that Cyaxares was the first to separate the
+lance-bearers, archers, and horsemen, and combine them into divisions;
+that is, he introduced a better and more manageable arrangement of the
+army. To the same prince, no doubt, is due the completion of the
+fortifications of Ecbatana, which we found had been strengthened by his
+predecessor Phraortes. When the fortifications were first begun, the
+place was merely intended as a point of defence against Assyria; but as
+soon as it became destined to aid in the maintenance of independence, it
+was necessary that it should be capable of offering refuge and support
+to the Median army, if hard pressed. The mountains of the Zagrus form
+the boundary wall, and at the same time the line of division between the
+Medes and Assyrians. As Polybius told us (p. 268), it was an ascent of
+twelve miles--_i.e._ four leagues--to the top of the pass. If the Medes
+failed to hold these passes, and were then defeated in their own
+table-land, the mountains of the Orontes formed a new point of
+protection to their retreat. The Orontes (Old Persian, _Urvanda_; now
+Elvend) is a steep range of mountains, traversing Media from north-west
+to south-east; the heights of the passes are given by travellers at 7000
+or 10,000 feet; Ctesias puts the ascent at twenty-five stades;[492]
+recent explorers fix the time at four hours. On the eastern spur of this
+mountain wall, in a fertile plain, six leagues long and four leagues
+broad, lay Ecbatana, Old Persian _Hangmatana, i.e._ place of assembly,
+the Achmeta of the Hebrews. If the Orontes could not be held, the
+fortifications of Ecbatana formed a last point of protection for the
+Median army. From the Assyrians there was nothing more to be feared
+after the fall of Nineveh, but Cyaxares had no doubt felt, in the
+inundation of Media by the nomadic tribes of the Sac�, and then in the
+final battles against Asshur, what a support was given by a strong
+metropolis; what good service the walls of Nineveh had rendered to the
+enemy, even in his decline. He saw what measures were being taken by
+Nebuchadnezzar, his step-son, to make his metropolis secure, and
+determined that the kingdom, which he had so rapidly and brilliantly
+erected and developed, should not be without the nucleus of an
+impregnable fortress and royal citadel. The booty in silver and gold,
+which the Medes gained in Nineveh, and of which we hear not in the
+Median poems only, but also from the Hebrew prophets who lived at the
+time of the fall of the city, provided no doubt ample means both for the
+erection of the strongest works, and for the adornment of these as well
+as the citadel.
+
+Ctesias tells us that Semiramis built a splendid palace at Ecbatana, a
+city lying in a plain, and as there were no springs near, she cut
+through the roots of the range of mountains, twelve stades distant from
+the city (the Orontes), on the farther side of which was a lake flowing
+into a river, in order to convey the water of the river into the city.
+For this object a tunnel was cut through the mountain, fifteen feet in
+breadth and forty feet in depth, and through it the river was carried
+into Ecbatana.[493] If Ctesias ascribes the palace of Ecbatana and the
+tunnel, like other monuments of Media, to Semiramis, we have already
+seen that the queen is no more than a poetical fiction; nor could any of
+the sovereigns who ruled over Assyria entertain the project of building
+citadels and conduits for the Median kings. These could only be the work
+of Median princes, who resided in Ecbatana; and as Phraortes could
+hardly have had the means and the time for such important structures, we
+must ascribe both the completion and adornment of the royal citadel, as
+well as the tunnel, to Cyaxares, unless we are to reject the latter as a
+pure invention, for which there seems to me no sufficient proof.
+
+"When the palace had been built at Ecbatana, it was surrounded with
+large and strong walls," Herodotus tells us, "of which one encircled
+another, in such a manner that the inner overtopped the outer by the
+height of the turret. The situation, which was on a hill, contributed to
+this result, and the natural elevation was artificially increased. In
+all there were seven circles; the innermost contained the king's
+dwelling and treasure-house; the outermost wall was of about the extent
+of the wall of Athens. The towers of the first circle were white, of the
+second black, of the third red-purple, of the fourth blue-purple, of the
+fifth red; the towers of the sixth are covered with silver; and those of
+the seventh, which surrounds the buildings of the palace, with gold. The
+city was built round the outermost wall."[494] Polybius describes the
+situation of Ecbatana and the palace as they were under the Ach�menids,
+who were wont to pass some of the hot summer months in the cool and
+fresh air of Ecbatana. "Ecbatana lies in the northern regions of Media,
+and commands the parts of Asia which look towards the Maeotis and the
+Euxine. The city was in old days the royal abode of the Median kings,
+and it appears to have far surpassed all other cities in wealth and in
+the splendour of its buildings. It is built under the spurs of the
+Orontes. Though without walls, it possesses a citadel built by the hand
+of man, of surprising strength. Below the citadel is the palace, which
+it is as difficult to speak of in detail as to pass over in silence.
+Ecbatana is an excellent theme for those who love to tell of marvellous
+things with adornment and exaggeration; but those who enter with caution
+on anything which goes beyond the ordinary intelligence find themselves
+in difficulties. The circuit of the palace is about seven stades, and
+the rich ornamentation of the various parts proves how flourishing was
+the condition of those who founded it. Though the entire wood-work
+consists of cedar and cypress, this is never allowed to appear; on the
+contrary, the beams of the roof and the panelling, the pillars in the
+chambers and halls, are covered with gold or silver plates, and the
+roof consists wholly of silver tiles. Most of these were carried off at
+the time of the expedition of Alexander, and the remainder in the reign
+of Antigonus and Seleucus-Nicanor. Nevertheless the temple of Aine
+(_i.e._ of Anahita) at the time when Antiochus Theos (261-245 B.C.) came
+to Ecbatana, had gilded pillars round it; and some of the gold plates in
+the side-walls were still remaining, and the greater part of the silver
+plates, while the silver tiles of the roof were still there in
+considerable quantities."[495] At the time of Alexander, Diodorus allows
+the city of Ecbatana a circuit of 250 stades, _i.e._ of more than 30
+miles.[496] Isidore of Charax mentions the treasure-house at Ecbatana,
+the metropolis of Media and the shrine of Anaitis, in which sacrifice
+was constantly offered.[497]
+
+It is not clear from these descriptions whether the fortifications at
+that time included the whole city or not. Herodotus only speaks of the
+fortifications of the citadel, and represents the city as built at the
+foot of its walls. Yet we may assume that Phraortes and Cyaxares
+followed the pattern of the chief cities of Assyria and Babylonia in
+placing a strong wall round their city. A late and very uncertain
+authority, the book of Judith, states that the walls of Ecbatana
+consisted of splendid masonry, and reached a height of seventy cubits
+(about 110 feet); the towers of these walls were a hundred cubits in
+height, and there were gates in them.[498] When the Medes lost their
+empire and became subject to the Ach�menids, it was to their interest
+that the metropolis of the Medes should not be fortified, but that the
+citadel should be in the hands of a Persian garrison. Cyrus himself,
+therefore, after the conquest of Astyages, or Darius, after suppressing
+the rebellion of the Medes, may have thrown down the walls which
+surrounded Ecbatana. The silence of Herodotus respecting them would then
+be explained by the fact that they were no longer in existence in his
+time. The circuit of the external wall Herodotus compares with the
+circuit of the city of Athens, which, exclusive of the harbour cities
+but including the space between the Phaleric and the long walls, reached
+60 stades, or 7� miles.[499] If we chose to assume that Herodotus
+included the Phaleric and long walls in the circuit, the total extent
+would be 22� miles, an incredible length for the wall of a citadel.
+Of the outer walls of the royal citadels at Babylon, Diodorus puts those
+on the one bank of the Euphrates at 30 stades, and those on the other at
+60, and of the two inner walls of the latter the first was 40 stades in
+length and the second 20.[500] The circuit of 22� miles may,
+therefore, refer only to the whole extent of the citadel and city of
+Ecbatana, and it would then come near the statement of Diodorus, who
+puts the circuit of Ecbatana at 250 stades.
+
+The royal citadel of the Ach�menids at Persepolis was surrounded,
+according to Diodorus, with a triple wall; the first wall was 16, the
+second 32, the third 60 cubits in height. These walls were decorated
+with great expense, and adorned with towers. The citadel of Ecbatana is
+said to have had seven walls, and, however strange this may appear,
+religious no less than military motives might have led to that number.
+We know the importance ascribed in the Avesta to the number seven--the
+seven supreme deities, and the seven girdles of the earth. On the other
+hand, if we leave out of sight the hill on which the citadel was built,
+the elevated plateau of Ecbatana did not present the natural
+difficulties such as rivers and heights, which strengthened the
+fortification of the Assyrian metropolis and the walls of Babylon; hence
+it was more important to meet this deficiency by the number of towers
+and walls. The successive walls would have been of little service had
+not each inner one been higher than the outer, and they would have been
+the reverse of serviceable, had not the distance between them been so
+great that the arrows and missiles of the enemy, when they had gained
+the outer walls, failed to reach from it to the next, so that the
+assault of the next wall had to be begun afresh after the capture of the
+adjacent outer wall, without any cover. If we might assume that the
+words of Polybius: "The palaces, of which the extent reaches to about
+seven stades, lie below the citadel," are to be interpreted as meaning
+that these buildings lay under the protection of the walls of the
+citadel, _i.e._ behind them--and it is scarcely conceivable that the
+Ach�menids should have chosen an unprotected palace in Media for a
+constant residence, and deposited there large treasures, and the
+archives of the kingdom--the circuit of the buildings of the palace and
+that of the external wall of 60 stadia would give a space between the
+walls of each of about 2000 feet; a distance not much in excess of that
+absolutely required. Hence the circuit of 60 stadia from the outer wall
+does not appear too large.
+
+More astonishing still is the account given by Herodotus of the
+ornamentation of the turrets of these walls--the colours of the turrets
+of the first five, the silver and gold of the two last. The attempt has
+been made to explain these statements as a legendary echo of the fame of
+the splendour of Ecbatana in the time of Cyaxares and his successor
+Astyages. But Polybius tells us very distinctly that the roof of the
+palace and that of the temple of Anahita consisted of silver tiles at
+the time of the Ach�menids, that the beams and panels of the roofs as
+well as the pillars were entirely covered with gold and silver plates,
+and that these decorations remained in the temple of Anahita at the time
+of Antiochus Theos. This ornamentation might be extended to the turrets
+of the inner walls. Considering the amount of the spoil of Nineveh, it
+cannot be regarded as an impossibility that the ramparts of the interior
+walls, the length of which, according to the statement of Polybius, did
+not reach more than 4200 feet, were covered with plates of gold, and of
+the next with plates of silver, when the roof of the palace could
+consist of silver tiles. That the overthrow of the Assyrian kingdom and
+the spoil of the cities brought considerable possessions to the Median
+nation may be concluded from the remark of Herodotus that the Persians
+had adopted better clothing and more luxurious habits from the Medes.
+The kings would without doubt receive the richest part of the spoil. The
+decoration of the turrets was possibly rude, but it exhibited in a
+striking manner the splendour and exaltation of the kingdom, which was
+thus encased in gold and silver, while the sovereign dwelt in gold and
+silver chambers. Such a parade of royal magnificence is not out of
+harmony with the character of the ancient East. To those who were not
+allowed to enter the wide and high gates of the palace, these turrets
+showed far and wide, through city and country, the splendour of the
+citadel. The colours of the five outer walls would be given by glazed
+tiles, such as those found in the ruins of Nineveh and Chalah, of
+Babylon and Mugheir. We may assume with certainty that Cyaxares desired
+to give to his palace and citadel a splendour no less than that
+displayed by the palaces of Nineveh, or the royal citadel of
+Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, or the golden citadel in Sardis. Religious
+conceptions may also have determined the colours of the decoration as
+well as the number of the walls. As Auramazda sat in pure light, on a
+golden throne on the golden Hukairya, so was the ruler on earth to dwell
+in his palace of Ecbatana in golden chambers surrounded by golden walls.
+The Avesta exhibits Mithra with a golden helmet and silver coat of mail,
+the wheels of his chariots are of gold, his horses are greys,[501] shod
+on the fore hoofs with gold, and on the hinder hoofs with silver; in
+like manner the upper turrets of the citadel must shine with silver and
+the highest with gold. We have seen that the metals, owing to the
+brilliance inherent in them, belonged in the ideas of the Iranians to
+the good spirits. And as the splendour of gold and silver belonged to
+the highest gods, so must the colours of the other turrets have been
+assigned to the good spirits, to whose protection each separate wall was
+entrusted.[502]
+
+The account which Polybius gives of the structure of the palace, the
+cedar and cypress wood of which the door-posts, pillars, roofs, and
+panels in the walls were made, shows that wood was employed in building
+in Media, which agrees with the habits of mountaineers. In Teheran and
+Ispahan buildings of wood of this kind are still in use, and no doubt
+the mountain forests of northern Media provided better materials in
+ancient times than now. The noblest trunks and best kinds of wood were
+sought out for the royal house. The kings of Asshur, and Nebuchadnezzar
+tell us in their inscriptions that they have caused trees to be cut down
+on this or that mountain for their buildings. The wooden palace, which
+Deioces, and perhaps Phraortes, first erected, must have been extended
+by Cyaxares, and may have been furnished by him or his successor with
+the brilliant ornamentation. The inner walls of the palace of the
+Ach�menids at Persepolis, if we may draw this conclusion from the metal
+supports which are found in the remains of the stone walls, were
+decorated in a similar manner. When the palace of the Median kings at
+Ecbatana had become the summer residence and treasure-house of the
+Persian monarchs, it would, no doubt, be enriched and adorned yet more.
+The temple of Anahita, connected with the palace, which Polybius has
+described above, is the work of Artaxerxes II. Alexander caused the
+spoil he had taken in Babylon, Susa, Persepolis, and Pasargad�, to be
+brought to Ecbatana, where he is said to have collected 180,000 talents
+in gold and silver.[503] At a later time, the Arsacids are said to have
+resided at Ecbatana during the summer like the Ach�menids.[504] At the
+present day, Hamadan, which is built high up on a slope of Elvend, marks
+the site of the ancient Ecbatana. It contains about 40,000 inhabitants;
+the ruins of the ancient city have not yet been satisfactorily explored.
+The slender pillars with lotus-like capitals, discovered here, are like
+the pillars of Persepolis, and therefore might be the work of the
+Ach�menids; what has been discovered in engraved stones and coins comes
+from the time of the Arsacids and Sassanids. Some cylinders covered with
+cuneiform inscriptions have not yet been examined.
+
+Cyaxares had rescued Media from the most extreme peril. The consequences
+of the defeat, in which his father, with the greatest part of his army,
+fell before the Assyrians, had been averted. Though subsequently
+overpowered by the Scythians, he yet became once more sovereign in his
+own country. This rise of Media, and the weakening of the Assyrian
+kingdom by the inundation of the Scythians, he used in order to
+subjugate Armenia and Cappadocia. And though he was not able to achieve
+anything decisive against the Lydians, he attained a greater success; in
+combination with Babylonia he avenged on the Assyrians the supremacy
+they had exercised over Media; he overthrew the remnant of that kingdom,
+whose tough vigour showed itself even at the final hour in an obstinate
+resistance. It was a great achievement and at the same time an important
+extension of the Median dominions, not merely by the whole extent of the
+Assyrian country on the left bank of the Tigris, which fell to Media,
+but also by the closer connection which Cyaxares thus obtained with
+Armenia and Cappadocia, the subject lands to the west. Then followed the
+spread of the Median power over the kindred nations in the north and
+east of Iran. The Persians were already subjected to Phraortes, and
+Cyaxares brought under his sovereignty the Sagartians, Hyrcanians,
+Parthians, and Bactrians; he made the Sac� dependant on him, and in the
+east perhaps extended his power as far as the Indus. From his proud
+citadel at Ecbatana he ruled from the Halys to the Oxus. It was a
+powerful empire. Herodotus depicts the reign of Cyaxares when he says:
+"He was far more powerful than his predecessors." With the Medes he
+passes as the founder of their sovereignty; and his reign must have been
+held in grateful remembrance, not by the Medes only, but also by the
+subject nations. Those who afterwards attempted to bring the Medes and
+Sagartians under arms against the dominion of the Persians, called
+themselves the descendants of Cyaxares--and one even laid aside his own
+name, Phraortes, to do so.
+
+After the fall of Assyria the leading portion passed to Media,
+Babylonia, and Lydia. As the two first had united for the overthrow of
+Assyria, and had come to terms with Lydia for this object, so in other
+respects they displayed a friendly feeling towards each other. The
+daughter of Cyaxares became the consort of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon,
+and the daughter of Alyattes, king of Lydia, was married to his son
+Astyages. Afterwards, Babylon prevented the attempt of Egypt to unite
+Syria with the land of the Nile; it was eagerly occupied with
+subjugating Mesopotamia and Syria, while Lydia established its power
+over the tribes and cities of Asia Minor as far as the Halys. Neither
+Media nor Lydia thought of putting any hindrances in the way of the
+extension of the Babylonian dominion over Syria and Phoenicia. Of
+these three kingdoms, thus connected by mutual alliances, Media was the
+strongest. Babylonia and Lydia were not equal either in extent of
+country or amount of population; Lydia was perhaps inferior in the
+vigour of the ruling tribe, and Babylonia certainly inferior in the
+military strength of the population. Even when united they did not reach
+the size or strength of the Median power, whose army Cyaxares had
+arranged, and for which he had provided at Ecbatana a strongly fortified
+centre, equidistant from the Halys and the Oxus. When Astyages ascended
+the throne, on the death of his father in 593 B.C., he entered upon the
+inheritance of a secure dominion in peaceful and friendly relations to
+all the neighbouring powers. While his father-in-law, Alyattes of Lydia,
+and his son Croesus were occupied in subjugating the Carians and the
+Greek cities on the west coast of Anatolia (III. 439), and
+Nebuchadnezzar carried on one campaign after another in order to
+incorporate in his kingdom the great trading marts of the Syrian coasts,
+Astyages could enjoy, for more than thirty years, the fruits of the
+efforts by which his father had founded and established the Median
+empire.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[481] Herod. 1, 72. In Xenophon, who represents Astyages as reigning
+before Cyaxares, Astyages had subjugated the king of Armenia; the
+rebellion of this king was afterwards repressed by Cyaxares. "Cyri
+instit." 3, 1, 6 ff.
+
+[482] Vol. III. 287, 438. Even after the discussions of Gelzer
+("Rheinisches Museum," 1875, s. 264 ff.) on the date of the eclipse, I
+believe that Oltmann and Bailly's calculation may hold good for it,
+until it is proved astronomically that in the year 610 B.C. an eclipse
+of the sun would not have been visible in Asia Minor. If this were
+proved, Herodotus' dates for Cyaxares, who not only in his work but on
+the evidence of the inscription of Behistun, was the founder of the
+Median empire, would have to be thrown back more than half a century,
+which the date of Cyrus does not allow. To assume a confusion of
+Cyaxares with Astyages in Herodotus, is impossible, for Cyaxares is
+twice expressly mentioned (1, 74, and 103), and moreover Astyages is
+spoken of as the son of Cyaxares to whom Aryanis was married. Nor can I
+regard it as finally proved that the double capture of Sardis rests
+simply on Callisthenes, and a deduction from Strabo. Gelzer agrees that
+the incursions of the Cimmerians into Asia Minor and their establishment
+in Cappadocia must be placed at the least before the year 705 B.C. ("Z.
+Aegypt. Sprache," 1875, s. 18); the devastation of Phrygia by the
+Cimmerians he puts in the year 696 or 676 B.C. According to the dates of
+Eusebius Midas (the husband of Damodike) began to reign in Olymp. 10, 3
+= 738, and took his own life in Ol. 21, 2 = 695 (Euseb. ed. Sch�ne, 2,
+82, 85); his reign extended therefore from 738 to 695 B.C. Hence the
+devastation of Phrygia by the Cimmerians must have taken place in the
+year 695. If they were masters of Phrygia at this date, it is not easy
+to see why these successes did not carry them on into Lydia. As a fact,
+this is far from improbable; and if the image at Nymsi is their work,
+they would not have had any time for it in 630 B.C., for that incursion
+was merely a "plundering raid," and the change in the dynasty of Lydia,
+the accession of Gyges in the year 689 B.C. (Vol. III. 416), seems to me
+to point to some previous violent change. Besides, Strabo's words, p.
+61, and p. 647, are plain and conclusive enough, so that I see no reason
+to attach much weight to the interpretation of the passage, p. 627. Cf.
+C�sar, "Ind. lect. Marb. Sem. aestivum," 1876.
+
+[483] Vol. III. 284 ff., 291.
+
+[484] Diod. 2, 34; Nicol. Damasc. fragm. 66.
+
+[485] Nicol. Damasc. fragm. 9, 10, ed. M�ller; Diod. 2, 33; Ctes. Fragm.
+52, ed. M�ller.
+
+[486] Roxane and Roxanace are both formed from the old Bactrian
+_raokshna_. M�llenhoff, "Monatsberichte Berl. Akadem." 1866, s. 562.
+
+[487] Ctes. Fragm. 25-28, ed. M�ller; Nic. Damasc. fragm. 12 ed. M�ller.
+
+[488] Oppert gives the form of the second version as �akuka Iskunka.
+
+[489] Choerilus in Strabo, p. 303; Herod. 3, 93; 7, 64; 9, 71; Ptolem.
+6, 13; Curtius, 7, 4, 6; Arrian, "Anab." 3, 13; Cf. Plut. "Crassus," 24.
+
+[490] Nicol. Damasc. fragm. 66, ed. M�ller.
+
+[491] "Ind." 1, 1.
+
+[492] Diod. 2, 13; 17, 110; Strabo, p. 127.
+
+[493] Diod. 2, 13.
+
+[494] Herod. 1, 98, 99.
+
+[495] Polyb. 10, 27.
+
+[496] 17, 110.
+
+[497] "Mans. Parth." c. 6.
+
+[498] Judith, i. 2-4. On the date of the composition of this book, cf.
+Volkmar. "Rheinisches Museum," 12, 481. In any case it dates from the
+end of the first or the second century of our reckoning.
+
+[499] Thuc. 2, 13, and the Scholia.
+
+[500] Diod. 2, 8.
+
+[501] Diod. 17, 71.
+
+[502] Hence I see no reason for connecting the colours of the turrets
+with the Babylonian star-worship. The only fact in favour of this is the
+black of the second wall; but as the highest turrets exhibited the two
+most precious metals, the others may have received the colours of the
+remaining five, over all of which Kshathra vairya presided, and in the
+order of the Avesta in which silver and copper follow gold, while iron
+and steel end the list. It can hardly be proved that Babylonian
+star-worship had a decisive influence among the Medes at the time of
+Cyaxares. Isaiah xiii. 17 might be quoted against the wealth of
+Ecbatana, but this passage only gives the idea of the writer that the
+Medes would not be bought off by Babylonian money, and abandons the
+destruction of Babylon for the sake of gold. Setting this aside, the
+episodes quoted above show that at the time of Astyages men could regret
+the loss of ancient simplicity in Media, and extol it against the gold
+which had come from Nineveh to Ecbatana, and against the gold of Babylon
+(p. 301). The nation may also have remained in simple habits of life
+however brilliant the royal citadel may have been. Yet it has already
+been observed in the text that at the time of Cyaxares and Astyages the
+upper classes lived in wealth and comfort.
+
+[503] Diod. 17, 66, 71; 19, 48; Strabo, p. 731; Plut. "Alex." 72.
+
+[504] Strabo, p. 523.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE TRIBES OF THE PERSIANS.
+
+
+The oldest subjects in the Median kingdom were the Persians. Their
+country lay in the south-west corner of the table-land of Iran. The
+heights of the Zagrus, which run down to the sea in a south-easterly
+direction, divide it from the ancient kingdom of Elam, and the land of
+the Tigris, just as in the north they divide the land of the Medes from
+the valley of the two rivers. The Eastern border of the Persian
+territory was formed, almost down to the coast, by the great desert,
+which fills the centre of Iran; the northern boundary towards the land
+of the Medes is marked by the range which the Greeks call Parachoatras;
+the name would be _Kuruhvathra_, _i.e._ very brilliant, in Old Persian.
+The southern boundary of Persia was the sea. Nearchus, who sailed along
+the coast of Persia, gives it an extent of 4400 stades, _i.e._ 550
+miles; their land began at the mouth of the Oroatis (Old Persian,
+_Aurvaiti_, _i.e._ the swift),[505] the Tsab, which falls into the
+Persian Gulf below the modern Hindian, and reached to the east almost as
+far as the entrance into this gulf, where it ended opposite the island
+of Colo� (Kishm).[506] Euripides contrasts the sun-lit mountain flats
+of Persia with the wintry land of Media and the citadels of
+Bactria.[507] According to Strabo the coast of Persia was hot and sandy,
+and, with the exception of some palms, produced no fruit. But beyond the
+coast was a land of very great fertility, abounding in lakes and rivers,
+and providing the most excellent pasture. Further to the north, the
+Persian land became cold and mountainous, and supported nothing but
+droves of camels and their keepers. Arrian tells us that to the north of
+the coast of Persia the air was temperate, and the land traversed by the
+clearest streams, in addition to which there were also lakes; the
+meadows were grassy and well watered, and provided excellent pastures
+for horses and other beasts of draught. The soil produced all kinds of
+fruits and even wine, but not olives. The forests were extensive and
+rich in game, and all kinds of water-fowl were to be found there. But
+further to the north the land of the Persians was wintry and full of
+snow.[508] What the Greeks relate of the desolation of the Persian coast
+is still applicable; it consists of naked sand-flats, broken only by
+scanty groves of palms. Above this coast the soil rises in terraces,
+which are separated from each other by yet higher ranges. Further to the
+north the slopes of the mountains provide excellent pastures, till the
+ground becomes more bare as we approach Media, while on the east it
+gradually passes into the great desert of the centre. On the mountain
+terraces and in the depressions between them are some favoured lands and
+valleys. The warmth of the southern situation is tempered by the
+elevation of the soil and the winds blowing from the sea. This happy
+climate allows a perpetual spring to reign, and increases the fertility
+which the abundant mountain springs produce in such a degree that
+groves of orchard trees, cypresses, and myrtles alternate with vineyards
+and carpets of flowers. The beauty of Persia and the fertility of the
+vegetation is concentrated in the valleys of Kazerun, Shiras, and
+Merdasht, which lie in stages one above the other, between mountain
+walls which rise to a height of 8000 feet. The most extensive and at the
+same time the highest valley is that of Merdasht. It is traversed by the
+Murghab, which brings an abundant supply of water from the snow-covered
+heights in the north-west. The upper course is surrounded by steep
+cones, and jagged walls of rock; in the lower part it takes another
+name, and is called the Pulwar. Further down, it unites with the
+Kum-i-Firuz (the Araxes of the Greeks), and from this confluence down to
+the mouth in the great lake of Bakhtegan it is known as the Bendemir.
+The Greeks called the Pulwar the Medus, and the Bendemir, which is also
+known as the Kur in modern times, they named the Cyrus.[509]
+
+According to Herodotus the Persians regarded their land as of moderate
+extent, poorly equipped, and filled with rocks. In the Books of the Laws
+which are ascribed to Plato, we are told that the Persian land is
+naturally adapted to produce strong shepherds, and as they had to watch
+their flocks night and day, they were thus in a position to do good
+service in war. As a fact Persia is a mountainous country; the slopes
+are admirably fitted for cattle breeding, but there is little room or
+encouragement for agriculture. According to Xenophon's description, the
+Persians in ancient times were much occupied in the chase, and in
+riding; they only ate once in the day, and at their banquets goblets
+might indeed be seen, but no pitchers of wine. Strabo remarks, with
+reference to a later period, that the Persian youth remained long in the
+open air with their flocks, and were eager hunters; when thus engaged,
+their only drink was water, their food bread, flesh, and salt. The
+Greeks with one consent describe the Persians of ancient times as
+simple, hardy, self-controlled men, of great endurance and martial
+vigour, with few requirements. They were also called "Eaters of
+Terebinths," in order to mark the scantiness of their food: their drink
+was water; and their clothing, coats as well as trousers, were of
+leather.[510]
+
+The nation of the Persians consisted of various tribes. Herodotus gives
+a special prominence to three, on which the rest were dependent. These
+were the Pasargadae, the Maraphians, and the Maspians. "Other tribes are
+the Panthialaei, the Derrusiaei, the Germanii, all of which are
+agricultural; while the remainder, the Dai, Mardi, Dropici, and Sagartii
+are Nomads."[511] According to this statement six of the Persian tribes
+carried on agriculture, and four were pastoral. But the Germanians and
+Sagartians were distinguished from the tribes of the Persians in the
+narrower sense. The Sagartians (A�agarta) are spoken of in the
+inscriptions of Darius, and by Herodotus himself in other passages, as a
+separate nation; we have already found their country on the western edge
+of the great desert, and observed its character (p. 6). The Germanians
+of Herodotus are the Carmanians of the later Greeks, who also passed
+with them as a separate nation, though closely allied to the Persians
+and Medes.[512] They wandered to and fro to the east of Persia in the
+district now called Kirman. The number of the tribes mentioned by
+Herodotus would therefore have to be reduced to the Pasargadae,
+Maraphians, Maspians, Panthialaeans, Derusiaeans, Dai, Mardi, and
+Dropici, if we did not hear of two others in the inscriptions of Darius,
+the Yutiyas and the Patisuvaris, whose names were known to the later
+Greeks in the form Utei and Pateischorei. These later authorities tell
+us also of other Persian tribes: Kyrtians, Rhapaesans, Stobaeans,
+Suzaeans, etc. They also reckon the Paraetaci, or Paraetaceni, among the
+Persians.[513] The Mardians of Herodotus are also called Amardians by
+later writers, who place them in the West, among the mountains which
+divide Persia from Elam.[514] With regard to the position of the rest of
+the tribes, we can only ascertain that the Pasargadae occupied the best
+part of the Persian land--the valley of the Pulwar; that the
+Maraphians[515] and the Maspians were their neighbours, and the land of
+the Pateischorei followed next after that of the Pasargadae on the
+eastern side, towards Carmania. Besides these three chief tribes, the
+Pasargadae, Maraphians, and Maspians, the Persian nation, according to
+these statements, was made up of a considerable number of more or less
+powerful tribes, of whom each one, like the chief tribes themselves,
+must have had a separate territory, or, at any rate, a pasture for its
+flocks.
+
+If the name Parsua could signify Persians, the inscriptions of the kings
+of Asshur would confirm the division of the Persians into several
+tribes. Shalmanesar II. tells us, that in the year 833 B.C. he received
+tribute from the heads of the Parsuas, as the inscription says: from
+twenty-seven princes of the Parsuas. Afterwards Tiglath Pilesar II.
+traversed the land of the Parsuas and imposed tribute upon them (744
+B.C.).[516] The books of the Hebrews confirm Esarhaddon's dominion over
+Persia, inasmuch as they tell us that he settled Persians and Dai
+(Dahas) in Samaria (III. 154).
+
+It must have been in the period of the supremacy of Assyria, at the
+latest in the first half of the seventh century B.C., that the worship
+of the gods, which the Persians shared from all antiquity with their
+fellow-tribesmen on the table-land of Iran, the worship of Mithra, Vayu,
+Anahita, and fire, underwent the change which bears the name of
+Zarathrustra. As we saw good reason to assume, the new doctrine first
+came to the Medes from the North-East; from the Medes it passed, without
+doubt, to the Persians. If Herodotus places the Magians, or special
+priestly order, among the tribes of the Medes and not among those of the
+Persians, among whom Strabo is the first to mention them, the conclusion
+is, as has been sufficiently proved, not that the Persians were without
+priests before and after the reform, but rather that even after the
+reform the priestly families remained in their natural unions, and did
+not form themselves into a special tribe (p. 192).
+
+The supremacy of Assyria over the West of Iran came to an end when
+Phraortes united the tribes of the Medes under his leadership, and,
+towards the year 640 B.C., undertook to maintain the independence of
+Media against Assurbanipal, the successor of Esarhaddon. In this
+struggle the Persians joined the Medes and ranged themselves under them.
+Herodotus, who obviously follows the tradition of the Medes, represents
+Phraortes as marching against the Persians, conquering and subjugating
+them; according to the Persian account, which is preserved in Ctesias,
+the chief of the Medes induced the Persians to revolt against the
+Assyrians, and to join him, by the promise that they should remain free
+under his leadership (III. 250). The situation of affairs agrees better
+with the second version than with the first. Considering the enormous
+power which Assyria under Assurbanipal possessed down to the middle of
+the seventh century, it is hardly probable that Phraortes would have
+inaugurated the recent independence of Media by an attack on the
+Persians, which might, and indeed must, drive them into the arms of the
+Assyrians. It is far more probable that the two nations formed a league
+against Assyria. As already observed, the annihilation of the kingdom of
+Elam, which Assurbanipal accomplished in the year 645 B.C., would supply
+the Persians with a strong incentive to unite themselves with the
+kindred and more powerful nation of the Medes.
+
+Of the three tribes of the Pasargadae, Maraphians, and Maspians, the
+most prominent--so Herodotus tells us--are the Pasargadae.[517] To them
+belongs the race of the Ach�menids, from which sprang the Persian kings.
+In the inscription of Behistun, King Darius says: "From old time we were
+kings; eight of my family have been kings (Kshayathiya), I am the ninth;
+from very ancient times we have been kings."[518] He enumerates his
+ancestors: "My father was Vista�pa, the father of Vista�pa was Arsama,
+the father of Arsama was Ariyaramna, the father of Ariyaramna was
+Khaispis, the father of Khaispis was Hakhamanis; hence we are called
+Hakhamanisiya (Ach�menids)." In these words Darius gives the tree of his
+own family up to Khaispis; this was the younger branch of the
+Ach�menids. Teispes, the son of Ach�menes, had two sons; the elder was
+Cambyses (Kambujiya), the younger Ariamnes; the son of Cambyses was
+Cyrus (Kurus), the son of Cyrus was Cambyses II.[519] Hence Darius could
+indeed maintain, that eight princes of his family had preceded him; but
+it was not correct to maintain that they had been kings before him, and
+that he was the ninth king.[520]
+
+In this series of the ancestors of Darius we find names belonging not
+only to the East of Iran, but also to the Arians of India. The name
+Cambyses (Kambujiya) points to the Cambojas, a nation which we found in
+the north-west of India (IV. 249); the name Cyrus (Kurus) to the
+ancestors of the ancient princely race who founded the first great
+empire in the land of the Ganges on the upper course of the river, whose
+contest with and overthrow by the Pandus is celebrated by the Indian
+epic, while the name Vista�pa repeats the name of the King of Bactria,
+whom the prayers of the Avesta extol as the protector of Zarathrustra
+(p. 132). Of Ach�menes we are told that an eagle nourished him;[521] a
+prophet of the Hebrews calls Cyrus "the eagle;" we know the importance
+which the Avesta ascribes to the two eagles of the sky, and the modern
+Persian epic to Simurgh; and we have seen that the standard of the
+Ach�menids was an eagle (p. 173). Hence from this notice we may with
+certainty conclude that the tradition of the Persians ascribed to this
+ancestor of their kings a youth distinguished by the favour of heaven.
+
+As Cambyses the father of Cyrus is a contemporary of Astyages of Media,
+Teispes the father of Cambyses must be reckoned a contemporary of
+Cyaxares, and Ach�menes, the father of Teispes, as a contemporary of
+Phraortes.[522] We must therefore assume either that Ach�menes was at
+the head of the Persians, at the time when they joined Media, or that he
+was established by Phraortes as the chief of Persia and his
+vassal-king, and that his throne passed with the duties of vassalage to
+his descendants Teispes and Cambyses. It is not very probable that the
+traditions of the Persians should have accorded signs of divine favour
+to the youth of a man, who had been placed over them after their
+subjugation as viceroy of Media. Moreover, we find among the Persians,
+according to this tradition, a form of constitution, such as a Median
+viceroy would hardly have established, even for the object of
+overthrowing the Median power. The race of the Ach�menids belonged to
+the tribe of the Pasargadae; we may therefore assume that Ach�menes was
+the first to become chief of this tribe.
+
+Aeschylus enumerates the seven men who stand at the side of the king of
+the Persians.[523] Josephus says that the "seven houses" of the Persians
+had named Darius as king. As a fact we see that when Darius, after the
+extinction of the older line of the descendants of Ach�menes, sets
+himself to ascend the throne, six men stand at his side, whom Herodotus
+distinguishes as the "first of the Persians." The Laws ascribed to Plato
+say that the empire was then divided into seven parts between Darius and
+the Six, and that a relic of this division was still in existence.[524]
+In regard to the privileges of the Six and their descendants we find
+that they consisted in the right of free access to the king, and that
+the king could choose his chief wife only from their families;[525] the
+descendants of the Six had also the right to wear the head-dress of the
+king, the upright _kidaris_, which was the symbol of royal dignity. In
+the kingdom of the Sassanids, we find seven hereditary princes under
+the king; these princes, like the king, wear crowns, but their crowns
+are lower than that of the king; the "sons of the houses," _i.e._ the
+members of these seven families, form the highest rank of the nobility.
+Hence in these six chieftains of the Persians standing at the side of
+and beneath the seventh, who is the prince of the Pasargadae, we may
+suppose that we have the princes of the remaining tribes.[526] And in
+respect of the privileges of the six co-chieftains in the kingdom of
+the Ach�menids we may assume that they originally occupied a position
+close to the king, and formed the council and court of the chief tribal
+prince. These privileges the Greeks ascribe to the services which the
+Six rendered at the time when Darius ascended the throne. But as the
+seven houses existed before, and the Six had previously been "the first
+of the Persians," their privileged position must have been of an older
+date; it must have been introduced by Cyrus or be of even more remote
+origin. It is not probable that such a mighty warrior prince as Cyrus
+would, after the reduction of the Medes, impose limitations on his power
+by sharing the symbols of royalty and hereditary privileges. According
+to the narrative of Herodotus, Cyrus does not simply command the
+Persians to take up arms against the Medes, but he assembles the tribes,
+and ascertains their feeling. In considering the peculiar position of
+these six families we may certainly assume, that under the ancestors of
+Cyrus there were chiefs among the Persians with whom the Ach�menids had
+to deal. If the Ach�menids were the heads of the tribe of the
+Pasargadae, the other tribes would have chiefs also. Yet we only hear of
+"six princes" besides the Ach�menids, though we have seen that the
+number of the Persian tribes was considerably more than seven.
+
+Following the indications thus given, we may sketch the course of events
+as follows. When Ach�menes had acquired the headship of the tribe of the
+Pasargadae, he must have combined the two neighbouring tribes, the
+Maraphians and Maspians, whom Herodotus classes with the Pasargadae as
+the most important among the Persians, into closer union, perhaps by
+some understanding with the chiefs. Supported by these three tribes,
+who possessed the favoured regions of Kazerun, Shiras, and Merdasht,
+Ach�menes must then have subjugated the remainder to his power.
+Herodotus told us above that the remaining tribes depended on the three
+mentioned. They must, therefore, have been combined into larger groups,
+and in fact into four communities. To the chiefs who became the heads of
+these new combinations, a position must have been accorded similar to
+that enjoyed by the Maraphians and Maspians beside Ach�menes--above all,
+the right to bequeath the chieftainship to their descendants. When the
+chiefs of the Persians, now seven in number, mutually guaranteed to each
+other their position, the foundation was laid of a community of
+interests, and thus of a community of the Persian nation. That the
+princes of the four new combinations of tribes belonged to those tribes,
+and not to the three first, is proved by the inscription of Darius at
+Naksh-i-Rustem, where one of the princes of the date of Darius is called
+a Pateischorean. In some such way as this Ach�menes may have brought
+about the union of the Persian tribes, and at the same time have
+obtained the leadership of them. His position thus rested essentially on
+the relation of the prince of the Pasargadae to the other six tribal
+princes, a relation of which we find no trace in the Medes. That the
+number seven was normal for the combinations of the tribes we may
+ascribe to the influence of the recently-introduced doctrine of
+Zarathrustra, of which we found echoes in the legend of Ach�menes.
+
+Ach�menes and his race after him must have had their dwelling in the
+canton of the tribe to which they belonged, at the place of assembly of
+the Pasargadae, the chief town, which bore the name of the tribe.
+Supported by this tribe, Ach�menes succeeded in uniting the people; on
+it and the neighbouring Marapheans and Maspians depended the importance
+of the Ach�menids. Strabo calls Pasargadae the ancient seat, and with
+Persepolis the patriarchal abode of the Persian kings,[527] and here, on
+ascending the throne, they were consecrated. Here Cyrus deposited his
+treasures; here he found his last resting-place. We must look for this
+place in "Hollow Persia," as the Greeks call it, in the plain of
+Merdasht, to the east of the later Istakhr, the city of the Sassanids,
+below the confluence of the Medus and Cyrus (_i.e._ the Pulwar and
+Kum-i-Firuz) in the land of the Bendemir.[528]
+
+When Ach�menes had united the tribes of the Persians by means of the new
+hereditary chieftainships, and got into his hands the supreme power
+with the co-operation of the six princes in council and jurisdiction,
+he joined the king of the Medes, who had also united the tribes of his
+people, soon after the year 645 B.C., as we were compelled to assume,
+for common defence against Assyria. Being weaker than the Median king,
+he ranged himself under his leadership and power, agreed to follow him
+in war, and accepted the position of his general and vassal. The
+relation must have been similar to that which Firdusi represents as
+existing between his kings and the princes of Sejestan (p. 252). In this
+combination the Persians shared the dangers of the war against king
+Assurbanipal, and the defeat of Phraortes, no less than the defeat of
+Cyaxares by the Scythians; on the other hand, they were the comrades of
+Cyaxares in his struggles against the Lydians, and in his victory over
+Assyria, while they took an active part in the annihilation of Nineveh.
+At the same time we may assume that this dependent position became more
+strongly marked as the power of Media increased, and we may believe
+Herodotus that their soldiers joined in subjugating the other tribes of
+the table-land of Iran, and marched with the armies of the Medes to the
+wars which Cyaxares carried on in the East. The episode of Parsondes
+exhibits a Persian at the court, in the council, and in the army of the
+Median king; and the position of the Persians under the successors of
+Ach�menes, Teispes, and Cambyses, must have closely resembled the
+position of the other nations subject to the Median power. Cyaxares and
+his successor Astyages would have regarded Teispes and Cambyses merely
+as their viceroys over Persia, though they did not disturb the
+succession in the tribe of Ach�menes. If Darius still calls all his
+ancestors kings, and extends this title to his father, grandfather, and
+great-grandfather, who were not viceroys, that is merely the custom and
+view of the East; even under the great king, the King of kings, a vassal
+is still a king. The hereditary viceroys of Persia under the Arsacids,
+one and all, put the title "king" on their coins. When Papek, and
+Ardeshir after him, had taken their place, they call themselves kings;
+Ardeshir, the founder of the dominion of the Sassanids, designates
+himself as "king," "king of the divine stock," even before he has
+overthrown his own king, Artabanus, the Arsacid. As the youth of
+Ach�menes is ennobled in the older tradition, so later legends
+surrounded the life of the progenitor of the Sassanids with premonitory
+indications.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[505] Burnouf, "Commentaire sur le Ya�na," p. 251.
+
+[506] Arrian, "Ind." 38-40; Strabo, p. 727, 728, 738; Plin. "H. N." 6,
+26; cf. Ptol. 6, 4, 1.
+
+[507] "Bacch." 14-16.
+
+[508] Arrian, "Ind." 40.
+
+[509] Spiegel, "Eran," 2, 260.
+
+[510] Herod. 9, 122, 1, 171; Nicol. Damasc. fragm. 66, ed. M�ller;
+Xenophon, "Cyri instit." 6, 2, 22; 8, 8, 5-12; Plato, "Legg." p. 695;
+Strabo, p. 734.
+
+[511] Herod. 1, 125.
+
+[512] Strabo, p. 727.
+
+[513] Above, p. 270. Strabo, p. 728, 730; Ptol. 6, 4.
+
+[514] Arrian, "Ind." 40; Strabo, p. 727.
+
+[515] Aeschylus speaks of a Maraphis among the kings of the Persians,
+"Pers." 778.
+
+[516] Above, p. 282.
+
+[517] The place has the same name as the tribe; Pasargadae cannot in any
+case mean "Persian camp," as Anaximenes maintains in Stephanus. Oppert
+believes that he has discovered in the Pisiyauvada of the inscription of
+Behistun the original form of the name Pasargadae, which is the Greek
+form of the Persian word. Pisiyauvada (_paisi gauvuda_) means "valley of
+springs;" "Peuple des Medes," p. 110.
+
+[518] So Rawlinson and Spiegel. E. Schrader translates III. of the
+Babylonian version: "From old from the fathers we were kings." _Abutav_
+appears as a fact to leave no doubt about this sense. Oppert now
+translates _duvitataranam_ (IV. of the Persian text) by twice, _i.e._ in
+two epochs we were kings: "Rec. of the Past," 7, 88; but his previous
+translation, "in two tribes" (_i.e._ in the older and younger line), we
+were kings, exactly corresponds to the facts.
+
+[519] The list of the Ach�menids, which we obtain from a comparison of
+Herodotus (6, 11), and the inscription of Behistun 1, 3-8, is as
+follows:
+
+               Ach�menes (Hakhamanis).
+                          |
+                   Teispes (Khaispis).
+                          |
+           +--------------+-------------+
+           |                            |
+  (Kambujiya) Cambyses.     Ariamnes (Ariyaramna).
+           |                            |
+      (Kurus) Cyrus.           Arsames (Arsama).
+           |                            |
+  (Kambujiya) Cambyses.         Hystaspes (Vista�pa).
+                                        |
+                               Darius (Darayavus).
+
+[520] If Darius calls himself the ninth Ach�menid, Xerxes also in
+Herodotus enumerates nine Ach�menids as his predecessors, in which
+enumeration, it is true, Cambyses occurs but once, while Teispes is
+twice mentioned, once as the ancestor of the older line, and then as the
+ancestor of the younger. On a broken cylinder which has just been
+brought from Babylon by Rassam, the genealogy of Cyrus is said to be
+given thus: Ach�menes, Teispes, Cyrus, Cambyses, Cyrus,--so the journals
+tell us. In this the older line has one member more as against the
+younger. Till the cylinder is published we must keep to the inscription
+of Behistun and Herodotus.
+
+[521] Aelian, "Hist. Anim." 12, 21.
+
+[522] Cyrus is said to have been forty years old in 558 B.C., so that he
+must have been born in 598 B.C., from which it follows that his father
+Cambyses was born in 620 at the latest. Astyages was married in 610, and
+must therefore have been born about 630 B.C.
+
+[523] "Persae," 956-960.
+
+[524] Joseph. "Antiq." 11, 2; Herod. 3, 77; Plat. "Legg." p. 695.
+
+[525] Herod. 3, 84.
+
+[526] This highest rank of nobility is called _waspur_ in Pehlevi, and
+_bar bithan_ is Aramaic. The book of Esther mentions the seven princes
+of the Persians and Medes, "who may behold the countenance of the king
+and have the first place in the kingdom," i. 14. The names of the six
+who aided Darius in slaying Gaumata, as given in Herodotus, agree with
+the inscription of Behistun, with the exception of one name. Herodotus
+gives Aspathines for the Ardumanis of Darius. The list of Ctesias is
+wholly different. If we examine them more closely we find that Ctesias
+has given the names of the sons of the comrades of Darius for the
+comrades themselves. Instead of Gobryas he puts Mardonius the son of
+Gobryas, instead of Otanes Anaphes (so we must read the name Onophes);
+Anaphes, according to Herod. 7, 62, is the son of Otanes. The name
+Hydarnes agrees with the inscription and with Herodotus, but the son of
+Hydarnes had the same name as his father (Herod. 7, 83, 211). The
+Barisses of Ctesias must be the eldest son of Intaphernes whom Darius
+allowed to live; he was called after his grandfather, Vaya�para, as was
+often the case with the Persians. The Ariarathes, who afterwards
+governed Cappadocia, claimed to have sprung from Anaphes, whom Darius
+made satrap or king of Cappadocia. Anaphes was succeeded by a son of the
+same name; after him came Datames, Ariamnes, Ariarathes I., who governed
+Cappadocia at the time of Artaxerxes Ochus; his son Ariathes II.
+crucified Perdiccas in the year 322 B.C. when he had conquered him,
+though an old man of 82 years; Droysen, "Hellenismus," 2^2, 95. The
+Norondobates in Ctesias I cannot explain, unless we ought to read
+Rhodobates. Mithridates, who in Xenophon's time had been governor of
+Lycaonia from about 420 B.C., is called a son of Rhodobates (Diog.
+Laert. 3, 25), and his father and grandfather are said to have been
+viceroys of Pontus. The ancestor would be one of the seven, to whom the
+kingdom of Pontus was given for his services; Polyb. 5, 43. Mithridates
+Eupator calls himself the sixteenth after Darius; Appian, "Bell. Mith."
+c. 112; cf. Justin, 38, 7. These quotations will be sufficient to show
+that the rank of the six tribal princes of the Persians, like that of
+the chief princes, was originally hereditary, as the governorships left
+to their descendants outside Persia must have remained in their
+families.
+
+[527] p. 728, 729.
+
+[528] Strabo, p. 729, puts Pasargadae on the Cyrus. Stephanus ([Greek:
+Passargadai]) following Anaximenes of Lampsacus, represents Pasargadae
+as first built by Cyrus; so Curt. 5, 11: Cyrus Pasargadum urbem
+condiderat. It cannot be doubted that Cyrus built there, and Alexander,
+according to Arrian (3, 18), found there the treasures of Cyrus. Strabo
+also tells us that Cyrus built the city and citadel, p. 730. From the
+accounts of the march of Alexander from Persepolis to Pasargadae, and
+from his return from the Indus to Pasargadae and Persepolis, it is clear
+that Pasargadae lay to the east or south-east of Persepolis. If
+Pasargadae is placed at Murghab, the only reason is the statement that
+the grave of Cyrus was at Pasargadae, and this grave has been identified
+with the pyramid of Murghab, in the immediate proximity of which a
+relief exhibits the picture of Cyrus. But the portrait of Cyrus there is
+very different from the portrait of Darius and his successors on the
+tombs at Rachmed, and Naksh-i-Rustem; and the building at Murghab may
+have served another purpose. According to Pliny ("H. N." 6, 26, 29) we
+ought to look for Pasargadae to the south of Lake Bakhtegan, near Fasa,
+or Darabgerd; flumen Sitioganus, quo Pasargadas septimo die navigatur.
+Sitioganus is the modern Sitaragan. Ptolemy puts Pasargadae in the
+neighbourhood of Caramania, and Oppert therefore identifies it with the
+ruins of Tell-i-Zohak near Fasa, and looks for the mountain Paraga of
+the inscriptions in the modern Forg: "Journal Asiat." 1872, p. 549.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE FALL OF THE MEDIAN KINGDOM.
+
+
+"Cyaxares was succeeded by his son Astyages on the throne of the
+Medes"--such is the narrative of Herodotus--"and the latter had a
+daughter named Mandane. Once he saw his daughter in a dream, and water
+came from her in such quantities that all Asia was inundated. This
+vision Astyages laid before the interpreters of dreams, among the
+Magians, and their interpretation alarmed him. To guard against the
+event portended, he gave his daughter, who was already of marriageable
+age, to none of the Medes of suitable rank, but to a Persian of the name
+of Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, who was of a good family, but quiet in
+disposition; he regarded him as of less account than a Mede of the
+middle class. Mandane had not been married a year when Astyages had a
+second vision; from his daughter's womb there grew up a vine-tree which
+overshadowed all Asia. This dream also he laid before the interpreters,
+and caused his daughter, who was with child, to be brought from the land
+of the Persians and be kept under watch; his intention was to kill the
+child, which, as the Magians said, was destined to reign in his place.
+When Mandane bore a son, Astyages sent for Harpagus, a man akin to the
+royal household,[529] the most faithful of his servants, in whose care
+he trusted on all occasions, and bade him take Mandane's child to his
+house and there kill it, and bury it, in whatever way he chose. When the
+boy was given to him, dressed as if for a funeral, Harpagus went in
+tears to his house, told his wife the orders of Astyages, and declared
+that he would not be the perpetrator of this murder even though Astyages
+should lose his reason more utterly than at present, and fall into worse
+madness: 'the child is akin to me; Astyages is old and without male
+heirs, if the throne passes to the daughter, whose child he is now
+putting to death by my hands, I shall find myself in the greatest
+danger. Inasmuch as my present safety demands it the child must die. But
+the murder must be done by one of the people of Astyages, not by any one
+of mine.' Without delay he sent a messenger to one of the cowherds of
+the king, Mithradates by name, whose pastures lay on mountains to the
+north of Ecbatana, where wild beasts are numerous. When the herdman came
+he found the whole house of Harpagus filled with lamentation, and saw a
+struggling and screaming child adorned with gold and variegated robes,
+and Harpagus said to him: 'Astyages commands you to expose this child on
+the most desolate mountains, in order that it may die as quickly as
+possible.' The herdman believed that the child belonged to one of the
+household of Harpagus, and took it, but from the servant who accompanied
+him out of the city he ascertained that it was the child of Mandane and
+Cambyses. Returning to his hut, he found that his wife Spako (the Medes
+call a dog Spako) had just brought forth a dead child, and when she saw
+the well-grown and beautiful child which her husband showed her, she
+clasped his knees in tears, and entreated him not to expose it, but to
+take away her dead child in its place, and bring it up as her own
+son:[530] Thus doing you will not be guilty of wrong towards your
+master; the dead child will receive a splendid funeral, and the other
+will not lose his life. The herdman took his wife's advice, and did as
+she bade him. He placed his own dead child in the basket, put on him all
+the ornaments of the other, and placed him on the wildest mountain.
+Three days after he told Harpagus that he was ready to show him the
+corpse of the child. Harpagus sent the most trustworthy of his
+bodyguard, and buried the herdman's child. But the herdman's wife
+brought up the other child, and gave him some other name than Cyrus, by
+which he was afterwards called. When he was ten years old an incident
+happened which caused him to be known. He was playing with his comrades,
+in the village in which the herdman lived, in the street, and his
+playfellows had chosen him whom they considered the herdman's son to be
+king. He assigned to every one his work, and bade one build houses, and
+another to be a lance-bearer; one he made 'the king's eye,' and another
+'the bearer of his messages.' Among the boys who were playing with him
+was the son of Artembares, a man of high rank in Media. This boy failed
+to do what Cyrus ordered; and Cyrus bade the others take him, and
+whipped him severely. The boy hastened to the city and complained to his
+father of the treatment he had received from the son of the cowherd. His
+father took him to the king and showed his son's shoulders, and said:
+'This insult we have received from thy servant, the son of the cowherd.'
+Astyages summoned Mithradates and his son. When Astyages asked the
+latter how he dared so to insult the son of a man in such high favour
+with the king as Artembares, the lad maintained that he was right in
+acting as he did, but if he was to blame he was ready to bear the
+penalty. Astyages was surprised by the likeness of the boy to his own
+family, and the freedom of his reply. After applying the torture to
+Mithradates, he soon discovered the truth. He was more enraged at
+Harpagus than at Mithradates, but concealed his resentment. When
+Harpagus at his request had acknowledged what he had done, Astyages
+said: 'The boy was alive, and all that had been done was well. Let
+Harpagus send his own son to join the new-comer, and also come himself
+to the banquet.' As soon as the son of Harpagus, a boy of thirteen
+years, was in the palace, Astyages caused him to be slain, and the
+dismembered limbs were boiled and roasted, while the head, hands, and
+feet, were put in a covered basket. At the banquet Harpagus was served
+with the flesh of his own son, while the other guests ate the flesh of
+sheep. When Harpagus had eaten, Astyages inquired whether he had enjoyed
+the meal, and when he replied that he had enjoyed it greatly, the
+servants of the king brought him the basket, bade him uncover it and
+take what he would. Harpagus controlled himself, and said that whatever
+the king did was best. Then Astyages took counsel with the Magians who
+had interpreted the dreams: they were to consider everything, and give
+him the advice best for himself and his house. The Magians declared that
+they had it much at heart that the dominion of Astyages should continue;
+for if the throne passed to the boy who was a Persian, the Medes would
+be governed by others, 'but if thou remainest king we are rulers in our
+degree, and have great honour from thee.' But as the boy had already
+been king in the game, the dream was fulfilled; the king might send him
+back to Persia to his parents. Astyages did so. When Cyrus came to the
+house of Cambyses, his parents received him with great joy, when they
+found who he was, since they believed that he was already dead, and
+desired to know how he had been preserved. He told them that he had been
+supposed to be the son of the cowherd, but on the way he had ascertained
+everything from the convoy which Astyages had sent with him. He related
+how the wife of the herdman had brought him up, and praised her much,
+and Spako (the dog) was always on his lips. His parents seized on the
+name in order that the preservation of the boy might appear to be the
+work of the gods, and laid the foundation for the legend that a dog had
+suckled Cyrus when exposed."
+
+"When Cyrus came to manhood and was the bravest and best-beloved of his
+comrades, Harpagus sought to win him by presents with a view to
+vengeance on Astyages, for he regarded the injury done to Cyrus as no
+less than that done to himself. He had already prepared his revenge. As
+Astyages was severe towards the Medes, he had secretly persuaded the
+chief men among them, one by one, that an end must be put to the rule of
+Astyages, and that Cyrus must be raised to the throne. When this was
+done and all was ready, he wished to discover his views to Cyrus, who
+was then in Persia. As the roads were guarded, he invented the following
+stratagem: he prepared a hare by cutting open the belly without further
+injury to the skin, inserted a letter, and then again closed the
+opening. This hare he gave with some nets to the most faithful of his
+slaves, and sent him, as though he were a hunter, to Persia, with a
+command to take the hare to Cyrus, and at the same time to tell him that
+he must open it himself and let no one be present at the time. Cyrus
+opened the hare, and found written: 'Son of Cambyses, the gods regard
+thee with favour, or thou hadst not attained to such good fortune.
+Avenge thy death on Astyages, for dead thou art in his intention; it is
+through the gods and me that thou livest. Long ago thou hast learnt all
+that befell thee, and what I have suffered at the hands of the king
+because I did not slay thee, but gave thee to the cowherd. If thou wilt
+follow my counsel, thou shalt rule over all the land over which Astyages
+was ruler. Persuade the Persians to revolt, and march against Media, and
+if I or any other chief man among the Medes is appointed by Astyages to
+lead the army against thee, all will be as thou wilt. They will revolt
+from the king, and by passing over to thee attempt to dethrone him. All
+is ready here; act therefore, and act quickly.'
+
+"Cyrus considered in what way he could best persuade the Persians to
+revolt, and when he discovered what he believed to be the best plan, he
+wrote down his intentions in a letter and summoned an assembly of the
+Persians. In their presence he opened the letter, and read out, that
+Astyages had appointed him general of the Persians; then he added: 'I
+command that every one of you appear with a sickle.' And when they were
+all assembled, furnished with sickles, Cyrus bade them clear a bushy
+tract of land about twenty stades in length and breadth, and make it fit
+for cultivation in a single day. When they had done this, he bade them
+assemble on the next day; every one was to come bathed. Then he caused
+all the goats, sheep, and oxen of his father to be got together,
+slaughtered and dressed, and prepared in addition wine and other
+excellent food, and entertained the whole of the Persians in a meadow;
+after the meal he asked them which they preferred, the entertainment of
+that day, or the work of the day before? They replied that the
+difference was great: yesterday they had nothing that was good, to-day
+nothing that was bad. Cyrus took up this reply, and discovered his aims,
+saying: 'O Persians, thus it is with you. If ye will follow me, ye shall
+have these blessings and many others, without any service; if ye will
+not, ye will have troubles without number like those of yesterday.
+Follow me, and ye will be free. I believe that I was born by the favour
+of heaven to take this work in hand, and I do not count you as less than
+the Medes, in war or any other service. Since this is so, revolt at once
+from Astyages.' The Persians were quite ready to liberate themselves;
+they only required a leader, and had long borne the yoke of the Medes
+with dissatisfaction."
+
+"When Astyages found what Cyrus had done, he summoned him into his
+presence by a messenger. Cyrus bade the messenger reply that he would
+come before Astyages wished. Then the king armed all the Medes, and, as
+though blinded by the gods, he named Harpagus as general, entirely
+forgetting the injury he had done to him. When the Medes and Persians
+met, some of the Medes, who were not in the conspiracy fought, but the
+greater part made no resistance and fled. Thus the Median army was
+shamefully put to rout. But Astyages threatened Cyrus and said, that
+even so he should not accomplish his purpose. The interpreters of dreams
+among the magicians who had advised him to let Cyrus go he impaled, and
+then armed all who had remained in the city, young and old, and led them
+out. He was defeated, lost those whom he commanded, and was himself
+taken captive. Harpagus spoke harsh words to him, and asked how he liked
+slavery instead of monarchy with reference to that banquet. Astyages
+replied by asking, whether the insurrection was his own work or that of
+Cyrus. Harpagus answered that he had written the letter, and the
+insurrection was therefore his doing. Then Astyages said that he was the
+most foolish and unjust of men; the most foolish because when he might
+have been king, if what had been done had been his doing, he had given
+up his power to another; the most unjust because in revenge for that
+banquet he had brought the Medes into slavery; if the throne must pass
+to another it would be more just that it should go to a Mede than a
+Persian, but now the innocent Medes were slaves instead of masters, and
+the Persians, who had previously been the servants of the Medes, were
+their masters. Thus Astyages lost the throne, after a reign of
+thirty-five years, and in consequence of his cruelty the Medes became
+subject to the Persians. Cyrus did no injury to Astyages, but kept him
+with him till his death."
+
+In the Persian history of Ctesias the narrative of the fall of Astyages
+occupied more than one book. But we only know that it contradicted the
+story of Herodotus, that the daughter of Astyages was not called Mandane
+but Amytis, that she was married to the Median Spitamas, not to the
+Persian Cambyses, and that it was not the Median Harpagus but the
+Persian Oebares who was Cyrus' counsellor.[531] The loss of these books
+of Ctesias is compensated by a fragment of Nicolaus of Damascus, which
+seems to give the narrative in a compressed form. It is only in a few
+unimportant points at the close that the fragment differs from the
+excerpt of Ctesias which has come down to us.
+
+"Astyages," so we are told in Nicolaus, "was the noblest king of the
+Medes after Arbaces. In his reign occurred the great revolution by which
+the dominion passed from the Medes to the Persians; and the cause was as
+follows:--It was a law among the Medes that a poor man who went to a
+rich man to gain a livelihood, and gave himself up to him, should be fed
+and clothed and kept as a slave; if the rich man did not do his duty in
+this respect, the poor man might go on to another. In this way a boy
+named Cyrus, a Mardian by birth, came to the servant of the king who was
+placed over the sweepers of the palace. He was the son of Atradates,
+whose poverty forced him to live by plunder, and Argoste his mother
+lived by keeping goats. He gave himself up to the servant for bread, and
+assisted in cleaning the palace, and as he was industrious the overseer
+gave him better clothing, and brought him from among those who swept
+outside to those who cleaned the interior, and put him under their
+overseer. This man was severe, and often whipped Cyrus. Cyrus left him,
+and went to the lighter of the lamps, who showed him kindness, and
+brought him nearer to the king by placing him among those who bore the
+lights. As Cyrus distinguished himself there also, he came to
+Artembares, the chief butler, who gave the king his wine. He gladly
+received Cyrus, and allowed him to wait on those who ate at the king's
+table. Ere long Astyages remarked how deftly Cyrus waited, and with what
+a stately air he handed the goblets, and asked Artembares whence the
+youth came who waited so well. 'O king,' he replied, 'he is thy slave, a
+Persian by race, of the tribe of the Mardians, who has given himself
+over to me in order to gain a livelihood.' Artembares was old, and once,
+when suffering from a fever, he entreated the king to be allowed to
+remain at home till he was cured; 'in my place the youth, whom thou
+didst praise, will hand the wine, and if he find favour in thy eyes as
+cupbearer, then will I, a eunuch, adopt him as my son.' Astyages
+consented, and Artembares gave much advice to Cyrus, as if to his own
+son. Cyrus now stood at the side of the king, and served him by day and
+by night, and showed much good sense and skill. And Astyages allowed him
+as the son of Artembares to receive his income, and gave him many gifts
+in addition, and Cyrus became great, and his name was heard everywhere."
+
+"Astyages had a very noble and beautiful daughter, whom he gave to
+Spitamas the Mede, adding the whole of Media as a dowry. Then Cyrus
+caused his father and mother to come from the land of the Medians, and
+they rejoiced at the greatness of their son, and his mother told him the
+dream which she had while he was yet an unborn child. She had fallen
+asleep in the sanctuary when tending her goats, and in her dream water
+flowed from her in such quantities that it became a great stream, and
+inundated all Asia, and flowed down to the sea. When the father heard
+this, he ordered the dream to be laid before the Chald�ans in Babylon.
+Cyrus sent for the most skilful of them and laid the dream before him.
+He declared that the dream portended great good fortune for Cyrus, and
+the highest place in Asia; Astyages was to know nothing of it,
+'otherwise he will put you to death in some shameful manner, and me
+also,' the Babylonian said. They mutually swore to impart to no one this
+great and unparalleled vision. Cyrus afterwards came to yet greater
+honours, and made his father satrap of Persia, and his mother one of the
+first among the women in Persia in wealth and position."
+
+"The Cadusians were at enmity with Astyages. Their leader was
+Onaphernes, who was a traitor to his people in the interests of
+Astyages, and he despatched a messenger saying, that he must send a
+trusty person with whom to confer about the surrender. Astyages sent
+Cyrus to arrange everything with Onaphernes, bidding him be back again
+in Ecbatana on the fortieth day. The interpreter of dreams urged Cyrus
+to go to the Cadusians, and filled him with confidence. Cyrus, who was
+of a noble and ambitious nature, intended, with the help of heaven, to
+bring the Persians to revolt, to attempt the overthrow of Astyages, and
+place confidence in the Babylonian, who was better acquainted than
+others with the will of heaven. They consulted with each other; the
+Babylonian told Cyrus that it was destined that he should overthrow
+Astyages and his dominion, he knew this for certain; and Cyrus promised
+the Babylonian that if this turned out to be true and he became king, he
+would make him a great reward. Cyrus remembered how Arbaces had
+previously overthrown Sardanapalus, and obtained his dominion, and yet
+the Medes, by whom he was supported, were not stronger than the
+Persians. Arbaces was not stronger than himself, and to him, as to the
+other, his fortune had been foretold. With such thoughts Cyrus passed
+the boundaries of the land of the Cadusians. Here he was met by a man
+who had been whipped, and carried dung in a basket. Cyrus took this for
+a sign, and inquired of the Babylonian, who told him to ask the man who
+he was and whence he came. The man replied that he was a Persian of the
+name of Oebares. Then Cyrus was greatly pleased; for Oebares signifies
+one who brings good news. And the Babylonian told Cyrus that the other
+signs were most favourable--both that he was a countryman of Cyrus, and
+that he was carrying horse-dung, which portended dominion and power.
+Cyrus without delay took the man with him."
+
+"Then he came to Onaphernes, and when the treachery had been arranged by
+mutual concessions, he set out on the way back to Persia. He had given
+Oebares a horse and Persian clothing, and being convinced of his
+friendly disposition he often conversed with him. Once he said: 'How
+hard it is to see the Persians ill-treated by the Medes, and yet they
+are as good as they!' 'O Cyrus,' replied the other, 'there is no
+great-hearted, high-minded man, to put an end to the dominion of the
+Medes over better men than themselves.' 'Why should there not be such a
+man?' asked Cyrus. 'Perhaps there is such an one,' Oebares replied, 'but
+want of courage does not allow him to do it, though he could.' Cyrus
+pushed his questions further: 'If such a venturesome man should appear,
+how might he accomplish his aim?' 'The first step,' Oebares answered,
+'would be to unite with the Cadusians, who would be willing to join him,
+for they love the Persians, and hate the Medes; then he must rouse the
+Persians, who are about 40,000 in number, and arm them; their treatment
+by the Medes will prepare them for this. Their land also is most
+suitable, being full of mountains and rocks, and even if the Medes
+should invade it, they will be driven back with loss.' Then Cyrus asked:
+'Suppose that this man should appear, would you join in the danger with
+him?' Oebares replied: 'Most readily, if you were the man to take the
+matter in hand; your father is the ruler of Persia, so that you have
+the best place of refuge, and are the strongest. If not you, who is it
+to be?' As Cyrus saw from this that Oebares was a cautious and brave
+man, who placed all his hopes in him, he revealed his plan and consulted
+him. Oebares encouraged him, and gave him good counsel to guide him. He
+urged Cyrus to send to his father Atradates and entreat him to arm the
+Persians, apparently to aid the king against the Cadusians, but in truth
+to revolt against Astyages; then he must ask Astyages for permission to
+visit Persia for some days, in order to offer the sacrifice which he had
+vowed for the safety of the king, and at the same time for his father
+who was sick. If he obtained his request he must set manfully to work;
+when a man ventures in a great enterprise it is no hardship to venture
+his life, and if need be to lose it, for this happens even to those who
+do nothing. Cyrus was pleased at the man's resolute frame of mind, and
+now told him his mother's dream and the interpretation of the
+Babylonian. Oebares then inflamed his spirit yet more, but cunning as he
+was, he bade him take care that the Babylonian did not tell the dream to
+the king--'if you will not permit his death, which would be the safest
+thing.' 'That be far from me,' said Cyrus. Filled with alarm that the
+Babylonian would betray the dream to Astyages, Oebares gave out that
+according to ancestral custom he would offer sacrifice to the goddess of
+the moon at night, and obtained of Cyrus all that he required for the
+purpose--incense, wine, and pillows--and arranged that Cyrus should take
+no part in the sacrifice. In his tent he dug a deep trench, put thick
+pillows over it, and invited the Babylonian to a banquet, and made him
+intoxicated. When he sank down on the pillows, he threw him into the
+trench, and his servants with him. In the morning, Oebares went quietly
+on with Cyrus, who soon inquired for the Babylonian. Oebares
+acknowledged what he had done; he could find no other way of escape for
+Cyrus and his children. Cyrus was deeply distressed, and even more
+angry, and would not see Oebares any more, but at length he again placed
+his confidence in him."
+
+"When Cyrus was again with Astyages, Oebares reminded him of his advice.
+Cyrus followed it, sent to Persia, and when he found that all was ready,
+asked Astyages, under the pretext that Oebares had suggested, for
+permission to go to Persia. The king would not let him go. Then Cyrus
+betook himself to the most trusty of the eunuchs; when a favourable
+moment came, he was to obtain permission for the journey to Persia. One
+day when Cyrus found the king in the best of humours and cheered with
+wine, he gave the eunuch a sign, and the latter said to the king: 'Cyrus
+asks to perform the sacrifice, which he has vowed for thee in Persia,
+that thou mightest continue gracious to him, and for permission to visit
+his sick father.' The king called for Cyrus, and with a smile, gave him
+permission of absence for five months; in the sixth month he was to
+return. Cyrus bowed in gratitude before the king, appointed Tiridates as
+butler to the king during his absence, and early on the next morning he
+set out to Persia."
+
+"In vain had the wife of the slain Babylonian waited for his return to
+Ecbatana; Oebares told her that robbers had killed him. Then she became
+the wife of the brother of her husband, and when she heard that Cyrus
+had gone to Persia, she remembered that her first husband had once
+confided to her the dream of the mother of Cyrus, and its
+interpretation. She related this to her husband, who at once went to
+Astyages, told him all, and added that Cyrus had obviously gone to
+Persia with a view of preparing for the execution of that which the
+dream had portended. The king was seized with great anxiety, and the
+Babylonian advised him to put Cyrus to death as soon as he returned.
+Towards evening Astyages caused his concubines to dance and play before
+him while drinking wine. One of the players sang: 'The lion has let the
+boar which he had in his power go forth to the pasture. There he will
+become strong and give great trouble to the lion, and at length he, the
+weaker, will overcome the stronger.' Astyages applied this song to
+himself and Cyrus, and on the spot sent 300 horsemen to bring him back;
+if he would not obey they were to cut off his head and bring that. When
+the horsemen brought to Cyrus the commands of Astyages, he answered
+cunningly, perhaps on the advice of Oebares: 'Why should I not return as
+my lord summons me? To-day we will feast; to-morrow morning we will set
+out.' This met with their approval. After the manner of the Persians,
+Cyrus caused many oxen and other animals to be slain in sacrifice,
+feasted the horsemen, and made them intoxicated; at the same time he
+sent a message to his father to send at once 1000 cavalry and 5000
+foot-soldiers to the city of Hyrba which lay on the way, and to arm the
+rest of the Persians as quickly as possible in such a way that it should
+seem to be done by command of the king. His true aims he did not
+communicate to him. In the night he and Oebares took horse, just as they
+were, hastened to Hyrba, armed the inhabitants, and drew out those whom
+Atradates had sent in order for battle. When the horsemen of Astyages
+had slept off their debauch on the following morning, and found that
+Cyrus had disappeared, they pursued him and came to Hyrba. Here Cyrus
+first displayed his bravery, for with his Persians he slew 250 of the
+horse of Astyages. The remainder escaped, and brought the news to
+Astyages. 'Woe is me!' cried the king striking his thigh, 'that I, well
+knowing that we should not do good to the evil, have allowed myself to
+be carried away by clever speeches, and have raised up this Mardian to
+be such a mischief to me. Still, he shall not succeed.' He called his
+generals and bade them assemble the army, and led out against the
+Persians nearly 1,000,000 foot-soldiers, 200,000 horse, and 3000
+chariots."
+
+"Meanwhile the army under Atradates, who was now fully instructed, was
+collected: 300,000 infantry, 50,000 horse, and 100 chariots. Cyrus
+encouraged the Persians, and Oebares seized the passes of the mountain
+and the heights, built lines, and brought the people from the open
+cities into such as were well fortified. Astyages burned down the
+abandoned cities, summoned Atradates and Cyrus to submission, and
+taunted them with their former beggary. Cyrus replied that Astyages did
+not recognise the power of the gods, which forced them, goat-herds as
+they were, to accomplish what was destined to be done. As he had done
+them kindness, they bade him lead back the Medes, and give their freedom
+to the Persians who were better than the Medes. Thus it came to a
+battle. Astyages, surrounded by 20,000 of his body-guard, looked on:
+among the Persians Atradates had the right, and Oebares the left, wing;
+Cyrus, surrounded by the bravest warriors, was in the centre. The
+Persians defended themselves bravely, and slew many of the Medes, so
+that Astyages cried out on his throne: 'How bravely these
+"terebinth-eaters" fight!' But at length the Persians were overpowered
+by numbers, and driven into the city before which they fought. Cyrus
+and Oebares advised to send the women and children to Pasargadae, which
+is the loftiest mountain, and renew the battle on the next day: 'If we
+are defeated we must all die, and if that must be so it is better to
+fall in victory and for the freedom of our country.' Then all were
+filled with hatred and anger against the Medes, and when the morning
+came and the gates were opened, all marched out; Atradates alone
+remained with the old men in the city to defend the walls. But while
+Cyrus and Oebares were fighting in the field, Astyages caused 100,000
+men to go round and attack the Persian army in the rear. The attack
+succeeded. Atradates fell covered with wounds into the hands of the
+Medes. Astyages said to him: 'An excellent satrap are you; is it thus
+that you thank me, you and your son, for what I have done for you?'
+Atradates, almost at the last gasp, replied: 'I know not, O king, what
+deity has roused this frenzy in my son; put me not to the torture, I
+shall soon die.' Astyages had compassion on him and said: 'I will not
+put you to the torture; I know that if your son had followed your
+advice, he would not have done such things.' Atradates died, and
+Astyages gave him an honourable burial. Meanwhile Cyrus and Oebares
+after a brave struggle had been compelled to retire to Pasargadae. The
+mountain was very high and with steep sides, and the way to it led
+through narrow passes, which were here and there overtopped by high
+walls of rock. Oebares defended the passes with 10,000 heavy-armed men.
+As it was impossible to force a way through, Astyages gave command that
+100,000 men should go round the mountain, and seek for a pass there and
+climb the mountain. This movement compelled Cyrus and Oebares to seek
+shelter during the night on a lower hill for the army, together with
+the women and children. Astyages followed quickly, and his army was
+already between the two mountains, and bravely attacked that held by the
+Persians, the approach to which, lying through deep gorges, thick oak
+forests, and wild olive trees, was very difficult. The Persians fought
+still more bravely; in one place Cyrus dashed forward, and in another
+Oebares, who urged them not to let their wives, mothers, and old men be
+massacred and tortured by the Medes. So they rushed down with a cry, and
+when their javelins failed, they threw down stones in great numbers. The
+Medes were driven back, and Cyrus chanced to come to the house in which
+he once lived with his father as a boy, when he pastured goats. He
+kindled a fire of cypress and laurel-wood, and offered the sacrifice of
+the man who is distressed and in desperate circumstances. Then followed
+thunder and lightning, and when Cyrus sank down in prayer, birds of good
+omen settled on the roof, as a sign that he would again reach
+Pasargadae. So the Persians remained for the night on the mountain, and
+when on the following morning the Medes renewed the attack, they fought
+yet more bravely, relying on the happy omens. But Astyages placed 50,000
+men at the foot of the mountain behind those who were attacking, and
+bade them slay all who came down. Thus pressed, the Medes fought more
+zealously than on the previous day, and the Persians retired to the top
+of the mountain on which were their women and children. These ran to
+meet the fugitives, and cried out to them, 'Cowards, whither would ye
+fly, will ye creep back into the bosoms that bore you?' Seized with
+shame, the Persians turned, and in one onslaught drove the Medes down
+the mountain, and slew sixty thousand of them."
+
+"But Astyages did not retire from the siege of the mountain. Cyrus had
+still need of much cunning and bravery before he succeeded in defeating
+Astyages and taking the camp of the Medes. On that day, Cyrus went into
+the tent of Astyages, seated himself on his throne, and took the sceptre
+amid the acclamations of the Persians; and Oebares put the king's
+kidaris on his head with the words: 'Thou art more worthy to bear it;
+the gods give it to thee for thy virtue, and grant the Persians to rule
+over the Medes.' The treasures of Astyages, which the Persians found in
+the camp of the Medes, were brought to Pasargadae under the care of
+Oebares; but even those which they found in the tents of the other Medes
+were enormous. It was not long before the intelligence of the defeat and
+flight of Astyages spread abroad, and nations as well as individuals
+deserted him. First of all Artasyras, the chief of the Hyrcanians, came,
+with 50,000 men, and recognised Cyrus as king; afterwards came the
+chiefs of the Parthians, Sac�, Bactrians, and other nations, each
+seeking to arrive before the other. Only a few faithful men remained
+with Astyages, and when Cyrus marched against him he was easily
+overcome. Then Cyrus gained possession of Ecbatana. There the daughter
+of Astyages and her husband Spitamas were taken captive with their two
+sons. But Astyages could not be found; Amytis and Spitamas had hidden
+him in the palace in the woodwork of the roof. Then Cyrus commanded that
+Amytis, her husband, and her children should be tortured that they might
+confess where Astyages was, but he came forward of his own will to
+prevent the torture. Spitamas was beheaded, because he had lied, and
+said that he did not know the hiding-place of Astyages; Amytis Cyrus
+took for his wife. He loosed from Astyages the heavy chains which
+Oebares had put upon him, honoured him as a father, and made him satrap
+of the Barcanians."[532]
+
+According to Deinon, who wrote in the first half of the fourth century
+B.C., Cyrus was first governor of the staff-bearers of Astyages, and
+then of his body-guard. In a dream he had thrice seen the sun at his
+feet, and thrice stretched out his arms to grasp it, and the magicians
+had interpreted this dream to the effect that he would reign for thrice
+ten years. When Astyages had given Cyrus leave to go to Persia, and he
+had availed himself of it, the king sent for Angares, the most famous of
+the Median minstrels, in order to sing before him and his company at the
+banquet. After reciting the usual songs, Angares at last said: "The
+great beast of prey, more mighty than a wild boar, is let loose in the
+swamps; when he is master of his land, he will with ease fight against
+many." And when Astyages asked, "What wild beast is this?" Angares
+answered: "Cyrus the Persian." Then Astyages, regarding the suspicion as
+well-founded, sent to fetch Cyrus back, but failed to recover him.[533]
+
+The narrative of Pompeius Trogus has been preserved in excerpts only.
+Astyages had a daughter, but no male heirs. From her bosom, he saw, in a
+dream, a vine growing, of which the branches overshadowed all Asia. The
+interpreters of dreams declared that this vision portended the greatness
+of the grandson whom his daughter would bring forth, but it also
+involved the loss of the empire to him. To be rid of this fear, Astyages
+had not given his daughter to any eminent man, nor even to a Mede--that
+there might not be rank on the father's side as well as on the mother's,
+to excite the ambition of his grandson--but to Cambyses, a man of middle
+station, in the then unknown nation of the Persians. Even this did not
+remove the alarm of Astyages; when his daughter was pregnant he sent for
+her in order to have her child put to death before his eyes. When a boy
+was born he gave him to Harpagus, his trusted friend, to be put to
+death. But Harpagus, fearing that the daughter of Astyages if she should
+come to the throne would avenge on him the death of her son, gave the
+child to the herdman of the king, and bade him expose it. The herdman
+obeyed, but when his wife heard of the matter, she urged her husband to
+fetch the child and show it to her. Wearied by her entreaties, the
+herdman went back into the forest, and there found a dog beside the
+child, suckling it, and defending it from the beasts of prey. He took it
+up and carried it to his fold, while the dog followed in much distress.
+When the herdman's wife took it in her arms, the child smiled on her as
+though it had known her, and it was so full of life and sweet smiles
+that the woman induced her husband to expose her own child in place of
+the grandson of the king. After this the excerpt goes on to relate, like
+Herodotus, the game of the boys, the answer of Cyrus, the revenge of
+Astyages on Harpagus, the letter in the hare's belly, in which Harpagus
+imparts to Cyrus his plan for the desertion of the Medes to the
+Persians. When Cyrus had received and read this letter in Persepolis, a
+dream also urged the enterprise upon him, but at the same time bade him
+take as his associate the man whom he met first on the following day.
+Next day, before dawn, Cyrus went on a journey, and met a slave of the
+name of Oebares, belonging to the house of a Mede. When Cyrus found that
+he was a Persian by birth, he took his chains off and turned back with
+him to Persepolis. Cyrus then assembled the Persians. On the first day
+he made them cut down a wood on the way, and on the second he
+entertained them. Astyages sends Harpagus against them, and he passes
+over to their side with the army entrusted to him. Astyages now marches
+out in person, after summoning all his forces, against Persia. The
+struggle was severe. Astyages placed a portion of his army in the rear
+of his forces, and told the latter that they must try whether they could
+not break through the ranks of the enemy in battle more easily than
+through the ranks behind them in flight. The Medes attacked with great
+spirit; the Persians were forced back to their wives and children, by
+whom they were again driven into the battle with the cry: Would they fly
+for refuge into the bosoms of their mothers and wives? They put the
+Medes to flight. Here the excerpt of Justin breaks off, though he
+represents Astyages as having been taken prisoner in this battle after
+the rout. Cyrus merely took the government from him; he treated him as
+his grandfather, and made him satrap of the Hyrcanians; Oebares he made
+ruler of Persia, and gave him his sister in marriage.[534]
+
+Polyaenus repeats the narrative of Herodotus about the manner in which
+Cyrus induced the Persians to revolt. Then followed a war between the
+Medes and Persians, and Cyrus was three times defeated. As the women and
+children of the Persians were at Pasargadae, Cyrus was compelled to risk
+another battle in the neighbourhood of this place. The Persians were
+again put to flight; Oebares was retreating when the women met the
+fugitives, with the cry already quoted. The Persians halted; and as the
+Medes were pursuing without order, the Persians gained such a victory
+that no further battle was needed to decide the question of the
+throne.[535] Anaximenes of Lampsacus also relates that Cyrus had built
+Pasargadae at the place where he had overcome Astyages in battle. Strabo
+tells us: "Cyrus held Pasargadae in honour, for it was there that he
+conquered Astyages in the final battle, and became ruler of all Asia in
+his place, and he built a city and a palace in remembrance of the
+victory."[536] Plutarch tells us: When Cyrus revolted from Astyages and
+the Medes he was three times conquered in battle, and when the Persians
+fled into the city, the enemy had almost succeeded in forcing an
+entrance with them, when the women came out to meet them. The cry of the
+women brought about a change in the battle, and for this reason Cyrus
+made a law that as often as the king came into the city of Pasargadae,
+every woman should receive a piece of gold. Ochus marched past the city
+to evade the law; but Alexander twice entered Pasargadae, and gave
+double to all the women that were with child.[537] In all these
+narratives the land of the Persians is the scene of the decisive
+conflict.
+
+Only a few short fragments remain of the account given by Diodorus of
+the overthrow of Astyages. With him Cyrus is the son of Mandane, the
+daughter of Astyages, and Cambyses. His father brought him up as a king,
+and inflamed him with a desire for the mightiest achievements. As a
+young man he displayed a capacity in advance of his years, and clearly
+showed that he would undertake the most important enterprises. He was
+the first man of his time in bravery, wisdom, and all other virtues.
+Another fragment obviously comes after the defeat, which, according to
+Nicolaus, Astyages suffered in the final battle at Pasargadae. When
+defeated, Astyages, though he had himself disgracefully turned and fled,
+showed ferocious anger against his army. He deposed all the commanders
+and elected others in their place. Those who were to blame for the
+flight, he executed one and all, thinking that he should thus compel the
+others to show themselves brave men in danger. "For he was cruel and
+harsh in character. But he did not terrify the multitude by this
+severity; on the other hand, by the exasperation which such violence and
+caprice excited in every one, he roused them to a desire for revolution
+and deposition. The troops met in their divisions; treasonable speeches
+were uttered, and the majority urged each other to vengeance."[538]
+
+Xenophon, it is true, has not written a history of Cyrus, but has given
+a description of his life from his knowledge of the Persian life and
+character, and the conclusions he deduced therefrom, as to the possible
+origin of the empire, in order to explain and realise to the Greeks the
+difficulty which they found it so hard to solve--the manner in which
+great nations could form one community and be governed by one person.
+With him Cyrus is the son of Cambyses, who is the king of the Persians,
+and Mandane the daughter of Astyages of Media, whom Xenophon represents
+as reigning before Cyaxares. When Cyrus was twelve years of age, his
+mother went with him to Media, in order to show him to his grandfather,
+whom the boy astonished by his apt answers. At the age of sixteen, Cyrus
+performs his first deeds of arms. When Astyages died, he was succeeded
+on the throne by his son Cyaxares, the brother of Mandane. He entreats
+Cambyses to aid him against the Assyrians; Cambyses sends Cyrus, by
+whose services the Medes are defeated. After this he conquered the
+Lydians, who had come to aid the Assyrians against the Medes, and took
+Babylon; and his uncle Cyaxares, whom Xenophon does not describe as a
+pattern ruler, gives him his daughter in marriage, and Media as a dowry,
+for he was without male children. Cambyses and Mandane assented to this
+arrangement. After the death of Cambyses, Cyrus became king of Persia,
+and on the death of Cyaxares, Media also became his.
+
+The Armenians also narrate the fall of Astyages. Moses of Chorene (I.
+513) tells us that he only related the stories of the Persians to please
+his patron Sahak (Isaac) Bagratuni, and gave them a meaning which they
+did not possess. Biurasp Asdahag lived at the time of Nimrod, and the
+person whom the Persians in their stories call the child of Satan,
+served him; and with regard to the dragon, or the changing of Asdahag
+into a dragon, the truth was that he sacrificed men in infinite numbers
+to the dragon, till the multitude grew weary, overpowered him, and threw
+him into a trench filled with bitumen. Moses further tells us: The ninth
+descendant of Baroir of Armenia (I. 515), King Tigran, was the
+mightiest of all the princes of Armenia, and helped Cyrus to overthrow
+the kingdom of the Medes. Tigran was pledged by treaties to Asdahag
+(Astyages) the king of the Medians, and when he united with Cyrus,
+Astyages had an evil dream. He saw a high mountain surrounded by snow
+and ice, as in the land of the son of Haikhs (I. 513). On the summit of
+the mountain, a woman in purple, covered with a sky-blue veil, brought
+forth three heroes at once: one, carried on a lion, dashed toward the
+west; the second, on a leopard, to the north; the third, on a monstrous
+dragon, to Media. With this Asdahag fought in the dream: they shed a sea
+of blood, and pierced each other with their lances. Asdahag explained
+this dream to mean that he had to expect an attack from Tigran, the king
+of Armenia. To prevent this, and secretly to destroy Tigran, Asdahag
+sought Tigran's sister, Tigranuhi, in marriage, obtained her, and held
+her in great honour. Then he asked for a meeting with Tigran. But
+Tigranuhi had perceived the duplicity of Asdahag, and warned her
+brother. He collected the best warriors of great and little Armenia, and
+marched against the Medes. The war continued for four months, till
+Tigran in a hand-to-hand conflict pierced the iron armour of Asdahag
+with his lance. The death of Asdahag put an end to the battle and the
+war, and Tigran led his sister back to Armenia, where she became the
+ancestress of the race of Osdan. Anuish (Aryanis), the first wife of
+Astyages, and a number of young princesses and boys, more than 10,000 in
+all, Tigranes brought to Armenia, and settled there to the east of the
+great mountain, towards the land of Koghten, in the plain of Ajtnayan,
+as far as Nakhjevan. In the songs of the people of Koghten, the
+descendants of Astyages are spoken of in an allegorical manner, as the
+descendants of the dragon; for Astyages (Asdahag) in our language means
+the dragon.[539] As has been shown, the Armenians were closely allied to
+the people of Iran in language, character, and religious worship. It
+cannot therefore astonish us that the legends of Iran are known to them.
+What Moses tells us of Biurasp Asdahag and his serpents rests on the
+myth in the Avesta of the serpent Azhi dahaka, the Zohak of the later
+form of Iranian legend (p. 250). The epithet which Moses gives to
+Asdahag, Biurasp, is also of Iranian origin; Baevara�pa means the lord
+of 10,000 horses. That the descendants of Astyages are spoken of in the
+national legend of Armenia as the descendants of the dragon, shows that
+the Armenians had confounded Astyages of Media with Azhi dahaka or
+Zohak. The Armenians can only claim as their own the legend of King
+Tigran, who overcomes and slays Asdahag of Media. They ascribe to their
+princes the overthrow of the Medes. As already remarked, the Armenian
+legend of Tigran must come down from an early date. Xenophon makes
+Tigran the son of the king of Armenia, the most faithful helper and
+associate of Cyrus.[540]
+
+Leaving out of sight the romance of Xenophon, and the Armenian
+tradition, which involve special hypotheses, the accounts in the West of
+the fall of Astyages go back to two distinct versions, one of which we
+have in the narrative of Herodotus, the other in the narrative of
+Ctesias-Nicolaus, which is presupposed in Deinon and Polyaenus. In
+Trogus we have a third version, which combines the two. So far as
+Justin's excerpt allows us to form an opinion, this version, and the
+fragments of Diodorus, are based upon the Persian history of Deinon. The
+introduction is distinguished from the account of Herodotus by the fact
+that only one dream of Astyages is mentioned; that Cyrus is already
+exposed, and a dog is suckling him before the herdsman's wife, whose
+name was "dog," brings him up; then follows the story of Herodotus,
+including the letter, which Harpagus sends to Cyrus in the hare's belly.
+At this point Trogus passes into the account of Nicolaus; he represents
+Cyrus as receiving in a dream the exhortation to rise against Astyages,
+and to take the first man he meets as his associate. Cyrus meets
+Oebares, though not, it is true, on the borders of the Cadusians. The
+place of the horsemen, who in Nicolaus are first sent by Astyages, is
+taken in Trogus by the march of Harpagus, and his desertion to Cyrus;
+then follows the narrative of the war, which in the most essential
+traits agrees with the version of Ctesias-Nicolaus. From Deinon's
+fragments we shall add to the excerpt from Trogus, that Cyrus before his
+rebellion had served at the court of Astyages as overseer of the
+staff-bearers, and then of the body-guard; that Astyages was warned by
+Angares; and, finally, the defection of the Medes after the battle of
+Pasargadae, as given in the fragments of Diodorus.
+
+The detail and liveliness of the traits in the accounts of Herodotus and
+Ctesias-Nicolaus, in the fragment of Deinon, and the narrative of
+Trogus--the warnings and portents--the dialogues and speeches of the
+action--the letter:--all these point to poetical sources. We found that
+the accounts of Ctesias of the foundation, rise, and fall of Assyria,
+and of the rise of Media, were based upon poems, and here also, beyond
+doubt, poetic traditions form the groundwork. Herodotus, at the
+beginning of his narrative, tells us: "I write these matters from the
+accounts given by some of the Persians, who do not exaggerate the life
+of Cyrus, but wish to narrate the order of events; I am aware that three
+other different accounts of the life of Cyrus are in existence."[541]
+Xenophon tells us that Cyrus "is even now the theme of song among the
+barbarians."[542] In Deinon's fragment it is Angares, the most famous of
+the Median minstrels, who, while singing at the table of Astyages, warns
+him in a poetical figure against Cyrus (p. 354); in the account of
+Nicolaus it is one of the singing women, from whom, at the same time and
+in a similar figure, this warning comes. At the court of the Sassanids
+there were singing women who sang to the kings the achievements of old
+days. Ibn-al-Hareth brought women of this kind from the court of Chosru
+Nushirvan to the Koreishites, and they sang the deeds of Rustem.[543]
+According to these statements and indications we may regard it as
+certain that the elevation of Cyrus and the fall of Astyages was
+celebrated in song among the Persians and Medes. In spite of the
+differences between the three narratives, certain traits are common to
+all. In all dreams announce the future greatness of Cyrus; in Herodotus
+these appear to Astyages; in Nicolaus, to the mother of Cyrus; in Deinon
+and Trogus, to Cyrus also. In Herodotus Cambyses is rich in flocks, in
+Nicolaus the mother of Cyrus tends goats; in Herodotus Cambyses is of a
+quiet disposition, in Nicolaus he is driven by his son to revolt, and
+finally disowns the enterprise. All three narratives lay stress on the
+warnings given to Astyages against Cyrus, though in different ways; all
+mark strongly the early personal valour of Cyrus, which Xenophon also
+celebrates. Artembares the Mede is found both in Herodotus and Nicolaus,
+though in a different relation to Cyrus. In all three accounts a
+counsellor--Harpagus in the one case, Oebares in the other--exercises
+the greatest influence on the resolutions of Cyrus. Herodotus and
+Nicolaus mark the cunning of Cyrus as opposed to Astyages; in both Cyrus
+gives out that he is carrying out the king's orders in arming the
+Persians. In Herodotus Cyrus tells the Persians that he does not
+consider them worse men than the Medes, and they revolt "because they
+have now got a leader in Cyrus." In Nicolaus Cyrus asks whether there is
+not a leader who can put an end to the rule of the Medes over better men
+than themselves. In both the dominion of the Medes has long been hated
+by the Persians. In both before the beginning of the struggle Astyages
+commands Cyrus to appear before him. In Herodotus Astyages says, when
+Harpagus has passed over to Cyrus and the Median army has broken up,
+that "he shall not succeed;" and in Nicolaus he uses the same words
+after the first defeat of his horsemen. In Herodotus it is the cruelty
+of Astyages to Harpagus, and his severity towards the Medes, which cost
+him his throne; in Diodorus the army revolts, even after brave fighting,
+from Astyages because he cruelly revenges upon them the defeat at
+Pasargadae. In all three accounts Cyrus does no harm to Astyages after
+his victory.
+
+Let us set aside the poetical colours in the account of Herodotus in
+order to test its coherence. What alarm could Astyages, who was without
+male heirs, feel at the announcement that his daughter's son would one
+day rule over all Asia, _i.e._ would still further extend the dominion
+of the Medes? In the second dream, which portends no more than the
+first, a reason is given for the alarm; the interpreters declare that
+the dream signifies that Astyages will lose his throne. If Astyages had
+reason to fear the yet unborn child of his daughter, the obvious remedy
+was not to allow her to marry. Nevertheless she is married, not to a
+Mede, but to a man of the subject races, a Persian of a good family,
+_i.e._ of noble descent, wealthy, but "quiet in his disposition." This
+was equivalent to taking the Persian into the royal family, giving up to
+him or his son the right of succession, bringing the crown of Media into
+the possession of a stranger, and allowing the kingdom to pass from the
+Medes to the Persians. Even if such perversity could occur to Astyages
+the Medes were not likely to permit it, when the Magians tell Astyages,
+in Herodotus, how anxious they are that the dominion should not fall
+into the hands of a Persian. It is true that Herodotus represents
+Harpagus some twenty or thirty years later as persuading the chief
+Medes, and persuading them singly, that Astyages must be overthrown, and
+the Persian made king, but this is simply incredible. After this
+marvellous marriage of the heiress to the throne with a Persian,
+Cambyses is not brought to Ecbatana to the court, but remains in Persia,
+and no harm is done to the dreaded son of the marriage, even when his
+real origin has been discovered. Nay, more, the boy who at an early age
+discovers high aims, and a resolute will, is not even brought to the
+court to be under the eye of Astyages, but is sent back to Persia to his
+father, and by his means Harpagus is able to bring Persia to revolt. The
+letter hidden in the hare's belly obviously arose from an anticipation
+of the supervision of the great roads which was introduced at a later
+time by the Ach�menids. But what reason had Cyrus to cause the Persians
+to revolt? According to Herodotus Cambyses is the son-in-law, and hence
+the heir, of Astyages. Cyrus will succeed his father as heir to the
+Median throne, why then should he rebel against his aged
+grandfather?--why should he seek by hazard, danger, and bloodshed, a
+crown which by inheritance must soon come to Cambyses or Cyrus?[544]
+
+In the narrative of Herodotus Cyrus is no more than an instrument in the
+hands of Harpagus. The crime of Astyages against Harpagus; the
+well-merited punishment of this crime by his own imprisonment and loss
+of empire, form the hinge of the narrative, which at the same time
+brings into prominence the doctrine that no one, even though warned, can
+escape his doom. It is not probable that there were songs among the
+Persians or Medes, which illustrated Herodotus' view of the unavoidable
+_Nemesis_ which governs the actions and fortunes of men; or that Persian
+poems would represent Cyrus as the son of a Median mother. In them the
+Persians merely glorified the founder of their freedom and supremacy,
+of whom, as we know, they cherished the most grateful memories. But the
+Medes might possess poems in which the change of empire was treated from
+their point of view; they might attempt to make the loss of empire
+appear less painful, the dishonour of defeat by the Persians less
+degrading. To be overthrown by a man belonging to the subject race was
+bitter. Hence the Medes could avail themselves of a change frequent in
+the East, and represent Cyrus as a scion of their own royal house. The
+Egyptians maintained that Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, who reduced them
+to subjection, was the son of Cyrus and the daughter of their own
+Pharaoh Hophra.[545] This was mere invention; and the Medes must have
+found their version the more easy to maintain, because Cyrus spared
+Astyages after the defeat, and took his daughter into his harem. And if
+it was not the arms of the Persians, but rather the treachery of a
+distinguished Mede, the discontent of the chiefs of Media with a cruel
+king, that decided the struggle between the Persians and Medes, the
+submission became thus less intolerable to the pride of the Medes. If a
+distinguished Mede had been at variance with Astyages, and in the last
+moment of the battle had gone over to Cyrus,--much could be made of the
+desertion in Median poems. If after his victory Cyrus reposed great
+confidence in an eminent Mede, this might be made a ground for previous
+treachery to Astyages. A few years after his victory Cyrus entrusted to
+the Mede Harpagus, the leadership of the army, the subjugation and
+maintenance of far distant regions. If the legend of the Persians
+represented Ach�menes, the ancestor of their princely race, as being
+fed by an eagle (p. 327), their poems would speak of the founder of
+their dominion as distinguished by divine honours, and surround his
+birth and youth with happy omens of the future. These traits the Medes
+could use for their own purposes as warnings vouchsafed to Astyages. If
+the Persians represented Cyrus as suckled by a dog, the favoured
+creature of Auramazda, the Medes carried the subject further, and spoke
+of the exposing of Cyrus, which was then brought into combination with
+the enmity of Harpagus to Astyages; the origin of this was the refusal
+of Harpagus to put the Persian boy to death, which Astyages punished by
+the Thyestean banquet. Thus owing to the crime of Astyages, Harpagus
+their own countryman became filled with desire for vengeance; he is the
+counsellor of Cyrus, the author and leader of the revolt.
+
+Median poetry of this kind has been followed by Herodotus. He has told
+us already that he would narrate the life of Cyrus as it was given by
+the Persians, who had no desire to exaggerate their account, but these
+Persians are undoubtedly the Medes. The Median origin of his story is
+placed beyond doubt by the words which the captive Astyages addresses to
+Harpagus, and by the fact that with him it is a Mede who is the decisive
+counsellor and guide of Cyrus, while in the other version it is a
+Persian. Beside the reason given by Herodotus himself for choosing this
+version, others no doubt had influence. The Delphian oracle bade
+Croesus take to flight "whenever a mule should govern the Medes."
+According to the Medes Cyrus was the son of a Persian father and Median
+mother. The sufferings and acts of Harpagus formed the centre of the
+Median version, and he was only too well known to the Greeks on the
+west coast of Asia Minor. With the warning portents, and the exposure of
+Cyrus, the Median version brought Herodotus on the familiar ground of
+Greek legend, in which similar oracles, futile exposing of children, and
+deceptive explanations were common. Finally, the vengeance which
+overtook Astyages suits the ethical feeling of Herodotus. We may assume
+therefore that his narrative faithfully represents the contents of
+Median poems. These could already have changed the dog which was said to
+have suckled Cyrus into the herdman's wife, who was called by the name
+of "dog." But inasmuch as Herodotus does not "intend to exaggerate," as
+he observes that "the dog was everything in the mouth of Cyrus," and
+"his parents caught this up in order to represent the preservation of
+Cyrus as a work of the gods,"--as he further remarks "that Cyrus owing
+to his origin was regarded as more than human,"[546]--this rationalising
+turn may have proceeded from the historian himself. In the Persian
+tradition Cyrus was certainly suckled and guarded by the dog, and this
+trait is retained in the account of Deinon-Trogus, though united with
+the story of the exposure. But Deinon has at the same time proved the
+exposure impossible, for he states that Cyrus came to the throne in his
+fortieth year, and lived till his seventieth.[547] If this were true,
+the exposure and the command of Astyages respecting it would fall to the
+ground, for Cyrus would have seen the light in the year 599 B.C., _i.e._
+some years before the accession of Astyages, even if we allow the latter
+the longer reign which Eusebius assigns to him.
+
+If the story of Herodotus is governed by the conception of the
+unavoidable punishment of crime, the connecting clue in the story of
+Nicolaus is the rise of a beggar-boy of the lowest origin by skill and
+industry, by cunning and bravery, by endurance in the greatest danger,
+and final victory in the most severe struggles. Cyrus is the son of
+humble parents; his father is driven by want to robbery, his mother
+tends goats; they belong to the lowest tribe of the Persians, the
+marauding Mardians whom we have found in the mountains of south-western
+Persia (p. 323). Hunger drives the boy from the goat-pasture to
+Ecbatana. Beginning as a sweeper of the palace, he works his way step by
+step upwards by address and industry to the highest offices at the
+court, so that he can make his father satrap of Persia and his mother
+the most distinguished lady in Persia. Then the dream of his mother, and
+the interpretation given of it by the Babylonian, plant ambition in his
+soul, which is strengthened by the happy portent, vouchsafed to him on
+his mission to the chief of the Cadusians, and the advice of Oebares. He
+succeeds in persuading Astyages to grant him permission to visit his
+parents in Persia; when too late, Astyages is warned by the wife of the
+Babylonian, and the words of the singing-woman (Angares in Deinon). A
+fierce war breaks out. The father of Cyrus is taken captive, and in his
+last moments disavows the attempt of his son. Defeated again and again,
+the Persians in their last refuge at Pasargadae are reduced to the
+greatest distress. Then fortune turns; the Medes are driven back and
+defeated in numerous engagements, and Oebares can at length place the
+crown on the head of Cyrus in the tent of Astyages.
+
+If Xenophon in his book on Cyrus sought to make it clear to the Greeks,
+by what personal and material means Cyrus was able to conquer Asia,
+Ctesias or Nicolaus will show pragmatically how a beggar-boy rose step
+by step to be lord of the continent. He says nothing of the relationship
+of Astyages and Cyrus, or of the princely origin of Cyrus, or of his
+exposure, or of the dog: Cyrus owes his successes to himself and the
+gods. However impossible it may be that this introduction and the whole
+tendency of the narrative can be borrowed from the tradition of the
+Persians; however certain that Cyrus the beggar-boy is an invention of
+the Greeks, to point the contrast between beginning and end, and make
+the subject more interesting; yet if only we give another turn to the
+introduction, we have the Persian account before us in the narrative of
+Nicolaus, as we have the Median in the account of Herodotus--and a
+mixture of the two in the excerpt from Trogus. The Persian version is
+from the first marked in Ctesias and Nicolaus by the fact that they do
+not represent Cyrus as the descendant of Astyages. Moreover, the
+parallel between the fall of the Assyrians and the fall of the Median
+empire cannot be mistaken. "We must narrate the great change brought
+about by the transition of the dominion to the Persians"--such is the
+beginning of the account of Nicolaus. This parallel can only have arisen
+from Persian minstrels. They had to show that the task of Cyrus was
+great, and more difficult than that of Arbaces. They had to lay the
+greatest stress on the personal excellence of Cyrus in order to raise
+him above the level of Arbaces. The latter, guided by the advice of the
+viceroy of Babylon and aided by the Babylonians, had proved the
+conqueror. The arts of the Chald�ans were certainly respected and used
+in Iran; they must have been sought after and employed as a poetic
+motive. It was to carry out the parallel that the Persian songs gave
+Cyrus a Babylonian adviser; yet they represent the counsel and influence
+of this Babylonian as entirely removed by a Persian of far greater
+importance, and utterly thrown into the shade. The emphasis which the
+Persian songs laid on the personal virtue of Cyrus misled the Greeks
+into making an attempt at the biography of the beggar-boy, and so
+rendered this change easier. Atradates, the name given by Nicolaus to
+the father of Cyrus, is no doubt taken from an epithet of Cyrus himself.
+Strabo tells us that Cyrus was originally called Atradates; the word is
+the old Persian _atriyadata_, old Bactrian, _ataredata_; the Avesta
+recommends the name as good and saving. The parents of Cyrus are said to
+belong to the tribe of the Mardians, but later on Nicolaus himself shows
+that Cyrus' ancestral home is at Pasargadae (p. 352). In contempt the
+Medes might unite the whole Persian nation under the name of their
+poorest tribes. "Why have I raised up these Mardians for such mischief?"
+Astyages asks in Nicolaus. The goat-tending of the mother of Cyrus is
+due to the same cause. In the account of Herodotus Cambyses is said to
+be rich in herds; among the Persians the care of flocks occupied a large
+place, and at a later time the tending and protection of the flocks was
+one of the means employed for strengthening and hardening the Persian
+youth. Cyrus himself, in the narrative of Nicolaus, calls himself and
+his father goat-herds. When Arsaces of Armenia visited the court of the
+Sassanid Shapur II. one of the first officers at the court of Shapur
+insolently said: "Will the king of the goats pasture on our
+slopes?"[548] Such traits as these in the Persian poems, connected with
+the poverty and simplicity of the life of the "terebinth-eating"
+Persians (which Nicolaus also, following the tradition, brings into such
+prominence), supplied the Greek revision with the necessary support for
+changing Cyrus into a Mardian goat-herd and beggar-boy. Yet the true
+position of the parents of Cyrus breaks through in the statement that
+the father of Cyrus was satrap of Persia, and his mother the first lady
+in the land, a position which also appears in the statement in Herodotus
+of the noble descent and wealth of Cambyses, and is even more plainly
+marked in other passages in which the taunt is hurled at Cyrus: that the
+son of Cambyses ought not to give way to a woman,--and traces the
+lineage of Cyrus back to Ach�menes, though in the account of the
+rebellion of Cyrus he calls his grandfather also Cyrus.
+
+The rise of Cyrus at the court of Astyages was borrowed from another
+trait in the Persian poems. The custom of the East, that the sons of
+distinguished princes and nobles should perform certain courtly and
+honourable services at the gate of the king, must have been current in
+Media also. The Persian poems must have proudly declared how Cyrus
+distinguished himself there in his youth in the duties of the court or
+of arms. This description was changed into the series of stages by which
+the beggar-boy rose to the highest office at the court of the king. The
+Persian account is obviously preserved here in Deinon's narrative--like
+the suckling and protection of Cyrus by the dog--in which Cyrus before
+the rebellion is chief of the staff-bearers and the body-guard of the
+king. When Cyrus had won the favour of Astyages, Nicolaus is obviously
+more true to the Persian account. In old days the chaff of horses
+announced his elevation to Arbaces, and to Cyrus it is announced by
+horse-dung, which is carried to him by a Persian, the slave of a Mede,
+who has been recently whipped; and as to Arbaces, so to Cyrus, a
+Babylonian announces that the throne is destined for him. As Arbaces is
+instigated and encouraged by Belesys, so is Cyrus by the interpreter of
+dreams from Babylon, and Cyrus promises him great rewards if he reaches
+the throne, as Arbaces had promised Belesys. The conversations of
+Arbaces with Belesys correspond exactly to the conversations of Cyrus
+with the Babylonian and Oebares. In Nicolaus Cyrus says, that Arbaces
+who overthrew Sardanapalus was not wiser than himself, nor were the
+Medes better warriors than the Persians. But if the Median empire was
+founded with the help of the Babylonian, the Persian must rise without
+such assistance. Arbaces had to concede to Belesys and his successors
+the hereditary dominion over Babylonia; on this occasion Oebares takes
+care that in the future empire of the Persians, Babylonia shall not be
+in the way as an hereditary monarchy given in reward of services; he
+removes the Babylonian against the wishes of Cyrus. If the Medes had
+formerly been able to conquer Assyria with the aid of the Babylonians,
+the Persians now defeat the Medes unaided, and if Sardanapalus was
+effeminate, Astyages, according to Nicolaus, is the bravest king of the
+Medes after Arbaces. To treat the struggle so briefly as Herodotus does
+was impossible for Nicolaus, as the object of his narrative was to bring
+out the valour of Cyrus. So we may assume that the Persian songs gave
+similar prominence to the contests before Nineveh and Pasargad�. Arbaces
+is thrice defeated before Nineveh, and inclined to retire. Astyages
+leads against Cyrus the whole forces of his kingdom--more than a million
+soldiers. In spite of the excellent arrangements of Oebares and the
+utmost bravery, Cyrus is three times defeated:--he is already reduced to
+extremities in the fourth conflict, when the cry of the women restores
+the fight. At length Oebares is able to place the Median crown on the
+head of Cyrus in the tent of Astyages. With such servants the throne and
+kingdom of the Persians is more firmly established than that of the
+Medes.
+
+This inquiry enables us to reconstruct in its main outlines the
+tradition of the Persians. Cambyses, the descendant of Ach�menes, was
+the chief of the Persians. Before the birth of Cyrus his wife had a
+dream that so much water came from her "that it was like a great river
+which inundated all Asia, and flowed into the sea." We know what
+reverence the Avesta pays to the dog, and the importance it ascribes to
+its glance (p. 207). The suckling of the boy Cyrus by a dog is the sign
+of the most bounteous favour and most secure protection on the part of
+the gods. Herodotus told us above that owing to his origin Cyrus counted
+himself as more than a man, and Xenophon represents him as begotten by
+gods, springing from a line of kings, and practised from his youth up in
+bravery and virtue.[549] In accordance with the custom of the Persians
+the son of the prince grows up among the flocks. Mithradates, which
+Herodotus gives as the name of the herdsman with whom the boy is brought
+up, means "given by Mithra;" the favourite of the god, who increases the
+flocks of the farms where men worship him, and gives victory in battles,
+is the protector of Cyrus. In the game of the boys he shows by
+cleverness and unbroken resolution the great destiny to which he was
+called. Then he goes into service at the court of the Median king;
+where the Persian poems have already shown us Parsondes at the time of
+Cyaxares, who subsequently made the Cadusians enemies of the Medes.[550]
+Eminent in every position, Cyrus wins the confidence of Astyages, and
+becomes the chief of his bodyguard. Then according to Deinon's fragments
+he sees the sun in a dream thrice inclining towards him. It was the
+brilliance or majesty of the king which Cyrus is represented as
+beholding. In the Avesta Thraetaona and Kere�a�pa seize the majesty when
+it departs from Yima, and the Turanian Franghra�yan seeks thrice to
+grasp the glance of the majesty.[551] Then a Persian, the slave of a
+Mede, brings a new sign of good fortune to Cyrus when far from his
+fatherland on the borders of the Cadusians. Oebares (Hubara, the good
+bearer) is the first Persian whom Cyrus liberates from the service of
+the Medes; and thus he has gained his most faithful helper. Angares the
+Mede, who warns Astyages, calls Cyrus "more mighty than a wild boar."
+The singing girl also calls Cyrus a "boar." We saw above that the
+victorious god Verethraghna appears in the form of a boar, and in that
+shape accompanies the chariot of Mithra.[552] The battle in the
+mountains of Persia, as described by Nicolaus, belongs in all essential
+traits to the Persian legend. It is precisely at Pasargadae, at the
+house of Cyrus, _i.e._ of Ach�menes, that the fortune of arms changes.
+The proclamation of Cyrus in the tent of Astyages, and his coronation by
+the Persians, which first made him a free man instead of a Median slave,
+is throughout in accordance with the meaning and tendency of the Persian
+legend. The gentleness of Cyrus towards Astyages is the counterpart of
+the generosity which the Median king who conquered Nineveh once
+displayed towards Belesys. Oebares undoubtedly belongs to the Persian
+Epos; he is the faithful servant who upholds the interest of the kingdom
+even against the will of the king, and sacrifices himself for it. The
+Persians of the best time held it a duty to sacrifice themselves for the
+king.
+
+The overthrow of the Parthian empire is explained in the same way as the
+overthrow of the Medes. Papak, the prince of Fars, sees in a dream the
+sun illuminating the world from the head of his herdman Sassan. His
+daughter brings forth Ardeshir to Sassan; Ardeshir serves at the court
+of the Parthian king Artaban, and shoots wild asses better than anyone
+else. On an announcement of the interpreters of stars, Ardeshir flies
+from the court and arms the Persians. Artaban abuses him as an impudent
+Kurd, and sends the prince of Susiana to fetch him, but this prince, and
+then Artaban himself, are overcome. Shapur, the son of Ardeshir, is
+restored to life against his command, and his grandson Auharmazdi is
+brought up secretly, and recognised by his conduct in the play of the
+boys. In both, dreams and letters and the inborn majesty of the royal
+children play their part.[553]
+
+Astyages, who ascended the throne in the year 593 B.C., ruled over the
+Median empire for more than 30 years; he had already reached a great age
+when the Persians rebelled against him. Aristotle remarks that his
+effeminate life and the carelessness of his government inspired Cyrus
+with courage.[554] The daughter of Alyattes of Lydia, whom he had
+married in his youth, had brought him no son; both the Median version of
+Herodotus, and the Persian in Trogus and Ctesias, allow Astyages a
+daughter only--Mandane in the one case, in the other Amytis, the name of
+the sister of Astyages, whom Nebuchadnezzar married. This daughter,
+according to Ctesias and Nicolaus, Astyages marries to Spitamas, the
+Mede (�pitama, _i.e._ the excellent) and at the same time gives him "all
+Media as a dowry." Marriage with the heiress to the throne gave her
+husband the claim and right to succession. The daughter of the king bore
+two sons to Spitamas: Spitaces and Magabernes.[555] About the origin of
+Cyrus there is no doubt. He was the son of Cambyses, the grandson of
+Teispes, the great-grandson of Achaemenes, who united the Persian tribes
+under his leadership, and recognised the sovereignty of Phraortes the
+Median king. As Cyaxares and Astyages followed Phraortes on the throne
+of Media, so did Teispes and Cambyses follow Achaemenes as his viceroys
+or vassal kings over Persia. It may have been the case that, as already
+remarked, after the consolidation of the Median empire, the sovereignty
+became more oppressive for the Persians, and the links of their
+dependence were drawn closer. According to the previous custom, the
+viceroyalty of Persia would descend, at the death of Cambyses, to his
+son Cyrus. If the custom which subsequently prevailed in the Persian
+kingdom was current among the Medes, and the sons of the satraps or
+princes of the subject lands had to wait at the king's gate, and perform
+courtly or martial service as hostages for the fidelity of their
+fathers, and at the same time to learn obedience and submission in order
+to find favour with the king when in his immediate presence and covered
+by the splendour of his power--Cyrus must also have served at the court
+of Astyages, and may have filled the office of the staff-bearer,
+body-guard, or of butler, an honourable position at the court of the
+Medes and Persians. In Ecbatana he had no doubt an opportunity of
+comparing the simple manners, the capacity and vigour of his Persians,
+with the splendour of the court, and the luxurious life of the Median
+chiefs. Moreover, the great advantage which Spitamas had gained by
+marriage with the daughter of the king must have excited the jealousy
+and ambition of other Medes who considered themselves to have a better
+claim, or even raised their eyes to the throne. In the account of
+Herodotus, Harpagus is said to be akin to the family of Astyages. It is
+possible that Cyrus contemplated a breach between Persia and Media on
+the death of Astyages, when he would find his opportunity in a contested
+and previously disputed succession. It may be a fact that Astyages had
+his suspicions, that he summoned Cyrus who had already left the court
+before him, and Cyrus was thus compelled to break with him sooner than
+he intended. It seems more certain that Cambyses was still alive, than
+that the Persians took up arms against Astyages at the instigation of
+Cyrus, who was, as we have remarked, at that time in his fortieth
+year.[556]
+
+It follows from the position of affairs that the Persians awaited the
+attack of the Medes in their own country. It was only in the defence of
+the passes of their mountains that they could hope to make a stand
+against the overwhelming power of their enemies. In this we may put
+confidence in the Persian tradition, as well as in all that it has to
+say of a character unfavourable to the Persians; above all, in the fact
+that the war was long and severe. As a fact the Medes appear to have
+twice penetrated into the heart of the Persian land. Not only Nicolaus,
+Pompeius Trogus, and Polyaenus tell us that the struggle took place at
+first in Persia, and that the battle which saved the country was fought
+at Pasargadae, but also an authority of importance, Anaximenes of
+Lampsacus, the contemporary of Aristotle and Strabo (p. 357). "In reward
+for the services which the women rendered in that battle," says
+Nicolaus, "the women of Persia each received, when the king came to
+Pasargadae, a gold coin of the value of twenty Attic drachmas."
+Plutarch, as has been observed,[557] confirms this statement, on the
+ground of the accounts of the companions of Alexander, in a very
+definite way. We must assume, therefore, that Cyrus maintained the
+independence of Persia in a very severe struggle. When success had been
+obtained, he went on to attack Media, whether it was that he did not
+consider the freedom of Persia secure without the overthrow of that
+country, or that he at once formed the most ambitious designs. After a
+battle in Media had given Cyrus the victory in this new war, the chiefs
+of the nations subject to the Medes, the Hyrcanians, Parthians, Sac�,
+and Bactrians, and finally a part of the Medes, must have abandoned
+Astyages, who, after a second defeat, fell into the hands of Cyrus
+either in the encounter itself or at the capture of Ecbatana. The walls
+of Ecbatana and the seven rings round the citadel could not avert his
+fate (558 B.C.).[558]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[529] Herod. 1, 98, 99.
+
+[530] Herod. 1, 112, [Greek: pistotatous t�n doryphor�n], while in the
+recapitulation, 1, 117, we have [Greek: pistotatous t�n eunouch�n].
+
+[531] Ctesias, "Fragm. Pers." 2, 5.
+
+[532] Nicol. Damasc. fragm. 66; Ctes. "Fragm. Pers." 2, 5; Tzetz.
+"Chil." 1, 1, 82 ff.
+
+[533] Athen. p. 633; Cic. "de Divin." 1, 23.
+
+[534] Justin, 1, 4-7; cf. 44, 4.
+
+[535] Poly�n. "Strat." 7, 6; 7, 45. But he also explains the change of
+fortune at Pasargadae in another way. When Cyrus fled to that place
+after his retreat, and many Persians deserted to the Medes, he spread
+abroad a report that on the following day 100,000 enemies of the Medes
+(Cadusians?) would come to his assistance; every man was to prepare a
+bundle of faggots for the allies. The deserter told this to the Medes,
+and when Cyrus in the night caused all the bundles to be lighted, the
+Medes, thinking that the Persians had received substantial assistance,
+deserted.
+
+[536] Strabo, p. 727, 730. Steph. Byzant. [Greek: Passargadai].
+
+[537] "De mulier. virtute," 5.
+
+[538] Diod. "Ex. de virt. et vit." p. 552, 553 (= 9, 24); cf. 4, 30.
+
+[539] Moses Choren. 1, 24-30, and appendix to the first book, according
+to Le Vaillant's translation.
+
+[540] The form and explanation of the legend of Asdahag in Moses, as
+well as the mention of Rustem Sakjig, who has the strength of ten
+elephants (2, 8), _i.e._ of Rustem of Sejestan, prove that the
+East-Iranian legend, as we find it in Firdusi, must have been current in
+Western Iran in the fourth century at the latest, if it came into
+Armenia in the fifth century. I do not think it probable that Moses took
+the legend of Tigran from Xenophon's narrative. The vision in a dream
+and the duel point to Armenian tradition.
+
+[541] 1, 95.
+
+[542] "Cyri Instit." 1, 2, 1.
+
+[543] J. Mohl, "Livre des rois," Introd. p. 29.
+
+[544] It has been objected to this analysis that the marriage with the
+heiress may not have conveyed the throne _ipso facto_ to the husband; it
+may have been open to the chieftains to elect a king out of the members
+of the royal family. This may be correct for the election of the Afghan
+chiefs at the present day by the heads of the families. How the
+succession to the throne was arranged among the Medes we do not know in
+any detail, or whether their chiefs had any importance at all; but we do
+see that the crown went from father to son from Deioces downwards. In
+any case, even under that hypothesis, the husband of the heiress had a
+nearer claim.
+
+[545] Herod. 3, 2. So Deinon and Lyceas of Naucratis in Athenaeus, p.
+560.
+
+[546] Herod. 1, 207; 3, 75; 7, 11.
+
+[547] Cicero, "de Divin." 1, 23.
+
+[548] St. Martin on Lebeau, "Bas Empire," 2, 221.
+
+[549] "Cyri instit." 7, 3, 24.
+
+[550] Above, p. 299 ff.
+
+[551] Above, p. 34, 35, 36, 256.
+
+[552] Above, p. 110. Cf. Windischmann, "Zoroastrische Studien," s. 277.
+
+[553] N�ldeke, "Tabari," p. 12; Karnamak, s. 68.
+
+[554] "Politic." 5, 10, 24.
+
+[555] If Astyages was married to the daughter of Alyattes in the year
+610 B.C. he must have been 18 or 20 years old at that time; between 610
+and 558 the year of his fall there are 52 years. Moreover, according to
+Ctesias, Astyages outlived his fall at least ten years ("Fragm. Pers."
+5). If this were the case, and Astyages did not die till 548, he cannot
+well have been born before 630 B.C. In Herodotus and Pompeius Trogus it
+is expressly said that Astyages had no son, and this is the motive which
+induces Harpagus not to put Cyrus to death, as he would in that case
+expose himself to the vengeance of the mother, the heiress to the
+throne. In Nicolaus also the daughter comes distinctly forward, and in
+Ctesias she is also the heiress (_e.g._ "Pers." 2); in the history of
+the overthrow and the death of Astyages, we hear of her constantly. At
+the death of Cyrus, her sons by the first marriage receive satrapies. In
+Ctesias, it is true, a brother of Amytis is incidentally mentioned, on
+the occasion of a later war of Cyrus ("Pers." 3). But as Ctesias is here
+following a Median version, and after the death of Astyages the husband
+of Amytis and not her supposed brother is removed out of the way, no
+importance can be attached to this.
+
+[556] Above, p. 369.
+
+[557] Above, p. 357. Nicol. Dam. Fragm. 66; Plut "Alex." c. 69; Plut.
+"De Mul. virt." 5.
+
+[558] According to the canon of Ptolemy, Cyrus dies 529 B.C. We arrive
+at the same year if we reckon back from the death of Darius. This took
+place five years after the battle of Marathon (Herod. 7, 1-4), _i.e._
+485 B.C. Darius reigned 36 years according to Herodotus and the canon of
+Ptolemy. An Egyptian pillar gives the year 34, a demotic contract the
+year 35 of his reign: he ascended the throne therefore in 521 B.C.
+Before him the Magian reigned for seven months, Cambyses for seven years
+and five months (Herod. 3, 66, 67). The canon of Ptolemy omits the
+Magian and gives Cambyses eight years, because it reckons by complete
+years; hence Cambyses ascended the throne in 529. As Cyrus, according to
+Herodotus, reigned 29 years after his accession (1, 214), the beginning
+of his reign over Media must be placed in 558. If Ctesias gives Cyrus a
+reign of 30 years ("Pers." 8), like Deinon (p. 369), and Justin (1, 8),
+and Eusebius a reign of 31 years, these statements may be reconciled by
+the fact that Cyrus may have taken up arms against Media 30 or 31 years
+before his death, and reigned 29 years after the overthrow of Astyages.
+Diodorus puts the beginning of Cyrus: Olymp. 55, 1 = 560 B.C. Africanus
+in Euseb. "Pr�p. Evang." 10, p. 488.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE RISE OF THE PERSIAN KINGDOM.
+
+
+The Median empire was not of long duration. Little more than a century
+had passed since Phraortes succeeded Deioces in the government of the
+land of Ecbatana, little more than eighty since Phraortes had united the
+tribes of the Medes under his leadership, about sixty since Cyaxares had
+expelled the Scythians, and not quite fifty since Nineveh had succumbed
+to the arms of the Medes and Babylonians.
+
+In the overthrow of so mighty a power, Cyrus had achieved a great, and,
+so far as we can tell, an unexpected, success. Scanty as our information
+is, we can still perceive that he used the victory with circumspection
+and moderation. Herodotus told us that he did no injury to the captive
+Astyages, and kept him with him till his death. Ctesias relates that at
+the command of Cyrus, the heavy chains, which Oebares had put on
+Astyages, were quickly taken off; that he honoured him as a father; and
+entrusted him with the government of the Barcanians. According to the
+statement of Pompeius Trogus, Cyrus allowed him to be viceroy of the
+Hyrcanians. The same nation may be meant by these two names; in the
+inscriptions of Darius Hyrcania is called Varkana, in the Avesta
+Vehrkana.[559] Ctesias further tells us that Cyrus put to death the
+Mede Spitamas, whom Astyages had married to his daughter Amytis, and
+then made his successor, and that after treating Amytis for some time as
+his mother he subsequently made her his wife. No harm was done to
+Megabernes and Spitaces, the sons of her marriage with Spitamas; on the
+contrary, the first was placed by the wish of Cyrus in the satrapy of
+the Barcanians, the second in the satrapy of the Derbiccians.
+
+Cyrus must have made it his object to reconcile the Medes to their
+defeat and loss of empire. If he could make the house of Astyages his
+own, and take his daughter to wife, the edge of the change was softened,
+and the more apparent it was that this marriage had the consent of
+Astyages, the more legitimate would his rule be in the eyes of the
+Medes, the less could they regard it as the dominion of a stranger. It
+was of importance to gain the assent of the Medes to the new kingdom,
+and support this if possible on the united power of Medes and Persians.
+Moreover, the relations of alliance in which Astyages stood to the
+princely houses of Lydia and Babylonia made it advisable to deal
+carefully with Astyages and his kindred. Astyages was still alive in 549
+B.C.,[560] according to Herodotus and Ctesias. Whatever may be the case
+as to the connection of Cyrus with Amytis, his legitimate wife was
+Cassandane, the daughter of the Persian Pharnaspes, who according to
+Herodotus was an Ach�menid, and was in fact one of the six tribal
+princes. Cassandane bore Cyrus two sons, Cambyses and Bardiya, whom
+Herodotus calls Smerdis; Ctesias, Tanyoxarkes; and Xenophon, Tanaoxares.
+The death of Cassandane was a great grief to Cyrus; he caused the whole
+kingdom to go into mourning for her.[561]
+
+With respect to the position which Cyrus took up in regard to the royal
+family of Media, and Amytis more especially, Ctesias has preserved a
+somewhat incredible story. This narrative, which again is obviously
+taken from a poetical source, ascribes the death of Astyages to Oebares,
+to whom, according to Trogus, Cyrus had given the government of Persia
+and his sister in marriage, as a reward for his services, who in the
+beginning of his reign had been his associate in all his dangers, and
+whom, according to Ctesias, he had afterwards to thank for the capture
+of Sardis. The motive of this act, according to the drift of these
+poems, can only have been anxiety on the part of Oebares lest the
+influence of Astyages and his friends should endanger the succession of
+the house of Cyrus in the Persian kingdom and the dominion of the
+Persians. Oebares had previously murdered the Babylonian who possessed
+the secret which controlled the future of Persia, against the wishes and
+without the knowledge of Cyrus (p. 347), and he now acts in a similar
+manner towards Astyages. Cyrus, so we are told in our excerpt,[562]
+after the Lydian war sent the eunuch Petesaces to bring Astyages from
+the Barcanians, as both he and Amytis wished to see him. Oebares advised
+Petesaces to abandon Astyages on the way in some desert place, to perish
+by starvation. This was done. The crime was revealed by dreams, and
+Cyrus, on the repeated entreaty of Amytis, gave Petesaces up to her for
+punishment. She caused him to be blinded, flayed, and crucified.
+Oebares, fearing that a similar lot was in store for him, though Cyrus
+assured him that he should not permit anything of the kind, refused all
+nourishment for ten days, and so put an end to his life. The corpse of
+Astyages received a splendid burial. Lions had guarded it in the desert
+place in which it had been abandoned, until Petesaces returned and
+carried it away. In the poem in which the singing woman warns Astyages
+against Cyrus he is compared to a lion (p. 349). Whether the lions
+performed this service to the corpse of Astyages in the source from
+which Ctesias copied--it could scarcely by such an incident exhibit him
+as a man favoured by heaven--or whether the lions dealt with the corpse
+in a manner more in accordance with the views of Eastern Iran, we must
+leave out of the question. What is more certain is, that the most
+zealous Persian could have no real reason for putting Astyages to death,
+for after the Lydian war he would be in his eightieth year. The
+importance ascribed to Amytis points to a Median version; the death of
+Oebares is accounted for in a manner suitable to his life and his
+fidelity.
+
+In Herodotus the Persians, on the instigation of Artembares, one of
+their tribesmen, say to Cyrus: "Since Zeus gives the sovereignty to the
+Persians, and above all to thee, Cyrus, who hast overthrown Astyages, so
+let it be thy care that we leave our land and obtain a better, for our
+country is small and wild. Many better regions are close at hand, many
+at a distance, and if we gain one of them, we shall be more admired in
+the eyes of men. To do this is proper for men who possess the dominion,
+and when can it be done better than now, when we have so many men, and
+rule over all Asia?" When Cyrus heard this he expressed no astonishment,
+but said simply: they might do so, but they must be prepared to be
+rulers no longer, but subjects; the same land could not produce the
+noblest fruits and warlike men. The Persians saw that Cyrus' view was
+the better, and chose to inhabit and rule over a scanty land, rather
+than be the slaves of others.[563] The distinct opposition of Cyrus and
+Artembares seems to carry us back to Persian poems, otherwise the
+narrative is less likely to belong to the tradition of Persia than to
+arise out of the necessity which the Greeks felt for explaining how the
+Persians succeeded in founding so mighty an empire from a mountain
+country so moderate in extent.
+
+In any case the Persians, after the overthrow of Media, were far from
+possessing the dominion over Asia. In Nicolaus, it is true, when the
+news is spread abroad that Astyages has retired from Persia and has fled
+before Cyrus in the first battle in Media, the chief of the Hyrcanians
+comes with 50,000 men, to pay homage to Cyrus as king; he is followed by
+the chiefs of the Parthians, Sac�, and Bactrians, and then by the
+remaining nations. But as a fact the course of things seems to have been
+different. If the princes and natives who were subject to the Medes were
+ready to throw off their dominion as soon as they were defeated by the
+Persians, they were hardly inclined to recognise Cyrus as sovereign in
+the room of Astyages. Herodotus tells us that Cyrus subjugated the
+Bactrians and Sac�, and Upper Asia, one nation after the other, and puts
+these conquests after the Lydian war.[564] Xenophon represents the
+Hyrcanians as joining Cyrus at an early date, and the Cadusians follow
+their example, which harmonises with the view taken in the Persian poems
+of the hatred of the Cadusians to the Medes. In Xenophon and Ctesias the
+Sac� are the allies of Cyrus as early as 549 B.C.[565] If Astyages
+receives the satrapy of the Hyrcanians in Justin, this nation and the
+Parthians, who were still nearer neighbours of Media, must have been
+among those who were subject to Cyrus.
+
+In Ctesias, Cyrus after the conquest of Astyages marches against the
+Bactrians; the battle was undecided. But when they found that Astyages
+was the father and Amytis the wife of Cyrus, the Bactrians voluntarily
+submitted to Amytis and Cyrus. Then Cyrus conquered the Sac�, and took
+their king Amorges captive. We remember that, according to Herodotus'
+statement, the proper name of the Sac� was Amyrgians, and in the
+inscriptions of Darius we found the �aka Humavarka. The name Amorges
+seems to be borrowed from the Amyrgians. When Amorges had been defeated
+and taken captive by Cyrus, his wife Sparethra, as she is called in
+Ctesias, collected the Sac� and took the field with them. Zarinaea, a
+princess of the Sac�, had previously fought with great bravery against
+the Medes, but her achievements are far surpassed by those of Sparethra.
+With 300,000 men and 200,000 armed women, she went against the Persians,
+and defeated Cyrus, taking many captives, among whom were Medes of
+distinction. As a ransom for these Amorges was restored to Sparethra,
+and there was friendship between Cyrus and the king of the Sac�, and the
+latter marched with him to the war against the Lydians. Strabo also
+speaks of a battle in which Cyrus was defeated by the Sac�. Being hard
+pressed on his retreat he abandoned his camp with large stores of every
+kind, especially of wine. When the Sac� had enjoyed their spoil, Cyrus
+fell upon them and massacred nearly all.[566]
+
+Trogus following Deinon tells us that the nations who were subject to
+the Medes did not submit to Cyrus. Hence arose many wars. The greater
+part of these nations he had already overpowered, before he marched
+against the Lydians, _i.e._ in the first eight years after the overthrow
+of Astyages. We may assume that Cyrus, immediately after the
+dethronement of Astyages, was occupied with bringing the neighbours of
+Media on the east, north, and west into obedience to the new kingdom. So
+long as the Parthians, Hyrcanians, Armenians, were independent or in
+arms against Cyrus, the Medes must be strongly tempted to recover their
+lost dominion. The Cadusians in Ghilan were subjects of Cyrus; at any
+rate the name of the city Cyropolis on the Caspian Sea, on the coast of
+the Cadusians, is a proof that Cyrus placed a fortress there, in order
+to keep them or their neighbours in check; and under the successors of
+Cyrus the Cadusians are always mentioned as subjects.[567] Then he took
+the same line towards the west, on which Cyaxares of Media had advanced
+sixty years previously after driving out the Scythians; he gained
+Armenia and Cappadocia, and made the Halys the border of his kingdom
+towards Lydia. In his narrative of the events of the year 549 B.C.,
+Herodotus remarks that the Cappadocians were subject to Cyrus, having
+previously been subjects of the Medes. It is clear from repeated
+statements that at this time the Halys was the western border of the
+empire of Cyrus.[568] Xenophon reckons the subjugation of the Armenians,
+who had been subjects of the Medes, among the earliest achievements of
+Cyrus; he tells the story in his own manner, and places after this the
+subjection of the neighbours on the south, the Chald�ans (Gordy�ans) who
+dwelt in the mountains which separate the table-land of Armenia from the
+hilly country of Assyria. The legends of the Cappadocians conceal their
+subjugation to Cyrus under supposed links of alliance; Cambyses, the
+father of Cyrus, had given his own sister Atossa in marriage to
+Pharnaces, the king of the Cappadocians.[569] The extension of the
+Persian dominion to the east over Parthia and Hyrcania, the subjugation
+of the Drangians, Gedrosians, and Arachoti, must, in consideration of
+the observation of Herodotus, that in 548 B.C. Cyrus was intent on
+military preparations against the Bactrians and Sac�, and the urgent
+difficulties which at that time summoned him to the east, be placed in
+the later years of his reign; in fact, they cannot come earlier than the
+second decade; which does not, however, make it impossible that Cyrus
+should have fought against the Bactrians and Sac� in the first
+decade.[570]
+
+Cyrus must have arranged his court and state after the pattern of Media,
+which in its turn was a copy of the court of the kings of Asshur and
+Babylon. Ctesias asserts that Petesaces, the eunuch, and after his death
+Bagapates, another eunuch, had great influence with Cyrus.[571] The
+abode of Ach�menes, Teispes, and Carabyses, the ancient place of
+assembly and metropolis of the tribe of the Pasargad�, was changed by
+Cyrus into a city and fortress; there he built his palace, in which he
+deposited the spoil of his wars, and collected his treasures.[572] The
+new kingdom rested on the power of the Persians; they alone had to pay
+no tribute to the king; they formed the nucleus of the army; the leaders
+and satraps were mainly chosen from them. But Cyrus was obviously
+anxious to reconcile the Medes, next to the Persians, with the change in
+affairs, and win their aid. This design lay at the base of his treatment
+of Astyages and the marriage with his daughter, and scarcely ten years
+after the fall of the Median kingdom, we find Medes at the head of the
+army of Cyrus. The clemency of Cyrus towards the other subject nations
+is also extolled. Herodotus vouches for the fact that he laid no fixed
+tribute upon them, but left it to themselves to fix the amount of their
+yearly contributions. Of all men, Xenophon says, Cyrus made the largest
+presents, and exhibited the greatest liberality towards those who had
+done him good service, and in this the subsequent kings of Persia
+followed his example.
+
+According to Xenophon's description, Cyrus was of a kindly disposition,
+eager to instruct himself, and so ambitious that he shrank from no
+effort and no danger.[573] With the Greeks he passes not only for the
+founder of the dominion of the Persians, but for the author of excellent
+arrangements in the kingdom. From this point of view Xenophon wrote his
+treatise on Cyrus. By his example he wished to prove to the Greeks how
+the empire over nations could be gained, how a great kingdom could be
+founded and maintained, how a ruler could command obedience even among
+those who had never seen him and were separated by great distances. It
+is a historical romance which he has written on Cyrus; but he knew the
+Persian empire, and could not advance anything absolutely in
+contradiction to the current opinion of the Greeks about Cyrus.
+According to him the relation of Cyrus to the Persians rested on a kind
+of compact. When his son had subjugated the nations far and wide,
+Cambyses collected the elders of the Persians and the officers who held
+the highest places, and told them the Persians had elected Cyrus to be
+their general, and given him the army; Cyrus had extended their power
+over Asia, and gained glory among all men; he had made the bravest men
+in the army rich, and found pay and food for all the soldiers. If this
+relation were maintained it would be for the advantage of both parties;
+if, on the other hand, Cyrus sought to rule over the Persians with the
+same caprice as over other nations, or the Persians should attempt to
+take the command from him, each would do the greatest harm to the other.
+Let Cyrus, therefore, undertake to protect Persia and uphold the Persian
+laws, and the Persians to render Cyrus any service that he needed
+against rebellion and enemies. "After me," Cambyses concludes, "Cyrus
+will be king, and whenever he comes to Persia he will offer for you the
+sacrifice which I am offering now. If he is in a foreign land, it will
+be best for the noblest of our family to offer sacrifices to the gods."
+"What Cambyses proposed was approved by Cyrus and the Persians with
+invocations to the gods, and the arrangement is still observed on both
+sides."[574] Plato even puts Cyrus on the same level as Lycurgus, the
+founder of the constitution of Sparta. He gives Dion the choice of
+rivalling the ancient Lycurgus or Cyrus, or any one else who may be
+distinguished by moral excellence and political wisdom.[575] According
+to the Laws, Cyrus, brought up from his youth in the camp and surrounded
+by danger, became a skilful general, and as a ruler kept before his eyes
+the prosperity of the state. In the same book we are told that the
+monarchical form of government attained its most complete state among
+the Persians, and the democratic among the Athenians. But as the Persian
+state pursued absolute dominion, and the Attic uncontrolled freedom,
+neither discovered the correct limit; though in ancient times they had
+observed due moderation. At the time of Cyrus the Persians were midway
+between slavery and freedom. At first they were free, then they became
+the lords of others. But while ruling they had given the subjects a
+share in freedom, and treated them on an equal footing. For this reason
+the warriors were devoted to their general and ready to plunge into
+danger. And if an intelligent man appeared, who could give wise counsel,
+Cyrus gave him liberty to speak; and as he honoured those who knew how
+to give advise, every opinion was made use of for the common good, and
+the Persians of that day succeeded in everything by freedom, concord,
+and common deliberation.[576]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[559] Ctes. "Pers. Ecl." 5; Tzetz. "Chil." 1, 1, 83; Justin, 1, 6. Yet
+Diodorus mentions the Barcanians together with the Hyrcanians (2, 2);
+Curtius (3, 2) represents the Barcanians as providing 12,000 men for the
+last Darius; Stephanus of Byzantium ([Greek: Barkanioi]) puts them
+beside the Hyrcanians. Yet all these statements may rest on the same
+misconception.
+
+[560] Herod. 1, 73; above, p. 378, _note_.
+
+[561] Herod. 2, 1; 3, 2; 7, 11.
+
+[562] Ctesias, "Pers." 8. The narrative of the death of Astyages follows
+the narrative of the wars against the Bactrians and Sac�, and against
+Croesus, and precedes the wars against the Derbiccians.
+
+[563] Herod. 9, 122.
+
+[564] Herod. 1, 177.
+
+[565] "Cyri instit." 5, 3, 22.
+
+[566] Strabo, p. 512.
+
+[567] Ptolem. 6, 2; Ammian, 23, 6. The rebellion of the Cadusians at a
+later time was mentioned by Xenoph. "Hellen." 2, 1, 13; Plut.
+"Artaxerx." 24; Diod. 15, 8; Justin, 10, 3. They fought with the last
+Darius at Arbela; Arrian, "Anab." 3, 11.
+
+[568] Croesus, when he has crossed the Halys, is at once in Persian
+territory; Herod. 1, 72, 73.
+
+[569] Xenoph. "Cyri instit." 3, 1; 3, 2, 1, 2; 7, 2, 5; Diod. 31, 19.
+
+[570] The serious difficulty of Cyrus is shown by his rapid march back
+from Sardis with much the larger part of his army before the Greek
+cities, the Lycians and Carians were reduced. Cp. Vol. VI. chapters 8
+and 9.
+
+[571] "Persic." 9.
+
+[572] Strabo, p. 730; Curt. 5, 6, 10; Arrian, "Anab." 3, 16, 18. The
+observation in Xenophon ("Cyri instit." 5, 2, 1), that Cyrus whenever he
+trod the soil of Persia gave a piece of gold to each Persian man and
+woman, may have arisen from the presents to the women of Pasargad�.
+
+[573] "Cyri instit." 1, 2, 1.
+
+[574] "Cyri instit." 8, 5, 21 ff.
+
+[575] Plato, "Epp." 4, p. 320. Cf. "Menexen." p. 239.
+
+[576] "Legg." p. 693, 694. Cicero, ("de Republ." 1, 27, 28), calls Cyrus
+the most just, wise, and amiable of rulers.
+
+
+
+END OF VOL. V.
+
+
+
+BUNGAY: CLAY AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS.
+
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+
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+
+6. Obvious errors in punctuation have been silently corrected.
+
+7. Other than the corrections listed above, printer's inconsistencies in
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+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of Antiquity, by Max Duncker
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+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of The History of Antiquity (Vol. V.), by Max Duncker.
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+
+    p {  margin-top: .75em;
+         text-align: justify;
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+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of Antiquity, by Max Duncker
+
+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: The History of Antiquity
+       Vol. V.
+
+Author: Max Duncker
+
+Translator: Evelyn Abbott
+
+Release Date: December 4, 2011 [EBook #38209]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF ANTIQUITY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Adrian Mastronardi and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="notebox">
+<p><b>TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:</b> Footnotes have been renumbered and moved to the end
+of the chapters in this HTML version. Obvious errors in punctuation have been
+silently corrected. Other than that, printer's inconsistencies in spelling,
+hyphenation, and ligature usage have been retained.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h5>THE</h5>
+
+<h1>HISTORY OF ANTIQUITY.</h1>
+
+<h5>FROM THE GERMAN</h5>
+
+<h6>OF</h6>
+
+<h4>PROFESSOR MAX DUNCKER,</h4>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h6>BY</h6>
+
+<h3>EVELYN ABBOTT, M.A., LL.D.,<br />
+<small><i>FELLOW AND TUTOR OF BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD.</i></small></h3>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4>VOL. V.</h4>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4>LONDON:<br />
+<big>RICHARD BENTLEY &amp; SON, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,</big><br />
+Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen.<br />
+1881.</h4>
+
+
+<div class="bbt">
+<h5>Bungay:</h5>
+
+<h6>CLAY AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS.</h6>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td colspan='2'><big><a href="#BOOK_VII">BOOK VII.</a><br /><i>THE ARIANS OF EASTERN IRAN.</i></big></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='right'><small>PAGE</small></td></tr>
+<tr><td  colspan='2' align='center'>CHAPTER I.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE LAND AND THE TRIBES</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td  colspan='2' align='center'>CHAPTER II.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE KINGDOM OF THE BACTRIANS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td  colspan='2' align='center'>CHAPTER III.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE SCRIPTURES OF IRAN</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td  colspan='2' align='center'>CHAPTER IV.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>ZARATHRUSTRA AND THE DATE OF THE COMPOSITION OF THE AVESTA</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td  colspan='2' align='center'>CHAPTER V.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE GODS OF THE ARIANS IN IRAN</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td  colspan='2' align='center'>CHAPTER VI.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE REFORM OF THE FAITH</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td  colspan='2' align='center'>CHAPTER VII.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE DOCTRINE OF THE AVESTA</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_149">149</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td  colspan='2' align='center'>CHAPTER VIII.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE PRIESTHOOD OF IRAN</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_184">184</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td  colspan='2' align='center'>CHAPTER IX.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE LAW OF THE PRIESTS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_201">201</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td  colspan='2' align='center'>CHAPTER X.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE LATER DEVELOPMENT OF EASTERN IRAN</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_239">239</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan='2'><br /><br /><big><a href="#BOOK_VIII">BOOK VIII.</a><br /><i>THE EMPIRE OF THE MEDES AND PERSIANS.</i></big></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='right'><small>PAGE</small></td></tr>
+<tr><td  colspan='2' align='center'>CHAPTER I.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE FOUNDATION OF THE MEDIAN KINGDOM</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_267">267</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td  colspan='2' align='center'>CHAPTER II.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE EMPIRE OF THE MEDES</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_292">292</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td  colspan='2' align='center'>CHAPTER III.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE TRIBES OF THE PERSIANS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_319">319</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td  colspan='2' align='center'>CHAPTER IV.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE FALL OF THE MEDIAN KINGDOM</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_335">335</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td  colspan='2' align='center'>CHAPTER V.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE RISE OF THE PERSIAN KINGDOM</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_382">382</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<div class="bbt">
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+
+<h3><a name="BOOK_VII" id="BOOK_VII"></a>BOOK VII.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE ARIANS OF EASTERN IRAN.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<h1>EASTERN IRAN.</h1>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE LAND AND THE TRIBES.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Between the valley of the Indus and the land of the
+Euphrates and Tigris, bounded on the south by the
+ocean and the Persian Gulf, on the north by the
+broad steppes which the Oxus and Jaxartes vainly
+attempt to fertilise, by the Caspian Sea and the valley
+of the Aras, lies the table-land of Iran. Rising to an
+average height of 4000 feet above the level of the sea,
+it forms an oblong, the length of which from east to
+west is something more than 1500 miles. The breadth
+in the east is about 1000 miles, but at the narrowest
+point, from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf, it is
+not much more than 500 miles; while the western
+edge, reaching from the Persian Gulf to the mountains
+of Aderbeijan, again extends over a distance of about
+750 miles.</p>
+
+<p>In this seclusion, neither penetrated by bays of the
+sea nor traversed by mighty rivers, the region exhibits
+a certain similarity to the highlands of Arabia. The
+centre of the Iranian land, like that of Arabia, is occupied
+by a great desert where only nomadic life is possible.
+But the soil of Iran is more diversified in regard to
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>elevation and depression. The northern half of the
+land is higher than the southern, the centre is hollowed
+out in the form of a trough, so that in the east, at any
+rate, the waters from the inner slopes of the mountainous
+rim fall into the depression, and collect in
+fructifying lakes. The oases and fertile valleys are
+more numerous and extensive than in Arabia, and
+though the rivers of the inner table-land, like the
+streams of the northern edge, which flow to the north,
+are lost in the sand or end in unimportant lakes, they
+nevertheless render agriculture possible over wide
+tracts of country.</p>
+
+<p>The northern side is more diversified and superior
+in formation to the south. The southern edge, which
+sinks down to the ocean, closely resembles Arabia
+in the climate and the nature of the country; the
+mountains of the north, on the other hand, exhibit
+green pastures and splendid forests where Arabia has
+nothing but bare peaks: in the Hindu Kush, and
+Elburz on the Caspian Sea, as well as in Aderbeijan,
+they rise into vast Alpine districts. The eastern edge,
+extending over a distance of 900 miles, rises like a
+steep wall out of the valley of the Indus; a few long
+and difficult passes lead from the Indus to the high
+ground, which on the north commences with cold bare
+flats, and on the south with slopes still more desolate
+and barren, and at the same time intolerably hot. Only
+the terraces of the valley of the Cabul, which flows
+down into the Indus, allow a convenient exit towards
+the north, and present a soil to a great extent so
+fertile that three harvests can be reaped in the year.
+The western edge of Iran, on the other hand, is formed
+by parallel ridges running from the north-west to the
+south-east, between which, beside extensive mountain
+pastures, lie narrow and well-watered valleys. In the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>
+north-west the low-lying regions are rich in meadows
+and forest; while those between the abutting ridges of
+the western and southern edge are warm, and even hot,
+in climate, rich and luxuriant in vegetation.</p>
+
+<p>On this table-land the heat is softened, though not
+entirely, by the elevation of the soil. After violent
+storms in the spring, no cloud darkens the sky from
+May to September; the atmosphere is peculiarly dry
+and clear, and through the fine air can be seen, bright
+and sharp, the outlines of the mountains and the whole
+country, while at night the star-lit sky almost replaces
+the light of day. The changes in temperature are
+sudden and severe. From cold, snow-covered terraces,
+8000 feet in height, we suddenly descend to the
+glowing heat of the plains, lying barely 2000 feet
+above the sea. In the north-east oppressive heat
+alternates with great cold; the north suffers from a
+severe winter, with heavy falls of snow and icy storms,
+blowing over the Caspian Sea and the broad steppes; in
+the south the air is filled with the dust of the desert,
+here extraordinarily fine, and the hot winds give the
+heaps of sand the appearance of changing waves, and
+roll masses of it to the sky.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<p>As far back as our information extends, we find the
+table-land of Iran occupied by a group of nations
+closely related to each other, and speaking dialects
+of the same language. On the edges of that great
+desert, which occupies the centre of the land, are
+tracts of pasture, and further inland, treeless steppes,
+which, however, are watered here and there by
+brackish pools, and produce a salt vegetation barely
+sufficient to provide buffaloes and camels with sustenance,
+until the soil becomes entirely barren. In the
+western part of these steppes wandered a pastoral<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>
+people, whom Herodotus calls Sagartians. They were
+horsemen, but, according to the historian's statement,
+carried no weapons of attack beyond a dagger and a
+rope of twisted straps, at one end of which was a loop.
+In this they placed their confidence in battle; they
+threw it over men and horses, and so dragged them
+down and strangled them. In the inscriptions of the
+Ach&aelig;menids this nation is called <i>A&ccedil;agarta</i>.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p>
+
+<p>Close to the Indus, and beyond the bare, hot, treeless
+shores of the ocean, the southern part of the plain
+consists of sandy flats, in which nothing grows but
+prickly herbs and a few palms. The springs are a
+day's journey from each other, and often more. This
+region was possessed by a people whom Herodotus
+calls Sattagyd&aelig;, and the companions of Alexander of
+Macedonia, Gedrosians.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Among the nations of the
+East who were subject to them, the inscriptions of the
+Ach&aelig;menids mention the "<i>Thataghus</i>," which the
+Greeks understood as Sattagush and Gadrush. Neighbours
+of the Gandarians, who, as we know, dwelt on
+the right bank of the Indus down to the Cabul, the
+Gedrosians led a wandering, predatory life; under the
+Persian kings they were united into one satrapy with
+the Gandarians.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> To the south of the Gedrosians, on
+the coast, there dwelt, according to the Greeks, a
+miserable race, eaters of fish and tortoises, who built<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>
+their houses of the bones of whales thrown up by the
+sea. They wove their nets from the bark of palms,
+and their weapons were javelins hardened in the fire.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a>
+The edge on the south allows no streams of any size
+to flow to the sea, so that even to this day this coast
+presents only a few small fertile spots. About equally
+distant from the northern and southern edge of the
+table-land, to the east of the desert of the interior, lies
+a considerable lake, now called Hamun, but known
+to the Greeks as Areios. It forms the centre of a cultivated
+district, though the storms from the west often
+drive the sand of the desert to its shores. This basin
+is formed by and receives important streams flowing
+from the inner slopes of the northern and eastern edge.
+From the southern spurs of the Hindu Kush comes
+the Hilmend, the Haetumat of the Avesta, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> rich
+in bridges, the Etymandros of the Greeks, which has a
+course of about 400 miles, and before falling into the
+lake is joined by the Arghandab. The Lora, which
+flows from the east, but further to the south, does not
+now reach the lake. From the north flow the Harut
+and Chashrud. Round this lake, and on the banks of the
+Hilmend, the Arghandab, and the Lora, lies a fruitful
+region; higher up the walls of the valleys are covered
+with forests, until towards the east the upper course of
+the rivers is enclosed by bare cliffs. On the shores of
+the Hamun, and in the valley of the Hilmend, dwelt a
+people whom the inscriptions of the Ach&aelig;menids call
+<i>Zaraka</i>, i.&nbsp;e. dwellers on the lake. A lake in Old
+Persian is <i>Daraya</i>; in the ancient language of the East,
+<i>Zarayanh</i>; in modern Persian, <i>Zareh</i>. Hence we
+understand why Herodotus calls this nation Sarangians,
+the later Greeks, Zarangians and Drangians.
+According to the Greeks the Zarakas were a warlike<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>
+nation, armed with Median bows and spears, unsurpassed
+in battle on horseback; and a tribe of them
+which lived under good and equitable laws bore the
+name of Aria&ccedil;pians.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> The ruins of cities and works of
+irrigation testify to the former prosperity of this region.
+East of the Zarakas, up the valley of the Arghandab,
+dwelt the Arachoti. In the inscriptions of the Ach&aelig;menids
+they are called <i>Harauvati</i>; in the Avesta,
+<i>Harahvaiti</i>, i.&nbsp;e. the rich in water. These names the
+Arachoti received from the river on which they were
+settled, the older name of which was Arachotus
+(<i>Sarasvati</i>).<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> Herodotus does not designate the
+Arachoti by this name derived from the river of their
+land, but by the tribal name of Pactyes; he tells us
+that they wore peculiar bows, daggers, and skins.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a>
+The Afghans, who in ancient times occupied the region
+from the Suleiman mountains on the east as far as
+the Arghandab on the west, Shorawak on the south,
+the Cabul and the range of the Sefid-Kuh on the
+north, and in the middle ages forced their way to
+Cabul and Peshawur, still call themselves Pashtun and
+Pakhtun, or Rohilo, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> mountaineers. They still speak
+their old rough mountain language, which is closely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>
+connected with the dialects of the Arian tribes on the
+Indus.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+
+<p>Eastward of Elburz, the point where the northern
+edge of Iran again rises into a lofty range to the west
+(Demavend is more than 18,000 feet in height), and
+then sinks down to the Caspian Sea, lay the Hyrcanians.
+In the inscriptions of the Ach&aelig;menids their
+land is known as <i>Varkana</i>; the modern name is Jorjan.
+Here, according to the Greeks, the mountains were
+covered with forests of oaks, where swarms of wild
+bees had their hives; in the valleys vines and fig-trees
+flourished, and the soil down to the sea was so luxuriant
+that corn grew from the fallen grains without
+any special sowing.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> The description is hardly exaggerated.
+The waters pouring from the heights and
+snow-fields of Elburz water the soil of the coast so
+thoroughly, that a tropical growth flourishes in Jorjan,
+Taberistan, and Ghilan, the luxuriance of which is
+assisted by the volcanic heat of the earth. The
+lagunes of the coast are succeeded by marsh forests;
+higher up are fields of rice and plantations of sugarcane,
+and beyond these fertile meadows, above which
+splendid forests of oaks, planes, and elms clothe the
+heights of Elburz. There is abundance of water fruits,
+figs and mulberries, olives and oranges, and the
+vigorous creepers of the vines run even to the summits
+of the trees.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> Nevertheless, these favoured regions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>
+have a darker side. Frequent earthquakes disturb the
+soil; in the winter furious north winds blowing over
+the Caspian rage along the walls of Elburz, and even
+on the outlying spurs the snow falls to the depth of
+several fathoms; the rain-clouds, hemmed in by the
+mountain ranges, often burst in water-spouts, which
+lay the land far and wide under water, and roll as
+torrents down the gorges; the marsh air blanches the
+inhabitants, while in the summer the hot and moist
+climate breeds deadly fever.</p>
+
+<p>Further to the east, where the Caspian Sea ends and
+the mountains of Iran descend towards the desolate,
+pathless steppes of the Oxus, is a wild, hilly country.
+In the depressions, and there only, the region of the
+Parthians (<i>Parthava</i> in the inscriptions of the Ach&aelig;menids<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a>)
+exhibits fruitful lands, and, further eastward
+still, agriculture is favoured by the long, narrow valley
+of the Areios (Herirud). Springing from the southern
+slope of the Hindu Kush, the river flows towards
+the west along the inner edge of the table-land, till
+it bursts through the northern barrier in order to lose
+itself in the sand of the steppes. In this valley the
+district of the modern Herat, lay the Areians, who
+are called <i>Haraiva</i> in the inscriptions of the Persian
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>kings. The name points to the possession of water. To
+the north of the Areians, in the valley of the Margos
+(now Murghab), which rises in the northern edge of
+the table-land, and flows to the north-west, where it
+also ends in the sands of the desert, in Margiana (Old
+Persian, Marghush; Bactrian, Mouru; modern Merv),
+lay the Margiani, in a well-cultivated region, rich in
+vineyards, with numerous cities and a large population.
+But the fertility only extends so far as the soil
+can be watered from the Margos and the neighbouring
+streams.</p>
+
+<p>At the foot of the mountain barrier, towards the
+northern steppes, and on the edge of the steppes of
+the Oxus, to the north of the Hyrcanians, Parthians,
+and Margiani, in a land which only partially admits
+of agriculture, lay the Chorasmians, a people partly
+stationary and partly migratory&mdash;the <i>Uvarazmiya</i>
+of the Ach&aelig;menids, the <i>Hvairizem</i> of the Avesta.
+Further to the east, where the edge rises to the lofty
+Hindu Kush, there lies on its northern slope a favoured
+district in the region of the Upper Oxus. That river
+flows from the table-land of Pamire, which lies more
+than 15,000 feet above the sea, exactly at the point
+where the Hindu Kush abuts on the Belurdagh, the
+western edge of the central table-land. On the banks
+of the river, which flows in a north-westerly direction,
+extend broad mountain pastures, where support is found
+in the fresh mountain air for numerous herds of horses
+and sheep, and beneath the wooded hills are blooming
+valleys. On these slopes of the Hindu Kush, the
+middle stage between the table-land and the deep
+plain of the Caspian Sea, lay the Bactrians&mdash;the <i>Bakhtri</i>
+of the Ach&aelig;menids, the <i>Bakhdhi</i> of the Avesta.
+Curtius, following the accounts of the companions of
+Alexander, tells us of the land of the Bactrians that it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>
+was much diversified in character; in one part were pastures,
+another was rich in beautiful fruit-trees and vines,
+and frequent springs watered the rich soil, on which
+corn was cultivated. These districts supported a large
+number of oxen and horses. Under the range of
+Paropanisos (<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> on the slope of the Hindu Kush) lay
+the city of Bactra, on the river of the same name,
+which washed its walls. But a great part of the country
+was covered with waste tracts of sand. If the winds
+blew from the Caspian Sea, they swept the sand into
+high hills, under which not only did every trace of
+the road disappear, but travellers were at times overwhelmed;
+and, as if voyaging by sea, it was necessary
+to guide the course by the stars.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> Strabo remarks,
+after Apollodorus of Artemita, that Bactria was the
+best part of East Iran (Ariana). In ancient times the
+Bactrians were hardly distinguished from nomads;
+but their land was extensive, and produced fruits of all
+kinds, with the exception of the vine. The fertility
+of the land enabled the Hellenic princes to make great
+conquests. Their cities were Bactra, traversed by the
+river of the same name, Darapsa, Aornus (<i>avarana</i>,
+<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> protection), Kariata, and many others, and besides
+these cities, the Bactrians had citadels on lofty rocks.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a>
+According to Strabo, Bactra was also called Zariaspa,
+and Pliny asserts that at any rate in earlier times it
+was called by that name. In Arrian Zariaspa is the
+largest city of Bactria, while Ptolemy places Zariaspa
+to the north of Bactra, on the bank of the Oxus.
+Zariaspa means golden horse. A river might possibly
+be known by such a name, but hardly a city, unless it
+belonged to a tribe of the name of Zariaspians, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>
+was inhabited by them. In fact Ptolemy places the
+tribe of the Zariaspians in his Zariaspa.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p>
+
+<p>The air on these north-western terraces of the Hindu
+Kush is warm, and the soil sufficiently vigorous, under
+irrigation, to produce rice and southern fruits. Eight
+leagues below the snow-fields of the mountains, which
+resist even the hottest months of the year, two good
+leagues to the north of the place where the Dehas,
+after forcing a passage through the last heights, reaches
+the plains, lies the city of Balkh, on the banks of that
+river. At this day it is a town only partially inhabited;
+but the ruins of the ancient city are said to
+cover a circuit of several leagues. The adjacent soil
+is now well cultivated; the fields are thickly planted
+with trees, and beside old water-courses, now dried up,
+and extensive ruins of yet older aqueducts, eighteen
+channels still convey their rills to fields under active
+cultivation.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p>
+
+<p>North of the Bactrians, beyond the Oxus, on the
+western slope of Belurdagh, in the valley of the Polytimetus
+(Zarefshan, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> strewing gold), which flows
+towards the Oxus from the east, but, instead of joining
+it, ends in Lake Dengiz, lay the Sogdiani of the Greeks,
+the <i>Suguda</i> of the Old Persian inscriptions, and <i>&Ccedil;ughdha</i>
+of the Avesta, in the region of the modern Sogd.
+As the Oxus in its upper course separates the Bactrians
+from the Sogdiani, the Jaxartes, further to the north,
+separates the latter from the Scyths. According to
+Strabo, the manners of the Bactrians and Sogdiani
+were similar, but the Bactrians were less rude.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> Maracanda
+(Samarcand), the chief city of the Sogdiani, on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>
+the Polytimetus, is said to have had a circuit of 70
+stades in the fourth century <small>B.C.</small> The soil is not
+without fertility, but the climate varies between great
+heat and severe cold.</p>
+
+<p>Herodotus observes that the Bactrians, who carried
+bows of reed and short lances, closely resembled the
+northern Indians in armour, clothing, and mode of
+life, and then informs us that the Areians, Parthians,
+Sogdiani, and Chorasmians resembled the Bactrians.
+All these tribes of the east, according to the account
+of Herodotus, carried the Indian bow of reed; the
+Areians alone used the Median bow, which Herodotus
+states to have been in vogue not only among the Medes,
+but also among all the nations of Western Iran. He
+adds that in ancient times the Medes were called
+Areians by all men. Strabo uses the name Ariana for
+the land of all the nations of Iran, except that of the
+Medes and Persians, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> for the whole eastern half
+of Iran.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> In Diodorus also the nations of Eastern Iran
+are Arians.<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> The Avesta, which, as we shall show,
+belongs to the east of Iran, calls its native land <i>Airyao
+Dahvyu</i>, i.&nbsp;e. abode of the Airyas; or <i>Airyao Danhavo</i>,
+<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> land of the Airyas, in contrast to the <i>Anairyao
+Danhavo</i>, i.&nbsp;e. the non-Arian lands.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> In his inscriptions
+king Darius styles himself "a Persian, son of a
+Persian, an Arian (<i>ariya</i>) of an Arian tribe,"<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> and therefore
+the name must have held good of the west of Iran
+also, and have included all the nations of Iran, though
+afterwards it continued in use more especially for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>
+tribes of the east. The inhabitants of the modern
+Persian kingdom call their kingdom by the general
+name of Iran. Iran is only the regular new Persian
+form of the old name, which in the west was pronounced
+Ariyana, and in the east Airyana.</p>
+
+<p>We remember that the ruling nation of India called
+themselves Arya, and this name compared with Airya
+and Ariya shows us that the nations of Iran assumed
+the same title with very little difference. Among the
+Greeks Ariya and Airya became Areioi and Arioi, and
+the name of the land, Ariyana and Airyana, became
+Ariana. We have learnt the meaning of the names
+Aryas, Ariyas, Airyas; they signify "the noble or
+ruling people" (IV. 8). Much the same is the sense
+of the name Art&aelig;ans,<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> which, according to the assertion
+of Herodotus, was the title by which the Persians
+called themselves; it signifies "the exalted," or
+"mighty." The Persians may have assumed it after
+they became the ruling people in Iran and Hither
+Asia.</p>
+
+<p>These distinctions show us that the Aryas whom we
+found on the Indus and in the Panjab, and who forced
+their way from thence to the conquest and colonisation
+of the valley of the Ganges, and then extended
+their dominion over the Deccan, and imported their
+religion and their civilisation into those wide regions,
+were closely connected with the group of nations which
+occupied the table-land of Iran. It is obvious that
+this relationship was most strictly maintained and
+most strongly marked where the intercourse between
+the neighbouring nations was most lively, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> among
+the nations of Eastern Iran. The conclusion drawn
+from the common title of the two nations on the west
+and east of the Indus, and from the statements of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>
+Herodotus about the manners of the eastern and the
+name of the western nations of Iran, is confirmed by
+the examination of the existing remnants of the
+ancient languages of Iran, whether spoken in the east
+or the west. This evidence derived from the names
+and the language is confirmed yet further by the
+coincidence in certain traits of religion and worship.</p>
+
+<p>We are not in a position to fix the place from which
+and the time when the Arian tribes entered the table-land
+of Iran and peopled it. That Iran was not
+their native country is clear from the divergence of
+the Arian stock from the common stem of the Indo-Europeans
+(IV. 4). Still less can we decide whether
+the Arians found an older population already settled
+in Iran. So far as the ancient monuments of east
+and west allow us to form an opinion, there exist no
+elements of an alien language from which we could
+deduce the existence of an earlier population, which
+the Arians conquered. Yet we cannot deny that
+tribes of an alien origin and character were settled on
+the western spurs of the mountain wall of Iran, in the
+north no less than in the south.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> The foreign elements
+which the later forms of the language of Iran have
+adopted are due to the influence which the Semitic
+neighbours of the Arians on the west, and the
+dominion of the Arabs, exercised on Iran. As to the
+direction in which the Arians entered Iran, we can
+only conclude, from their close relationship to the Arians
+of India, that they peopled the east of Iran before the
+west. If the Arians of India came into the Panjab, as
+we assumed, soon after 2000 <small>B.C.</small>, the Arians of Iran
+entered the eastern part of that country at a date
+certainly not later. According to the list of dynasties<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>
+furnished by Berosus, the Arians about 2500 <small>B.C.</small> were
+not only settled in Iran, but already possessed the
+western part of the country. He represents the Medes
+as conquering Babylonia in 2458 <small>B.C.</small>, and from this
+date down to 2224 <small>B.C.</small> mentions eight Median kings
+as ruling over Babylon (I. 241, 247).</p>
+
+<p>In spite of their cruel treatment, the nucleus of the
+ancient Arian population of Iran has not succumbed to
+the alien dynasties, the Seleucids, Arabs, and Mongols
+who have invaded the land since the fall of the Ach&aelig;menids;
+and the ancient territory has been maintained,
+with some losses, even against the incursions
+and immigrations of the Sac&aelig;, Yu&euml;chis, and Turkish
+hordes. As in the vast regions of the Indus and the
+Ganges, so in Iran the ancient language still lives
+on the lips of the modern population. Yet the
+changes have been great. Under the Arsacids the Old
+Persian passed into Middle Persian, which at a later
+time was known by the name of the Parthians, the
+tribe at that time supreme in Persia. Pahlav and
+Pehlevi mean Parthian, and, as applied to language,
+the language of the Parthians, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> of the Parthian era.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a>
+In the west this older Middle Persian grew up out of
+the Old Persian, in the east out of the Old Bactrian.
+In the latest period of the dominion of the Sassanids,
+the recent Middle Persian or Parsee took the place of
+Pehlevi. When the kingdom of the Sassanids succumbed
+to the Arabs, and Arabic became the language
+of the ruling people in Iran, the reaction which took
+place in the eastern districts of the country against the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>
+dominion of the Abbasids brought about the formation
+of the new Persian, which was finally completed
+when the national reaction broke out in the beginning
+of the eleventh century of our era. Beginning from
+Merv, Balkh, and Sejestan (the ancient Haetumat), that
+rising found its strongest point in Ghasna and Cabul.
+It did not preserve the religion, but it saved the
+language, nationality, and independence of Iran. The
+change from the Middle Persian to the modern began
+with the north-eastern dialects; in the south-east the
+Afghans and Beluchees still speak in ancient forms,
+closely akin to the dialects of the peasants of the Panjab.
+To this day the greater part of the entire population
+of Iran consists of the descendants of the Arians, in
+spite of all the distress and ruin which the land has
+suffered,<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> though the residuum of foreign elements is
+larger here than beyond the Indus, especially in the
+north-west, in Aderbeijan, and above all in Bactria and
+Sogdiana, in the north-east. The descendants of the
+Arians are still recognised by the formation of their
+bodies, which appeared so striking to Western nations
+in antiquity&mdash;the slender growth, the semicircular,
+united eyebrows, and the yellow skin, which becomes
+browner towards the east. The Persians and Afghans
+still possess a sound judgment, a keen intelligence, and
+lively sense of poetry&mdash;characteristics which, as we
+saw, belonged in a pre-eminent degree to the Arians
+of India.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Ritter, "Erdkunde," 7, 234-240; 8, 721.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Herod. 1, 125; 7, 85; Lassen, "Z. D. M. G." 6, 55. Herodotus
+reckons the Paretaceni among the tribes of the Medes (1, 101); the
+Sagartians, whom he represents as armed partly like Persians, partly
+like Pactyans, with the Carmanians, he places among the Persians.
+Yet the nomad Sagartians seem rather to have had relations with the
+Medes than the Persians; for, according to the inscription of Behistun,
+a rebel obtains a following among the Sagartians by giving himself out
+to be a descendant of Cyaxares, the Median king. Ptolemy places the
+Sagartians in Media; cf. Plin. "Hist. Nat." 6, 29.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Arrian, "Anab." 6, 22 ff.; "Ind." 25, 26; Curtius, 9, 10, 5.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Behistun, 1, 6; Persep. 1, 17; Herod. 3, 91.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Strabo, p. 711; Arrian, "Ind." 25, 26; "Anab." 6, 23.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Arrian, "Anab." 3, 27; Diod. 17, 81; Strabo, p. 724.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Vol. IV. p. 33.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> The city of Kapisakani, which Darius, according to the inscription
+of Behistun (3, 9, 1), conquered in the land of the Arachoti, is no doubt
+the Capissa of Pliny, in the district of Capissene; "Hist. Nat." 6, 25.
+Pliny speaks of the city and river of Cabul as belonging to the
+Arachoti. The inhabitants of the southern slope of the Hindu Kush
+are known to the Greeks as Paropanisad&aelig;. The explanation of the
+name by Paropanisos (Paropamisus), Paropanishadha, given by Lassen,
+is quoted in Vol. IV. p. 21, <i>n.</i> 2. In the Babylonian text of the inscription
+of Behistun, the Gandaras of the Persian text are called Parupanisana.
+In the narrower sense the name denotes the south-western
+part of the range of the Hindu Kush, the group which forms the cradle
+of the Herirud and Hilmend, the modern Ghuristan, to the west of
+the plateau of Ghasna.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Lassen, "Indische Alterthumskunde," 1, 428. Fr. M&uuml;ller ("Ueber
+die Sprache der Afghanen") is of the opinion that the Afghan does not
+come between Indian and Persian, but belongs to the Iranian stem,
+and the Afghan has preserved the old Bactrian relations of sound more
+faithfully than the Persian, and thus shows itself to be a direct
+descendant of the old eastern dialect of Iran. Trump proves that
+Afghan is an ancient independent language of strong Indian type.
+"Z. D. M. G." 21, 10 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Strabo, pp. 508, 514, 724; Plin. "Hist. Nat." 6, 29; Diod. 17, 75.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Ritter, "Erdkunde," 8, 425 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Isid. "Charac. Mans. Parth." 10-14. The Parthians rose with
+the Hyrcanians against Darius; Parthians and Hyrcanians formed one
+satrapy. The Parthians are the Pahlav of Moses of Khorene, the
+Pehlew of later writers. The mention of them in the inscriptions of
+Darius proves that they are not a later immigrant Scythian, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> non-Arian,
+nation, as Justin, Strabo, and others maintain. The cities
+which the inscription of Behistun mentions in Parthia (2, 95; 3, 4),
+Vi&ccedil;pauzatis and Patigrabana, we cannot fix more definitely; Ammian
+(23, 6) mentions Patigran in Media. Parthunisa, with the graves of
+the Parthian kings, mentioned in Isidorus, "which the Greeks call
+Nis&aelig;a," is Parthava-Ni&ccedil;aya, and must be sought for near the modern
+Nishapur. It must be the Ni&ccedil;a which the Vendidad places between
+Mouru and Bakhdhi. Justi, "Beitrage," 2, 6 compares Isidorus'
+&#914;&#945;&#964;&#950;&#953;&#947;&#961;&#940;&#946;&#945;&#957;, &#8005; &#7952;&#963;&#964;&#953;
+&#964;&#949;&#955;&#974;&#957;&#953;&#959;&#957;.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Curt. 7, 4.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Strabo, pp. 118, 516, 682; Arrian, "Anab." 3, 29. On Aornus, cf.
+Vol. IV. p. 395.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Ptolem. 6, 11; 8, 7; Strabo, pp. 514, 516; Arrian, "Anab." 3, 29;
+4, 1, 16, 22; Plin. "Hist. Nat." 6, 17, 18; Steph. Byz. <i>sub voc.</i> Firdusi
+mentions a hero Zarasp.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Elphinstone, "Kabul," 2, 213, 214.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Strabo, <i>loc. cit.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Herod. 7, 62; Strabo (pp. 516, 517, 724) includes in Ariana,
+Gedrosia, Arachosia, Drangiana, Paropanisus, Aria, Parthia, and
+Caramania. Cf. Pausan. 2, 3, 8.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Diod. 1, 94. Damascius ("De Primis Principiis," p. 384) speaks of the
+&#924;&#940;&#947;&#959;&#953; &#948;&#8050; &#954;&#945;&#8054; &#960;&#8118;&#957;
+&#964;&#8056; &#7941;&#961;&#953;&#959;&#957; &#947;&#7953;&#957;&#959;&#962;.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> "Vendid." 19, 132; "Mihr Yasht," 4, 13; "Tistar Yasht," 9, 56, 60.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a>  Naksh-i-Rustem, a., 14.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Herod. 7, 61. Cf. Steph. Byz. &#7944;&#961;&#964;&#945;&#943;&#945;.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> On the tribe of the Brahuis in the south-east, on this side of the
+Indus, cf. Vol. IV. p. 10.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Haug, "The book of Arda Viraf," p. xxv. Mordtmann has shown
+on the coins of the Arsacids and Sassanids the stages between the
+older forms and the language of Firdusi; "Z. D. M. G." 4, 84 ff., 8,
+9 ff. On the forms of the Old Bactrian on the coins of the Gr&aelig;co-Bactrian
+and Indo-Scythian princes: Lassen, "Indische Alterthum."
+2<sup>2</sup>, 834 ff. Spiegel, "Parsigrammatik," s. 116 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> It has been recently proved that the inhabitants of the mountain
+country between Cabul and Herat, the Aimaks and Hazares, speak
+Persian.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE KINGDOM OF THE BACTRIANS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Among the ruins of the residence of the kings of
+Asshur at Chalah, on the confluence of the Greater Zab
+and the Tigris, was discovered the obelisk which
+Shalmanesar II., who reigned from 859 to 823 <small>B.C.</small> over
+Assyria, erected in memory of his successes. In the
+tribute offered to him we find the rhinoceros, the
+elephant, the humped ox, and the camel with two
+humps (II. 320). This species of camel and the yak are
+found in Bactria, on the southern edge of the Caspian
+Sea, and in Tartary, and we afterwards find elephants
+in the possession of the rulers of Bactria.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> Hence, in
+order to obtain these animals for tribute, the armies of
+Shalmanesar must have advanced as far as the eastern
+tribes of the Iranian table-land. From the inscriptions
+of Tiglath Pilesar II., it is clear that he advanced
+along the same table-land as far as the Hilmend
+and the Arachoti, if not as far as Bactria. Among
+the lands subjugated in 745 <small>B.C.</small>, he enumerates Nisaa,
+Zikruti, and Arakuttu. In Nisaa we cannot mistake
+Nis&aelig;a in the east of Media (p. 31). The Zikruti were
+no doubt the Sagartians of Herodotus, the A&ccedil;agarta
+of the old Persian inscriptions.<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> Arakuttu represents<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>
+in a Semitic form the name of the Arachoti, the
+Harauvati of the Ach&aelig;menids (p. 8). So far as we
+can at present judge from inscriptions, the successors of
+Tiglath Pilesar did not carry their campaigns further
+to the east of Iran, and we can assert with certainty
+of both the sovereigns who raised the power of Assyria
+to its summit, Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal (681-626
+<small>B.C.</small>), that they made no conquests in this direction.</p>
+
+<p>If the inscriptions of the Assyrians leave us in
+almost total darkness about Bactria, the Medo-Persian
+epic poetry can give us full information about the
+country. When Ninus, king of Assyria, had subjugated
+all the nations of Asia as far as the Nile and the
+Tanais, he made an attempt upon Bactria, but without
+success. The entrance into the land was difficult, the
+number of warriors great, and they knew how to fight
+bravely. Then Ninus collected an army of two millions
+of soldiers, which was opposed by Oxyartes, the
+king of the Bactrians, with 400,000 men. When the
+Assyrian army came in detachments out of the passes,
+Oxyartes attacked and drove them back into the
+mountains with the loss of 100,000 men. The army
+of Ninus then combined, outnumbered and overcame
+the Bactrians, and scattered them into their cities,
+which Ninus took with little trouble. But Bactra,
+where was the palace of the kings, was large and well
+supplied, and had a very strong citadel in a high
+position, while the city extended over the plain. It
+resisted for a long time, till Semiramis ascended the
+citadel, and Ninus was enabled to take possession of
+the treasures of gold and silver which were in Bactra.
+At a later time Semiramis collected her vast army
+for the invasion of India in Bactria, and returned
+to Bactra after she had been defeated on the Indus,
+and had lost two-thirds of her army (II. 10). Such<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>
+are the descriptions given by the epic poetry of the
+Medes and Persians, in the account of the rise of
+Assyria and subjugation of Bactria. The Bactrians are
+again brought forward in the narrative of the overthrow
+of Assyria, which was the proper theme of these poems.
+When Sardanapalus has already thrice defeated the
+Medes and Babylonians, a strong force comes to his
+assistance from Bactria. The leader of the Medes
+determines to attack this first, if it would not join in
+the contest for freedom against Assyria. The Bactrians
+joined the Medes, the power of Assyria was broken,
+and Nineveh destroyed (III. 253).</p>
+
+<p>From these poems it follows that in the first half of
+the sixth century <small>B.C.</small>, in which the Medo-Persian epic
+attained its original form, the tradition, or at any rate
+the opinion, existed among the minstrels of Media that
+a powerful kingdom and large metropolis once existed
+in Bactria, the situation of which is correctly described.
+This kingdom possessed a strong citadel and abundant
+treasures, and could put in the field a large army of
+brave warriors. Without such a conception they could
+not represent the first attack of the Assyrians on
+Bactria as a failure, the second as successful only
+after considerable time and trouble had been spent,
+and the conquest as the last and greatest achievement
+of Ninus, the mightiest sovereign of Assyria, which he
+only performed with the aid of Semiramis.</p>
+
+<p>The inscriptions of the Assyrians have already informed
+us that no dominion of Assyria over Eastern
+Iran existed in the earliest period of the kingdom; on
+the contrary, even when her power was at the highest
+Assyria could only carry on temporary excursions
+into that region. The western part of the country
+was first trodden by the armies of Shalmanesar II.;
+his inscriptions mention tribute of the Medes, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>
+from the inscriptions of his successors it is distinctly
+clear that only the nations of Western Iran were
+tributary dependants of the kings of Asshur from
+the period of Tiglath Pilesar, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> from the middle of
+the eighth century <small>B.C.</small>, till the period of Phraortes and
+Cyaxares of Media, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> till the middle of the seventh
+century <small>B.C.</small><a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p>
+
+<p>The conquests of Cyrus, who overthrew the power
+of the Medes, founded the Persian empire, and extended
+it to the east, would give us more accurate information
+about Eastern Iran if connected accounts of these were
+in existence. Herodotus contents himself with stating
+that Cyrus, after subjugating the Lydians, determined to
+march against the Bactrians and Sac&aelig;. He conquered
+all the nations of Upper Asia, one after the other,
+without omitting any.<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> Ctesias relates that the Bactrians
+after a doubtful battle submitted voluntarily
+to Cyrus. According to the account of Xenophon, the
+Hyrcanians, Cadusians, and Sac&aelig; joined Cyrus, and in
+the fragments of Nicolaus also the Hyrcanians, Parthians,
+and "the other nations" passed over to Cyrus
+immediately after the conquest of the Medes. However
+this may be, there is no doubt that the east of
+Iran was subject to Cyrus. He marched through the
+land of the Arachoti, entered into relations with the
+Aria&ccedil;pas (p. 8), and subjugated the Gandarians on
+the south of the Cabul. He is also said to have
+imposed tribute on the A&ccedil;vakas to the north of the
+river (IV. 384). The Sogdiani, in any case, were his
+vassals. On a stream which flows into the Jaxartes
+he built a fortress called by his own name, known to
+the Greeks as Cyresbata (<i>ultima Cyra</i>, or with others
+Cyropolis), <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the furthest Cyrus. The walls and
+citadels were strong and spacious, and in the neigh<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>bourhood
+were six other citadels.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> The value placed
+by Cyrus on the regions of Eastern Iran is not only
+clear from these fortresses, but may be deduced from
+the statement that his second son Bardya, whom the
+Greeks call Smerdis, was intrusted with the government
+of Bactria, if indeed the statement is genuine.<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p>
+
+<p>The nations and condition of Eastern Iran can be
+ascertained more clearly from the inscriptions of
+Darius. According to his inscription at Behistun,
+his empire in that direction comprised the Parthians,
+Sarangians, Areians, Chorasmians, Bactrians, Sogdiani,
+Gandarii, Sattagyd&aelig;, Arachoti, and Sac&aelig;; and to these
+the Idhus, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the Indians on the right bank of the
+upper course of the Indus, are added in the inscriptions
+of Persepolis and Naksh-i-Rustem.<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> Further
+information is preserved by Herodotus with respect
+to the tribute imposed by Darius on these nations.
+As these statements are undoubtedly derived from
+Persian tribute lists, they serve to throw a side light
+on the state of civilisation existing in the east of Iran
+at the division of the sixth and fifth centuries <small>B.C.</small>
+The Sarangians, who, as we have seen (p. 7), inhabited
+the fertile land round Lake Areios (Hamun),
+together with the Sagartians and some neighbouring
+nations on the south, paid yearly 600 Babylonian
+talents into the treasury of the king. The Areians
+(Haraivas), Parthians, Sogdiani, and Chorasmians, who
+formed the sixteenth satrapy of the Persian empire,
+had to pay 300 talents; the Gedrosians and Gandarians
+together paid 170 talents; the Caspiani (<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i>
+no doubt, the Tapurians and other tribes on the
+southern shore of the Caspian Sea) and the Sac&aelig;, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>
+traversed the steppes of the Oxus, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the fifteenth
+satrapy, paid 250 talents; and the Bactrians, the
+twelfth satrapy of the empire, paid 360 talents.<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a>
+These sums, which do not include the whole of the
+burdens of the provinces, but are only the land taxes
+which they had to pay,&mdash;in addition, tolls were levied
+and contributions in kind to the court of the king and
+the satraps, as well as for the maintenance of the army,&mdash;show
+that at the time of Darius agriculture and
+wealth had proceeded far beyond the earliest stages
+in the eastern districts of Iran. The Babylonian silver
+talent amounts to more than 2000 thalers (6000
+shillings).<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> If a sum of more than 1,200,000 thalers
+(&pound;180,000) could be raised every year in land tax
+from the districts round Lake Hamun, extensive
+though they were, and 720,000 thalers (&pound;108,000) in
+a similar manner from the land of the Bactrians, the
+gardens, fields, and pastures of these regions must have
+been considerable in breadth, and of great fertility.</p>
+
+<p>Beyond this indication of the state of the civilisation
+in these districts, we learn but little of their fortunes
+under the dominion of the Persians. Darius (521-485
+<small>B.C.</small>) informs us, at the beginning of his reign, that his
+father Hystaspes (Vista&ccedil;pa), his viceroy in Persia, the
+native land of the kingdom, and with him Vivana the
+Persian, the satrap of Arachosia, and Dadarshis the
+Persian, the satrap of Bactria, had quelled the rebellions
+of the Parthians, Hyrcanians, and Margiani;
+that the Mede Takhma&ccedil;pada had conquered the rebellious
+Sagartians, and captured their leader, Chitratakhma,
+whom he, Darius, had crucified at Arbela.
+The army of the second Pseudo-Smerdis, which attempted
+to gain possession of Arachosia, Vivana had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>
+defeated at the fortress of Kapisakani, in Arachosia,
+and the leaders, with their chief associates, had been
+captured in the fortress of Arsada and put to death.
+Hystaspes had slain 6560 men of the Parthians and
+Hyrcanians, and taken 4182 of them captives. Dadarshis
+had subjugated the Mardians by slaying 4203
+of them in battle, and taking 6562 of them captive.<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a>
+Xerxes, the successor of Darius, successively intrusted
+two of his brothers, Masistes and then Hystaspes,
+with the government of Bactria.<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> In the great campaign
+against Hellas, the Bactrians, like all the other
+nations of the kingdom, had to furnish their contingent;
+and when Mardonius had to select the best troops
+in the army in Hellas, in order to winter with them in
+Thessaly, he retained, besides the Persians and Medes,
+the infantry and cavalry of the Bactrians, Sac&aelig;,
+and Indians.<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> The Bactrians, under their viceroy
+Hystaspes, revolted against Artaxerxes, the brother
+of Hystaspes. The first battle was not decisive; in
+the second Artaxerxes conquered, "because the wind
+blew in the face of the Bactrians," and subjugated
+the land.<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> To the army of Darius III. with which
+he met the Macedonians in Assyria, the Bactrians
+contributed 30,000 cavalry; and in the battle of
+Arbela they fought with the Arachoti on the left wing.
+Accompanied by Bactrian horsemen, Darius escaped
+from the field of battle to Media, and sought afterwards
+to maintain his position in their country. The
+Caspian gates, the pass of Damaghan, were gained,
+when the satrap of Bactria got possession of the king,
+and put him to death before he reached Bactria. The
+satrap hoped to establish an independent power
+there,<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> but without success. Though Alexander at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>
+first overcame the Bactrians, who were astonished at
+his rapid approach, he soon found a stubborn resistance
+in Sogdiana and Bactria, which occupied him for two
+years.<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> Not till then could he make his preparations
+in Bactria for the invasion of India, and collect at
+Bactra the army intended for the subjugation of that
+country, in order to pass over the Hindu Kush into
+the valley of the Cabul.</p>
+
+<p>In the contests which the successors of Alexander
+carried on for the supremacy after his death, the
+valley of the Euphrates and Tigris, and the table-land
+of Iran, finally fell to the lot of Seleucus. But in
+the middle of the third century (256 <small>B.C.</small>), Arsaces in
+Parthia and the satrap Diodotus in Bactria rebelled
+against the second successor, Antiochus Theos. The
+descendants of Arsaces not only succeeded in maintaining
+their independence against the Seleucids, in
+spite of severe reverses, but Mithridates I., the sixth
+Arsacid (174-136 <small>B.C.</small>), united all Iran under his
+dominion. The Greeks lost their supremacy, and Iran
+again became subject to native princes.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Diodotus had founded an independent
+supremacy in Bactria. His son, of the same name, was
+succeeded by Euthydemus, against whom, towards the
+year 200 <small>B.C.</small>, Antiochus III. marched, in order to force
+Bactria to submission. Euthydemus was defeated at
+the river Areios (p. 10), and fled to Zariaspa. By
+the surrender of his elephants he obtained an established
+recognition from Antiochus. Demetrius and
+Eucratides, the successors of Euthydemus (after 180
+<small>B.C.</small>), extended the sphere of their dominion to the
+east over the land on the Cabul to the Indus. The
+kingdom of Chandragupta, Vindusara, and A&ccedil;oka, which,
+as we know, included the east of Iran, and has left<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>
+us inscriptions at Peshawur (IV. 525), fell to pieces
+under A&ccedil;oka's grandsons.  Apollodorus of Artemita
+told us above that the fertility of the Bactrian soil
+enabled the Greek rulers to make important conquests
+(p. 12); he informs us that Eucratides founded the
+city of Eucratideia in Bactria, and subjugated a
+thousand cities in India. We may assume that Bactria
+under these princes was not merely powerful,
+but prosperous. According to the statement of Justin,
+a thousand cities were at that time enumerated in
+Bactria,<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> and we possess satisfactory evidence that
+these rulers and their courts, and the Greek settlements
+which Alexander founded in the distant East,
+were able permanently to establish the style and art of
+Hellas. The coins of these princes, who are designated
+in Greek as "kings," "great," "invincible," rival the
+best work which proceeded from Greek mints. The
+faces present the heads of the princes, in characteristic
+and individual portraits; the reverses exhibit Heracles,
+Athena, Apollo with a crown of rays, the Dioscuri on
+horseback, lance in hand. But by degrees the national
+types of the East are again employed on these coins.
+The reverse presents the galloping horse, the animal of
+Bactria, the elephant, and the humped ox.<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> The head
+of Demetrius, who first conquered territory in India,
+and that of some of his descendants, is covered by a
+helmet adorned with the tusks and trunk of an
+elephant. Besides the round, numbers of rectangular
+coins have also been found, from which we can discover
+the native traditional form of the Bactrian coinage.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>
+After the reign of Eucratides these rectangular coins
+present on one side Greek inscriptions, which are
+repeated in other characters on the reverse. To the
+inscriptions of king A&ccedil;oka at Kapur-i-Giri, and to
+these coins, together with those of the Gr&aelig;co-Indian
+kings, and some later coins belonging to the Arsacids
+and the Indo-Scythian princes, we owe the information
+that the east of Iran possessed a peculiar alphabet and
+mode of writing, while the Medes and Persians of the
+west borrowed their earliest letters from the Assyrio-Babylonian
+cuneiform writing, and afterwards, from
+about the fourth century <small>B.C.</small>, adopted the cursive
+character of the Aram&aelig;ans.</p>
+
+<p>Although, as we may conclude from these indications,
+the Greek sovereigns of Bactria resolved to pay a
+certain respect to the civilisation of their subjects,
+their kingdom was short-lived. The nations of the
+steppes of the Oxus, themselves under pressure, began
+to advance to the south (after 160 <small>B.C.</small>); in the west
+the Parthians rose into power. Mithridates I. of Parthia
+incorporated Bactria in his kingdom about 140
+<small>B.C.</small>, and Bactria subsequently became a part of the
+Parthian empire. Heliocles, the son of Eucratides, was
+thus limited to the land of the Cabul and Indus, but
+on the borders of India the power and influence of the
+Greeks remained unbroken. Greek captains&mdash;Menander,
+and after him Apollodotus, who had previously
+no doubt been subject to the Bactrians&mdash;issued
+from the southern slope of the Hindu Kush in the
+last decades of the second century <small>B.C.</small>, and conquered
+the land of the Indus as far as the mouth of the river,
+and the Panjab. They advanced to the Yamuna, and
+reduced Surashtra (Guzerat) and Cashmere to dependence.
+Even at the end of the first century <small>B.C.</small>
+coins of these princes were current on the coast of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>
+Surashtra, and they are still found on the banks of
+the Yamuna.<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p>
+
+<p>On the western coast of India, from the Gulf of
+Cambay to Bombay, we find from one hundred to one
+hundred and fifty thousand families whose ancestors
+migrated thither from Iran. The tradition among them
+is, that at the time when the Arabs, after conquering
+Iran and becoming sovereigns there, persecuted and
+eradicated the old religion, faithful adherents of the
+creed fled to the mountains of Kerman. Driven from
+these by the Arabs (in Kerman and Yezd a few
+hundred families are still found who maintain the
+ancient faith<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a>), they retired to the island of Hormuz
+(a small island close by the southern coast, at the
+entrance to the Persian Gulf). From hence they
+migrated to Din (on the coast of Guzerat), and then
+passed over to the opposite shore. In the neighbourhood
+of Bombay and in the south of India inscriptions
+have been found which prove that these settlers reached
+the coast in the tenth century of our era.<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> At the
+present time their descendants form a considerable
+part of the population of Surat, Bombay, and Ahmadabad;
+they call themselves, after their ancient home,
+Parsees, and speak the later Middle Persian (the
+Parsee, p. 17). Their worship and life they regulate
+by the rules given in certain scriptures which they
+brought with them from their ancient home. These<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>
+are fragments of a much larger whole, part of a book
+of law, and a collection of sacrificial songs and
+prayers. The Parsees no longer speak or understand
+the language of these scriptures (the Avesta), and
+even the priests, who use them every day, ascertain
+the meaning through an accompanying translation into
+the later language.</p>
+
+<p>That these scriptures arose in the east of Iran is
+clear from the language of the Avesta. It exhibits a
+close relationship with the forms of the Veda and
+Sanskrit, the ancient language of the Arians in India.
+If, on the other hand, we compare the language of the
+Avesta with the ancient language of Western Iran as
+we possess it in the inscriptions of the Ach&aelig;menids,
+we find that both are merely different dialects of one
+language, but they differ in such a manner that the
+language of the inscriptions of Darius and Xerxes is
+less closely connected with Sanskrit than the language
+of the Avesta. This language then we may regard as
+the ancient speech of Eastern Iran, and this assumption
+is raised into evidence by the contents of the
+Avesta. These prove that the Avesta arose in the
+east of Iran, with even greater certainty than the
+songs of the Rigveda prove that that collection arose
+in the land of the Indus and the Panjab. The Avesta
+entirely ignores the west of Iran. No mention is
+made of Ecbatana and Pasargad&aelig;, the abode of the
+Median and the Persian kings, though they reigned over
+the whole of Iran and Hither Asia; nor even of the
+nations of the west, the Medes and Persians. It
+speaks of the land of the seven streams, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> India
+(IV. 12), and the heat which prevails in that land;<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a>
+it mentions the beautiful Harahvaiti (Arachosia) and
+Haetumat (afterwards Sejestan<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a>): the latter is extolled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>
+as a beaming, glowing, brilliant country.<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> The knowledge
+of the Avesta is most accurate in the north-east.
+Here we find Airyana Vaeja, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> home or canton
+of the Airyas,<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> &Ccedil;ughdha (Sogdiana), Bakhdhi (Baktra),
+Mouru (Margiana, Merv<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a>), Ni&ccedil;a, between Bakhdhi
+and Mouru, Haraeva (Haraiva in the inscriptions;
+Herat, the land of the Areians), and Vehrkana, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i>
+land of wolves (Hyrcania).<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> The furthest point known
+to the west is Ragha in Media, which, according
+to the Avesta, consists of three citadels or tribes.<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a>
+These statements carry us very distinctly to the east
+of Iran, the region from Ragha to the Indus. Mouru
+is "the high," "the holy," and Bakhdhi's "high
+banner" is extolled. In this way this city was no
+doubt marked out as the seat of an important dominion,
+the centre of a kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>If we might assume that in these fragments of the
+sacred books of the Parsees we have not only the
+ancient language, but also the ancient religion of
+Eastern Iran before us, we might also hope that we
+should meet in them with remnants of the tradition,
+with native accounts of the fortunes of the country,
+enabling us to supplement the scanty information
+which we could glean from the inscriptions of the
+Assyrians and Darius, and the accounts of Western
+writers. Leaving out of sight for the present the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>
+question, At what period did these writings come
+into existence? we may collect what we can find in
+them on the early history of Iran.</p>
+
+<p>In the Avesta the god Haoma says, Vivanghana
+was the first who crushed out the juice of the Haoma.
+As a reward there was born to him the brilliant Yima,
+the lord of the nations, the most famous of all who
+have seen the sun. While Yima Kshaeta (Yima the
+king) reigned there was neither cold nor excessive
+heat, neither age nor death, nor envy, caused by the
+evil spirits: fathers and sons equally had the vigour
+of men of fifty years. Yima caused the means of
+support for mankind to be inexhaustible; he liberated
+the waters and trees from drought, and the herds from
+death.<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> In an invocation to the goddess Ardvi&ccedil;ura,
+the giver of water, to whom Yima sacrifices a hundred
+horses, a thousand oxen, and ten thousand head of
+small cattle on Hukairya, the summit of the divine
+mountain, he prays, "Grant to me, Saviour Ardvi&ccedil;ura,
+that I may be the sovereign of all lands, that I may
+carry away from the Daevas (the evil spirits) increase
+and health, fodder and herds, joy and glory." To the
+goddess Ashi vanguhi, Yima also offers a prayer "that
+he may bring food and flocks to the creatures of Mazda,
+and immortality, and may remove hunger and thirst,
+age and death, the hot wind and the cold from the
+creatures of Mazda for a thousand years." And the
+morning wind, Vayu, is entreated that "Yima may be
+the most merciful of all creatures, and that under his
+dominion he may make cattle and mankind immortal,
+that the waters and trees may never dry up and
+wither." In the fragments of the book of the law in
+the Avesta, Zarathrustra inquires of Auramazda to
+whom he (the god) had first revealed the true doctrine.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>
+Auramazda answers, "I spoke first with Yima, the
+excellent one. I said to him, Yima, thou beautiful
+son of Vivanghana, be thou the preacher and bearer
+of my doctrine. But Yima answered, I am not
+fitted to be the preacher of the doctrine. Then I,
+Auramazda, spoke and said, If thou wilt not obey me,
+Yima, to be the bearer of my law, yet make my world
+fruitful; be the keeper of my earthly creatures, their
+protector and lord. And Yima, the excellent one,
+answered, I will cause thy creatures to prosper and
+increase; I will be the keeper, protector, and lord
+of them. Therefore I, Auramazda, gave to him two
+instruments, a golden staff and an ox goad adorned
+with gold, and three hundred years passed by. And
+the land was full of herds and beasts of draught, of
+men, and dogs, and birds, and red flaming fires. And
+there was no more any room for the flocks, and men,
+and beasts of draught. Then I warned Yima: O
+Yima, excellent one, son of Vivanghana, there is no
+more any room for the herds, and beasts of draught,
+and men. And Yima went forth to meet the stars
+and the path of the sun (<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> towards the east). He
+struck with the golden staff upon the earth, and smote
+it with the goad, and said, &Ccedil;penta Armaiti (O holy
+earth), arise, part thyself asunder, thou bearer of
+animals and of men. And Yima pushed the earth
+asunder so that it was a third part greater than before.
+Then the flocks found a home, the beasts of draught,
+and men, according to their wish and desire." Again
+three hundred years passed, and there was no more
+any room for herds, beasts, and men; and at Auramazda's
+command Yima again caused the earth to
+stretch asunder, and it became two-thirds greater
+than before; and after another three hundred years
+Yima caused the earth to become as large again as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>
+before.<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> Then a thousand years passed, and Auramazda
+said to Yima, "Bitter cold and sharp frost will fall upon
+the earth, and the snow will lie deep on the summits
+of the mountains and in the clefts of the valleys. Make
+an enclosure (<i>vara</i>) of the length of a horse's course on
+each of the four sides. Bring into it a stock of herds
+and beasts of draught, of men and dogs, and birds and
+red flaming fires, and make the enclosure to be a
+dwelling for men and a stall for the cattle. Carry
+water thither, and build houses and tombs, and a fortification
+and palisade round about, and drive them with
+the golden staff into the citadel, and shut to the door.
+And Yima made a citadel of the length of a horse's
+course. Thither he brought a stock of all men and
+women who were the tallest, best, and most beautiful
+of earth, and a brood of all animals which were largest,
+best, and most beautiful, and the seeds of all fruits and
+growths which were best and most beautiful. And he
+provided that a pair were ever together. There was no
+evil speaking there, nor strife, nor injury, nor deception,
+nor meanness; nothing crooked, no mal-formation
+of teeth, no crippled form, nor any other of the signs
+which are the signs of Angromainyu. In this enclosure
+which Yima made men lived the happiest life. A
+year was a day, and every forty years two children,
+a male and a female, were born from each pair of
+human creatures, and so also of each kind of animal."<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p>
+
+<p>In an invocation in the Avesta we are told that
+the bright gleaming majesty in the form of the bird
+Varaghna had passed from Yima when he began to
+love lying speech. Yima fell terrified to earth, and
+Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, seized the majesty.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>
+When it passed a second time from Yima, Thraetaona
+seized it, and when it passed a third time, Kere&ccedil;a&ccedil;pa
+seized it.</p>
+
+<p>The second who crushed the juice of the Haoma
+was Athwya. Hence there was born to him a son,
+Thraetaona, in the land of Varena. The evil spirit
+Angromainyu had created a wicked being, "with
+three heads, three throats, six eyes, and a thousand
+strengths"&mdash;the Azhi dahaka, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the biting serpent,
+which swallowed horses and men, and threatened to
+desolate the world. But Thraetaona sacrificed a hundred
+horses to Ardvi&ccedil;ura, a thousand oxen, and ten
+thousand head of small cattle, and called on the
+goddess, and with bound bundle of rods, on Vayu
+on his golden throne, with golden footstool and
+golden canopy, to grant that he might smite the strong
+Druj, which Angromainyu had created as the strongest
+to bring death upon the pure world; and he overcame
+the monster, because Verethraghna was with him, the
+most victorious of mortals.<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> And Thraetaona obtained
+the splendour of the dominion when it departed a
+second time from Yima. In the prayers of the Avesta,
+Thraetaona, who has slain the great serpent, is invoked
+as helper against the "pain which is caused by the
+serpent," against fever and sickness.<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p>
+
+<p>The third who crushed the juice of the Haoma for
+the sacrifice was Thrita, of the race of &Ccedil;ama. Thrita
+was the first who by skill in medicine kept back sickness
+and death from the bodies of men. He wished for
+means to withstand the pains, the sickness, the death,
+the hot and cold fever which Angromainyu had created
+for the bodies of men. "Then I, Auramazda, caused
+healing plants to grow by hundreds, by thousands,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>
+by tens of thousands around the one Gaokerena." And
+in reward for his offering of Haoma two sons were
+born to Thrita&mdash;Urvakshaya, who put in order the law,
+and Kere&ccedil;a&ccedil;pa (<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> having slim horses), the youth
+of beautiful form, the bearer of the weapon Gae&ccedil;u.<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a>
+Kere&ccedil;a&ccedil;pa smote the poisonous green serpent &Ccedil;ruvara,
+on which flowed poison to the thickness of a thumb,
+and it swallowed men and horses. Afterwards, after
+he had sacrificed to Ardvi&ccedil;ura on the shore of Lake
+Pi&ccedil;ano (<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i>, no doubt, in the valley of Pishin in Sejestan),
+he smote the giant Gandarewa, who dwelt in Lake
+Vourukasha, and the descendants of the nine robbers,
+and &Ccedil;navidhaka, who had attempted to overcome
+Auramazda and Angromainyu. And when his brother
+Urvakshaya had been slain by Hita&ccedil;pa, Kere&ccedil;a&ccedil;pa
+besought the wind, who works on high, to grant to
+him to slay Hita&ccedil;pa in revenge for the death of his
+brother. And he conquered him, and yoked him to
+his chariot. When for the third time the majesty
+departed from Yima, Kere&ccedil;a&ccedil;pa seized it, the strongest
+of men after Zarathrustra. In the prayers of the
+Avesta, Kere&ccedil;a&ccedil;pa's help is invoked against robbers
+and hostile hosts.<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></p>
+
+<p>Yima, Thraetaona, Kere&ccedil;a&ccedil;pa, and the forms which
+are genealogically connected with them, Vivanghana,
+Athwya, &Ccedil;ama, Thrita, and Urvakshaya, are collected
+by the Avesta under the name <i>Paradhata</i>, i.&nbsp;e. those
+who first exercised dominion.<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> Indications in our
+fragments show that other names were also included<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>
+in them. Thraetaona's son was Airyu, and Airyu's son
+was Manuschithra.<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> These most ancient sovereigns were
+followed by a second group, whose distinguishing mark
+is the surname <i>Kava</i>. The first of these Kavas, whom
+the Avesta mentions merely as the wearer of the
+divine majesty, is Kava Kavata.<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> He is succeeded by
+the agile, brilliant Kava U&ccedil;a, who sacrifices to Ardvi&ccedil;ura
+on Mount Erezifya in order to obtain the
+dominion over all lands, over Daevas and men, wizards
+and Pairikas, and this favour the goddess granted him.
+After U&ccedil;a the royal majesty united itself, to use the
+phrase in the Avesta, with the beautiful pure body of
+Kava &Ccedil;yavarshana. He died by a violent death.<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a>
+His son was Kava Hu&ccedil;rava, "the brave uniter of the
+Arian lands into one kingdom," as the Avesta tells us,
+which then goes on to relate that he was without sickness
+or death. He had to contend against the destructive
+Franghra&ccedil;ianas, the Turanians (<i>tura</i>, <i>tuirya</i>). He besought
+Ardvi&ccedil;ura that it "might be granted to him to
+put an end to the long dimness, and bind the Franghra&ccedil;ianas
+in their abundance and pride." This prayer
+the goddess granted. Haoma himself desired "to bind
+the destructive, murderous Franghra&ccedil;iana and carry
+him away as a captive of the king Hu&ccedil;rava, and that
+Kava Hu&ccedil;rava should slay him behind the lake Chaecha&ccedil;ta,
+the deep lake with broad waters."<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> Kava
+Hu&ccedil;rava was followed by king Aurvata&ccedil;pa, the son of
+Naotara, the son of Manuschithra, the son of Airyu;
+and Aurvata&ccedil;pa was succeeded by his son the strong
+and warlike Vista&ccedil;pa.<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> Of the twenty-nine sons of this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>
+king, the Avesta mentions the strong &Ccedil;pentodata, and
+informs us that Frashaostra and his brother Jama&ccedil;pa,
+of the race of Hvova, were men of importance with the
+king. Like Hu&ccedil;rava, Vista&ccedil;pa had to contend with a
+Turanian, Arejata&ccedil;pa, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the winner of horses, who
+sacrificed to Ardvi&ccedil;ura in order to obtain the victory
+over Kava Vista&ccedil;pa and the warrior on horseback,
+Zarivairi (the brother of Vista&ccedil;pa). The goddess heard
+him not, but heard Vista&ccedil;pa when he sacrificed to her
+behind the water of Frazdana, in order to overcome
+the hostile Arejata&ccedil;pa, born of darkness, skilled in
+evil, who sought to smite the lands of the Arians.<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a>
+But Zarathrustra, the son of Pourusha&ccedil;pa, of the
+race of Haechata&ccedil;pa, sacrificed to Ardvi&ccedil;ura that
+he might unite with the mighty Vista&ccedil;pa, the son of
+Aurvata&ccedil;pa, and to Drva&ccedil;pa, "that he might unite
+with Hutao&ccedil;a, and she might impress on his memory
+the good law."<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> Zarathrustra proclaimed a new
+law, the law of Auramazda. The heroes and kings
+before him were known in the Avesta by the name
+<i>Paoiryotkaesha</i>, i.&nbsp;e. the men of the earliest custom,
+the earliest law.</p>
+
+<p>These are all the traits and pictures of the antiquity
+of East Iran, of any importance, which can be
+gathered from the remaining fragments of the Avesta.
+Of the antiquity and genuineness of the narrative
+there is no doubt. The close relationship and coincidence
+which they exhibit with the form and views of
+the Veda are proved on both sides. As we saw, the
+Veda distinguishes the sacrificers and sages of the
+ancient time, the earlier time, and the present (IV. 29.)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>
+The god Haoma is the well-known god Soma of the
+Arians in India, the variation in the name being due to
+the change of sounds which distinguishes the Old Bactrian
+from the language of the Veda. Here, as there,
+he is the sacrificial libation, and at the same time the
+god who pours the libation, and is its power. The great
+heroes Yima, Thraetaona, Kere&ccedil;a&ccedil;pa and Zarathrustra
+were born to their fathers as a reward for offering the
+libation of Soma. King Yima (Yima Kshaeta) in the
+Avesta is no other than the Yama (Yama Rajan) of the
+Veda. Yama is the son of Vivasvat, the brilliant, the
+shining, the giver of light; and in the Avesta Yima is
+the son of Vivanghana. In the Veda he is the assembler
+of the people, the first king, the first mortal who shows
+to men the way which leads from the depths to the
+height of heaven; who first experiences death, but
+returns into heaven as the son of the god of light,
+where he gathers round him the brave and pious for
+new life in imperishable joy (IV. 61). Yima is also the
+assembler of men, the first king; he rules with the
+golden staff; he founds the religious worship, a merit
+which in the Veda belongs to Manu. Under Yima the
+earth is filled with red-glowing fires; he worships Vayu
+and Ardvi&ccedil;ura. He is the representative of the
+golden age; in his reign there is neither heat nor cold,
+age nor death, hate nor strife; and his dominion
+continues a thousand years. It was the first happy
+period of the world, which men passed under the
+dominion of the son of the god of light. At what an
+elevation Yima must have been placed in the oldest
+form of the mythus of East Iran is clear from the
+fact that creative acts and the triple extension of the
+earth are ascribed to him. After the close of this
+golden period, winter comes upon the earth, heat and
+cold, strife, sickness, and death. The happy life of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>
+the golden age only continues within certain limits, in
+the enclosure of Yima, where he carries on the blessed
+and immortal life with selected men, trees, animals, and
+food. Here Yima is to live till the end of all things,
+when his companions will again people the earth. As
+in this garden of Yima the sun, moon, and stars shine
+together,<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> it must be sought in the sky, or at any rate
+on the bright, divine mountain Hukairya, where there
+is neither night nor gloom, and which is at the same
+time described as Yima's place of sacrifice.</p>
+
+<p>If the Indians have placed the old Arian legend of
+a golden age on earth in the days of Yima's reign,
+they have also, after their manner, depicted his heavenly
+kingdom with brighter colours, while among the
+Iranians this part of the legend is combined with the
+heavenly garden into which Yima receives the men he
+has selected as the best. Nevertheless, a reminiscence
+of Yima's garden has remained beyond the Indus in
+the story of the Uttara Kurus, who dwell beyond the
+holy mountains to the north.<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a></p>
+
+<p>The most striking variation from the common Arian
+myth in the Avesta is the statement that Yima is
+subordinate to a deity, Auramazda, of whom the Arians
+of India knew nothing. The old legend is thus brought
+within the sphere of new views, which must have exer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>cised
+still further influence upon it. It is Auramazda
+who places in the hand of Yima the control, superintendence,
+and protection of animals and men. It is
+not through Yima's own desire, as was certainly the
+case in the old legend, but at Auramazda's bidding,
+that the enclosure is made, and the selected men,
+animals, and trees brought into it. The main reason
+for this change was the necessity of giving an answer
+to the question, Why did not the golden age continue?
+and if, long after Yima, Zarathrustra proclaimed
+a new and better law, why had not Auramazda revealed
+this law to the favoured Yima? In order to answer
+this riddle, the Avesta represents Auramazda as asking
+Yima to become "the preacher and bearer of his
+doctrine," and Yima refuses to accept this mission.
+Hence Yima becomes guilty of a fault, and a reason is
+given why the golden age, the thousand years of the
+reign of Yima, came to an end. Without the good
+doctrine, the invasion of evil spirits, and with them
+of heat and cold, sickness and death, strife and blight,
+could not be kept back from the earth. This trait of
+the guilt of Yima, which is entirely unknown to the
+earlier legend, is carried out still further. According
+to the prayer in the Avesta (p. 34) blessing and
+immortality continued in the kingdom of Yima, "till he
+began to love lying speech." When he had rejected
+Auramazda's law he cannot himself resist the seduction
+of evil spirits. The first offence brings on the second,
+and this causes the triple loss of majesty, which at
+length ends in the fall and violent death of Yima, an
+incident already indicated in the Avesta.<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> How this
+form of the legend allowed the garden of Yima to be
+placed on the divine mountain, and whether the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>
+contradiction was removed or not, our fragments do
+not enable us to decide.</p>
+
+<p>In the Veda it was Indra who had to contend
+against Vritra and Ahi, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the serpents, and the
+black spirits, which desired to drink up the water of the
+sky and veil its light. In Iran, as we shall see, this
+office is transferred to other spirits, and also to Thraetaona.
+The Azhi dahaka of the Avesta is the Ahi
+of the Veda. Ahi and Azhi are the same word, with
+the same meaning; the addition <i>dahaka</i> refers to the
+destructive power of this demon. Verethraghna, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i>
+the slayer of Vritra, stands in the Avesta at the side
+of Thraetaona in his struggle with Azhi (p. 35), and
+the morning wind supports him just as in the Veda
+the winds assist Indra against Ahi and Vritra. Among
+the Indians, Traitana is a spirit of the air, who
+dwells in the remotest regions of the sky, who hews
+off the head of a giant from his shoulders, and in the
+Veda, Trita, the son of Aptya, drinks the draught of
+Soma, in order to win strength for the slaying of
+Vritra; he slays the snake with three heads and seven
+tails; with his iron club he splits the hollows in the
+rock in which the demons have hidden the cows of the
+heaven (the rain clouds).<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> In the Veda, Aptya is the
+father of Trita; in the Avesta, Athwya is the father
+of Thraetaona. Of Trita, whom it represents as sprung
+from &Ccedil;ama, the Avesta declares that he was the first
+physician; in the Veda we are told of Trita he knew
+how to heal sickness as the gods had taken his sickness
+from him; that he bestowed long life.<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> The two
+figures of Trita and Traitana gradually unite in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>
+Veda; in the Avesta, Thrita and Thraetaona remain
+separate persons. The Kere&ccedil;a&ccedil;pa of the Avesta seems
+to correspond to the Kri&ccedil;a&ccedil;va of the Indians, whom we
+first find in the Epos, where he is celebrated as a
+warlike Rishi.<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a></p>
+
+<p>If the Paradhatas, Yima, Athwya, Thraetaona,
+Thrita, and Kere&ccedil;a&ccedil;pa in the original conception are
+spirits of the sky, if the monsters with which Thraetaona
+and Kere&ccedil;a&ccedil;pa struggle are not to be sought
+on earth but in the heavens, if in these dragons
+we find once more the cloud-serpents, against which
+Indra and his company have to contend&mdash;we do not at
+once set foot upon earth, when we come to the Kavanians.
+According to the later tradition of Iran, Kava
+Kavata was fetched from the divine mountain in order
+to reign over the country; two white falcons bring
+him a golden crown. The Rigveda mentions Kavya
+U&ccedil;anas, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> U&ccedil;anas, the son of Kavi, who brings the
+cows of the sky, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the clouds, to the pasture.<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> In
+the Avesta, Kava U&ccedil;a sacrifices not only to rule over
+the whole earth but also over the spirits. According
+to a later tradition this sovereign&mdash;now called Kai
+Kaus&mdash;causes beautiful castles to be built on the divine
+mountain by the demons, and is then carried by four
+eagles into heaven. Kava Hu&ccedil;rava, for whom in the
+Avesta the god Haoma contends, is without sickness
+and death (p. 37). In the later tradition, in which he is
+known as Kai Chosru, he begins a pilgrimage to heaven
+after conquering and slaying his opponent the Turanian
+Frangha&ccedil;iana, like the sons of Pandu in the Mahabharata
+after their victory over the Kurus and their happy
+reign. Like them also, Kai Chosru climbs the mountains
+and disappears from his companions at a well. Against<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>
+his command they seek him in the mountains, and are
+all buried in a great snow-storm. From the name
+Manuschithra (p. 37), <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> scion of Manu, we may
+conclude that the twin brother of Yama, "father
+Manu," was not unknown to the Arians of Iran.
+But the genealogy in which the Avesta has preserved
+these names has no greater claims to historical value
+than the figures which have passed in review before us.
+Airyu is the son of Thraetaona; <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> from the mightiest
+hero, the slayer of the great dragon, are sprung the
+sovereigns and the nation of the Airyas; the son of
+Airyu is Manuschithra; from whose son, Naotara,
+are derived the two last Kavas, Aurvata&ccedil;pa and
+Vista&ccedil;pa.</p>
+
+<p>If the coincidence of the forms from Yima to
+Kava Hu&ccedil;rava with the Veda is a proof of the
+antiquity and genuineness of the tradition of the
+Avesta, the gain for history becomes less instead of
+greater. No one would take mythical persons for
+historical. Yet the style and form in which we
+find these traditional statements in the fragments of
+the Avesta supply certain guides for the lost history
+of Eastern Iran. The splendour of the royal majesty
+is so often and so distinctly brought into prominence,
+that the conclusion forces itself upon us, that the
+regions in which the Avesta arose, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the north-east
+of Iran, must have been acquainted with a powerful
+and highly-respected monarchy. The ancient spirits
+of the sky are changed in the Avesta into mighty
+warriors and far-ruling kings, a circumstance in favour
+of the supposition that an empire once existed here, the
+image of which is reflected on prehistoric times. It is
+in Epic poems that the spirits of the first sky become
+heroes, and Epic poetry only arises in and follows on
+periods of war and conflict. The fact that the forms of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>
+the spirits thus changed into heroes by Epic song are
+turned into the forefathers of the kings and progenitors
+of the nation, further establishes the conclusion
+that a military monarchy must have been in existence
+here; only warlike princes could appear as the heirs
+of heroes. Moreover, the Avesta extols the high
+banner of Bakhdhi and speaks of the neighbouring
+regions as favoured; the later tradition of Iran marks
+out Bactria very clearly as the abode of Aurvata&ccedil;pa
+and Vista&ccedil;pa; in the third century <small>B.C.</small> Bactria
+supplied its princes with means not merely to achieve
+their own independence, but to maintain it against
+the great kingdom of the Seleucids and to subjugate
+the land of the Indus (p. 25 ff.); and if, in addition to
+these facts, we bear in mind the conceptions found in
+the Median poems of the great power of the kings of
+the Bactrians, their treasures in gold and silver, their
+fortified city, the conquest of which was the greatest
+achievement of Ninus&mdash;we may venture to assume
+that before the days of the Medes, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> before the
+year 650 <small>B.C.</small>, there must have existed an important
+monarchy in the north-east of Iran.</p>
+
+<p>With the assistance of the Avesta we may go
+a step further. We saw that Kava Hu&ccedil;rava no less
+than Vista&ccedil;pa is represented as fighting against the
+Turas or Tuiryas. Who were these enemies? In
+Old-Bactrian the word means the enemy, the oppressor.
+Strabo speaks of a region of Turuia in the
+north of Parthia, towards the steppes of the Oxus.<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> In
+the later tradition of Iran the Turanians are the
+constant and most dangerous enemies of the kings of
+Bactria. The steppes of the Oxus and Jaxartes were
+inhabited by nations to whom the Persians gave the
+collective name of Sac&aelig;, while the Greeks called them
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>Scythians. They found but scanty pasture on the
+steppes, and it was natural that they should look with
+longing eyes on the more fertile regions of Bactria and
+Sogdiana. It has already been mentioned how careful
+Cyrus was to protect these countries, when he had
+conquered them, against the nations of the steppes.
+At a later time, from the middle of the second century
+<small>B.C.</small> downwards (p. 28), we have definite information
+of the pressure of these nations on Parthia, Margiana,
+and Bactria. When freed from the attacks of the
+Seleucids on the west, the Arsacids had to defend the
+east of the kingdom. Phraates II. and Artabanus II.
+fell in battle against the nomads; Mithridates II.
+succeeded in protecting Parthia, but about the year 100
+<small>B.C.</small> the Sac&aelig; were able to force a way through
+Bactria. They possessed themselves of the best land
+in the east of Iran, the valleys of the Hilmend (p. 7),
+bequeathed their name to the country (Sikashtan,
+Sejestan), and from the valley of the Cabul extended
+their dominion beyond the Indus. The white
+Huns, or Yu&euml;chis, followed the Sac&aelig;; and they also
+reached the Indus. Is there any reason to doubt the
+Avesta that even before the Medes and Cyrus the
+princes of Bactria and Sogdiana were occupied with
+beating back the tribes of the steppes?</p>
+
+<p>In ancient times, as Strabo tells us, the Bactrians
+and Sogdiani were little removed from wandering
+shepherds. The Avesta exhibits them in close connection
+with horses. The names compounded with <i>a&ccedil;pa</i>
+(horse) are common; Kere&ccedil;a&ccedil;pa, Aurvata&ccedil;pa, Vista&ccedil;pa,
+Haechata&ccedil;pa, Jama&ccedil;pa, Pourusha&ccedil;pa. Of Zaria&ccedil;pa and
+the Zaria&ccedil;pians we have already spoken. The most
+important source of wealth must have consisted in
+horses, for which the mountains supplied ample pasture.
+The horse-sacrifice is the chief sacrifice of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>
+Avesta. One hundred horses were equal to 1000
+oxen, and 10,000 head of small cattle. We found
+that Bactria could furnish the last Darius with 30,000
+cavalry, and the horse was the symbol of Bactria on
+the coins of the Greek princes of the land (p. 27).</p>
+
+<p>From all these indications we may assume that when
+the Arians had settled in Margiana, Bactria, and Sogdiana,
+and agriculture became of importance beside
+the breeding of cattle, the necessity of protection
+against the migratory tribes of the endless plains
+stretching to the north, created among the Arians a
+warlike nobility who took upon themselves the duty
+of defence. The valley of the Zarefshan (Sogdiana), the
+terrace of Bactria, the region of Merv, became in the
+hands of the Arians advanced posts of civilisation in
+the desert. If Western Iran was protected in the north
+by the Alps of Aderbeijan and the Caspian Sea against
+attacks from that quarter, Eastern Iran lay open to
+the nomads of the steppes, and had nothing but arms
+to defend its cultivated lands. We have already seen
+that Bactria even in the sixth century had passed
+beyond the earliest stages of civilisation (p. 24). But
+even a less degree of prosperity was sufficient to excite
+the sons of the desert to invasion. Hence we may
+assume that the incursions and raids of the nomads of
+the steppes began with the increase of the flocks and
+the prosperity of agriculture in the valleys of Merv,
+Bactria, and Sogdiana. The increasing severity of these
+attacks compelled the Bactrian soldiery to collect their
+forces for more successful resistance, and to place the
+best warriors at the head of the community. Thus it
+was not by spontaneous development, but rather by
+the opposition to the nations of the steppes, that the
+north-east of Iran first outgrew the tribal life, and
+became transformed into a larger state. Of this king<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>dom
+Aurvata&ccedil;pa and Vista&ccedil;pa became the rulers; in
+the Avesta they are distinguished from the Paradhatas
+and from Kava Kavata, Kava U&ccedil;a, and Kava Hu&ccedil;rava,
+by a new addition to the name and other peculiar
+traits, and form a third group. The progress of our
+investigation will show that the formation of this
+Bactrian kingdom cannot be placed later than 1100
+<small>B.C.</small>; the date of Vista&ccedil;pa must be put about 1000
+<small>B.C.</small>, and it was the successors of Vista&ccedil;pa who sent to
+Shalmanesar II. the tribute of camels with two humps,
+and yaks (about 850 <small>B.C.</small>), who found themselves
+menaced once more by the advances of Tiglath Pilesar
+II. to Arachosia in the year 745 <small>B.C.</small>, and at length
+succumbed to Cyrus. We shall find that this kingdom
+was not without its warlike races and priestly families,
+that Zaria&ccedil;pa and Bactria were the centres of it, and
+that the sovereigns attained despotic power. Yet the old
+warlike families must have preserved a certain importance
+under the monarchy, unless they regained it when
+lost under the viceroys of the Ach&aelig;menids. It was
+the chieftains of the Bactrians whom Alexander summoned
+to Zaria&ccedil;pa, and who with the Sogdiani at their
+side took the lead in resistance. The most powerful
+of them stubbornly defended their rocky citadels
+against the Macedonians.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Polyb. fragm. 34 f.; below, p. 26.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Above, p. 6; Vol. III. p. 3, "Zikruti in rugged Media I added to
+the land of Assyria;" <i>ib.</i> p. 4.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Vol. III. p. 77.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Herod. 1, 153, 177, 201, 204.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Strabo, p. 517; Arrian, "Anab." 4, 23; Plin. "H. N." 6, 18;
+Ptolem. 6, 12.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Ctes. fragm. Pers. c. 12.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Behist. 1, 6; Persep. 25; Naksh-i-Rustem, 12-14.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Herod. 3, 91, 92.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Vol. I. p. 285. The amount is about 2096 thalers.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> Behist. 2, 14-16; 3, 10-12.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> Herod. 7, 64, 82; 9, 113.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> Herod. 8, 93.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Diod. 11, 69; Ctes. Pers. ecl. 31.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Arrian, "Anab." 3, 21.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Arrian, <i>loc. cit.</i> 3, 29.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> Justin. 41, 4.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> As was shown in Vol. IV. p. 278, the Vishnu Purana represents the
+sacrificial horse of Pushpamitra, who sat on the throne of Magadha
+between 178 and 142 <small>B.C.</small> (Vol. IV. p. 550), to have been carried off by
+an army of Yavanas on the right bank of the Indus, and then restored.
+The dominion of the Gr&aelig;co-Bactrian princes in the East existed from
+200 to 150 <small>B.C.</small></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> Strabo, p. 516. I need not prove that &#7992;&#969;&#956;&#940;&#957;&#951;&#962; must be read here
+for &#7992;&#963;&#940;&#956;&#959;&#962;, or that
+&#931;&#945;&#961;&#945;&#972;&#963;&#964;&#959;&#965; &#960;&#945;&#961;&#945;&#955;&#943;&#945;
+is Surashtra; cf. Wilson, "Ariana antiq." p. 281. Apollodotus, Apaladata on
+the Arian legends of his coins, is no doubt the Bhagadatta of the Mahabharata,
+just as the Dattamitra there mentioned is Demetrius; Vol. IV. p. 80,
+<i>n</i>. Among the Indians Menander appears in the form Milinda.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> In the year 1843 there were about 1000 Guebre families in Yezd,
+and a hundred in Kerman. Westergaard, "Avesta," 1, 21: the persecution
+of 1848 considerably reduced their numbers.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Haug, "Pahlavi-Pazand Glossary," pp. 80, 81.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> "Vendid." 1, 73-76.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> "Vendid." 1, 46.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> "Vendid." 19, 130; 1, 50.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> Burnouf, "Jour. Asiat." 1845, pp. 287, 288. It seems to me doubtful
+whether we should look for Airyana Vaeja on the sources of the Oxus.
+The statement in the Bundehesh that Airyana Vaeja was situated beside
+Atropatene is, however, of very little weight against the fact that the
+Arians of East Iran are nearest to the Arians of India. I shall return
+to this point below. The remark in Stephanus, "&#7944;&#961;&#953;&#945;&#957;&#943;&#945;, a nation
+among the Cadusians," would be of some importance if it were
+taken from Apollodorus of Artemita, and not from the grammarian of
+that name. The district of Arran on the Kur may possibly be meant.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> "Vendid." 1, 14-18.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> "Vendid." 1, 30, 42.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> "Vendid." 1, 60.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 9, 4.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> "Vendid." 2, 1-21, after Karl Geldner's translation. [Cf. Darmesteter's
+translation in M. M&uuml;ller's 'Sacred Books of the East,' Vol. IV.]</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> "Vendid." 2, 21-43.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> "Aban Yasht," 9; "Farvardin Yasht," 131; "Bahram Yasht,"
+40; "Ram Yasht," 23.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> "Farvardin Yasht," 131 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 9, 30; "Vendid." 20, 11 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> "Vendid." 20; "Ya&ccedil;na," 9, 32, 39; "Ram Yasht," 7, 28;
+"Farvardin Yasht," 136; "Zamyad Yasht," 41 ff. According to the
+"Mainyo-i-Khard," Kere&ccedil;a&ccedil;pa, besides slaying the serpent &Ccedil;ruvar,
+slew the wolf Kapod, the water demon Gandarsi, the bird Kamak, and
+kept back much oppression from the world. West, "Mainyo-i-Khard,"
+c. 27.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> Justi, "Handbuch," <i>s. voc.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> "Farvardin Yasht," 131.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> "Farvardin Yasht," 132; "Zamyad Yasht," 71.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> "Gosh Yasht," 18; "Ashi Yasht," 38.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> "Aban Yasht," 49; "Gosh Yasht," 18; "Ashi Yasht," 38; "Afrin
+Zartusht," 7; "Zamyad Yasht," 77; "Ram Yasht," 32.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> "Aban Yasht," 76, 98; "Ashi Yasht," 46; "Farvardin Yasht,"
+102; "Ram Yasht," 36.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> "Aban Yasht," 109, 117; "Farvardin Yasht," 38; "Gosh Yasht,"
+29, 30; "Ashi Yasht," 50, 81; "Zamyad Yasht," 87.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> "Aban Yasht," 104-106; "Farvardin Yasht," 142; "Gosh
+Yasht," 26; "Ram Yasht," 36.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> "Vendid." 2, 39, 40.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> Vol. IV. 21 <i>n.</i> Spiegel, "Avesta," 3, Einl. s. 58. The favourite
+comparison of the enclosure of Yima with the deluge of the Hebrews
+appears to me anything but apposite. Iran, and still more Bactria, is
+unsuited to give rise to the legend of a flood. Nor is there any question
+of the destruction of evil men (if there had been, Yima would have
+been the most guilty and the least deserving of pardon), but of the end
+of the golden age, as is shown in the Vendidad, the Ya&ccedil;na, and the
+Yashts: the earth becomes more thickly peopled, men and animals do
+not grow old or die. If we must bring together things which have
+really no relation to each other, it would be more apposite to compare
+the paradise of the Hebrews. The reason for the end of the golden age
+is the guilt of Yima. [Cf. Kuenen, "Religion of Israel," 3, c. 9, E. T.]</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> "Zamyad Yasht," 46.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> "Rigveda," 1, 158; 10, 8, 5.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> Westergaard in Weber's "Ind. Studien," 3, 413 ff., 426 ff. Kuhn
+combines Trita with Triton and Tritogeneia; Hofer's "Zeitschrift," 1,
+276, 289.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> Haug, "Essays," pp. 235, 236.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> Kuhn, "Beitr&auml;ge," 4, 44; Haug, "Essays," pp. 235, 236.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> Strabo, p. 517.
+[&#932;&#959;&#961;&#953;&#959;&#973;&#945;&#957; is a <i>v. l.</i> for
+&#932;&#945;&#960;&#965;&#961;&#943;&#945;&#957;.]</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE SCRIPTURES OF IRAN.<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a></h3>
+
+
+<p>The statements of the Avesta concerning the ancient
+rulers of Eastern Iran were proved to be without historical
+value, yet we found in them an ancient and
+genuine tradition, the form of which allowed us to draw
+certain conclusions about the political condition of that
+region in a period for which we have no other records
+except the poetry of Western Iran. But what the Avesta
+tells us of the rulers of ancient days is of secondary
+importance for the book, which comprises the doctrines
+and ordinances of the faith proclaimed by Zarathrustra,
+and the rules of life which he is said to have laid
+down. May we assume that we possess these in a
+genuine and unaltered form in the Avesta, though
+they have only come down to us in fragments?</p>
+
+<p>A book of the Parsees of India, which tells the story
+of their flight from their ancient home, relates that
+Iskander (Alexander of Macedon) burned the revealed
+scriptures, and the faithful were persecuted for 300
+years. When Ardeshir (the first Sassanid) ascended
+the throne, the true faith was restored, under the
+superintendence of Arda Viraf. After this the true
+religion was again suspended till king Shapur (Shapur
+II.) rose and once more made the faith famous, and Aderbat
+Mahresfant girded his loins in the good cause. The
+same account is given in the Book of Arda Viraf, also
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>a book of the Parsees of India. From this we learn
+that the religion received by the pious Zarathrustra
+lasted for 300 years in purity. Then the evil one stirred
+up Iskander Rumi, so that he spread war and devastation
+over Iran, and slew the rulers of the land. The
+Avesta which was preserved at Stakhar Papakan (Persepolis),
+written on cow-skins with golden ink, he burned,
+and put to death many priests and judges, pillars of the
+faith, and spread hatred, strife, and confusion among
+the people of Iran. They had now no lord, guide,
+and high priest, who knew their religion; they were
+full of doubts and had different modes of belief and
+worship of various kinds, and different laws prevailed
+in the world till the time when Ardeshir came to the
+throne and listened to the words of the holy Arda
+Viraf and believed him. But after Ardeshir's death
+a schism broke out, and more than 40,000 souls
+fell away from the true faith, till the day when the
+holy Aderbat Mahresfant arose.<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> An older writing
+of the Parsees, the Dinkart (composed under the
+Sassanids), tells us, apparently on the ground of a
+proclamation of the Sassanid Chosru Parvez (590-627
+<small>A.D.</small>) that king Vista&ccedil;pa of Bactria had commanded
+that all books which were written in the language of
+the Magians should be collected, in order that the faith
+of the worshippers of Auramazda might have some
+support, and all men were to go to Frashaostra (whom
+the Avesta mentions as a companion of Zarathrustra)
+to be instructed in the faith. And Darai, the son of
+Darai (Darius Hystaspis is meant), commanded that
+two copies of the entire Avesta, precisely as Zarathrustra
+had received it from Auramazda, should be
+preserved, the one in the treasury at Shapikan, and
+the other in the city of scriptures. Then Valkosh<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>
+(Vologeses), the descendant of Ashkan (Arsaces),
+gave orders that so much of the Avesta as had
+escaped destruction and the ravages of Iskander and
+the warriors of Rum, and existed in fragments or
+in oral tradition, should be sought out and brought
+from every city. And king Artakshatr (Ardeshir)
+summoned the Herbedh (<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the priest)<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> Tosar with
+the holy scriptures, which were scattered, to his residence,
+and when Tosar came he gave command to the
+other priests that everything, which differed from that
+which was now considered to be knowledge and
+wisdom, should be suppressed. The son of Artakshatr,
+Shapuhar (241-272 <small>A.D.</small>), the king of kings, gave
+command that all writings on medicine or astronomy
+or other subjects in Hindostan, Rum, and other lands,
+should be collected, and again united with the Avesta,
+and that an exact copy should be deposited in the
+treasury of Shapikan. Lastly Atropat (Aderbat) in
+the reign of Shapuhar (Shapur II, 309-379 <small>A.D.</small>),
+the son of Auharmazdi, purified the sayings of Zarathrustra
+and enumerated the Nosks (chapters) of the
+sacred scriptures.<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the rivayats of the Parsees in India, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> in the
+collections of the sayings of the priests on their
+doctrine, we find an enumeration of these sections
+of the scriptures. At each book this list notes how
+many chapters were re-discovered "after Alexander."
+According to this enumeration the scriptures of Iran
+consisted of twenty-one books.<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> The first book contained
+the songs of praise to the supreme spirits in 33
+chapters; the second (22 chapters) treated of good
+works; the third (22 chapters) of the sacred word; the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>
+fourth (21 chapters) of the gods; the fifth (22 chapters)
+of the earth, of water, of trees, of wild animals; the
+sixth (35 chapters) of the heavens and the stars; the
+seventh (22 chapters) of pure and impure kinds of
+food, and of the celebration of the great festivals; the
+eighth (50 chapters) of the kings and priests, of pure
+and impure animals; the ninth (60 chapters) of the
+laws according to which the kings and judges were to
+give sentence; the tenth (60 chapters) of virtue and
+wisdom; the eleventh (60 chapters) of the reign and
+conversion of king Vista&ccedil;pa; the twelfth taught agriculture
+in 22 chapters, the planting of trees, the duty
+of the priests and laity, and treated of the orders; the
+thirteenth (60 chapters) was occupied with the sacred
+sciences, the teachers and pupils, and the miracles
+which Zarathrustra worked; the fourteenth book (22
+chapters) spoke of the life of men from birth to
+death; the fifteenth (17 chapters) contained songs of
+praise; the sixteenth (54 chapters) laid down rules for
+what was permitted and what was not; the seventeenth
+(64 chapters) contained the doctrines of medicine
+and astronomy; the eighteenth (65 chapters) the
+doctrine respecting animals and their treatment; the
+nineteenth (52 chapters) contained the civil and
+criminal law; the twentieth (22 chapters) the rubrics
+for the removal of impurity; the twenty-first gave in
+30 chapters the history of creation.<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a></p>
+
+<p>According to this list the scriptures of Iran must
+have been of very considerable extent. The Arabian
+author Masudi, who lived about the middle of the
+tenth century <small>A.D.</small>, also puts the number of books at
+twenty-one. "Zartusht," he says, "gave the Parsees
+the book which is called the Avesta. It consisted of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>
+twenty-one sections, of which each amounted to 200
+pages. This book was written in the character which
+Zartusht invented and which the Magians call the
+religious character, on 12,000 cow-hides, and these
+were kept together by bands of gold. It was composed
+in the old Persian language, which no one now understands."<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a>
+From the list of the books and chapters it
+is clear that these writings comprised not only the
+religious doctrine and law, together with the rules for
+correct conversation, but also the rubrics for the liturgy
+and ritual. They were at the same time the code of
+criminal and civic law, and in them was deposited
+what was known of medicine and agriculture, and the
+sum total of the science of their authors.</p>
+
+<p>Can we assume that writings of this importance,
+nature, and extent existed in Iran before Alexander of
+Macedon overthrew the kingdom of the Ach&aelig;menids?
+Herodotus tells us that the Magians or priests of the
+Persians recited the theogony, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> long poems, at their
+sacrifices. The disciples of the sophist Prodicus are
+said to have asserted that they were in possession of
+writings of Zoroaster, who taught the Persians their
+religion.<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> Hermippus of Smyrna, who wrote in the
+second half of the third century <small>B.C.</small>, and devoted
+especial attention to the religions of the east, stated
+that the Magians maintained two principles, a good
+and an evil deity; the one they called Zeus and Oromasdes,
+the other Hades and Areimanius.<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> Zoroaster,
+who founded the doctrine of the Magians, had composed
+twenty books, each of 100,000 lines, and Her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>mippus
+gave the contents of the various books and
+quoted regulations from them. Pliny tells us: "The
+doctrine of the Magians prevails to this day among a
+great part of the nations, and in the East is supreme
+over the king of kings" (<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the Arsacids); and
+vouches for Hermippus that he had written with great
+care about the Magians,<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> from whose work no doubt he
+quotes some particulars of the doctrine of Zoroaster.
+According to Zoroaster's rule the sowing of the fields
+should take place when the moon is in the sign of
+Taurus; and it was forbidden to expose the person
+before the sun or moon, or to defile a man's shadow.
+Pliny also mentions the precious stones, of which
+Zoroaster had extolled the brilliance; the herbs, used
+by the Magians; and enumerates a number of remedies,
+which they applied. Finally, he speaks of the
+Nyktegertos, a herb growing in Gedrosia, which the
+Magians used when making vows.<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> Philo of Byblus
+quotes a passage, apparently from "the sacred collection
+of Zoroaster," on the nature of the deity, and
+assures us that the Persian Osthanes maintained the
+same in the Octateuch.<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> Plutarch gives us a short
+but accurate account of the system of Zoroaster; his
+contemporary Dio Chrysostom asserts that Zoroaster
+and the sons of the Magians had sung of the balance of
+Zeus and the constellation of the day in strains more
+sublime than those of Homer or Hesiod;<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> and Pausanias
+relates that at the kindling of the sacrificial fire the
+invocation was sung by the Magians from a book in a
+barbarous language wholly unintelligible to the Greeks.<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a></p>
+
+<p>This evidence from the West confirms the existence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>
+of sacred writings in Iran after the time of Alexander,
+and also indicates that they existed previously to
+that date; it contradicts the story of their destruction
+by the Macedonians. The books must have been
+in existence when Hermippus could speak of their
+extent, and quote rules from them; and writings of
+the kind must have been known when, in the days
+of Pausanias, the Magians could sing their invocations
+from a book. From other sources we are sufficiently
+informed that Alexander's efforts were not directed
+towards destroying the national character and traditional
+religion of the Persians. Arrian tells us that
+Magians no less than Greek soothsayers took part
+in their festivals.<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> Nor were the Seleucids more
+desirous than Alexander to effect the destruction of
+the Iranian nationality; just as the Ptolemies never
+attempted to set aside the Egyptian religion and life.
+Even if they had cherished such views, they were far
+from being strong enough to carry them out, for the
+Greek empire over Iran lasted in its integrity only
+eighty years. The Arsacids also, who recovered Iran
+from the Seleucids, were not averse to the Greek
+nation. They called themselves friends of the Hellenes,
+and not only was Greek spoken, but even the tragedies
+of Euripides were acted at their courts. The
+scanty remains of the monuments present us with
+echoes of Greek;<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> their coins, with few exceptions,
+bear Greek legends like those of the Bactrian princes
+whom they overcame. But though the influence of the
+Hellenic character continued under the Arsacids, and
+at the same time the Aram&aelig;an language and manners<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>
+obtained even greater recognition than Hellenism
+during their dominion, the reign of the Arsacids was a
+restoration and revivification of the Iranian nationality.
+According to the evidence of western writers the
+Magians together with the members of the royal race
+formed the council of the Arsacids.<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> Pliny has already
+told us that these princes obeyed the rules of the
+Magians, and we also find that they invoked Mithra
+as the Ach&aelig;menids had done, and "saluted the sun."<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a>
+Like the Ach&aelig;menids, too, they would not permit
+their armies to fight by night, and we are told that
+in their time the greatest weight was given to the
+love of truth and fidelity, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> to the virtues which,
+according to Herodotus, the Persians of his time considered
+the most important, and on which the Avesta
+insists above all others.<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> We also learn from western
+writers that the founder of the kingdom (Arsaces I.)
+was a descendant of Phriapites (Friyapaiti), and with
+his brother Tiridates and five others he slew the satrap
+of Antiochus Theos, and drove out the Macedonians;<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a>
+just as Darius with the six Persian princes overthrew
+the dominion of Gaumata; and the Arabs relate that
+the Arsacids trace back their stock to &Ccedil;yavarshana,
+the son of Kava U&ccedil;a, a story which cannot have been
+invented in Arabia.<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> In the list of the Arsacids we
+also find the name Chosru (108-130 <small>A.D.</small>), the Kava
+Hu&ccedil;rava of the old legend (p. 37); on the coins we
+find a Vologeses and a Phraates before the fire-altar,
+the characteristic symbol of the ancient worship of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>
+Iran. Just as the old Arian character appears beside
+the Greek on the coins of the Greek princes of
+Bactria, the Greek character on the coins of the
+Arsacids gradually degenerates until at length it gives
+way to a new Iranian character and language. The
+tradition sketched in the Dinkart, as we have seen,
+represents the Arsacid Vologeses (which of the four
+princes of the name is meant is not clear)<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> as collecting
+what fragments remained of the holy scriptures
+in the memory of the priests. The burning of the
+scriptures by Alexander, as related in the books
+of the Parsees on their exodus and the Arda Viraf,
+is merely a transference to him of the conduct of
+the Moslems on their conquest of Iran. Of the
+continuance of the ancient religion of Iran under
+the Arsacids there can be no doubt, though it is true
+that along with it, in the Greek cities which Alexander
+and the Seleucids founded, and which were
+independent within their walls even under the Parthians,
+Hellenic rites were practised. In these cities
+Syrian modes of worship were also permitted, and the
+Aramaic language and culture found entrance into
+Iran.<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the land of Persia, among the Persians whom
+Mithridates I. subjugated to the dominion of the
+Arsacids, reminiscences of the ancient time, of the
+splendour and glory of the Ach&aelig;menids, were naturally
+more lively than in Parthia, which was formerly subject
+to the Persians, and now under the Arasacids stood at
+the head of Iran. In Persia, Artakshatr (Ardeshir),
+the son of Papaki, the grandson of Sassan, rebelled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>
+against king Artabanus IV. In three great battles
+the Persians contended with the Parthians; the latter
+were conquered, and Artabanus fell, and with him the
+kingdom of the Arsacids after a continuance of 476
+years (225 <small>A.D.</small>). With the reign of Ardeshir began
+a more energetic restoration of Iran. He and his
+successors after him revered the memory of the Ach&aelig;menids,
+and strove to continue their achievements<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a>.
+We again hear of seven houses, and seven princes who
+had the right to wear diadems beside the king, like
+the seven tribal princes of the old Persian kingdom;<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a>
+we find the fire-altar before the tent of the Sassanids
+as well as the Ach&aelig;menids; and in the army of the
+Sassanids, no less than in that of Darius and Xerxes,
+was a troop of "immortals." Ardeshir, like the founder
+of the Persian empire, caused a portrait of himself on
+horseback to be cut in a rock-wall to the north-west
+of Persepolis (Naksh-i-Rustem) in remembrance of the
+achievements which established his kingdom&mdash;the rock
+on which 700 years before Darius had marked his
+tomb by a portrait and inscription. The inscription
+under this portrait (in the Pehlevi of East and West
+Iran, with a Greek translation) runs thus: "Portrait of
+the worshipper of Mazda, the god Artakshatr (Artaxares
+in the Greek), the king of kings of the Arians
+(of the kings of Airan, in the Pehlevi texts), the scion
+of the sky (<i>minu chitri</i>), the son of the god Papaki,
+the king."<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> Ardeshir's son, Shapur I. (241-272 <small>A.D.</small>),
+caused his victory over Valerian and his capture of
+the emperor to be recorded on the same rock; we see
+Shapur on horseback, and Valerian kneeling before
+him, a representation which recurs at the old Persian<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>
+city of Darabgerd. At Naksh-i-Rejeb, between the
+rock-wall of Naksh-i-Rustem and Mount Nachmed, on
+which abutted Persepolis, the proud citadel of the
+Ach&aelig;menids, and in the grotto of Haiyabad, we
+find in the one case a portrait of Shapur, and
+in the other inscriptions which mention this ruler
+and king Varahran. At Kermanshah, on the western
+side of Mount Behistun, on the eastern side of which
+mountain Darius inscribed the proudest memorial of
+his achievements, we see king Ardeshir, and beneath
+him the corpse of Artabanus; behind the king is
+Mithra with the club which gave him victory, and
+before him Auramazda who presents the ring of empire
+to Ardeshir. Not far from this portrait Shapur II.
+(309-379 <small>A.D.</small>) caused a grotto to be excavated in the
+rock. In the sculpture of this cave we see the goddess
+Anahita, who presents to the king the ring of empire;
+at some distance are the hunting expeditions of the
+king; a second grotto close to this exhibits the pictures
+of king Auharmazdi II., the father of Shapur II., and
+of Shapur III. his second successor.<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a></p>
+
+<p>Though the Sassanids sought to restore the kingdom
+of the Ach&aelig;menids, and immortalise their own achievements
+beside those of the early kings, the religious
+revival which they undertook was far more thorough
+than the political. In this direction they went further
+than the Ach&aelig;menids; they caused the forms which
+the old faith of Iran had retained and forced on the
+East, to be current throughout the whole kingdom.
+Agathias assures us that Ardeshir was eagerly devoted
+to the study of the doctrine of the Magians, who
+since his accession had gained an importance such
+as they never enjoyed before. The business of the
+State was decided upon their advice and predictions;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>
+they assisted individual persons in their private matters
+and suits at law, and the Persians did not regard anything
+as legal and right which was not confirmed by a
+Magian.<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> At the head of the Magians, we are told in
+another account coming from a western source, a Grand
+Magian was placed under the Sassanids,<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> and as a fact
+the Magians now received a thorough organisation.
+At the head of their caste was the High Magian
+(<i>Magupat</i>, Mobedh); and over all the High Magians
+was the Grand Magian (<i>Magupatan magupat</i>); to the
+Magians belonged the judicial power; and the Grand
+Magian performed the coronation of the king. The
+Sassanids erected fire-temples in Persia no less than
+in Aderbeijan; their coins always exhibit the fire-altar,
+and as a rule two priests before it. They carried
+their genealogy beyond Sassan through &Ccedil;pentodata
+(p. 38) to Vista&ccedil;pa of Bactria, who is now said to
+have established the seven princes; they call themselves
+by the names of the ancient heroes who met us
+in the Avesta; Kavadh (Kava Kavata) and Chosru
+(Kava Hu&ccedil;rava). While styling themselves the worshippers
+of Mazda (Auramazda) like the founders of
+their empire, they went so far as to assume the names
+of the gods of the Avesta; some even called themselves
+after Verethraghna (Varahran, Bahram), others Auharmazdi
+after Auramazda himself. The numerous Christians
+on the Euphrates and Tigris as well as in Armenia
+had to undergo severe persecutions; especially under
+Shapur II., Varahran V., and Yezdegerd II. (438-457
+<small>A.D.</small>), whose viceroy declared to the Armenian Christians
+that the Daevas (Dews) of Ahriman had deceived
+them; it was not the good God who had created evil
+and death but the wicked spirit. Defection from the
+faith of Auramazda was punished with death. In the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>
+treaties of the years 422, 533, and 563 <small>A.D.</small> Theodosius
+II. and Justinian obtained the concession that
+the Christians in the kingdom of the Sassanids should
+not be compelled to conform to the rules of the
+Magians; they were to be at liberty to bury their
+dead,<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> whereas the doctrine of Zarathrustra required
+that the corpses should be exposed.</p>
+
+<p>As such was the attitude of the house of the
+Sassanids, we may believe the books of the Parsees
+that Ardeshir eagerly took in hand the revival of the
+true faith, and that he was assisted in this by competent
+Magians; by Arda Viraf, according to the book
+of the Exodus and of Arda Viraf (p. 50); according
+to the Dinkart, by the Herbedh Tosar. The book of
+Arda Viraf relates at length how he fell asleep in the
+assembly of priests before Ardeshir, and his soul was
+carried by the god &Ccedil;raosha through heaven and hell.
+And when the Dinkart represents a standard of true
+religion as being set up under Ardeshir, there is no
+reason to doubt the statement. After the reign of
+Ardeshir, we are told in the Book of the Exodus, the
+true religion was again suspended, or, as the Book of
+Arda Viraf tells us, a schism arose. The cause of this
+division is sufficiently known from other sources. In
+the reign of Shapur I. (241-272 <small>A.D.</small>) a native of
+Ctesiphon, of the name of Mani, came forward with a
+new doctrine which attempted to mingle Chald&aelig;an,
+Jewish, and Christian elements in the faith of Iran,
+and to resolve it into abstractions. He found numerous
+adherents.<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> Varahran II. (276-293 <small>A.D.</small>) allowed him
+to dispute with the Magians, and then put him to
+death. Under Shapur II., who succeeded his father
+Auharmazdi II. as a posthumous child (309-379 <small>A.D.</small>),<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>
+in order to check Manicheism and the advance of
+Christianity, it was necessary to go back to the principles
+of the old faith, and to invigorate these by the
+collection and establishment of the sacred scriptures.
+We may therefore have the fullest confidence in accepting
+from these three books of the Parsees the facts
+that Shapur "made the sacred faith to be famous;"
+that Aderbat, whose work under Shapur is confirmed
+by Hamza of Isfahan, collected the scriptures, purified
+the sayings of Zarathrustra, and enumerated the chapters.
+It is on this redaction of the canon by Aderbat
+Mahresfant under Shapur II. that the list of the books
+and chapters rests, distinguishing what were originally
+in existence and what were then preserved. What was
+not discovered "after Alexander" means what was not
+discovered or not accepted at this redaction. Instead of
+the 815 chapters which the Avesta is said to have previously
+contained, the new canon amounted to only
+348 chapters. That Aderbat was the founder of this
+canon is clear not only from the epithet which the
+books of the Parsees give him (Mahresfant, Old Bactrian
+Manthra&ccedil;penta, meaning "the sacred word,") but
+also from the confession of faith still in use among the
+Parsees: "I abide in the law which Zarathrustra
+taught to Vista&ccedil;pa, to Frashaostra, to Jama&ccedil;pa, and
+&Ccedil;pentodata, which came in the succession of generations
+to Aderbat, who duly corrected and purified it."<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a>
+It was shown above that the language of the sacred
+books thus again collected was that of Eastern Iran
+(p. 30). When Aderbat revised the canon it had
+long ceased to be spoken. But there were already
+translations of the sacred books into the later forms
+which the language of Iran had received in the time
+of the Parthians, or at any rate such translations<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>
+were made after the revision of the canon.<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> Masudi
+informed us that the Avesta was composed in the old
+Persian language, which at that time (tenth century
+<small>A.D.</small>) was no longer understood. Ibn Haukal, who
+travelled in Persia in the same century, tells us: "In
+Fars three languages are in use; the Farsi, in which
+the inhabitants converse with each other; the Pehlevi,
+which was the language of the ancient Persians, and
+in which the Magians wrote their historical books, but
+which in our time is no longer understood by the
+inhabitants of Fars without a translation; and the
+Arabian.<a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a>" When Aderbat revised the Avesta in the
+middle of the fourth century <small>B.C.</small>, the Parsi (Farsi), <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i>
+the later Middle Persian, was still in formation; the
+older Middle Persian or Pehlevi was still intelligible,
+but translations of the Avesta into this language did
+not make clear to every one the meaning of the ancient
+language in which the scriptures were composed. In
+the time of the Parthian empire the old mode of
+writing was given up in the West as well as in the
+East of Iran, and exchanged for new methods. In the
+West a cuneiform character derived from the writing of
+Babylon and Assyria had been adopted; the East used
+the Arian alphabet. Under the Arsacids the Pehlevi
+became common. Like the old Persian cuneiform
+this is borrowed from a Semitic pattern. The chief city
+of the Parthians lay on the Tigris in the midst of a
+Semitic population. The cursive character of the
+Aram&aelig;ans, as we find it on the coins of the satraps of
+the Ach&aelig;menids of the fourth century <small>B.C.</small>, with a few
+modifications, forms the base of the Pehlevi; and the
+earlier shapes of this character are seen in the coins of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>
+the Arsacids of the first century <small>A.D.</small> But it is not
+the character which forms the peculiar mark of Pehlevi.
+Along with the Aramaic letters the Parthians took the
+Aramaic vocabulary; they wrote the Aramaic word
+instead of the Persian, and to this they attached the
+termination or case-ending of the corresponding Persian
+word; the reader must understand Aramaic and substitute
+the Persian word for the Aramaic when reading.<a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a>
+Hence Pehlevi was in reality a secret mode of
+writing, intended exclusively for the learned, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> for
+the priests. It is a proof of the close connection
+between the priests of the East and West that this
+character, which arose in the West out of the contact
+with the Aramaic population on the Euphrates and
+Tigris, spread to the East also and was adopted by the
+scholars there. Nor was this all. The variations in
+the Eastern dialect brought about certain modifications
+in the forms of the letters, and thus there arose
+an Eastern alphabet of Pehlevi beside the Western
+alphabet. When Ardeshir destroyed the empire of the
+Parthians in the year 226 <small>A.D.</small> these two alphabets were
+in existence. The Eastern alphabet finally triumphed
+over the Western. It became the royal mode of
+writing, and as such was used on the coins. The letters
+in the manuscripts of the Pehlevi translation of the
+Avesta in the possession of the Parsees agree throughout
+with the characters on the legends of the coins of the
+Sassanids about the year 600 <small>A.D.</small><a name="FNanchor_111_111" id="FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> The characters<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>
+also, in which the text of the Avesta is written in the
+manuscripts of the Parsees, belong to the later East-Pehlevi
+alphabet, which, owing to the greater wealth
+of the old Bactrian alphabet in sounds, especially in
+vowels, possesses a greater number of letters.<a name="FNanchor_112_112" id="FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> The
+coincidence of the letters in the manuscripts of the
+Parsees with those on the coins of the later Sassanids,
+proves beyond contradiction that although the oldest
+existing manuscripts belong to the fourteenth century
+of our era,<a name="FNanchor_113_113" id="FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> they are nevertheless true copies of the
+characters in which the Avesta was written in the last
+century of the empire of the Sassanids.</p>
+
+<p>All that the Parsees of India now possess are some
+not very extensive remains of the revision of the
+sacred scriptures made in the reign of Shapur II.
+The existing part of the laws corresponds in the title, the
+divisions and their arrangements, with the twentieth
+book of the text (p. 52). It contains the rubrics for
+purification, for repelling and removing the evil spirits.
+The title is the Vend&icirc;dad, or, in the older form, the
+Vidaevodata, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> "given against the Daevas," or evil
+spirits. Obviously this book was regarded as the most
+important and valuable part of the law, and to this
+circumstance it owes its preservation. Besides this we
+have invocations and prayers, chiefly belonging to the
+liturgy. They form a considerable collection, known
+by the title of Ya&ccedil;na, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> worship. The remainder of
+the 348 chapters was lost in the invasion of the Arabs
+into Iran, owing to their fanatical zeal for conversion.<a name="FNanchor_114_114" id="FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Though we were able to establish the fact that these
+fragments belonged in their language, their contents,
+and their written character to Eastern Iran, and the evidence
+of Western writers proved to us that at the time
+when Alexander of Macedon overthrew the kingdom
+of the Ach&aelig;menids, there were sacred scriptures of considerable
+extent in Iran&mdash;this does not enable us to
+decide the date of the origin of these scriptures. We
+have to inquire whether these writings were known in
+the West of Iran also, before the date of the Sassanids;
+whether the new collection and revision about the
+year 350 of our era was satisfied with faithfully representing
+the old condition of the scriptures, so far as it
+could be discovered, or whether it altered their contents;
+whether the influence exercised by Hellenic and
+Aramaic elements in the time of the Seleucids and
+Parthians&mdash;so obvious in the one case and so searching
+in the other&mdash;affected the contents of the Avesta.<a name="FNanchor_115_115" id="FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a>
+This question cannot be set aside, because even under
+the Sassanids, in spite of their zeal for the Avesta and
+for Iran, these elements were not unknown. We are
+aware that Greek and Jewish schools flourished in
+Syria and Mesopotamia at the date of the Sassanids,
+that Chosru Nushirvan (531-578 <small>A.D.</small>) gave his protection
+to Damascius and the Platonists in his kingdom,
+and caused Greek works to be translated. However
+much other virtues, required in the Avesta, were
+extolled in this ruler, such as the foundation of fire-temples,
+and appointment of sacristans for them, the
+promotion of agriculture (no temple was to be without
+cultivated lands) and of marriages&mdash;nevertheless sects<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>
+sprung up within the true religion. Even in official
+documents of the fifth century we find a certain deviation
+from the doctrine of the Avesta; under king
+Kavadh (488-453 <small>A.D.</small>), Mazdak, who proclaimed the
+community of goods and women, found adherents,
+and the Arabs speak of sects in Iran which opposed
+the teaching of the Magians.<a name="FNanchor_116_116" id="FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> They mention the
+Zarvanites, the Gayomarthians, and others, of whom
+the Zarvanites sought to derive the good and evil
+deity from some higher abstraction,<a name="FNanchor_117_117" id="FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> while the Gayomarthians
+represented the evil deity as proceeding from
+the thought of the good deity. Had conceptions of
+this kind, and other later views which we find in their
+doctrines, influence on the restoration of the canon?
+The fact that the sacred writings were composed in
+a language no longer current, when the canon was
+restored, is not a complete safeguard against changes
+and interpolations, for the priests at that time may
+have understood the language, and therefore may
+possibly have been able to compose in it.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> [Cf. Darmesteter, "Zend-Avesta," Introduction, c. iii.]</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> Haug, "The Book of Arda Viraf," p. 142 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> Herbedh is the old Bactrian <i>athrapaiti</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> Haug, "Pahlavi-Pazand Glossary," p. 144, 146.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> It is found in the so-called "Great Rivayat."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> Vullers, "Fragmente &uuml;ber die Religion Zoroasters," s. 15-42;
+Haug, "Essays," p. 125.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> Quatrem&egrave;re, "Journ. des Savants," 1840, p. 413.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> Clemens Alex. "Strom." p. 598.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> Diogen. Laert. prooem. The corrupt passage in Athen&aelig;us (p. 478)
+is not a sufficient reason for refusing to accept Hermippus of Smyrna
+as the author of the treatise on the Magians. Pliny could not quote
+the Berytian Hermippus.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> Plin. "H. N." 30, 2.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> "H. N." 37, 49, 55, 58; 26, 9; 27, 35; 28, 19, 27; 29, 38; 21, 36.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> Philon. Bybl. fragm. 9, ed. M&uuml;ller.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> Dio Chrysost, ed. Dind. 2, 60.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> Pausan. 5, 27, 3.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> "Anab." 7, 11, 8.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> <i>E.&nbsp;g.</i> the bas-relief on Mount Behistun in the winged victory,
+which refers to the battle between Vardanes and Gotarzes, between 40
+and 50 <small>A.D.</small> [Cf. Rawlinson, "Sixth Monarchy," p. 389, where a
+sketch of the relief is given.]</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> Poseidonius in Strabo, p. 515; Justin, 42,1.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> Herodian, 4, 30.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> Plut. "Crassus," c. 29; "Anton." c. 47; Joseph. "Antiq." 18, 9,
+3; Justin (12, 3), and Horace ("Ep." 1,2, 112), are of another opinion
+in regard to the latter point.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> Above, p. 26. Arrian, "Parth." 2, ed. M&uuml;ller; Eunap. p. 222.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> Al Biruni in Droyson, "Hellenismus," 3<sup>2</sup>, 372.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> Vologeses I. reigned 50-80 <small>A.D.</small>; Vologeses II. 130-149 <small>A.D.</small>;
+Vologeses III. and IV. 149-208 <small>A.D.</small>; the son of the fourth, also
+Vologeses, reigned beside Artabanus IV.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> Joseph. "Ant." 18, 9, 1; "Bell. Jud." Prooem. 1, 2; Ammian.
+Marcell. 23, 6.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> Ammian. Marcell. 17, 5.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> N&ouml;ldeke, "Tabari." s. 437.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> De Sacy, "Memoires de l'institut Cl. Hist." 2, 162-242. [Rawlinson,
+"Seventh Monarchy," p. 70, 606.]</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> Rawlinson, <i>loc. cit.</i> p. 602, 607, 92 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> Agathias, 2, 26.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> Sozomen, "H. Eccl." 2, 10, 12.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> Menandri Protect. fragm. 11, ed. M&uuml;ller.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> [Cf. Rawlinson, "Seventh Monarchy," p. 96 ff.]</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> Spiegel, Avesta, 3, 214, 218, 219, 227.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> Above, p. 17. On the date of these translations, Haug, "Pahlavi-Pazand
+Glossary," p. 147.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> Quatrein&egrave;re, "Journal des Savants," 1840, p. 412.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> Haug, "Pahlavi-Pazand Glossary," p. 120 ff.; 128 ff. West,
+"Pahlavi Texts," part 1. Introd. &sect; 2.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> Lepsius, "Zendalphabet, Abh. B. Akad." 1862, s. 338; Lenormant,
+"Sur l'alphabet Pehlevi Journ. Asiat. 1<sup>er</sup>." 6, 6, 180 ff.; Levy, "Beitr&auml;ge
+Z. D. M. G.", 21, 459 ff. From Ardeshir down to Narses, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> from 226
+to 302 <small>A.D.</small>, the writing on the coins agrees with the West Pehlevi of
+the monuments of the Sassanids. From 302 to 600 <small>A.D.</small> the character
+on the coins is different. From 600 the writing on the coins agrees
+with the MSS. of the Parsees; Mordtmann, "Z. D. M. G." 8, 12 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> Lepsius, <i>loc. cit.</i> s. 306.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> Westergaard, "Avesta," 1, 4 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> That the author or authors of the Bundehesh,&mdash;for the work consists
+of a collection of fragments of various character,&mdash;had before them
+larger remains of the Avesta, or a commentary which included more
+than our fragments, may be conceded. The composition of the work
+cannot be placed before the time of the Arabs, for the whole period of
+the Sassanid empire is given, and even on an extended scale (p. 82),
+mention is made of the empire of the Arabs, and Arabian words occur.
+Cf. Justi, "Bundehesh," p. ix. ff; cf. below, p. 73. [West, "Pahlavi
+Texts," 1, Introd. p. xci. ff].</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> On the Aramean sketch of the dialectic of Aristotle which was
+written for Ohoeru, cf. Renan, "Journ. Asiat." 1852, p. 311.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> [Cf. Rawlinson, <i>loc. cit.</i> 448 ff.; 342 ff.]</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> "Sharastani," by Haarbr&uuml;cker, 2, 284. The son of Mihr Narses is
+called Zarvandadh.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<h3>ZARATHRUSTRA AND THE DATE OF THE COMPOSITION OF
+THE AVESTA.<a name="FNanchor_118_118" id="FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a></h3>
+
+
+<p>The examination of the difficult questions, whether,
+from what period, and to what extent, the Avesta was
+known in Western Iran before the time of Alexander,
+when the book came into existence, whether its contents
+have come down uninjured from an ancient
+period, or whether it underwent alterations in the
+time of the Parthians and the Sassanids, will be best
+opened by collecting and testing the accounts which
+have been preserved in the West about Zarathrustra
+and his work. Herodotus does not mention him, but
+Xanthus the Lydian is said to have spoken of him,
+before the date of Herodotus. Plato describes Zoroaster
+as the founder of the doctrine of the Magians,
+and calls him a son of Oromazes.<a name="FNanchor_119_119" id="FNanchor_119_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a> With Hermodorus,
+a pupil of Plato, Zoroaster is a Persian, the first
+Magian.<a name="FNanchor_120_120" id="FNanchor_120_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> Deinon concludes from the name that he
+was a worshipper of the stars. Hermippus of Smyrna
+speaks of him as a Bactrian, and is said to have
+described him as a pupil of Azonakes (or Agonakes).<a name="FNanchor_121_121" id="FNanchor_121_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a>
+Diodorus informs us that Zoroaster gave out among
+the Arians that the good spirit had revealed to him
+the laws which he published.<a name="FNanchor_122_122" id="FNanchor_122_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> Trogus Pompeius<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>
+relates that Ninus finally carried on war with Zoroaster
+the king of the Bactrians, who discovered the
+art of the Magians, and inquired accurately into the
+primal forces of the world, and the movements of the
+stars; he was slain by Ninus.<a name="FNanchor_123_123" id="FNanchor_123_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a> Pliny observes that
+Zoroaster, the founder of the doctrine of the Magians,
+smiled on the day of his birth, and beat his head
+vigorously as a symbol of his wisdom; for thirty
+years he lived in the desert on cheese. Plutarch's
+account is that Zoroaster took no other food or drink
+all his life but milk, and like Lycurgus and Numa, he
+associated with the Divine Being.<a name="FNanchor_124_124" id="FNanchor_124_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a> Dio Chrysostom
+tells us that Zoroaster from his love for wisdom and
+justice lived remote from men in solitude on a mountain,
+which had been kindled by fire from above, and
+burned continuously, and when the king approached
+the mountain with his leading men to offer prayer to
+the god, Zoroaster came unharmed out of the fire, and
+bade them offer sacrifice for the god had visited the
+place. After this Zoroaster did not associate with all
+men, but only with those who were most adapted to
+receive the truth and converse with the god, whom
+the Persians called Magians, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> those who have skill
+to serve the Divine Being.<a name="FNanchor_125_125" id="FNanchor_125_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> Kephalion asserted that
+Zoroaster the Magian, the king of the Bactrians,
+fought with Semiramis and was vanquished by her.<a name="FNanchor_126_126" id="FNanchor_126_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a>
+Theon of Alexandria also speaks of the conflict between
+Semiramis and the Bactrian Zoroaster. Arnobius is
+aware of the battle of Ninus with Zoroaster and the
+Bactrians,<a name="FNanchor_127_127" id="FNanchor_127_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_127_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a> and in Eusebius Zoroaster, the Magian, the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>king of the Bactrians, fights against Ninus.<a name="FNanchor_128_128" id="FNanchor_128_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_128_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> According
+to the treatise of Eubulus of Athens on Mithras,
+Porphyrius related that Zoroaster had consecrated a
+natural cave, in which were flowers and springs, in
+the neighbouring mountains of Persia, in honour of
+Mithra, the creator and father of all, and since that
+time the favour of the god had been sought in a cave.<a name="FNanchor_129_129" id="FNanchor_129_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_129_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a>
+Ammianus Marcellinus calls Zoroaster a Bactrian, and
+tells us that Hystaspes, the father of Darius, spread
+abroad the doctrine of the Magians.<a name="FNanchor_130_130" id="FNanchor_130_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_130_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a> Agathias remarks
+that the Persians of his time asserted that
+Zoroaster, or Zaradus, as they called him, who gave
+them their religious doctrine and law, the son of
+Oromasdes, lived at the time of Hystaspes; but they
+made the assertion in such a manner that no man
+knew whether this Hystaspes was the father of Darius
+or some other of the name. But whatever the date of
+his life, he changed the earlier forms of worship, and
+was the discoverer of the doctrine of the Magians.<a name="FNanchor_131_131" id="FNanchor_131_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_131_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a>
+Suidas distinguishes between the Perso-Mede Zoroaster,
+the chief of the Magians, and the astronomer of the
+same name, an Assyrian, who lived at the time of
+Ninus.<a name="FNanchor_132_132" id="FNanchor_132_132"></a><a href="#Footnote_132_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a> In Syncellus, Zoroaster is the first of the
+eight Median kings, who, according to the statement
+of Berosus, reigned over Babylonia from 2458 to
+2224 <small>B.C.</small><a name="FNanchor_133_133" id="FNanchor_133_133"></a><a href="#Footnote_133_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a></p>
+
+<p>These statements do not amount to much. Yet we
+find the tradition maintained from the pupils of Plato
+down to Agathias, that Zoroaster founded the doctrine
+of the Magians; Diodorus, Plutarch, and Dio mention
+the intercourse of Zoroaster with the good spirit or the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>
+deity. Diodorus calls him an Arian, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> an inhabitant
+of Eastern Iran. Hermippus, Trogus Pompeius,
+Kephalion, Theon, Arnobius, and Eusebius speak of him
+as a Bactrian, and the king of the Bactrians, and
+represent him as fighting with Ninus or Semiramis,
+which is also asserted by Moses of Khorene.<a name="FNanchor_134_134" id="FNanchor_134_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_134_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a> Hence
+in the last two centuries <small>B.C.</small> it must have been known
+in the West that Zoroaster belonged to the East of
+Iran, and thus he was brought into connection with the
+most prominent fact known in the history of Bactria,
+the contest of the Bactrians against Ninus and Semiramis.
+This story, as we said, comes from the Medo-Persian
+Epos, and moreover the Epos did not authorise
+this connection of Ninus and Zoroaster. The opponent
+of Ninus, who reigned over Bactria, was, according
+to Diodorus, Oxyartes or Exaortes (p. 20). The
+fact that Zoroaster was the most important name in
+the antiquity of Iran among western nations obviously
+induced Syncellus to put him at the head of the
+supposed ancient Median dynasty. If Zoroaster, as
+Pliny and Plutarch think, lived only on milk and
+cheese, and passed thirty years in the wilderness, these
+are merely traits taken from the lives of the Brahman
+ascetics. The story in Dio Chrysostom, that Zoroaster
+came unharmed from the fire, and the opposite statements
+of the Chronicle of Alexandria and of Suidas,
+that he brought down fire from heaven and was consumed
+by it, or struck by lightning, contain traits
+which have obviously sprung from the importance
+which the doctrine of Zoroaster and the Magians
+ascribe to the worship of fire, and from the division
+between the fire of lightning and earthly fire, of which
+we shall speak below. The narrative of Eubulus is
+founded on the mysteries of Mithra, which came into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>
+the West in the first century <small>B.C.</small><a name="FNanchor_135_135" id="FNanchor_135_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_135_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a> These mysteries
+are due to the confusion of the Mithra of the Iranians
+with the sun-god of the Syrians; the myst&aelig; were
+consecrated in caves, or in places called caves, and
+there underwent their probation. As the god of
+light and the soul Mithra slays in the cave, that is in
+the world of gloom and matter, the bull which is the
+symbol of matter, as opposed to light, in its creative
+power, and conveys the soul, the side of man akin to
+light, out of the gloom of matter through the heaven
+of the fixed stars, and then through the heaven of
+the planets, to the light.<a name="FNanchor_136_136" id="FNanchor_136_136"></a><a href="#Footnote_136_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> Ammianus Marcellinus
+and Agathias have better information about Zoroaster.
+They are aware that he stands in some relation to
+Hystaspes. Ammianus, though he expressly describes
+Zoroaster as a Bactrian, puts Hystaspes the well-known
+father of Darius, as the supporter of the doctrine
+of the Magians, in the place of the Vista&ccedil;pa of the
+Avesta, who opens a wide path for the teaching
+of Zoroaster; Agathias, on the other hand, expresses
+himself with greater circumspectness; he cannot decide
+whether the father of Darius or some other
+Hystaspes is meant.</p>
+
+<p>The result is this: Before the time of Alexander
+of Macedon, at the latest in the first half of the fourth
+century <small>B.C.</small>, the Greeks were aware that Zoroaster
+had founded the doctrine of the Magians; in the last
+centuries <small>B.C.</small> and onwards it was known that he
+belonged to Bactria and Eastern Iran; but it was not
+till the fourth century <small>A.D.</small> that he was known to have
+lived under king Hystaspes; at any rate we have no
+older evidence on this point.</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p>
+<p>Much more recent in date, and of far less value,
+is the information derived from the East, with the
+exception of the Avesta, on Zarathrustra. It does not
+go back beyond the period of the Arabian empire over
+Iran. The Bundehesh, written in this period (p. 65, <i>n.</i> 3),
+contains a genealogy, which carries Zarathrustra's origin
+beyond Pourusha&ccedil;pa and Haechata&ccedil;pa, from whom,
+according to the Avesta, he was sprung (p. 38), through
+twelve generations to Manuschithra (Minocher). In
+the Avesta, the soul of the pure Manuschithra, the
+son of Airyu, is invoked;<a name="FNanchor_137_137" id="FNanchor_137_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_137_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> it has been observed above
+that the national genealogy in Iran placed Thraetaona,
+and not Manu, at the head; Airyu, the son of Thraetaona,
+was the proper progenitor of the Airyas. With the
+name Manuschithra, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> scion of Manu, who is now
+the son of Airyu, this table passed back into the old
+Arian conception of the father Manu (p. 44). In the
+Avesta, Zarathrustra is connected by his father, the
+fourth sacrificer of the Haoma, with the old sacrificers;
+and by deriving his family from Manuschithra the
+Bundehesh places him in the closest relation to the
+progenitors of the Airyas. For the rest this book has
+little to say about the life of Zoroaster. It informs
+us that the house of Pourusha&ccedil;pa lay on a hill on the
+river Daraja, a river which we cannot identify;<a name="FNanchor_138_138" id="FNanchor_138_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_138_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a> the
+Bundehesh places it in Airyana Vaeja (Airanvij), in a
+district which we must place in the high region of the
+Hindu Kush, on the sources of the Oxus (p. 31, <i>n</i>. 2),
+though the Bundehesh informs us that "it lay by the
+side of Atropatene." According to another passage in
+the book, Airyana Vaeja lay near the garden of Yima
+and Cashmere. In a third passage the garden of Yima,
+which we are compelled by unmistakable indications<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>
+in the Avesta, to seek on the divine mountain, lies in
+the centre of Iran, under Mount Damkan.<a name="FNanchor_139_139" id="FNanchor_139_139"></a><a href="#Footnote_139_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a> Atropatene,
+as a name for the Alpine land in the north-west
+of Iran (now Aderbeijan), came into use in the
+time of the Greek empire; at any rate we cannot trace
+it earlier.<a name="FNanchor_140_140" id="FNanchor_140_140"></a><a href="#Footnote_140_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a> <i>Athrapaiti</i> means "lord of fire"; <i>athrapata</i>,
+"one protected by fire"; in the remote mountains of
+this district the old fire-worship was preserved with
+peculiar zeal under the Seleucids; from the time of
+Ardeshir the Sassanids venerated the fire-temple Adar
+Gu&ccedil;asp (near Takht-i-Soliman), which lay in this region,
+above all others, and this was the reason why in the
+time of the Arabs it was thought that Airyana Vaeja
+must be sought there.<a name="FNanchor_141_141" id="FNanchor_141_141"></a><a href="#Footnote_141_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a> In any case it is impossible,
+out of regard to the Bundehesh and even later statements
+of the Moslem period, to place Zarathrustra in
+the north-west of Iran in order to represent him as a
+foreigner, reforming the religion of the north-east, when
+the Avesta, which distinctly places him in the east
+and puts him among the sacrificers and heroes of the
+east and rulers of Bactria, together with the older
+and more important evidence of the West, is on the
+opposite side.</p>
+
+<p>The "Book of Zartusht," one of the most recent
+books of the Parsees (it dates from the thirteenth
+century of our era), can only tell us of the marvellous
+preservation of Zarathrustra and the miracles which
+he wrought. The first miracle recorded in it is the
+fact that Zoroaster smiled at his birth. But the
+wicked king Duransarun sought to murder the newly-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>born
+child in his cradle. His arm is paralysed, and
+he cannot strike the blow home. Then the evil spirits
+steal the child, kindle a great fire in the desert, and
+throw him into it. But he sleeps peacefully in the
+fire, and his mother recovers him without injury. A
+herd of cattle are about to trample him on a narrow
+path, when the largest one stands over and protects
+him, till the herd have passed by. In a similar manner
+he is preserved when a pair of wild horses are driven
+over him. Even the wolves will not eat him. When
+he has reached his thirtieth year these trials are over,
+and Zarathrustra emigrates with his followers. On
+reaching Iran the good spirit Vohu mano appeared and
+conducted him to Auramazda. He had to pass over a
+fiery mountain, but the fire did not singe a hair;
+molten metal was poured on his breast, and he felt it
+not; his entrails were removed and then replaced
+without injury to him. Auramazda gave him the
+Avesta and commanded him to go to king Vista&ccedil;pa
+(now Kai Gushta&ccedil;p) to Balkh, and proclaim it to him.
+In Balkh Zoroaster overcame the sages of the king in
+argument, but they maligned him before their master
+as a wizard, and he was put in prison. Then the feet
+of the king's horse were drawn up into its belly, and
+the king bade Zarathrustra heal his horse. He required
+the king to believe in him and his doctrine;
+and when the king had acknowledged the new faith,
+one of the horse's feet was restored to it. Zarathrustra
+further demanded that Vista&ccedil;pa's son &Ccedil;pentodata
+(Isfendyar) should consecrate himself to the defence of
+the new faith, that the king's consort should adopt the
+law, and those who maligned him should be punished.
+When these three requests had been complied with, the
+horse recovered all its four feet. After this Vista&ccedil;pa
+did nothing without the advice of Zarathrustra, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>
+built fire-altars and fire-temples. And Zarathrustra
+showed the king the place he would one day occupy in
+heaven, and made &Ccedil;pentodata invulnerable.<a name="FNanchor_142_142" id="FNanchor_142_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_142_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a></p>
+
+<p>Hence from the Bundehesh we obtain no more than
+the genealogical tree of Zarathrustra, which though
+characteristic for the place allotted to him, is without
+historical value; and from the Zartusht Nameh,
+Sharastani, and Mirkhond, which repeat some miracles
+more or less similar to those quoted, we gather nothing
+beyond certain traits: the smiling at birth, the fiery
+mountain, the preservation of Zarathrustra in the
+fire, which Pliny and Dio Chrysostom had already
+made known to us, and which belong to the ancient
+tradition of Iran. In the miracles which take place by
+means of oxen and horses, we can merely recognise
+the ancient and close relation of the Arians in Iran
+to these animals, a relation which has already been
+remarked (p. 46). We might perhaps add that Firdusi
+represents Zarathrustra, whom he puts beside
+Vista&ccedil;pa, as having been killed at a fire in Balkh when
+the city was captured by Turanians. The intercourse
+of Zarathrustra with Auramazda was known
+to Western writers, as we saw, at a far earlier
+date.</p>
+
+<p>If we can hardly glean anything worth notice from
+these accounts about Zarathrustra's life and work,
+we may perhaps gain some information about his
+date. The evidence of Ammianus Marcellinus and Agathias,
+when they represent him as a contemporary of
+Hystaspes, in whom we recognise Vista&ccedil;pa of Bactria,
+carries us no further than the Avesta, which places
+him in the closest relation to this prince (p. 38), because
+his date is equally uncertain. Trogus Pompeius,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>
+Kephalion, Theon, and Eusebius make Zarathrustra
+an opponent and therefore a contemporary of Ninus
+and Semiramis. But as neither Semiramis nor Ninus
+ruled over Asshur, and they are to be regarded as the
+personification of the rise of the power and dominion
+of that country (II. 23), we must substitute for this
+king and queen the ruler or rulers of Asshur of whom
+it is certain that their campaigns reached the east of
+Iran. We found that so far as we can at present
+judge from the monuments it was only Shalmanesar
+II. who received tribute from the Eastern lands, and
+that the armies of Tiglath Pilesar II. trod the soil
+of Arachosia (p. 19). If we could assume that the
+contests of Ninus and Semiramis have taken the place
+of the achievements of these rulers in the East of Iran,
+the date of Vista&ccedil;pa and Zarathrustra would have
+to be placed between 860 and 740 <small>B.C.</small> But this
+supposition is really without any basis.</p>
+
+<p>The more ancient statements of the Greeks carry
+us much further back than the reasoning of Trogus
+Pompeius and his successors. If we set Pliny aside,
+who asserts "that the kind of Magism established by
+Zoroaster was many years older than that taught by
+Moses," Hermippus of Smyrna puts Zoroaster 5000
+years before the Trojan war. Even before Hermippus,
+Theopompus of Chios, and Hermodorus, the pupil of
+Plato, had ascribed the same date to him. Eudoxus
+of Cnidus, the contemporary of Plato, placed him still
+higher; he thought that Zoroaster lived 6000 years
+before the death of Plato. According to Pliny, Aristotle
+ascribed to him the same antiquity, and, as we learn
+from Diogenes Laertius, maintained that the Magians
+were older than the Egyptians. And even in the
+fifth century <small>B.C.</small>, Xanthus the Lydian is said to have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>
+written that from the time when Zoroaster lived to
+the march of Xerxes against Hellas a period of 6000
+years had elapsed.<a name="FNanchor_143_143" id="FNanchor_143_143"></a><a href="#Footnote_143_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a></p>
+
+<p>Through these statements there runs, beyond all
+doubt, a system, the knowledge of which began in the
+fifth century <small>B.C.</small> among the Greeks and continued
+beyond the time of Alexander. Whether we take
+5000 years before the Trojan war, or 6000 years before
+Plato's death, we are equally brought back into the
+seventh millennium <small>B.C.</small> If the later statements of the
+West, which make Zoroaster a contemporary of Ninus
+and Semiramis, are the results of combining the most
+prominent name in Bactria with the conquest of Bactria
+by the founder of the Assyrian power, as related
+in the Medo-Persian Epos, the fixing of Zoroaster's
+date so many thousand years previously must have
+been taken by the Greeks from the Persians. In these
+dates we seem to be dealing with certain cyclic
+periods. We learn from Theopompus of Chios, that
+according to the doctrine of the Magians, one of the
+two gods Oromazdes and Areimanius would reign and
+the other be subject for 3000 years; for another 3000
+years they would be in conflict, and one destroy the
+works of the other, until at length Areimanius would
+succumb and men become happy.<a name="FNanchor_144_144" id="FNanchor_144_144"></a><a href="#Footnote_144_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a> From this we
+may with certainty conclude that periods of 3000
+years were in use among the priests of Iran to denote
+certain spaces of time, and that these cycles form the
+base of the statements of the older Greeks, if we
+can prove the use of such periods in the Avesta or
+in the books of the Parsees.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In the fragments of the Avesta which have come down
+to us we find invocations addressed to the "time without
+beginning," "the time that rules the long periods."<a name="FNanchor_145_145" id="FNanchor_145_145"></a><a href="#Footnote_145_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a>
+But the fact that Yima's reign is fixed at 1000 years
+shows that the priests of Iran reckoned by long
+periods, and other expressions in the Avesta (p. 33)
+prove that triple multiplications were in use,<a name="FNanchor_146_146" id="FNanchor_146_146"></a><a href="#Footnote_146_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a> which
+agrees with the periods given by Theopompus. If,
+therefore, the Greeks of the fifth and fourth century
+<small>B.C.</small> relate that Zarathrustra lived about 6000 years
+before their time, a system must by that time have
+been current among the priests of Iran in which two
+cycles of 3000 years were supposed to have elapsed
+since the time of the prophet, and the third cycle
+had commenced. A book of the Parsees, the Mainyo-i-Khard,
+which appears to have been written towards
+the close of the empire of the Sassanids,<a name="FNanchor_147_147" id="FNanchor_147_147"></a><a href="#Footnote_147_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a> tells us that
+Angromainyu made a compact with Auramazda for
+9000 winters, and when these winters were past,
+Angromainyu would be destroyed, and the creation
+and all creatures would be as Auramazda had made
+them.<a name="FNanchor_148_148" id="FNanchor_148_148"></a><a href="#Footnote_148_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a> The Bundehesh also speaks of a similar compact,
+but divides the years in a different manner. All time
+consists of 12,000 years. In the first 3000 Auramazda
+reigned alone with the creatures which he had created
+in an invisible manner; for the first 3000 of the next
+9000 everything went according to the will of Auramazda;
+for the second 3000 the will of Auramazda
+was crossed by that of Angromainyu, but for the last
+3000 Angromainyu will be powerless. The Bundehesh
+goes into yet further detail in these matters: in the
+first 3000 years the heavenly creation was secure from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>
+attack; in the next 3000 Gayo maretan and the ox,
+<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the first man and the first bull, came into existence.
+After these 6000 years the enemy arose and slew the
+first man and the first bull. The reign of Yima is
+placed by the Bundehesh in the first millennium of the
+new period, but this reign extends only to 716 years,
+the first 284 years of the thousand being filled with
+creatures prior to Yima. The second millennium of
+the period is occupied with the reign of Thraetaona,
+Manuschithra, Kava Kavata, U&ccedil;a, Hu&ccedil;rava, and
+Aurvata&ccedil;pa, and the early part of the reign of Kava
+Vista&ccedil;pa, whose thirtieth year coincides with the end
+of the second millennium.<a name="FNanchor_149_149" id="FNanchor_149_149"></a><a href="#Footnote_149_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a> At the beginning of the
+third millennium, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> a thousand years after the death
+of Yima, Zarathrustra appears; and the period of
+more successful opposition to the evil spirits begins.
+According to the more ancient conception, which may
+still be plainly traced in the Avesta, the world began
+with the happy age of Yima; it is owing to later views
+formed within priestly circles that earlier creatures
+such as the first man and first bull are placed before
+this period; but it will be shown below that these
+views existed when the Avesta was written down. A
+later book of the Parsees, the Sad-der-Bundehesh, puts
+the period of the conflict between the good and evil
+deity at 6000 years, and places Zarathrustra exactly
+in the middle of it; he was created 3000 years after
+the period of Gayo maretan, and 3000 years before
+his own resurrection.<a name="FNanchor_150_150" id="FNanchor_150_150"></a><a href="#Footnote_150_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a> Hence it is clear that the
+formation of these cycles rose among the priests of
+Iran from the necessity of limiting the period of the
+old and new law, and of conflict between the good and
+evil spirits, and the desire to fix the date of the more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>
+successful repulse of evil which came in with Zarathrustra.
+The abbreviation of the period of Yima shows
+us that the cycles in the Bundehesh do not throughout
+agree with those of the Avesta. But it is sufficient to
+establish the fact that periods of 3000 years were in
+use, and that Zarathrustra appeared at the beginning
+of a new millennium, in order to understand that the
+Persians could speak to the Greeks of millenniums in
+this sense, and of one or two cycles which had elapsed
+since Zarathrustra's time.</p>
+
+<p>The idea and tendency of such a scheme for the
+history of the world are easily understood: these
+periods of 3000 years, which can be increased or diminished
+without alteration of the sense, have only a
+dogmatic value. We cannot obtain from them any
+chronological date for the appearance of Zarathrustra,
+nor can we obtain such a date by the attempt to go
+back from the chronological statements in recent Parsee
+works to the older periods. We may leave unnoticed
+the assertion in the book of Arda Viraf that the true
+faith had existed in purity for 300 years down to the
+time that Alexander came into Iran (p. 50), which would
+thus bring Zarathrustra into the seventh century <small>B.C.</small>
+The Bundehesh allows 460 years for the reigns of the
+Sassanids, 246 for the Askanids, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the Arsacids, 16 for
+Alexander, before whom come Darai the son of Darai
+with 14 years, Darai Chirazatan with 12, Huma (a queen)
+with 30, Vohumano with 112, and Vista&ccedil;pa with 90,&mdash;all
+subsequent to the appearance of Zarathrustra.<a name="FNanchor_151_151" id="FNanchor_151_151"></a><a href="#Footnote_151_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a> According
+to this, 996 years elapsed between Zarathrustra
+and the fall of the Sassanids, and he would thus, if we
+reckon from the battle of Nahavend (640 <small>A.D.</small>), be placed
+in the year 356 <small>B.C.</small>, in the reign of Artaxerxes Ochus.
+But even if we alter the incorrect items in the text of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>
+the Bundehesh in accordance with our better knowledge,
+we do not arrive at any result which is even apparently
+certain. The dominion of the Sassanids, down to the
+date of the battle, did not last 460 but only 414 years;
+on the other hand, the Arsacids reigned for 476 years,
+not for 264.<a name="FNanchor_152_152" id="FNanchor_152_152"></a><a href="#Footnote_152_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a> The empire of Alexander, if we add
+the reigns of the Seleucid&aelig; to his own, occupied 80
+years instead of 14, and if in the place of the 26 years
+of the two Darais of the Bundehesh, who represent the
+kingdom of the ancient Ach&aelig;menids, we put the old
+Persian kingdom with 229 years, and add to these
+items the numbers given in the Bundehesh for Huma,
+Vohumano, and Vista&ccedil;pa, after the appearance of
+Zarathrustra, which amount to 232 years, Zarathrustra
+would have commenced his work 1431 years before the
+battle of Nahavend, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> in the year 791 <small>B.C.</small> But who
+can guarantee that Cyrus, the Persian, overthrew the
+empire of the Medes in the year when Huma, the
+supposed daughter of Vohumano, died; or that Huma
+reigned for 30 years? How could Vohumano, the
+grandson of Vista&ccedil;pa, and son of &Ccedil;pentodata (p. 38),
+have reigned 112 years, and Vista&ccedil;pa himself 90 years
+after the appearance of Zarathrustra? Huma is not
+merely a doubtful person, she is altogether fictitious.
+She is said to have been the mother of Darai Chirazatan,
+<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> Darius I., and to have been called Shamirain,
+<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> Semiramis, but her brother was the first Sassan,
+the ancestor of the Sassanids. As the later Arabs and
+Persians, including Firdousi, are no better informed,<a name="FNanchor_153_153" id="FNanchor_153_153"></a><a href="#Footnote_153_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a> we
+see clearly that the remembrance of the Ach&aelig;menids
+had almost entirely died out at the time when these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>
+writings were composed; only the name of Darius
+remained, and an attempt was made to connect this
+name with Vista&ccedil;pa by two fictitious names, Vohumano,
+<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the good spirit, and Huma. Besides Vista&ccedil;pa's
+son &Ccedil;pentodata (Isfendyar) and Hutao&ccedil;a, the wife
+of Vista&ccedil;pa, the Avesta mentions a woman, "the pure
+Huma,"<a name="FNanchor_154_154" id="FNanchor_154_154"></a><a href="#Footnote_154_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a> out of whom this queen must have been
+formed. It is clear that the tradition of the East,
+like the Avesta, broke off in the generation after
+Vista&ccedil;pa, and that in the Arabian period only the
+names Darai and Iskander could be placed between
+Vista&ccedil;pa and the Arsacids.</p>
+
+<p>We must attempt to reach the goal by another path.
+I have already shown what was the condition of the
+sacred scriptures in Iran at the date of Alexander and
+the Seleucids (p. 55). Even before Hermippus of
+Smyrna, Aristotle had taught that the Magians considered
+that to be the best in the first instance
+which was first created, and maintained two principles,
+a good and evil deity, Oromazdes and Areimanius.<a name="FNanchor_155_155" id="FNanchor_155_155"></a><a href="#Footnote_155_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a>
+Theopompus mentioned both these deities
+and the strife between them, and when he adds
+that there would one day be a time when the dead
+would rise again, and men would be immortal and able
+to withstand everything by their prayers&mdash;that after the
+victory of Oromazdes men would be happy and need
+no longer any sustenance, and would cast no shadow<a name="FNanchor_156_156" id="FNanchor_156_156"></a><a href="#Footnote_156_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a>&mdash;it
+will be seen below how definitely and exactly the
+doctrine of the Avesta is here reproduced. Hermodorus
+mentions a series of teachers, who succeeded the first
+teacher of the Magians, the "Persian Zoroaster," down
+to the campaign of Alexander of Macedon.<a name="FNanchor_157_157" id="FNanchor_157_157"></a><a href="#Footnote_157_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a> With
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>Eudoxus of Cnidus Zoroaster was the founder of the
+most beneficent wisdom; the pupils of Prodicus claimed
+to be acquainted with the writings of Zoroaster (p. 53).
+Plato calls him the son of Oromazdes, and adds that
+the heir to the throne was instructed in Magism as
+well as in the duty of being true during the whole of
+his life.<a name="FNanchor_158_158" id="FNanchor_158_158"></a><a href="#Footnote_158_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a> The importance which the Avesta ascribes
+to truthfulness will become clear hereafter. If the
+Greeks of the fourth century could speak of Zoroaster
+as the teacher of the Persians, and put him in the
+closest relation with Auramazda, if they could reproduce
+correctly the names of the good and evil spirits
+and the main doctrines of the Avesta, it is an inevitable
+conclusion that the religion of Zarathrustra must
+have prevailed in the kingdom of the Ach&aelig;menids.</p>
+
+<p>This result is confirmed by all the further information
+which we obtain from the Greeks. In Plutarch
+the last Darius calls on an eunuch, "to tell the truth in
+reverence for the great light of Mithra"; the eunuch
+replies that the king has no reason to accuse the evil
+spirit, and entreats "Lord Oromazdes," "that he may
+cause the light of the king to shine again."<a name="FNanchor_159_159" id="FNanchor_159_159"></a><a href="#Footnote_159_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a> Artaxerxes
+II. was informed by his mother Parysatis that the
+Persians had received the law which distinguished
+good and evil from god. He swears "by Mithra,"
+and Plutarch tells us how some related that when
+Darius, the eldest son of Artaxerxes, who sought his
+life, was slain, Artaxerxes went into the court of the
+palace and cried aloud to the Persians: "Rejoice, ye
+Persians, and tell it to others, that the great Oromazdes
+has executed judgment on those who imagined
+crime and wickedness."<a name="FNanchor_160_160" id="FNanchor_160_160"></a><a href="#Footnote_160_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a> In Plutarch, Artaxerxes I.
+says to Themistocles: "May Areimanius ever implant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>
+such a disposition in my enemies that they may drive
+from themselves their best and bravest men."<a name="FNanchor_161_161" id="FNanchor_161_161"></a><a href="#Footnote_161_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a> According
+to Deinon the Magians prophesied with branches in
+their hands, sacrificed under the open sky, and looked
+on fire and water as the only symbols of the divinity.<a name="FNanchor_162_162" id="FNanchor_162_162"></a><a href="#Footnote_162_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a>
+Xenophon represents Cyrus as praising the gods and
+sacrificing to them every morning according to the
+instructions of the Magians.<a name="FNanchor_163_163" id="FNanchor_163_163"></a><a href="#Footnote_163_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a> Though Herodotus does
+not mention either the name of Zarathrustra or of
+Auramazda, what he says of the rites of the Medes
+and Persians agrees exactly with the rules given in the
+Avesta. "Temples, images, and altars," he says, "are
+not erected by the Persians, because, as it seems to me,
+they do not believe like the Hellenes that the gods
+have the form and nature of men. They call the
+whole circle of heaven Zeus, and offer sacrifice to
+him after ascending the summits of mountains. Besides
+Zeus they have from ancient days sacrificed to
+the sun, the moon, the earth, water, winds, and fire,
+which among the Persians is a deity:<a name="FNanchor_164_164" id="FNanchor_164_164"></a><a href="#Footnote_164_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a> the winds they
+also charm by songs. When offering sacrifice they
+build no altar and kindle no fire, nor pour libations, nor
+make any use of flutes, or cakes, or barley meal. If
+any one wishes to offer sacrifice he brings the victim
+to an open space, and calls on the god, after crowning
+his tiara with branches of myrtle. After cutting the
+animal in pieces, and cooking the flesh, he spreads out
+the most delicate grass, chiefly trefoil, and lays the
+flesh upon it. The Magian who stands by sings the
+theogony over it, for such, according to the Persians, is
+the nature of the prayer. After some time, the person
+who has made the sacrifice carries the flesh away and
+uses it for a feast. The Magians, in whose control is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>
+the worship by sacrifice, make it a great object to kill
+ants, serpents, and other creeping winged things: dogs
+and men only do they spare. No Persian may pollute
+a river, nor even wash in it, nor will they allow any
+one else to do so, for they have a great reverence for
+rivers. The bodies of the dead may not be burned; it
+is said indeed that the corpse of a Persian cannot be
+buried till it has been torn by a dog or a bird, and
+among the Magians this is an acknowledged practice.
+It is a meritorious act among the Persians to have many
+children, and he who can show the most receives gifts
+each year from the king. Each man celebrates the day
+on which he was born above all other days. What may
+not be done, may not be spoken of amongst the Persians:
+the most shameful action is lying, and the next to this is
+borrowing, for the reason that a man who has debts is
+generally compelled to lie. Any one afflicted by the
+itch or the leprosy may not come into the cities or mix
+with other Persians; and it is believed that such persons
+have sinned against the sun-god. Lepers from foreign
+lands are driven out of the country." When Xerxes came
+to the Hellespont, and was about to cross the bridge,
+Herodotus represents him as praying to the sun-god,
+pouring libations from a golden cup, and throwing it
+with a golden goblet and a Persian sword into the sea.<a name="FNanchor_165_165" id="FNanchor_165_165"></a><a href="#Footnote_165_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a>
+We shall see hereafter to what a degree the killing of
+noxious animals, the reverence for rivers, the expulsion
+of lepers, the delight in life and the increase of life,
+the exposing of dead bodies, and singing of the
+theogony at sacrifices, correspond to the rules and
+doctrines of the Avesta. In one point only is Herodotus
+mistaken: he states that the Persians worshipped
+a female deity called Mithra.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>From this array of witnesses belonging to the West
+it follows that the doctrines of the Avesta, and the
+religion of Zarathrustra, were current among the Persians
+and in Western Iran at any rate after the beginning
+of the fifth century <small>B.C.</small>, and they must therefore have
+been in existence in Eastern Iran at a still earlier date.
+The inscriptions of the Ach&aelig;menids prove that the doctrine
+of the Avesta was maintained among the Persians
+with even greater clearness and for a period more
+ancient. Artaxerxes Ochus prays to Auramazda, Anahita,
+and Mithra for their protection, and in like
+manner Artaxerxes Mnemon prays to Auramazda and
+Mithra. In the inscriptions on Mount Behistun,
+Darius I., the son of Hystaspes, styles Auramazda
+"the greatest of the gods" (<i>mathista baganam</i>). Besides
+Auramazda, "the rest of the gods" are repeatedly
+mentioned, and denoted by the name Baga. Of Auramazda,
+Darius and Xerxes say in their inscriptions:
+"A great god is Auramazda; he has created the
+heaven and the earth; he has created man and all that
+is good for men." After crushing in the beginning
+of his reign the rebellion of nearly all the lands which
+Cyrus had reduced, Darius repeatedly records his
+thanks: "that Auramazda had granted him assistance;
+that his army had been victorious by the grace of
+Auramazda." He and his successors acknowledge that
+they have received their throne and their kingdom
+from Auramazda; by his grace they are kings.<a name="FNanchor_166_166" id="FNanchor_166_166"></a><a href="#Footnote_166_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a> The
+reason why Auramazda has assisted him Darius finds
+in the fact that he has not been a "liar," and has
+committed no sin. He entreats Auramazda to protect
+the land against the invasion of hostile armies, against
+blight, and "the lie" (<i>drauga</i>). He asserts that "the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>
+lie" caused the provinces which had revolted to be
+rebellious, and declares that the land of Persia, which
+Auramazda has granted to him, which is beautiful, rich
+in horses, and well populated, has no fear of enemies
+owing to Auramazda's grace, and his own. He commends
+his inscription at Behistun to the protection of
+his successors, with the words: "If thou destroyest not
+this tablet then may Auramazda be thy friend; may
+thy descendants be numerous, and thy life be long,
+and whatsoever thou undertakest, may Auramazda
+cause it to succeed. But if thou destroyest it, may
+Auramazda smite thee, and thy house perish; and
+whatever thou doest, may Auramazda render it of no
+effect."<a name="FNanchor_167_167" id="FNanchor_167_167"></a><a href="#Footnote_167_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a> On his tomb Darius says: "What I have
+done I have done by the grace of Auramazda. O man,
+this is the prayer of Auramazda; think no evil, leave
+not the right way, sin not." The inscriptions of
+Xerxes regularly end with the invocation: "May
+Auramazda protect me, with all the gods; me, my
+kingdom, and my work."</p>
+
+<p>As we shall see, the fundamental principle of the
+religion of Zarathrustra is that a supreme god stands
+over all gods, and to him is ascribed the work of
+creation. In entire belief in the power of this
+supreme deity, whom the Ach&aelig;menids invoke by the
+name which is given to him in the Avesta, "who has
+created heaven and earth and all that is good for
+men," Darius ascribes to Auramazda victory in battles,
+the power of granting or refusing success to the king's
+undertakings, of protecting the land against hostile invasions,
+blight, and lies. To those who live according
+to his commands he grants long life and numerous
+descendants. The rebellion of the provinces is with
+Darius the work of the lie, the lie of him who had given<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>
+himself out to be the son of Cyrus, and the lie of those
+who had claimed to be the descendants of Nebuchadnezzar
+and Cyaxares. We have already observed what
+"the lie" meant in the Avesta. In the same spirit&mdash;the
+spirit of the principal rules of the Avesta&mdash;Darius
+adjures his Persians to think no evil, and not to leave
+the right path.</p>
+
+<p>Nicolaus of Damascus assures us that the Persians
+were acquainted with the sayings of Zoroaster. He
+and others relate that Cyrus or his father was called
+Atradates, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> given by fire,<a name="FNanchor_168_168" id="FNanchor_168_168"></a><a href="#Footnote_168_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a> and that he had given
+to the Areians (p. 11), who provided his famished
+army with sustenance, the honourable title of Orosangians,
+i.&nbsp;e. <i>Huverez&agrave;nha</i> (benefactors). It is in
+harmony with the doctrine of the Avesta that Cyrus
+should be represented by such a descent or name as the
+gift and nursling of fire, and we shall see with what
+emphasis the Avesta marks and distinguishes good
+thoughts, words, and actions. From these facts and
+the inscriptions of Darius there can be no doubt that
+Zarathrustra's doctrine was current among the Persians
+at the time of Cyrus. But if it was in force in the
+West of Iran in the sixth century <small>B.C.</small> the fact that
+Herodotus, in his account of the period during which
+the Medes obtained the dominion, down to the time of
+Cyrus, speaks of no change in religion, either among
+the Persians or the Medes, is evidence that this religion
+existed at any rate before the time of Phraortes.
+The statement found in Herodotus that Deioces had
+forbidden any one to spit in his presence, reminds
+us of the rules of the Avesta, by which no one was
+allowed to approach the sacred fire and gods with
+uncovered mouth, and on the sculptures of Persepolis
+the bearer of the fan stands with covered mouth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>
+beside Darius. The seven walls which Herodotus
+represents Deioces as building round Ecbatana, the
+seven tribes of the Persians, remind us of the seven
+girdles of the earth in the Avesta; the king of the
+Persians surrounded by the six tribal princes is the
+symbol of Auramazda and the six gods who are about
+him.</p>
+
+<p>Hence we may assume that the doctrine of Zarathrustra
+had reached the West of Iran at the time
+when Phraortes united the tribes of the Medes (about
+650 <small>B.C.</small>), and was known among the Medes when
+they were still living under their tribal chiefs and
+paid tribute to Asshur, or, in case of refusal, were attacked
+by the Assyrian armies, which, as we ascertained
+from the inscriptions of the kings of Asshur, was the
+case from the time of Tiglath Pilesar II. to the time of
+Assurbanipal, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> from the middle of the eighth to the
+middle of the seventh century <small>B.C.</small> A statement in
+Herodotus seems to lead us still further back. He
+calls the Magians a race or tribe of the Medes. According
+to his narrative this tribe was in existence
+in the time of Deioces, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> about the year 700 <small>B.C.</small>
+Herodotus could only speak of the Magians as a tribe
+or family when they had become an hereditary order.
+At that time, therefore, there must have been among
+the Medes a priesthood who perpetuated in their
+families their worship by sacrifice, their doctrine and
+wisdom, as well as their social importance. Like
+all Greeks, Herodotus ascribes the discharge of the
+religious functions among the Persians and Medes to
+the Magians, and we find that what Herodotus quotes
+of their rites agrees with the rules of the Avesta.
+The rise and separation of a peculiar order of priests,
+their more or less sharply marked distinction from the
+remaining orders, can never be the work of a short<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>
+space of time, and such separation can only take place
+when the worship of the gods requires a knowledge
+which is not easily accessible or obtainable, when
+doctrine has obtained a place by the side of belief,
+when ritual has become developed, and particular
+duties and rules are prescribed for the life of the
+priests. When the worship of the gods requires the
+use of long and definite prayers, the knowledge of
+complicated usages, on which depends the effect of
+the sacrifices, and the observation of numerous rules of
+purification,&mdash;such knowledge is only perpetuated in
+families of hierophants or priests, or in schools which
+take the place of such families. The formation of a
+distinct hereditary order on such grounds can hardly
+have occupied less than a century from the time when
+the doctrine, on which it is formed, was introduced.
+Hence we may assume that the doctrine known as
+Zarathrustra's reached the Medes before the year
+750 <small>B.C.</small>, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> before the date of Tiglath Pilesar II. of
+Assyria.</p>
+
+<p>Let us hold firmly to the facts that the worship of
+Auramazda was current among the Persians about the
+middle of the sixth century <small>B.C.</small>, that the same worship
+was in force among the Medes at least a century
+earlier, about 650 <small>B.C.</small>, and that if an hereditary priesthood
+was in existence about this time among the Medes
+who performed and conducted the worship, the doctrine
+which this priesthood represented must have been
+adopted before the year 750 <small>B.C.</small> In this way we
+obtain a proof that the doctrine of Zarathrustra was
+not only in existence in the East of Iran about the
+year 800 <small>B.C.</small>, but was the dominant creed there, and
+had force enough to penetrate to the West, and win over
+the neighbouring tribes of the Medes and Persians.</p>
+
+<p>We cannot explain more exactly how the doctrine of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>
+Zarathrustra reached the nations of the West of Iran.
+Pliny, it is true, exclaims: "Who knows the Medes,
+who were taught by Zoroaster, Apusorus, and Zaratus,
+even by hearsay, for no memorials of them are left?"<a name="FNanchor_169_169" id="FNanchor_169_169"></a><a href="#Footnote_169_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a>
+According to this the religion of Zoroaster spread
+even in the West by the influence of eminent men
+among the Medes. But the date of the persons mentioned
+cannot be fixed, though Porphyry represents
+Pythagoras as going to the Chald&aelig;ans and Zabratus,
+by whom he was purified from the evil of his former
+life, and instructed as to the things from which the
+disciple should restrain himself, and about the nature
+and beginning of all things,<a name="FNanchor_170_170" id="FNanchor_170_170"></a><a href="#Footnote_170_170" class="fnanchor">[170]</a> and this Zaratus or
+Zabratus may be intended for Zarathrustra himself.
+Hermodorus tells us that Zarathrustra had been followed
+by many Magians as teachers, one after the
+other, down to the time when Alexander marched
+against Persia: these teachers were Osthanes, Astrampsychus,
+Gobryas, and Pazates.<a name="FNanchor_171_171" id="FNanchor_171_171"></a><a href="#Footnote_171_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a> Others also assert
+that Zoroaster was followed "by Osthanes and Astrampsychus."<a name="FNanchor_172_172" id="FNanchor_172_172"></a><a href="#Footnote_172_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a>
+Pliny observes that so far as he could
+discover, Osthanes who accompanied Xerxes in the
+war against the Hellenes, was the first who had written
+on the doctrine of the Magians. The second Osthanes,
+whom Alexander had received among his followers,
+had caused this religion to be of great importance.
+From the work of one of these two persons, Philo of
+Byblus quotes a passage&mdash;the work he calls the
+Octateuch&mdash;and Pliny notes down apparently some of
+the doctrines of the first Osthanes. If then there were
+men under the Ach&aelig;menids in the West of Iran who
+could write on the doctrine of Zarathrustra from the
+beginning of the fifth century <small>B.C.</small>, we can without<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>
+hesitation believe the statement that long before this
+time there were prophets and teachers of the doctrine
+among the Medes and the Persians.</p>
+
+<p>Can we go beyond the result thus gained by our
+investigation?&mdash;that the doctrine of Zoroaster flourished
+in Eastern Iran about 800 <small>B.C.</small>, and advanced towards
+the West from this period; may we assume that at this
+date it was already in possession of written monuments,
+and even that the fragments of the Avesta which still
+remain were in existence then? We must first answer
+the question whether the use of writing in Iran,
+especially in the East, goes back so far.</p>
+
+<p>According to the statements of Herodotus, the West
+of Iran was not only in possession of the art of writing
+by the year 700 <small>B.C.</small>, but made considerable use of it.
+He tells us that Deioces required complaints to be
+sent in to him in writing, and gave out his decisions
+also in writing. If processes at law were conducted in
+writing in Media about the year 700 <small>B.C.</small>, it cannot be
+surprising that Herodotus should also inform us that
+letters passed between Media and Persia about the
+year 560 <small>B.C.</small><a name="FNanchor_173_173" id="FNanchor_173_173"></a><a href="#Footnote_173_173" class="fnanchor">[173]</a> We learn from the Hebrew Scriptures
+that when Cyrus allowed the Jews, whom Nebuchadnezzar
+had removed to Babylon, to return to their
+homes, he gave his permission for the restoration of
+the temple in writing. This document was afterwards
+discovered in the archives of Ecbatana.<a name="FNanchor_174_174" id="FNanchor_174_174"></a><a href="#Footnote_174_174" class="fnanchor">[174]</a> We know it
+for a fact that Darius I. gave his orders to the satraps
+in writing, and we are acquainted with the seal of
+Darius by which they were authenticated. The oldest
+inscriptions which have come down to us from the
+Ach&aelig;menids, not to mention a seal of Cyrus from
+Senkereh, belong, if not to Cyrus himself, to Darius,
+and begin about the last quarter of the sixth century<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>
+<small>B.C.</small> It is the cuneiform writing of Assyria and
+Babylon which forms the basis of the writing in these
+inscriptions, but with considerable alterations. The
+highly complicated syllabarium of the Eastern Semites
+is reduced to a phonetic system; we might almost say
+to an alphabet of about 40 letters. A change of this
+kind can hardly have been made at one stroke. If it
+was after they entered into closer combination with
+Assyria, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> after their dependence on the king of
+Asshur, which began with the accession of Tiglath
+Pilesar II. (745 <small>B.C.</small>), that the Medes became acquainted
+with the Assyrian system of writing, this must have
+been completely mastered before it could be abbreviated
+and altered, as it was altered by the Medes,
+whose changes were adopted by the Persians. The
+cuneiform writing of Western Iran, as we find it in the
+inscriptions of Darius, can therefore hardly have been
+established before the year 600 <small>B.C.</small> However this may
+be, the facts mentioned prove that the writing of the
+Assyrians in the seventh century <small>B.C.</small> was not unknown
+in the West of Iran. This would therefore have
+passed into the East of Iran in its original or simplified
+form, either at some earlier period, or when the East
+came under the dominion of the Ach&aelig;menids. But it
+did not, and this is a plain proof that the East, when
+the cuneiform writing of the West came in that
+direction, was already in possession of another kind
+of writing. This Eastern mode of writing, the Arian,
+which rests on an entirely different basis from the
+cuneiform, is first known to us from coins and inscriptions
+of the third century <small>B.C.</small>; but it certainly would
+not have maintained its ground under the Ach&aelig;menids
+against the writing of the West, and of the rulers,
+magistrates, and dominant nation, unless it had been
+in vigorous use before, this period. We must therefore<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>
+assume that the Arian character was in use in the East
+of Iran a considerable time before the date of Cyrus,
+and hence we have no reason to deny the existence of
+it in that region in the eighth century <small>B.C.</small>, since we
+must allow the neighbouring Arians of India to have
+been in possession of their written characters from the
+year 800 <small>B.C.</small> at the least (IV. 155).</p>
+
+<p>If we may assume that the Arian character was in
+use in the East of Iran about the year 800 <small>B.C.</small>, the
+prayers and sayings of Zarathrustra might have been
+written down about this date, and the doctrine might
+have passed on to the West supported by written
+documents. But the fact that the prayers might have
+been written down is in no way a proof that they were
+so written.</p>
+
+<p>It is true that at first sight it seems that the part of
+the law which has come down to us (the Vendidad)
+leads to the conclusion that it was written down long
+before the Persians gained the dominion over Iran,
+and Media became a powerful state under Cyaxares.
+The book does not mention the name of the Persians
+or the Medes, of Ecbatana or Persepolis, while Bactria
+is spoken of as the seat of the empire; the most
+westerly district mentioned in the Vendidad is Ragha
+in Eastern Media.<a name="FNanchor_175_175" id="FNanchor_175_175"></a><a href="#Footnote_175_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a> If we add that the book reproaches
+certain districts in the East, the land of the
+Arachoti and others, with deviations from the doctrine
+of Zarathrustra, and that Ragha is indeed Zoroastrian
+but wavering in its fidelity, we may easily conclude
+that the Vendidad was written when the doctrine of
+Zarathrustra had not as yet thoroughly penetrated the
+East, and was still unknown in the West, when it had
+just reached, but had not yet completely conquered, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>
+district of Ragha. The Medes were still dependent on
+Asshur, living separately according to their tribes, Ecbatana
+was not yet the centre and metropolis of Media, and
+the kingdom of Bactra was still in existence in the East.
+This points to a date about 750 <small>B.C.</small> as the time when
+this doctrine must have spread widely over Media; at
+any rate to a date before the rise of the Median power,
+<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> before 650 <small>B.C.</small> This conclusion is not, however,
+absolutely certain. The silence of the Vendidad and
+of the Avesta generally on Ecbatana and Persepolis,
+the Medes and the Persians, can be explained in
+another though a more artificial manner. The nations
+and chief cities of the West were unknown to the
+tradition of Eastern Iran, and the royal abodes of the
+Medes and Persians were not consecrated by the action
+of Zarathrustra. In the accounts given by the Greeks
+of the worship of these nations, in spite of much
+agreement, points are found at variance with the rules
+of the Avesta, and as a fact certain distinctions did
+prevail. The doctrine had arisen in the East, and the
+priesthood there was in possession of the purer and
+more orthodox dogma. If Persia and Media did not
+follow this in all respects, it was convenient to be
+silent about the differences in the time of the Ach&aelig;menids,
+or if any one desired to brand them, to mark out
+the Median Ragha as the seat of heresy, rather than
+Pasargad&aelig; or Persepolis. This explanation it is true
+is somewhat far fetched. The result that the religion
+known by the name of Zarathrustra had reached the
+Medes and Persians by the middle of the eighth
+century <small>B.C.</small> is in no way weakened by it, though the
+assumption that at this period written documents of
+this doctrine were in existence, and that the book
+of the law of which we have fragments arose in
+the first half of the eighth century <small>B.C.</small>, is rendered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>
+more doubtful if such a mode of interpretation is
+admitted.</p>
+
+<p>The forms of language preserved in the Avesta
+have not survived with sufficient distinctness to
+assist us in fixing the time at which it was written
+down. As was shown above (p. 65), the manuscripts
+date from the later period of the Sassanids;
+they are written in the later East-Pehlevi character,
+and at a time when the old forms must have undergone
+changes owing to the language which had come
+into use in the mean time, and can in fact be proved to
+have undergone them. The old sounds are obviously
+modified and confounded,<a name="FNanchor_176_176" id="FNanchor_176_176"></a><a href="#Footnote_176_176" class="fnanchor">[176]</a> so that the language of the
+Avesta, when compared with that of the inscriptions of
+the Ach&aelig;menids, exhibits forms less ancient and fixed,
+and indeed in some cases it is more recent than the
+language of the legends of the Gr&aelig;co-Bactrian coins
+(p. 27). Nor can any certain conclusions be drawn
+from the condition of political and social life shown in
+the Avesta. It is only the splendour of regal power
+in general, the old sacrificers, heroes, and kings that are
+extolled in it; a sacrificial prayer to Mithra speaks of
+the abode of the Arians, where "horse-guiding rulers
+govern noble troops;" for the rest we hear only of
+lords of villages, of tribes or cantons, and provinces, and
+of three orders into which the people are divided.
+The Vendidad, it is true, reckons by winters and
+nights, not by years and days; the amount of fines
+and punishments is computed in animals, goats, sheep,
+oxen, horses, or camels; and these facts point to an
+ancient period, but they may have been handed down by
+tradition. We also hear of the value of these animals
+and of money (<i>shaeta</i>).<a name="FNanchor_177_177" id="FNanchor_177_177"></a><a href="#Footnote_177_177" class="fnanchor">[177]</a> This is the less surprising as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>
+the Vendidad speaks of palaces and pillars and various
+works of art, and mentions smelting-ovens and even
+ovens for making glass. We found that the Greek
+princes of Bactria struck square coins, which they
+would not have done if this had not been the traditional
+form in Bactria (p. 28). The Ach&aelig;menids did not
+strike coins of this kind, and this shape must therefore
+have come down from a period anterior to them. The
+frequent mention of the physician, on the other hand,
+ought not to be regarded as a proof of later composition,
+for we hear of the physician and his remedies in
+ancient poems of the Veda (IV. 35).</p>
+
+<p>In regard to the antiquity of the Avesta, then, we
+can only build upon the simple facts that it cannot
+have been written down for the first time when the
+Buddhists found adherents in Bactria (IV. 542), or
+when the kingdom of the Greek princes arose in
+Bactria, or when the Seleucid&aelig; and Alexander, before
+them, reigned over Iran. It has been proved that the
+Avesta was in existence before Alexander overthrew
+the kingdom of the Ach&aelig;menids. The series of the
+successors of Zarathrustra, which western writers could
+trace backwards from this point&mdash;Osthanes II., Pazates,
+Gobryas, Osthanes I., Astrampsychus, Apusodorus&mdash;plainly
+shows that even under the Ach&aelig;menids the
+West was seriously occupied with religious questions.
+As Osthanes I. had written on the doctrine of Zoroaster
+about the time of Xerxes (p. 92), it is at
+least more probable than not that the Avesta was
+already in existence at that time. If in the West
+there was a series, and as the Greeks point out, a
+continuous series, of priestly teachers, round whom
+naturally pupils and schools grew up, and after the
+beginning of the fifth century a theological literature,
+similar teachers and schools must have existed long<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>
+before in the East, and this greatly strengthens the conclusion
+drawn from the contents of the Vendidad, that
+it must have been written down before the rise of the
+Medes. But for any more precise determination of the
+date of the Avesta between the two limits obtained&mdash;the
+year 750 <small>B.C.</small>, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the beginning of the formation of a
+priesthood in the West and the contemporary use of
+writing in the East, and the year 350 <small>B.C.</small>&mdash;we are
+confined wholly to internal evidence.</p>
+
+<p>Scriptures of such extent as the Avesta is shown to
+have been, by the accounts of the Greeks and Arabs,
+and the list of contents (p. 51), and the existing
+fragments, could not have been written down at once
+or within a brief space of time. We saw (p. 33)
+that it set up a religious canon, which not only regulated
+the doctrine and the worship, the duties of priests
+and laity, but also comprised the law, and in a word all
+the relations of life. A codification of this kind is
+only possible when belief and doctrine, culture and
+ritual, have arrived at fixed and complete formul&aelig;,
+have been arranged in a system and developed, and
+the consequences bearing on life, morality, and law
+have been drawn from them by an active and influential
+priesthood. Hence before the Avesta was written
+down and collected there must have been a priestly
+order in the East, in the circles of which the doctrine
+and practice went through this developing, revising,
+and fixing process. Various sketches, lists of prayers
+for certain offerings, collections of rules belonging to
+this or that priesthood or school, must have been in
+existence, and combinations of the traditional material
+must have been made, before a canon comprising the
+whole wisdom of the priests, and far exceeding in
+extent the law of Manu, could have been compiled.</p>
+
+<p>Among the existing invocations of the Avesta we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>
+find sacrificial prayers of a primitive character; but
+the greater part of the prayers and thanksgivings are
+without religious feeling or poetical power, and very
+far removed from the richness and abundance, the
+beauty and freshness of conception, which streams
+through the majority of the hymns of the Veda.
+There are not wanting <i>na&iuml;ve</i> and poetical pieces which
+have obviously been handed down and preserved by
+their use at sacrifices, but these are frequently spoiled
+by later interpolations, and the form of the whole is
+generally dry and prosaic. We find but scanty relics
+of any vigorous conception of the gods, of a living
+mythology; on the whole the mythical element is faded,
+and the sacrifice of animals thrown into the background.
+The greater part of the prayers receive their value
+from a certain system and completeness; the object is
+to bring forward all the characteristics of the deity to
+which they are addressed, and to invoke him by all
+his names. Thus laudations and epithets are repeated
+without end. A good many of the prayers are mere
+nomenclatures, and repeat the same forms in varying
+order. Besides this tendency, which is far removed
+from the original simplicity of religious meditation, a
+value is ascribed to the repetition of certain prayers.
+Some are to be said a hundred, or a thousand times.
+In the same way the liturgies are long and full of
+detail, and sometimes take the form of responses
+between the celebrant and the ministering priest;
+they are extremely careful to neglect none of the
+heavenly spirits or genii, or to injure them by omission,
+or treat them with less respect than others.</p>
+
+<p>Beside the faded colours of the mythology, the
+decreasing importance of animal sacrifice, and the
+formalism of the prayers, we observe in the five
+Gathas, the invocations which alone have preserved the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>
+verse-measure, and present older forms of language
+than the rest, a tendency to speculation. Not only
+are the good and evil spirits combined under one head,
+as is always the case in the Avesta, but the Gathas
+attempt to resolve the contrast of the beneficial and
+harmful sides of nature, of the good and evil spirits,
+into the reciprocal play of two fundamental forces;
+they identify the prosperity and destruction of nature
+with moral good and evil, and combine the one with
+truth, the other with falsehood. The good spirits are
+the truth, the evil are the lie. The life of appearance
+and of falsehood is distinguished from the true life,
+and the service of truth promises life not in this world
+only but in the next. It is in harmony with these
+tendencies to abstraction that, according to other passages
+of the Avesta, heaven is filled with a multitude
+of the most lifeless personifications of ideas and realities.
+Could the doctrine of a new religion in an
+early period come forward with such a spiritualised
+system, with such elevated moral demands, such abstract
+conceptions? Could prayers of such a kind
+have been composed or written down in a primitive
+age?</p>
+
+<p>The existing fragment of the book of the law is
+composed in the form of a dialogue, and is for the
+most part filled with conversations which Zarathrustra
+carries on with Auramazda. Zarathrustra inquires
+what is to be done in certain cases against the evil
+spirits, the Daevas, on the commission of certain sins
+and impurities. What must be done when a woman is
+in labour, etc., or when any one has made himself impure
+by touching a corpse, or has slain a water-dog (otter)?
+Is the rain impure which has fallen on a corpse and
+then runs off from it, etc.? These questions Auramazda
+answers very precisely, and when it is a matter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>
+for expiation and purification, he fixes the number of
+stripes with the horse-whip or the whip of the sacred
+&Ccedil;raosha (&Ccedil;raosha-charana) which the penitent is to receive.
+It is a theory and practice of purity, on a level
+with the analogous rules in the laws of Manu, and in
+some points even more subtle and casuistical. The
+offences have already been brought under definite categories,
+and in like manner the purifications and punishments
+fall into a number of distinct classes. Not only
+are expiations required for all sins and prescribed down
+to the minutest details, but the offences must also
+be repented of; certain formul&aelig; of confession and
+repentance are prescribed.</p>
+
+<p>We need not stop to prove that a book of laws
+in this form could not have been written down <i>&agrave; priori</i>.
+The rules for punishment and purification must have
+grown up in long practice, before they could be put
+in the mouth of the deity; difficulties and doubts
+must have been weighed before solutions could be
+proposed. The book contains the dialogues and inquiries
+which were held in the schools of the priests on
+questions of this kind, the practice which prevailed
+in the schools and the catechisation of the pupils.
+The answer is naturally placed in the mouth of Auramazda,
+for it was the answer which he once gave to
+the question when asked by Zarathrustra. The fragments
+of the Vendidad are a catechism, the result
+of the labour of the priestly schools, a system of rules
+and regulations which marks and postulates the same
+stage of development for Iran as was reached for the
+Indians on the Ganges by the law of Manu. Many
+periods in the religious life must have been passed
+through before the religious consciousness was no longer
+shocked by the fact that the supreme deity in person
+answered petty questions of ritual, and dictated in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>
+the most exact gradation and with regard to every
+possible variety of circumstance, the number of stripes
+required for the criminals.</p>
+
+<p>This faded mythology and formalised worship, these
+speculative attempts and casuistry of law, are accompanied
+by a completely-arranged scheme of certain
+abstract categories already established. Throughout the
+whole Avesta runs the division between this world
+and the next, between the corporeal and incorporeal
+world, truth and falsehood, and the triple distinction of
+thinking, speaking, and acting, of thought, word, and
+deed. And when we further consider that rewards are
+attached to the reading of sections of the Avesta, that
+the "long study" of the "thoughts of the pure man,"
+"the excellent knowledge, thought, and conception"
+are praised and invoked as divine powers, no one will
+be inclined to see in the Avesta the product of <i>na&iuml;ve</i>
+religious feeling, or the deposit of a priestly civilisation
+which is as yet in its early stages.</p>
+
+<p>Still, if we wish to avoid making any false steps in
+the conclusions to be drawn from the nature of the
+Avesta about the time of its composition, we must
+bear in mind that it contains some conceptions which
+are the exact opposite of the characteristics just
+noticed. The myth of Yima, the form of Mithra,
+the descent of plants, prove older traits in the Avesta
+than we find in the Veda; the old gods still occupy
+a large space beside Auramazda and the abstract
+forms of heaven, and strict unity of system is not yet
+attained. We must remember also at what an early
+date the neighbours of Eastern Iran, the Arians of India,
+arrived at meditation and abstraction; how quickly and
+entirely they allowed animal sacrifice to pass into the
+background; with what breadth and detail they
+developed the rules for purification; how numerous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>
+were the daily prayers and repetitions, before the
+religious feeling became weakened. In the Avesta the
+time without limit is frequently invoked; among the
+Indians the gods of light are even in the oldest hymns
+of the Veda the sons of Aditi, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> of the Eternal or
+the Infinite. And if the attitude of the Avesta is for the
+most part by far more flat and prosaic than that of the
+Veda, the Arians of Iran were of a more logical nature,
+and the glow of imagination which the land of the
+Ganges kindled in their kindred tribes did not exist in
+Iran. For this reason the consideration of the character
+of the Avesta can only lead us to the result that
+a period of several centuries must have elapsed between
+the rise of the religion named after Zarathrustra and
+the writing down of the Avesta; that lists of prayers
+and rubrics must have been in existence about the year
+800 <small>B.C.</small>; that the extensive books which then formed
+the Avesta may have been written in the first half of
+the period, which we ascribed to them, extending from
+750 to 350 <small>B.C.</small> In any case we can maintain that
+the Gathas were composed, and that the Avesta existed
+in its essential parts in the East of Iran, before Cyrus
+put the empire of the Persians in the place of the
+empire of the Medes, and all the various parts were
+collected together before the "Enlightened" began to
+preach on the Ganges, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> about the year 600 <small>B.C.</small></p>
+
+<p>We have already remarked the importance which
+the Ach&aelig;menids ascribed to the possession of Bactria
+(p. 23); and we were able at any rate to guess at the
+civilisation of that district about the year 500 <small>B.C.</small>, from
+the amount of the tribute imposed upon it by Darius.
+That the economic civilisation was not behind the
+material was shown by indications in the Avesta. The
+kingdom which grew up there, as we saw (p. 47),
+long before the days of the Medes, and in which about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>
+the year 800 <small>B.C.</small> the doctrine of Zarathrustra was
+current, succumbed to Cyrus, the great founder of the
+Persian empire. If we place the beginning of the doctrine
+of Zarathrustra, which first made its appearance
+there, before the middle of the ninth century <small>B.C.</small>, at
+which time the armies of Shalmanesar II. reached the
+East of Iran, and assume that it came forward about
+1000 <small>B.C.</small>, we shall hardly place its rise too high. We
+remember that about this time occurred the great
+change in the religious conceptions of the Arians in
+India, the repression and degradation of the old gods
+by Brahman. It was an analogous development when
+the good and evil spirits of Bactria were combined into
+unities, and placed under leaders, when the chief of
+the deities of light was made the creator of the heaven
+and the earth, and surrounded with abstract forms,
+which contest the traditional place and honour of the
+old god. It is the same religious impulse, the desire
+to grasp the unity of the divine nature, the same line
+of combination that we observed in its beginning and
+progress in India, which comes to the surface in the
+doctrine of Zarathrustra. We have no reason to contest
+with the Avesta the fact that Vista&ccedil;pa ruled over
+Bactria when this change took place, or that Zarathrustra,
+a man of the race of Haechata&ccedil;pa, gave the
+impulse to the reform, and that the leading idea in it
+belongs to him. If Vista&ccedil;pa ruled over Bactria about
+the year 1000 <small>B.C.</small> the growth of the Bactrian monarchy
+must be placed at least a century before this time, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i>
+about the year 1100 <small>B.C.</small></p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_118_118" id="Footnote_118_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> [Cf. Darmesteter, "Zend-Avesta," Introduct., c. iv. &sect; 40, and c. iii.]</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_119_119" id="Footnote_119_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> Plato. "Alcib. I." p. 122.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_120_120" id="Footnote_120_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> Diog. Laert. prooem.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_121_121" id="Footnote_121_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> Plin. "H. N." 80, 2.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_122_122" id="Footnote_122_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> 1, 94.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_123_123" id="Footnote_123_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> Justin, 1, 1.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_124_124" id="Footnote_124_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> "Numa," c. 4; "Quaest. Sympos." 4, 1. [The reading
+&#918;&#969;&#961;&#959;&#940;&#963;&#964;&#961;&#951;&#957;
+is doubtful; cf. Wyttenbach.]</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_125_125" id="Footnote_125_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> Dio Chrys. 2, 60, ed. Dind.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_126_126" id="Footnote_126_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> Euseb. "Chron." ed. Auch. p. 43; cf. Georg. Syncell. p. 167.
+&#914;&#940;&#964;&#959;&#965; after Zoroaster should here be changed into
+&#914;&#940;&#954;&#964;&#961;&#959;&#965; rather than
+&#924;&#940;&#947;&#959;&#965;.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_127_127" id="Footnote_127_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> Arnob. "Adv. Gent." 1, 5.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_128_128" id="Footnote_128_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> Euseb. <i>loc. cit.</i> p. 35.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_129_129" id="Footnote_129_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129_129"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> Porphyr. "De antro nymph." c. 6.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_130_130" id="Footnote_130_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130_130"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> Ammian. Marcell. 23, 6.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_131_131" id="Footnote_131_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131_131"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> Agathias, 2, 24.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_132_132" id="Footnote_132_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132_132"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> Suidas,
+&#924;&#940;&#947;&#959;&#953;,
+&#918;&#969;&#961;&#959;&#940;&#963;&#964;&#961;&#951;&#962;.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_133_133" id="Footnote_133_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133_133"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> Above, p. 17. Georg. Sync. p. 78, 79. Vol. I. p. 241, 247.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_134_134" id="Footnote_134_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134_134"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> Yet with Moses Zoroaster is a Mede, I. p. 87.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_135_135" id="Footnote_135_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135_135"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> Plut. "Pomp." c. 24.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_136_136" id="Footnote_136_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136_136"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> Cf. Von Gutschmid, "Die Sage vom heiligen Georg;" S&auml;chsische
+Gesellschaft d. W., 1861, s. 175.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_137_137" id="Footnote_137_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137_137"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> "Farvardin Yasht," 131.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_138_138" id="Footnote_138_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138_138"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> C. 20 in Justi, [c. 20; &sect; 32 West]; cf. "Vend." 19, 15.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_139_139" id="Footnote_139_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139_139"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> C. 30, cf. above, p. 40. [C. 29, &sect; 14, West.]</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_140_140" id="Footnote_140_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140_140"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> Strabo, p. 515, derives it from Atropates, whom Alexander made
+satrap there.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_141_141" id="Footnote_141_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141_141"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> Still less important than the Bundehesh is the gloss on "Vend."
+1, 60. "Many say that Zartusht was from Rak in Atropatan." Ragha
+is not in Atropatene.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_142_142" id="Footnote_142_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142_142"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> Spiegel, "Eran," 1, 684 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_143_143" id="Footnote_143_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143_143"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> Plin. "H. N." 30, 2. Diogen. Laert. prooem. The different readings
+of 500 years in Suidas and 600 in Diogenes, as compared with
+5000 and 6000 in the other MSS., can hardly be maintained against the
+uniform evidence of other witnesses.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_144_144" id="Footnote_144_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144_144"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> Plut. "De Isid." c. 47.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_145_145" id="Footnote_145_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145_145"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> "Vend." 19, 33; Spiegel, "Avesta," 3, 9, 201, 206.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_146_146" id="Footnote_146_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146_146"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> "Ashi Yasht," 17; "Vend." 2, 20 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_147_147" id="Footnote_147_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147_147"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> West, "Mainyo-i-Khard," p. x.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_148_148" id="Footnote_148_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148_148"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> West, <i>loc. cit.</i> c. 8.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_149_149" id="Footnote_149_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149_149"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> Justi, "Bundehesh," c. 1, 3, 34. [Cf. West's commentary on c.
+34.]</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_150_150" id="Footnote_150_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_150_150"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> Spiegel, "Eran," 1, 507.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_151_151" id="Footnote_151_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_151_151"><span class="label">[151]</span></a> Justi, "Bundehesh," c. 34.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_152_152" id="Footnote_152_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_152_152"><span class="label">[152]</span></a> If the rise of Arsaces is put in the year 250 <small>B.C.</small> It makes no
+difference in the total if we choose the year 248 <small>B.C.</small> for the beginning
+of the Arsacids.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_153_153" id="Footnote_153_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_153_153"><span class="label">[153]</span></a> Blau, "Z. D. M. G." 18, 686. Von Gutschmid, <i>ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_154_154" id="Footnote_154_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_154_154"><span class="label">[154]</span></a> "Farvardin Yasht," 139.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_155_155" id="Footnote_155_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_155_155"><span class="label">[155]</span></a> Aristot. "Metaph." 13, 4. Diogen. Laert. prooem.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_156_156" id="Footnote_156_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_156_156"><span class="label">[156]</span></a> Theopom. Fragm. 71, 72, ed. M&uuml;ller.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_157_157" id="Footnote_157_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_157_157"><span class="label">[157]</span></a> Diogen. Laert. prooem., cf. Suidas, &#924;&#940;&#947;&#959;&#953;.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_158_158" id="Footnote_158_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_158_158"><span class="label">[158]</span></a> "Alcib. I." p. 121.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_159_159" id="Footnote_159_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_159_159"><span class="label">[159]</span></a> Plut. "Alex." c. 30.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_160_160" id="Footnote_160_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_160_160"><span class="label">[160]</span></a> Plut. "Artax." c. 4, 23, 29.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_161_161" id="Footnote_161_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_161_161"><span class="label">[161]</span></a> "Themistocl." c. 28.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_162_162" id="Footnote_162_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_162_162"><span class="label">[162]</span></a> Dinon, Fragm. 9, ed. M&uuml;ller.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_163_163" id="Footnote_163_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_163_163"><span class="label">[163]</span></a> "Cyri Instit." 8, 1, 21.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_164_164" id="Footnote_164_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_164_164"><span class="label">[164]</span></a> Herod. 3, 16.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_165_165" id="Footnote_165_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_165_165"><span class="label">[165]</span></a> Herod. 1, 101, 131-140; 7, 40, 43, 113, 191; 3, 84.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_166_166" id="Footnote_166_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_166_166"><span class="label">[166]</span></a> Inscription of Darius at Elvend in Spiegel, "Keilinscriften," s.
+45, 47.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_167_167" id="Footnote_167_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_167_167"><span class="label">[167]</span></a> Behistun, 4, 73-80; 56-61; Persop.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_168_168" id="Footnote_168_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_168_168"><span class="label">[168]</span></a> Strabo, p. 719; Nicol. Damasc. fragm. 66, ed. M&uuml;ller.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_169_169" id="Footnote_169_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_169_169"><span class="label">[169]</span></a> Plin. "H. N." 30, 2; 28, 19.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_170_170" id="Footnote_170_170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_170_170"><span class="label">[170]</span></a> "Vita Pythag." 12.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_171_171" id="Footnote_171_171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_171_171"><span class="label">[171]</span></a> Diogen. Laert prooem.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_172_172" id="Footnote_172_172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_172_172"><span class="label">[172]</span></a> Suidas, &#924;&#940;&#947;&#959;&#953;.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_173_173" id="Footnote_173_173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_173_173"><span class="label">[173]</span></a> Herod. 1, 100, 124, 125.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_174_174" id="Footnote_174_174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_174_174"><span class="label">[174]</span></a> Ezra, c. v., vi.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_175_175" id="Footnote_175_175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_175_175"><span class="label">[175]</span></a> The Ni&ccedil;a of the Vendidad is the Eastern Ni&ccedil;a, Parthorum Nis&aelig;a,
+not very far from Merv; above, p. 10, <i>n.</i> 1.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_176_176" id="Footnote_176_176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_176_176"><span class="label">[176]</span></a> Lepsius, "Ueber das ursprungliche Zendalphabet," Abh. B. Akad.
+1862, s. 298, 306, 381.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_177_177" id="Footnote_177_177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_177_177"><span class="label">[177]</span></a> "Vendid." 4, 120; Astad Yasht, 1.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE GODS OF THE ARIANS IN IRAN.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The examination of the traditions of the East and
+West has simply led to the confirmation of the result,
+which we gain from the Avesta&mdash;that the name and
+the doctrine of Zarathrustra belong to Bactria. With
+regard to the antiquity of the doctrine, the inscriptions
+of Darius and the statements of the Greeks
+allowed us to draw the conclusion that it became current
+and dominant in Bactria about the year 800 <small>B.C.</small>;
+and from the analogy of the development of the Arians
+on both sides of the Ganges we assumed that it was
+possible to place the date of Zarathrustra himself about
+two centuries earlier. That the Arians of Iran were
+not without gods and religious worship before Zarathrustra,
+if the fact needed proof, might be shown
+from the statements in the Avesta regarding the time
+previous to Zarathrustra. The examination of the
+legends of this time established kindred forms and
+traits in the Avesta and the Veda, and if, following
+this path further, we find in the Avesta views of the
+nature and character of the gods corresponding to
+those of the Veda, we might be confident in regarding
+them as the traditional possession of the Arians, and
+their earliest forms of religion. If, in fine, the coincidence
+of the Avesta with the Veda, on the one hand,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>
+and with the accounts of the Greeks on the other,
+extended to all the essential points in the doctrine and
+the law, the question stated above&mdash;whether in the
+restoration of the canon of the sacred writings in the
+midst of the fourth century of our era, under king
+Shapur II., the Avesta underwent material alterations,
+would have to be answered in the negative.</p>
+
+<p>The poems of the Veda showed us in what directions
+the religious feeling of the Indians in the Panjab
+moved. Drought, gloom, and night were numbered
+among the injurious forces; the clear sky, the light,
+and fertilising water were beneficent. The high spirits
+of light, which gave new courage to the heart each
+morning, and exhibited the world in fresh brilliance,
+were praised with thanksgivings; the spirits of the
+highest heaven, Mitra and Varuna, the guardians of
+the world, the protectors of purity and justice, were
+invoked earnestly, but less frequently than the warlike
+victorious god who gave water, the god of storm
+and tempest, who defeated the demons which obscured
+the sky and wished to carry away the water (<small>IV.</small> 48).
+His comrades in the fight were the morning wind
+which drove away the clouds of night, the winds
+which shattered the gloomy clouds, and swept them
+from the sky. The spirit of fire, who by his brilliant
+glow in the darkness of night kept off the beasts of
+prey and fiends, who gathered men round the hearth,
+and summoned the gods to the sacrifice, and carried
+up to them the food of the sacrifice, received zealous
+worship in the hymns of the Veda.</p>
+
+<p>We can call to mind the invocations of the Rigveda
+to Ushas, the goddess of the dawn, who drives forth
+on the sky with red cows; to Surya and Savitar, the
+spirits of the sun (IV. 45, 46). In the Avesta, prayers
+are addressed to Ushahina and Hvare Kshaeta, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>
+bright sun-god. Ushahina is here the pure spirit of
+the celestial dawn, "who is possessed of bright horses."
+Of the sun-god we are told: "Mount, bright sun, with
+thy swift horses, and shine for all creatures on the way
+which Auramazda has created in the air, the way rich
+in water which the gods have created;"<a name="FNanchor_178_178" id="FNanchor_178_178"></a><a href="#Footnote_178_178" class="fnanchor">[178]</a> just as in the
+Veda the sun is invoked to approach on his ancient
+firm paths in the air, which are free from dust (IV. 46).
+Sacrifice is offered to the sun, according to the Avesta,
+when he rises above Hara berezaiti (the divine mountain).<a name="FNanchor_179_179" id="FNanchor_179_179"></a><a href="#Footnote_179_179" class="fnanchor">[179]</a>
+The prayer to Mithra is as follows: "To the
+mighty Yazata (<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the worthy of prayer), the strong
+one, who brings good, will I offer sacrifice with libations;
+I will encompass him with songs of thanksgiving.
+With libations we offer sacrifice to Mithra,
+the lord of wide pastures, who speaketh true things, the
+wise one, comely in shape, of a thousand ears and ten
+thousand eyes, standing on a broad tower, strong, sleepless,
+and watchful, who mounts above Hara berezaiti
+before the immortal sun, the guider of horses&mdash;he who
+first in a form of gold ascends the beautiful summits.
+For him the creator Auramazda has prepared a dwelling
+above Hara berezaiti, where is neither night, nor
+darkness, nor winds chilling nor scorching, nor the corruption
+of the slain; no filth created of demons nor
+vapours ascend Hara berezaiti. From thence the giver
+of good beholds the abode of the Arians, whose horse-guiding
+lords govern splendid hosts, whose high mountains,
+rich in water and in pastures, supply nourishment
+for the ox, where are deep lakes with broad streams,
+and wide navigable rivers burst forth in tumult, on
+Iskata and Pourata,<a name="FNanchor_180_180" id="FNanchor_180_180"></a><a href="#Footnote_180_180" class="fnanchor">[180]</a> on Mouru (Merv), Haraeva<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>
+(p. 11), and Gao, &Ccedil;ughdha (Sogdiana), and Hvairiza (Choaresm).
+Where first they sacrifice to him, there Mithra,
+the lord of wide pastures, descends with the victorious
+wind. From anguish and pain, O Mithra, carry us,
+undeceived. Come to us for our protection; come to us
+with joy; come to us with mercy; come to us with healing;
+come to us with purification, the mighty, the strong,
+the all-knowing, the tamer of dragons, the undeceived.
+Never lulled to sleep, Mithra protects with his weapon
+the creatures of Auramazda. On him the lord of the
+land, of the canton, the village, the house, calls for
+help with uplifted hands, whose voice of woe, whether
+his voice be loud or soft, reaches up to the stars and
+down to the earth. He to whom Mithra is favourable,
+to him he cometh with aid; but with whomsoever he
+is angry he destroys his house and village and canton
+and land, and the glory of the land. Mithra gives
+swift horses to those who do not deceive him; to the
+habitation in which he is satisfied he gives troops of
+cattle and men. The fire of Auramazda gives the
+straightest path to those who do not deceive Mithra.
+But if the lord of the house, the village, the canton,
+the land deceives him, then Mithra in anger destroys
+house and village, canton and land. Not all evil deeds,
+not all deception, are seen by Mithra, saith the wicked
+man. But Mithra sees all that is between heaven and
+earth. With ten thousand eyes he beholds the man
+who hates and deceives him. His long arms with the
+might of Mithra grasp what is in Eastern India
+(Hendu), and what is in Western, and what is in the
+midst of this earth. The swiftest deceivers of Mithra
+do not reach the goal; they do not escape on horseback,
+nor reach the goal in chariots.</p>
+
+<p>"Mithra, the lord of lands, whose countenance beams
+like the star Tistrya, travels forth to the right end of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>
+the earth from the brilliant Garonmana (the abode of
+the gods), equipped with golden helmet, and silver
+coat of mail, with sharp long-shafted lance and swinging
+arrow, on a beautiful chariot with a golden wheel
+and silver spokes, which four white horses draw, their
+fore-hoofs shod with gold, their hinder hoofs with
+silver, harnessed in the yoke which is bent over them.
+In his hand is a club with a hundred studs, and a hundred
+blades, heavy at the end, making havoc of men;
+bound with brass on the handle, mighty and golden,
+the strongest and most victorious of weapons. Before
+him goes Verethraghna in the form of a boar, sharp of
+tusk, fat, enraged, striking at once with feet, claws, tail,
+and back of brass.<a name="FNanchor_181_181" id="FNanchor_181_181"></a><a href="#Footnote_181_181" class="fnanchor">[181]</a> Next to him goes the kindled fire,
+the strong, royal grace. As a protection of the chariot
+are a thousand bows of bone, whose strings are made
+of the sinews of oxen, a thousand arrows plumed with
+feathers of the Kahrka&ccedil;a, with golden points and
+wooden shafts, and flakes of bone and iron, a thousand
+lances with sharp points, a thousand missiles of
+copper, a thousand two-edged swords. Strong as spirits
+they travel onward, strong as spirits they fall on the
+skulls of the Daevas.</p>
+
+<p>"Before him of a truth, Angromainyu (the evil
+spirit) trembles, the deadly one; before him trembles
+Aeshma, the wicked-minded, and body-destroying;
+before him trembles Bushyan&ccedil;ta, the long of hand,
+and all invisible Daevas and the sinners from Varena.
+When the evil one, who works wickedness, runs forth
+with swift step, Mithra, the lord of wide pastures,
+swiftly harnesses his chariot, and &Ccedil;raosha, the pure
+and strong, and Nairyo&ccedil;angha, the herald, beats him
+and his ranks. When Mithra comes where the lands<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>
+are against him (<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> do not honour him) he brings down
+his club on horse and rider. Against them he brings
+mighty destruction and terror; he bears away the
+heads of the men who deceive Mithra. Their arrows,
+swift-feathered, sent swiftly forth by the string from
+the well-stretched bow, strike the air only; the lances,
+sharp and running out with long shafts from the arm,
+strike the air only; the missiles from the strings strike
+the air only; the well-directed swords and well-slung
+clubs beat the air only; meanwhile, angry, enraged,
+and not propitiated, Mithra approaches, the lord of
+wide pastures. Thou, O Mithra, angry and mighty,
+takest the force from their arms; thou takest the force
+from their arms, and the sight from their eyes, and
+the hearing from their ears. The wind carries away
+the lances which the opponents of Mithra throw; even
+though he throws well and hits the body he inflicts
+no wound. Standing on the field of battle Mithra
+annihilates the ranks; the wings quake, and he makes
+the centre to tremble. They say: Our war-horses were
+led away by Mithra; by him were our strong arms
+and swords annihilated. Mithra scares men before
+and behind; &Ccedil;raosha, the pure, assists in slaying on
+all sides. Mithra sweeps them away, slaying them by
+fifties and by hundreds; by hundreds and by thousands;
+by thousands and tens of thousands, and without
+number. We cannot sustain the weight of the
+angry lord who with the force of a thousand meets the
+foe; who dashes on in his rage, and rests not from
+the slaughter; who destroys all at a blow. May not
+the mightiest, the swiftest, the most victorious of the
+Yazatas fall upon us. Come to our help, O Mithra, high
+lord, when the arrow hisses aloud and the horse neighs
+in his nostrils, and the missiles whizz, and the strings
+speed forth the sharp, bony arrows. Whomsoever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>
+Mithra protects, him the well-sharpened lance cannot
+reach, nor the arrow flying past him.</p>
+
+<p>"In his might Mithra approaches; in power he goes
+forth to dominion, and beholding from afar directs his
+glance with his eyes. Thou protectest the lands which
+seek after the beneficence of Mithra, lord of wide pastures;
+thou destroyest the lands which are wicked. O
+Mithra, lord of wide pastures, master of the house, of
+the villages, the land!&mdash;let us be protectors of thy
+fields, not the destroyers of them. As the sun arises
+above Hara berezaiti so may I obtain my desires over
+the evil Angromainyu. With uplifted arms, Mithra,
+the lord of wide pastures, conveys us to immortality.
+With sacrifice named by name, with becoming speech,
+O strong Mithra, will I make offerings to thee with
+libations. Listen, O Mithra, to our sacrifice. Come to
+our sacrifice; come to our libations. Carry them away
+to the place of meeting (<i>chinvat</i>); deposit them in
+Garonmana. Thou, O Mithra, art the saviour and helper
+of lands and men. Thou makest the dwellings, from
+which impurity is removed, famous for women and
+chariots. Thou hast power over the peace and the
+disquiet of lands; prosperous art thou in the battle,
+and strong. Give us the gifts for which we entreat
+thee; abundance and power, prosperity and purity,
+renown and bravery, and victory given by Ahura, the
+overwhelming power of the highest purity (<i>asha vahista</i>),
+and instruction in the sacred word, that so we may
+slay all enemies and haters, and annihilate the hate of
+men and Daevas, of magicians and Pairikas, of the
+violent, blind, and deaf. Stretch out thy widely grasping
+hand, O Mithra; thou art the protector of the
+dwelling, and of them that deceive not. Protect us
+in both worlds, the corporeal and incorporeal, from the
+evil death, the evil Aeshma, the evil hosts, who seek<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>
+to raise their cruel banners, from the attacks which
+Aeshma may make with Vidhatu the Daeva-created."<a name="FNanchor_182_182" id="FNanchor_182_182"></a><a href="#Footnote_182_182" class="fnanchor">[182]</a></p>
+
+<p>The modern traits which have been introduced into
+this poem are easily distinguished and removed. The
+relation in which Mithra is placed to Auramazda, the
+chief of the good spirits, to the corporeal and incorporeal
+world and the maintenance of the law, to Rashnu,
+the spirit of justice, and other spirits of an abstract
+nature, and to the instruction in the sacred word, are
+like the "Western and Eastern India," obviously of the
+later origin. Setting them aside, the old form of the
+god of light of the Arians in Iran meets us in vigorous
+and powerful outlines. Indeed we have here more
+original conceptions of Mithra than in the Veda, and
+find that idea of the god which formed part of the yet
+undivided stock of the Arians in Iran and on the
+Indus (IV. 51). In the Avesta Mithra is still in direct
+conflict with the evil spirits, from which in the Veda
+he is displaced by the storm-god, who first came into
+prominence in the Panjab. That Mithra was once
+the supreme deity of the Arians of Iran, is clear, not
+only from his position as the most victorious opponent
+of the demons, but also from the difficulty&mdash;which the
+Avesta betrays in more than one passage&mdash;of subordinating
+him to Auramazda, who subsequently became
+supreme, and establishing the precedence of the latter.
+In Mithra's habitation it is never night. Highest of
+the spirits of light, he goes before the sun, and first
+plants himself on the summits of the mountains. He
+is the mightiest warrior against night and the spirits
+of night who tremble before him. His light overpowers
+and destroys them. Thus he is able to give victory
+in the battle to the army which worships him in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>
+truth; the host with which he fights he fills with
+courage and power; that with which he is angry he
+fills with terror, and causes their arrows to fly forth
+in vain. In brilliant armour he travels onward, his
+club in his hand; before him is victory, and beside
+him is fire. Mithra's club is called Vazra, Indra's club
+is Vajra; the word is the same, the distinction is due to
+the change of sound which separates the old Bactrian
+from the language of the Veda and Sanskrit.<a name="FNanchor_183_183" id="FNanchor_183_183"></a><a href="#Footnote_183_183" class="fnanchor">[183]</a> Lord
+of the lands and nations, he looks down on the abode
+of the Arians; most brilliant of deities, he sees all
+that is between heaven and earth. He cannot be
+deceived and beguiled; the most secret wickedness is
+not hidden from him; the swiftest criminal does not
+escape from him, and the strongest succumbs to his
+anger. God of purity and truth, he watches over
+purity and truth among men, punishes falsehood,
+rewards justice and fidelity; he blesses the nations and
+houses which worship him with goodly increase in
+men and flocks.</p>
+
+<p>We saw what importance the Veda ascribed to the
+conquest over Vritra, the cloud serpent, the black
+demon. The Arians in Iran also are acquainted with
+the slaying of Vritra. The prayer to Mithra represents
+Verethraghna as going before Mithra's victorious car
+(p. 110). Verethraghna means slayer of Verethra, or
+Vritra, and is the same word as Vritrahan. Hence
+the attribute of Indra, which denotes the most important
+achievement among his actions, is among the
+Iranians an independent spirit. As the club of Indra
+belongs in the Avesta to Mithra, so is Verethraghna
+his companion. No doubt at one time Mithra had himself
+the surname Verethraghna in Iran, the attribute<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>
+signifying the conqueror of the worst and strongest of
+the evil spirits. But just as in the Panjab, owing to
+the tropical storms of that region, the form of Vritra
+came into prominence, and with it the form of Indra,
+so in the Avesta did Verethraghna fade away when
+separated from Mithra. Here Verethraghna is only
+the victorious strength, the conquest and slaughter
+of the enemy,&mdash;victory itself. Verethraghna is the
+best armed of the heavenly spirits, the strongest in
+might, the most victorious. Yet even in the Avesta
+the Soma is offered to Verethraghna before the battle,
+as in the Veda it is offered to Indra. Auramazda
+says to Zarathrustra: "When the armies meet in
+battle, the orderly ranks are not defeated in which
+sacrifice is liberally offered to Verethraghna, whom
+Ahura created. The Arian lands should offer him
+sacrifice, and strew sacrificial branches for him. They
+should offer beasts to him, bright and gold-coloured."
+"To him the pure Zarathrustra offered sacrifice, and
+Verethraghna came to him in the form of a strong
+wind, in the form of a beautiful bull with golden ears
+and golden hoofs, in the form of a shining horse, of
+a large, biting, and fierce camel, in the form of a boar
+with strong tusks (as also in the prayer to Mithra), in
+the form of a youth, in the form of a man carrying a
+sword with a golden handle, in the form of the swiftest
+and largest of birds, in the form of a ram, and a
+fighting goat. And Verethraghna gave Zarathrustra
+strength of arms, health and vigour of body, and
+power of vision, like that of the horse which sees
+in the night, and the gold-coloured vulture." In the
+battle Verethraghna hastens through the ranks and
+inquires with Mithra and Rashnu: "Who lies against
+Mithra? to whom shall I give death and destruction,
+for I have the power?" "Verethraghna, the created of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>
+Ahura, the bearer of splendour, I will praise"&mdash;such
+is a prayer in the Avesta&mdash;"with audible praise, with
+offering. To Verethraghna will I sacrifice. I will bring
+Haoma in order that I may conquer this army, which
+comes up behind me. Verethraghna holds back the
+hands of the ranks of the men who lie against Mithra;
+he veils their sight, and dulls their ears, and suffers not
+their feet to advance. Verethraghna brings the ranks
+together in battle; he destroys the ranks, and annihilates
+them."<a name="FNanchor_184_184" id="FNanchor_184_184"></a><a href="#Footnote_184_184" class="fnanchor">[184]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the Veda, the winds, the swift and strong Maruts,
+aided Indra against the demons; Vayu, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the
+blowing, the morning wind which chases away the
+dark clouds, was Indra's charioteer (IV. 49). In the
+Avesta also, Vayu, who blows before the morning
+light and the sun, and scares away the goblins of the
+night, who first drinks "the Soma draught at the
+morning sacrifice," takes a prominent position, and
+under his Vedic name. The heroes of ancient days
+cried aloud to Vayu for victory, and he brought help
+to them all. He is the strongest of the strong, the
+swiftest of the swift, girded up and active, higher in
+stature, broader in the hips and shoulders, than the
+rest of the gods. He sits on a golden throne (p. 35);
+wears a golden helmet, golden armour, a girdle and
+neckband of gold, and rides on a golden chariot. He
+says to Zarathrustra: "I am called the beneficent,
+because I do good for Auramazda. I am called the
+pure, the strong-winged, the mightiest, the swiftest, the
+powerful for defeat, the expeller of the Daevas. I am
+called the Hurling one, the Biting one, the sharp
+lance, the flashing lance. I am called the Conqueror.
+These names must thou invoke at the shock of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>
+ranks in battle, in the stress of the conflict."<a name="FNanchor_185_185" id="FNanchor_185_185"></a><a href="#Footnote_185_185" class="fnanchor">[185]</a> In the
+Avesta, as we saw, Verethragna also appears in the
+form of the wind. The "pure swift winds," the air,
+"which works on high, which purifies the heaven
+from the right hand," are frequently invoked; the
+"strong wind, created by Ahura," brings the rain-clouds
+which Tistrya (p. 120) has liberated over the
+earth; the wind carries away the lances, which those
+hurl who are hostile to Mithra. We saw above, how
+the Bactrians were defeated by Artaxerxes I., "because
+the wind blew in their faces" (p. 25). If in the
+Avesta, in accordance with the character of the
+doctrine, the purifying force of the winds and fresh
+air is made prominent, the other traits quoted are
+sufficient to permit us to recognise the original conception
+formed by the Iranians of the spirits of the winds.</p>
+
+<p>The pure waters, the well-flowing, the waters of the
+springs, pools, and rivers are often mentioned in the
+Avesta and highly extolled. As with the Arians in
+India, so in the Avesta, the great waters are placed high
+up in the sky. The stars contain the seed of water; just
+as among the Arians in India certain constellations at the
+appearance of which rain fell, were considered to be the
+home of the waters. In the Avesta also the water of
+the sky is the source and origin of the waters on earth.
+In that book a female deity is the guardian of these
+waters, the goddess Ardvi&ccedil;ura Anahita, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the lofty,
+stainless one, "to whom Auramazda gave the waters in
+charge." She is at one and the same time the source
+of the heavenly water, which springs up on the golden
+height of Hukairya, the summit of the divine mountain,
+and the spirit of this source and of the water
+coming from it. At the height of a thousand men,
+the spring Ardvi&ccedil;ura flows down from the golden<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>
+Hukairya; it has a thousand basins, and a thousand
+streams, each stream is forty days' journey in length
+for an active traveller.<a name="FNanchor_186_186" id="FNanchor_186_186"></a><a href="#Footnote_186_186" class="fnanchor">[186]</a> The goddess who pours out this
+water is a strong, well-grown maiden of brilliant countenance,
+and beautiful arms, which are more brilliant
+and larger than horses. On her brow she bears a
+golden diadem, adorned with a hundred stars; she has
+golden ear-rings and neck-band, a flowing lower garment
+with many folds of gold, and golden shoes on her feet.
+Her breasts fall down over her girdle; her upper robe
+is of bright otter skins, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> of the smooth skins of the
+animal of the water. She carries a golden Paitidana,
+and holds the reins of her chariot which is drawn by
+four white beasts of draught. The deity of the water
+of the sky is in the Avesta the most beneficent of the
+goddesses; the source of water is also the source of
+fruitfulness and life. She cleanses the seed of men,
+and gives a happy delivery to women; those who are
+with child entreat her assistance. To men she gives
+swift horses and strong comrades, if duly invoked and
+worshipped. We have already seen how the heroes
+of old days, Yima, Thraetaona, Kere&ccedil;a&ccedil;pa, Kava U&ccedil;a,
+Kava Hu&ccedil;rava, Vista&ccedil;pa, sacrificed horses, cows, and
+smaller cattle to Ardvi&ccedil;ura, in order to win victory
+over the evil spirits, the dragons, the giants, and the
+enemies of Iran (p. 32, 34 ff.). Zarathrustra asks the
+stainless Ardvi&ccedil;ura what sacrifice he must offer to her,
+in order that Auramazda may not hold back his course
+in the height above the sun, that serpents may not
+injure the water by their sweat and poison. And
+Ardvi&ccedil;ura gave command that prayer and sacrifice
+should be offered to her from the ascent of the sun till
+daybreak; the sacrifice was to be consumed by the
+sacrificers and priests in honour of the goddess; the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>
+impure, blind, dumb, and all afflicted with infirmities
+were to be kept far from it. "Come to me, come down,
+Ardvi&ccedil;ura," is the invocation, "from the stars to the
+earth which Auramazda made; to thee, the excellent,
+mighty lords of the lands, the sons of the lords of the
+lands, will offer sacrifice."<a name="FNanchor_187_187" id="FNanchor_187_187"></a><a href="#Footnote_187_187" class="fnanchor">[187]</a></p>
+
+<p>The divine mountain, on which the Ardvi&ccedil;ura rises,
+is in the Avesta "the mighty navel of water (<i>apam
+napal</i>)," "in a course swift as the horse, Auramazda
+causes the water to stream forth from it." On this
+mountain is the deep lake Vourukasha, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> having
+wide shores, in which the waters collect together. Out
+of this lake the water-clouds rise, which are to bring
+the fertilising rain to the earth. Though the tropic
+storms are wanting in Iran, the fertilising of the land
+by the water of the springs, rivers, and lakes, and by
+rain was of no less importance there than in the Panjab.
+Hence in the Avesta we again meet with the contest
+of the good spirits against Vritra, and in Iran also
+these spirits are opposed to the demons of blight. It
+is demons of this kind, which, according to the Avesta,
+keep back the rain-clouds above Vourukasha, and men<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>
+say: "When will Tistrya (Sirius) rise, the bright, the
+majestic, the lord of the stars? When will the streams
+of water flow which are stronger than horses?" And
+Tistrya, whom Angromainyu slays not, nor the magicians
+and Pairikas, nor the magicians among men,
+gleams forth from the navel of the waters; he runs to
+Lake Vourukasha like an arrow, in the form of a horse,
+a beautiful brilliant horse, with yellow ears, and
+golden horse-cloth. Auramazda and Mithra prepare
+the way for him. Ashi vanguhi and Parendi follow in
+his wake with swift chariots. There goes to meet him
+the Daeva Apaosha, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the witherer, in the form of a
+black, bald horse, with bald ears, bald back and tail,
+and ugly brand. For three days and three nights
+they struggle; and the Daeva Apaosha scares away
+the brilliant Tistrya from Lake Vourukasha for the
+distance of a <i>Hathra</i>. And Tistrya speaks and says:
+"If men honour me with the sacrifice named by name,
+with duly performed sacrifice, and prayer, then at the
+appointed time I shall come to the pure men; hostile
+chariots and uplifted banners will not come nigh to the
+Arian lands, and I shall have gained the strength of
+ten horses, ten bulls, ten mountains, and ten flowing
+waters." And Auramazda sacrificed to Tistrya and
+brought him that strength, and Tistrya fought with
+the Daeva Apaosha till midday, and conquered and
+overpowered him, and scared him away from Vourukasha.
+And Tistrya announced blessing for the waters
+and the trees; the streams of the waters will come
+to you without opposition, the cloud rises out of
+Lake Vourukasha, and the vapours gather above on
+Mount Hendava in the midst of Lake Vourukasha, and
+Tistrya drives forth the vapours, the pure ones, whence
+clouds are formed, and the strong wind drives clouds
+and rain to the villages and hamlets, to the seven<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>
+Kareshvare (the seven parts of the earth). And Auramazda
+gave command to Zarathrustra that the Arian
+lands should offer sacrifice to Tistrya, should sprinkle
+sacrificial rice, and sacrifice a bright, light-hued, Haoma-coloured
+animal in order that he might withstand the
+Pairika Dushyairya (<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> blight). "If I had not
+created Tistrya," Auramazda says, "this Pairika would
+have carried on war day and night, but Tistrya binds
+her with two and three fetters." "We praise Tistrya,
+the brilliant majestic star, which drives away the
+Pairika; he blows her away from Lake Vourukasha;
+then the clouds draw up, spreading themselves afar,
+which contain the fertilising water."<a name="FNanchor_188_188" id="FNanchor_188_188"></a><a href="#Footnote_188_188" class="fnanchor">[188]</a></p>
+
+<p>Another spirit which fights against the demons in
+the Avesta is called &Ccedil;raosha. On the divine mountain
+stands "his triumphant dwelling with a thousand
+pillars, on the topmost height of the great mountain,
+illumined within with a light of its own, decked with
+stars without;" his chariot is drawn by four spotless
+horses, which are swifter than clouds, swifter than
+winds, swifter than storms, swifter than birds with
+strong wings. A strong, well-armed, victorious youth,
+the strongest and swiftest among young men, who
+fears not the Daevas, and before whom they fly in
+terror to the darkness, &Ccedil;raosha is the companion of
+Mithra; with him he overthrows the ranks of the
+hosts with whom Mithra is angry (p. 111). Thrice in
+each day he comes to smite the Daevas, with the axe
+of a woodman in his hand. Thus he fights against the
+evil Angromainyu, against Aeshma, and the Daevas
+Kunda, Banga, and Vibanga; thus he forces the conquered
+Daevi Druj to answer him. In the dark he is
+wakeful against the evil ones; he protects the world from
+them when the sun has set; in each night he comes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>
+thrice upon the earth with his weapons in his hand.
+About the third watch of the night he arouses the
+bird Parodarsh, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the cock, that by his cry he may
+scare away the goblins of the night, and may banish the
+Daevi Bushyan&ccedil;ta, which holds men imprisoned in
+sleep.<a name="FNanchor_189_189" id="FNanchor_189_189"></a><a href="#Footnote_189_189" class="fnanchor">[189]</a> &Ccedil;raosha, moreover, protects the sacrifices which
+are offered to the good gods, and which the evil one
+would carry away or defile. One of the priests who
+took part in the sacred ceremonies held a club, the
+&Ccedil;raosha-club, in his hand, in order to scare the demons
+and keep them back. Of the two instruments which
+in the book of the law are used for flagellation, and by
+which the evil spirits are driven from the bodies of men,
+one is called the &Ccedil;raosha-whip (<i>&Ccedil;raosha charana</i>).</p>
+
+<p>We remember the numerous hymns of the Veda
+which celebrate the benefits conferred upon men by
+Agni, the spirit of fire, who is born from the double
+wood, and descends to earth in the lightning from the
+water-bed of the storm-cloud; the glow of this bright
+youth preserves men from beasts of prey, from murderers
+and evil spirits, helps the gods to victory, and
+contends in battle in the van; at the same time a
+royal house-lord and priest, Agni is in the Veda the
+upholder of the religious worship, the mediator between
+heaven and earth (IV. 40). The Avesta is filled with
+similar conceptions, though less poetical in form. Here
+the power as victorious of fire against the demon takes
+the first place. We saw that Mithra's chariot carried
+the kindled fire. "The sacred, strong fire" is invoked
+as a "warrior," as a "protector," as a slayer of the evil
+spirits, as the giver of good. To whatever side, we
+are told in the book of the law, the wind carries the
+smoke of the fire, it comes back thence as a slayer of
+thousands. "Happy is the man," we are told in an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>
+invocation, "to whom thou comest in strength, O Fire,
+son of Auramazda, more friendly than the friendliest,
+worthy beyond others of supplication. O Fire, we
+approach thee with perfect purity, with a good spirit;
+mayest thou come down to us bringing help."<a name="FNanchor_190_190" id="FNanchor_190_190"></a><a href="#Footnote_190_190" class="fnanchor">[190]</a> He
+who uses dry selected wood for the fire, him the fire
+blesses, saying: "May herds of cattle gather round
+thee, and abundance of men; may all things succeed
+according to the wish of thy soul. Live out thy life
+happily to the full extent to which thou wilt live.
+The fire speaks with all those for whom it shines the
+whole night through, and cooks food; from all it
+demands good nourishment. The fire looks on the
+hands of all who come; what does the friend bring to
+the friend, he who approaches to him who sits alone?<a name="FNanchor_191_191" id="FNanchor_191_191"></a><a href="#Footnote_191_191" class="fnanchor">[191]</a>"
+The Gathas of the Avesta also speak of the pieces of
+wood for friction, out of which springs the fire that
+shows the way;<a name="FNanchor_192_192" id="FNanchor_192_192"></a><a href="#Footnote_192_192" class="fnanchor">[192]</a> and in another passage we hear of the
+fire Urvazista which dwells in wood. The Avesta distinguishes
+between the fire &Ccedil;penista, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the house-lord,
+the hearth-fire (it is the same name that is given
+to the hearth-fire in India), the most victorious fire
+Verethraghna, which slays all the demons, and by
+which, according to the custom of the Parsees, the fires
+of the hearth must be renewed year by year, and the fire
+of lightning, which is called Vazista. This last, which
+comes down direct from heaven, is the "most sacred
+of all fires, which slays the demon &Ccedil;penjaghra."<a name="FNanchor_193_193" id="FNanchor_193_193"></a><a href="#Footnote_193_193" class="fnanchor">[193]</a> In
+the Avesta the priests are called Athravas, a name
+which, no doubt, goes back to the worship of fire
+(<i>athar</i>); among the Indians Atharvan entices the fire<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>
+from the wood, and together with Manu and Dadhyanch
+kindles the first sacrificial fire; the fourth
+Veda is called after him (IV. 280). In the Avesta also
+the red glowing fires, which gleamed on the earth in
+the days of King Yima, are repeatedly mentioned
+(p. 32); it extols "the brilliance of the Arian lands,"
+denotes the fire-priests as possessors of the true faith,
+and assures us that what is right may be known from
+the clear, blazing flames.<a name="FNanchor_194_194" id="FNanchor_194_194"></a><a href="#Footnote_194_194" class="fnanchor">[194]</a></p>
+
+<p>The sacrifice offered by the Arians beyond the
+Indus to Indra, the Maruts, and spirits of light, to
+strengthen them against the demons, the draught prepared
+from the Soma, is known to us; we have shown
+how this Soma which strengthens the gods became
+itself a god in the fancy of the Indians&mdash;a mighty
+nourisher and sustainer of the gods. The same custom
+and deity are found in the Avesta, only the name has
+become Haoma, according to the phonetic laws of the
+Bactrian language. The legend has already shown us
+what importance was ascribed in Iran to the worship of
+the god Haoma, and the sacrifice of this liquor. Yima
+was born to Vivanghana as a reward because he had
+first poured out the Haoma and worshipped the god.
+To Athwya, the second worshipper of Haoma, Thraetaona
+was born; and to Thrita, the third, Kere&ccedil;a&ccedil;pa,
+the hero (p. 27, 28). To Zarathrustra, who was born to
+Pourusha&ccedil;pa for a similar service, when he is dressing
+the sacred fire at the break of dawn, and singing the
+sacred hymns, the god Haoma appears: "Who art
+thou," asks Zarathrustra, "who appearest to my sight
+as the most perfect in the corporeal world, with thy
+brilliant, immortal body?" Haoma answered him: "I
+am the pure Haoma, who protect men from evil. Call
+on me, press out my juice in order to enjoy me; praise<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>
+me as all other fire-priests praise me." Then said Zarathrustra:
+"Supplication to Haoma! Haoma, the good,
+is well-created; duly-created is he, and gives health;
+he bestows kindness, is victorious, and of golden colour.
+Thy wisdom, O golden one, I praise; thy strength, thy
+victory, thy healing power, thy greatness. I praise
+the mountains, the high ones, where thou, Haoma,
+growest; I praise the earth, the wide and patient, thy
+mother, O pure Haoma. Mayest thou grow on the
+paths of the birds. To the horsemen, who spur their
+horses, Haoma gives power and strength; to the
+maidens who have long remained unmarried, he gives
+true and vigorous husbands, gifted with good understanding,
+and to wives beautiful children and a pure
+posterity. To those who repeat the Na&ccedil;kas (the
+chapters of the Avesta) he gives sanctity and greatness.
+Praise to thee, Haoma; thou knowest the words
+which are spoken with truth. Praise to thee, Haoma,
+who by thine own power art a mighty king. To thee
+Auramazda first gave the girdle glittering with stars;
+girt with this thou lingerest on the summits of the
+mountains in order to maintain in sincerity the commands
+of the sacred sayings. O Haoma, lord of the
+house, of the village, of the land, lord of wisdom, I call
+on thee for greatness and victory, for favour to my
+body, and rich food. O thou who art of golden colour,
+I entreat thee for skill and power, passing through the
+whole body, for beauty and health, for prosperity and
+increase, for greatness spreading over the whole form.
+The first boon for which I entreat thee, O Haoma, who
+removest death, is that I may attain to the excellent
+habitation of the saints, the bright dwelling where there
+is abundance of all good things; the second boon is
+that this body may endure; the third, that my life may
+be long; the fourth, that I may go through the earth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>
+powerful and glad, troubling the tormentors, and slaying
+the Druj; the fifth is that I may walk victorious on
+the earth and slay the evil. For this thing also, as a
+sixth boon, O Haoma, who removest death, I entreat
+thee: may I be the first to see the thief, the murderer,
+and the wolf: may none of these previously see me.
+Keep far from us the hatred of those who hate us; tear
+out the hearts of those who give poison. If in this house,
+this place, this village, this sacrifice, there is a man who
+does harm, take from him the power to go, obscure his
+reason, break asunder his heart with the commandment.
+Let him not be mighty in the feet, let him not be
+mighty in the hands. O Haoma, I make a prayer to
+thee, that thou mayest go a sovereign lord through the
+worlds, triumphing over hatred and the evil. Thou
+shouldest triumph over the hatred of all who hate thee,
+over the hatred of the Daevas and men, the evil spirits
+and magicians, the perverse, blind, and dumb, the two-footed
+murderers and insidious creatures, the four-footed
+wolves, and the numerous hosts which creep
+and fly."<a name="FNanchor_195_195" id="FNanchor_195_195"></a><a href="#Footnote_195_195" class="fnanchor">[195]</a></p>
+
+<p>Further, we find in the Avesta that the "priest"
+offers Haoma to Mithra, &Ccedil;raosha, and Drva&ccedil;pa on the
+divine mountain.<a name="FNanchor_196_196" id="FNanchor_196_196"></a><a href="#Footnote_196_196" class="fnanchor">[196]</a> The plant of which this god is the
+genius, grows, according to the books of the Parsees,
+as white heavenly Haoma only on the tree Gaokerena,
+<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the heavenly tree which stands on the divine
+mountain or in the spring Ardvi&ccedil;ura; the yellow
+Haoma which grows upon the earth is only a copy or
+descendant of the white Haoma. In Iran also the preparation
+and expression of the Haoma juice is accompanied
+by a long and minute ritual; and the offering of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>
+the sacrifice, which is still performed among the Parsees
+of India, requires long invocations and responses
+between the celebrant and the ministering priests. At
+the present day the Parsees send from time to time
+one of their priests to Kerman in order to bring from
+their ancient home twigs of Haoma for the sacrifice.</p>
+
+<p>The coincidence which we find above, in the forms
+of the legend, between the Avesta and the Veda&mdash;Vivanghana,
+Yima, Athwya, Thrita, Kere&ccedil;a&ccedil;pa, and
+U&ccedil;a are found in both&mdash;is not less marked in the
+conceptions of the gods and their functions, and in
+the character of the worship. There can be no doubt
+that the Arians of Iran believed themselves to be protected
+and injured by the same spirits as the Arians
+in the Panjab. If on the Indus invocations were addressed
+to Vritrahan, Vayu, the Maruts, and Mitra, in
+Iran men prayed to Verethraghna, Vayu, and Mithra.
+In both places Vritra and Ahi are the opponents of
+the god of light; in both fire was worshipped; in both
+the power of the sacrificial liquor was elevated into a
+mighty life-giving god. Among the Indians, as we
+saw, the priest who addresses the invocation to the
+god at the sacrifice is called Hotar; in the Avesta
+the Zaotar utters the prayers. Further coincidences
+in the number and nature of the gods, in the worship,
+in the laws and forms of purification, in the ceremonial,
+and even in the shape of the universe, will
+show themselves as we proceed. It is true that
+differences may also be found. Many of the numerous
+spirits of the Rigveda are wanting in the Avesta;
+and again, some spirits in the Avesta, such as Anahita,
+&Ccedil;raosha, Tistrya, are unknown to the Indians. Variations
+such as these must occur where there has been
+a separate development from a common root. But
+the factors in the coincidence of the most important<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>
+forms of the gods and heroes, and the distinctive
+modes of worship, in the Avesta and the Rigveda,
+the very oldest monument of the Arians in India,
+are so great that any doubt whether the Avesta
+remained free from alterations and influences of an
+alien or later nature in the revision under Shapur
+II., is entirely removed, and we know that we possess
+in it the remains of an original document of Iran,
+going back beyond the time of Cyrus. In the Avesta
+we have before us the faithful expression of the
+ancient Iranian faith. Though not in its original form
+this result is the more certain, because on the one
+hand some deities, as for instance Mithra, and some
+myths like that of Yima, exhibit older forms in the
+Avesta than in the Rigveda, while in others we have
+almost an identity of language between the two. In
+the Avesta as in the Veda the Soma is praised as
+"gold-coloured;" in both fire is the "house-lord;"
+the sun goes on his "path free from dust;" the power
+of the gods is increased by the sacrifice (p. 120). In
+both one god offers sacrifice to another, in order to
+strengthen him; and the invocations of the Avesta,
+like those of the Rigveda, ask for health and long
+life for the suppliant; for possessions and wealth and
+favour, for the power to see the thief, the murderer,
+and the wolf before they are seen by him.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_178_178" id="Footnote_178_178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_178_178"><span class="label">[178]</span></a> "Gah Ushahin," 5; "Mihr Yasht," 13, 143.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_179_179" id="Footnote_179_179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_179_179"><span class="label">[179]</span></a> "Mihr Yasht," 118.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_180_180" id="Footnote_180_180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_180_180"><span class="label">[180]</span></a> Pouruta may be referred to the
+&#928;&#945;&#961;&#965;&#951;&#964;&#945;&#953; of Ptolemy, whom he
+places in the north of Arachosia.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_181_181" id="Footnote_181_181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_181_181"><span class="label">[181]</span></a> Cf. "Mihr Yasht," 127, where the boar is not Verethraghna but
+the "curse of the sage."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_182_182" id="Footnote_182_182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_182_182"><span class="label">[182]</span></a> Windischmann, "Mithra; Abhl. f&uuml;r Kunde des Morgenlandes,"
+1, 1 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_183_183" id="Footnote_183_183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_183_183"><span class="label">[183]</span></a> Haug, "Essays," p. 185. The Sassanids also carry the club now
+called <i>guzr</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_184_184" id="Footnote_184_184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_184_184"><span class="label">[184]</span></a> "Yasht Bahram," 57-62. Burnouf, "Commentaire sur le Ya&ccedil;na,"
+p. 285.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_185_185" id="Footnote_185_185"></a><a href="#FNanchor_185_185"><span class="label">[185]</span></a> "Ram Yasht," 43-57.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_186_186" id="Footnote_186_186"></a><a href="#FNanchor_186_186"><span class="label">[186]</span></a> "Aban Yasht," 64 ff.; "Ya&ccedil;na," 74.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_187_187" id="Footnote_187_187"></a><a href="#FNanchor_187_187"><span class="label">[187]</span></a> Hang, "Essays," p. 179. The passages given in the text from the
+Aban Yasht, notwithstanding the swelling breasts, shows how definitely
+the form of Anahita belongs to the Iranian conception, how peculiarly
+this goddess of fountains is represented in this form, and how intimately
+connected she is with the whole Iranian system of the boon of water,
+and the legends of the heroes. A brass tablet found at Gr&auml;chwyl in
+the canton of Berne, which exhibits the Persian Artemis with swelling
+breasts, surrounded by four lions, with a bird of prey on her head and
+serpents instead of ears, and wings on the shoulders, has decided J.
+Stickel ("De monumento Graechwyliano") to regard the Persian
+Artemis as identical with the Semitic goddess of birth. This tablet is
+due to the syncretism of Roman times. Certain similarities between
+the Syrian goddess of birth and fertility, Mylitta-Derceto, and the
+Persian goddess of water, might lead to such a syncretism even under
+the Ach&aelig;menids, and this coincidence might determine Artaxerxes
+Mnemon to erect images of Anahita in Ecbatana and Susa after the
+pattern of the Semites. Beros. fragm., 16 ed. M&uuml;ller, and below.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_188_188" id="Footnote_188_188"></a><a href="#FNanchor_188_188"><span class="label">[188]</span></a> "Tistar Yasht," 24 ff., 40, 49-58.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_189_189" id="Footnote_189_189"></a><a href="#FNanchor_189_189"><span class="label">[189]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 56; "Vend." 18, 39.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_190_190" id="Footnote_190_190"></a><a href="#FNanchor_190_190"><span class="label">[190]</span></a> "Vend." 8, 248-250; "Ya&ccedil;na," 26, 61, 23; "Yasht Farvardin,"
+77.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_191_191" id="Footnote_191_191"></a><a href="#FNanchor_191_191"><span class="label">[191]</span></a> "Vend." 18, 57-63, 19, 134.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_192_192" id="Footnote_192_192"></a><a href="#FNanchor_192_192"><span class="label">[192]</span></a> Roth, "Ueber Ya&ccedil;na, 31," T&uuml;bingen, 1876, s. 6, 20.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_193_193" id="Footnote_193_193"></a><a href="#FNanchor_193_193"><span class="label">[193]</span></a> "Vend." 19, 135; "Ya&ccedil;na," 17, 69.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_194_194" id="Footnote_194_194"></a><a href="#FNanchor_194_194"><span class="label">[194]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 31, 3, 19.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_195_195" id="Footnote_195_195"></a><a href="#FNanchor_195_195"><span class="label">[195]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 9, 10, according to Burnouf, "Journ. Asiat." 1844-1846.
+Cf. Spiegel "Avesta," 2, 68 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_196_196" id="Footnote_196_196"></a><a href="#FNanchor_196_196"><span class="label">[196]</span></a> "Gosh Yasht," 17; "Mihr Yasht," 88; "Ya&ccedil;na," 56, 8.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE REFORM OF THE FAITH.</h3>
+
+
+<p>In the Gathas of the Avesta the spirit who keeps
+watch over the increase of the flocks speaks to the
+heavenly powers, saying: "All creatures are distressed;
+whom have ye for their assistance?" Auramazda
+makes answer: "I have one only who has received
+my commands, the holy Zarathrustra; he will proclaim
+my exhortations and those of Mazda and Asha, for
+I will make him practised in speech."<a name="FNanchor_197_197" id="FNanchor_197_197"></a><a href="#Footnote_197_197" class="fnanchor">[197]</a> Then Auramazda
+sacrificed to Ardvi&ccedil;ura that he might unite
+with Zarathrustra the son of Pourusha&ccedil;pa, to the end
+that the latter might think, speak, and act according
+to the law.<a name="FNanchor_198_198" id="FNanchor_198_198"></a><a href="#Footnote_198_198" class="fnanchor">[198]</a> Pourusha&ccedil;pa, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> rich in horses, of the
+race of Haechata&ccedil;pa,<a name="FNanchor_199_199" id="FNanchor_199_199"></a><a href="#Footnote_199_199" class="fnanchor">[199]</a> was the fourth who offered the
+sacrifice of Haoma in Airyana Vaeja after Vivanghana,
+Athwya, and Thrita. For this Zarathrustra was born
+to him.<a name="FNanchor_200_200" id="FNanchor_200_200"></a><a href="#Footnote_200_200" class="fnanchor">[200]</a> At his birth and his growth the grass and
+the trees increased, and all the creatures of Auramazda
+greeted each other because the priest had been created
+who would sacrifice for them and spread abroad the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>
+law of Auramazda, over the seven Kareshvare of the
+earth.<a name="FNanchor_201_201" id="FNanchor_201_201"></a><a href="#Footnote_201_201" class="fnanchor">[201]</a> &Ccedil;raosha, accompanied by the sublime Asha,
+appeared to Zarathrustra, and the latter declared himself
+ready to swear enmity against the liars, and to be
+a mighty source of help to the truth. And the god
+Haoma appeared to Zarathrustra and commanded him
+to press out his juice and to praise him, as other fire-priests
+praise him. And Zarathrustra praised Haoma
+and his mother the earth, and addressed six prayers
+to him (p. 125). Ashi vanguhi also came at Zarathrustra's
+command on her chariot, and inquired:
+"Who art thou who callest on me, whose speech is the
+most beautiful which I have heard from all those who
+invoke me? Come nearer to me; approach my chariot."
+Then she surrounded him with her right arm and her
+left and said: "Beautiful art thou, Zarathrustra, well
+grown, with strong legs and long arms. To thy body
+has been given brilliance, and to thy soul long prosperity."<a name="FNanchor_202_202" id="FNanchor_202_202"></a><a href="#Footnote_202_202" class="fnanchor">[202]</a>
+And when Zarathrustra sacrificed to Verethraghna,
+he granted him strength of arm, health, and
+vigour of body, and power of vision, such as that of
+the horse, which sees by night, and the gold-coloured
+vulture.<a name="FNanchor_203_203" id="FNanchor_203_203"></a><a href="#Footnote_203_203" class="fnanchor">[203]</a> But Auramazda taught Zarathrustra "the
+best words," prayers, and invocations, and charms
+against the evil spirits.<a name="FNanchor_204_204" id="FNanchor_204_204"></a><a href="#Footnote_204_204" class="fnanchor">[204]</a> "How," Zarathrustra inquires
+of Auramazda, "how ought I to protect the
+creatures from the evil spirits, from the wicked Angromainyu?"
+Then Auramazda answers: "Praise
+Auramazda, the creator of the pure creation; praise
+the victorious Mithra; praise the Amesha &Ccedil;pentas (the
+immortal saints), which rule over the seven parts of
+the earth; praise the holy &Ccedil;raosha, who holds the club
+against the head of the Daevas; praise Verethraghna,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>
+created by Ahura, the bearer of the splendour; praise
+the shining heavens, and the glowing Tistrya; praise
+Vayu, the swift; praise &Ccedil;penta Armaiti (the holy
+earth), the beautiful daughter of Auramazda. Praise
+the tree, the good, the pure, created by Ahura, the
+well-grown and strong; praise the glittering Haetumant
+(Etymandros); praise Yima Kshaeta, the
+possessor of good herds. Praise the good laws, the
+law against the Daevas, the law of the worshippers of
+Auramazda; praise the splendour of the Arian land;
+praise the abode of the pure. Praise the fire Vazista
+(p. 123), which smites the Daeva &Ccedil;penjaghra. Bring
+hard wood and perfumes, and water of purification to
+the fire."<a name="FNanchor_205_205" id="FNanchor_205_205"></a><a href="#Footnote_205_205" class="fnanchor">[205]</a></p>
+
+<p>Zarathrustra first proclaimed the words which
+Auramazda had taught him to Maidhyomao,<a name="FNanchor_206_206" id="FNanchor_206_206"></a><a href="#Footnote_206_206" class="fnanchor">[206]</a> the son
+of Ara&ccedil;ta, his father's brother, and spoke to the
+members of his race, the Haechata&ccedil;pas: "Ye holy
+Haechata&ccedil;pas, to you will I speak; ye distinguish the
+right and the wrong." The announcement did not
+remain confined to the circle of the family and the
+race: "To you that come," we are told in another
+passage, "I will announce the praises of the all-wise
+lord, and the praises of Vohumano. Look on the
+beams of fire with pious mind. The fair sayings of
+the fire-priests are the way of Vohumano. Thou
+gavest ancient sayings, O Ahura; by these will I
+annihilate among you the sacrifices of the lying gods.
+The worshipper of fire should accurately understand
+the correct words which have come from Vohumano
+(the good disposition and its spirit) in order that
+truth may be his portion." In other poems Zarathrustra
+laments: "The liar possesses the fields of
+the true man, who protects the earth; none of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>
+servants worship me; none of the lords of the land,
+who are unbelievers. The dominion is in the hands of
+the priests and prophets of the lying gods; whither
+shall I go for refuge?&mdash;to what land shall I turn? I
+cry for help for Frashaostra and myself. May the fire
+grant this help to both of us."<a name="FNanchor_207_207" id="FNanchor_207_207"></a><a href="#Footnote_207_207" class="fnanchor">[207]</a> Frashaostra of the
+race of Hvova, is mentioned in the Avesta as the
+closest adherent of Zarathrustra, and often in connection
+with Jama&ccedil;pa. The help for which Zarathrustra
+cried in this invocation was granted to him
+by King Vista&ccedil;pa. Zarathrustra offered the Haoma
+draught in Airyana Vaeja to Ardvi&ccedil;ura, and prayed
+to her: "Grant to me that I may combine with the
+son of Aurvata&ccedil;pa, the strong Kava Vista&ccedil;pa, to the
+end that he may think, speak, and act according to
+the law;" and the goddess granted him this favour.<a name="FNanchor_208_208" id="FNanchor_208_208"></a><a href="#Footnote_208_208" class="fnanchor">[208]</a>
+And Zarathrustra sacrificed to the Drva&ccedil;pa (the goddess
+of flocks) in Airyana Vaeja, to the end that he
+might unite with the good and noble Hutao&ccedil;a (the
+wife of Vista&ccedil;pa), that she might impress the good
+law on her memory.<a name="FNanchor_209_209" id="FNanchor_209_209"></a><a href="#Footnote_209_209" class="fnanchor">[209]</a> Finally, we read: "Who is
+thy true friend on the great earth; who will proclaim
+it? Kava Vista&ccedil;pa, the warlike, will do this."<a name="FNanchor_210_210" id="FNanchor_210_210"></a><a href="#Footnote_210_210" class="fnanchor">[210]</a></p>
+
+<p>Of King Vista&ccedil;pa and Frashaostra the Avesta then
+tells us, "that they prepared the right path for the
+faith which Ahura gave to the fire-priests." In the
+prayers Kava Vista&ccedil;pa is praised because as an arm,
+an assister, and helper, he has subjected himself to
+the law of Ahura, the law of Zarathrustra; because he
+has opened a wide path for purity, and has established
+the law in the world. The mighty brilliance of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>
+ruler supported Zarathrustra, "in establishing the law
+and making it highly esteemed."<a name="FNanchor_211_211" id="FNanchor_211_211"></a><a href="#Footnote_211_211" class="fnanchor">[211]</a> When Jama&ccedil;pa saw
+the army of the Daeva-worshippers approach, he sacrificed
+to Ardvi&ccedil;ura a hundred horses, a thousand
+oxen, and ten thousand head of small cattle, and
+Ardvi&ccedil;ura granted to him to fight victoriously against
+all the non-Arians. And Zairivairi, the brother of
+Vista&ccedil;pa, besought Ardvi&ccedil;ura that he might smite the
+skilful Peshana, who worshipped the Daevas, and
+Arejata&ccedil;pa. Kava Vista&ccedil;pa himself offered sacrifice
+in order to obtain the victory over Asta-aurva, over the
+Daeva worshippers &Ccedil;pinjauruska, and Darsinika, and
+the murderous Arejata&ccedil;pa.<a name="FNanchor_212_212" id="FNanchor_212_212"></a><a href="#Footnote_212_212" class="fnanchor">[212]</a> And Vista&ccedil;pa smote
+Peshana and Arejata&ccedil;pa, and Zarathrustra blessed
+him: "I praise thee, O ruler of the lands. May life
+be given to thy wives and thy children, which shall
+be born from thy body. Be thou possessed of swift
+horses, like the sun, shining like the moon, glowing
+as fire, sharp as Mithra, a conqueror of enemies like
+Verethraghna, well grown and victorious as &Ccedil;raosha.
+Mayest thou be a ruler like Yima; mayest thou be
+victorious and rich in cattle like Thraetaona, bold and
+strong as Kere&ccedil;a&ccedil;pa, wise as Urvakshaya, brilliant as
+Kava U&ccedil;a, without sickness and death, like Kava
+Hu&ccedil;rava, stainless as &Ccedil;yavarshana, rich in horses as
+Pourusha&ccedil;pa, a friend of the heavenly ones, and
+conqueror of men."<a name="FNanchor_213_213" id="FNanchor_213_213"></a><a href="#Footnote_213_213" class="fnanchor">[213]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Avesta gives Zarathrustra three sons: Urvatatnara,
+Hvare&ccedil;ithra, Daevotbi (Punisher of the Daevas);
+and three daughters: Freni, Thriti, and Pourushi&ccedil;ta.<a name="FNanchor_214_214" id="FNanchor_214_214"></a><a href="#Footnote_214_214" class="fnanchor">[214]</a>
+His work is summed up in the fact that he compelled
+the Daevas, who previously had been in human form<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>
+upon the earth, to hide themselves in the earth.<a name="FNanchor_215_215" id="FNanchor_215_215"></a><a href="#Footnote_215_215" class="fnanchor">[215]</a> His
+doctrine prevents the Daevas from injuring the creation,
+as before, and gives to all the creatures of the
+good god the means of protecting themselves more
+effectually against the evil. Hence Zarathrustra is
+the increaser of life; in this sense he is described,
+invoked, and worshipped as the lord and master of
+all created life. But in time &Ccedil;aoshyant will be born,
+who will make the evil creatures wholly powerless,
+and bring on for man the time of undisturbed happiness,
+in which there will no more be any battle;
+the time of uninterrupted life, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> of immortality.
+In this period all who once had life will have life
+again; <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the life destroyed by Angromainyu and
+the evil spirits will be restored, and the dead will rise
+to a new life.</p>
+
+<p>Zarathrustra's birth and growth struck terror into
+the evil spirit Angromainyu. "The Yazatas" (the
+gods), he exclaimed, "have not forced me from the
+earth, crossed with paths, round, and wide-reaching;
+but Zarathrustra will drive me from it."<a name="FNanchor_216_216" id="FNanchor_216_216"></a><a href="#Footnote_216_216" class="fnanchor">[216]</a> And the
+Daevas took counsel on the summit of Arezura, whither
+they are wont to come together from their caves with
+the Druj: "Alas! in the dwelling of Pourusha&ccedil;pa
+the pure Zarathrustra has been born. He is the
+weapon with which the Daevas are smitten; he takes
+away the power from the Daevi Druj, and the Daevi
+Na&ccedil;u (&#957;&#941;&#1008;&#965;&#962;, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the spirit of the dead), and the false
+lies; how shall we compass his death?" And from
+the region of the north Angromainyu dashed forward,
+who is full of death, the Daeva of Daevas, and said:
+"O Druj, go up and slay the pure Zarathrustra."
+And "Zarathrustra said in the spirit: The wicked, evil-minded
+Daevas are considering my death. And he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>
+arose and went forth, bearing in his hand stones of
+the size of a Kata, which he had received from the
+creator Auramazda, and he praised the good waters of
+the good creation, and the law of the worshippers of
+Auramazda, and uttered the prayer: <i>Yatha ahu vairyo</i>.
+The Druj ran round about him, and the Daeva Buiti,
+the deceiver of mortals; and the Druj ran in alarm
+from him and said to Angromainyu, the tormentor:
+In him, in the holy Zarathrustra, I see no death.
+And Zarathrustra said to Angromainyu: Evil-minded
+Angromainyu, I will smite the creation which is created
+by the Daevas; I will smite the spirit of the dead
+which the Daevas have created, until &Ccedil;aoshyant the
+victorious shall be born from the water of Kan&ccedil;ava,
+in the region of the east. Angromainyu answered
+him: Wherewith wilt thou smite my creatures? With
+what weapons wilt thou destroy them? Then spake
+Zarathrustra: The pestle, the bowl, the Haoma, these
+are my best weapons, and the words which Auramazda
+has spoken. By this sacred word will I annihilate thy
+creatures, O evil Angromainyu. Slay not my creatures,
+O pure Zarathrustra, answered Angromainyu.
+Thou art the son of Pourusha&ccedil;pa, and hast life from a
+mother. Curse the good law of the worshippers of
+Auramazda, and attain the prosperity which Vadhaghna
+has attained, the ruler of the lands. But
+Zarathrustra spake: I will not curse the good law of
+the worshippers of Auramazda; no, not though my
+bones and soul and power of life were torn asunder.
+Then the evil Daevas ran and took counsel on the
+summit of Arezura, and Angromainyu spoke: What
+will the Daevas bring thither? But they said: 'The
+evil eye;' and hastened to the bottom of hell, the
+dark, the evil, the wicked."<a name="FNanchor_217_217" id="FNanchor_217_217"></a><a href="#Footnote_217_217" class="fnanchor">[217]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>With Zarathrustra, according to the Avesta, a new
+era begins. He is the proclaimer of a new law. But
+along with this we are told that even in Yima's time
+the earth glowed with red fires; the power of the old
+sayings of the fire-priests is extolled; the professors of
+the first, and those of the new law receive commendation.
+Zarathrustra is born to his father as a reward
+for offering an ancient sacrifice, the sacrifice of Haoma.
+He himself dresses the fire at daybreak before he
+comes forth to announce his new doctrine; and even
+while announcing it he sacrifices to the old gods
+Verethraghna and Ardvi&ccedil;ura; the gods whom the
+heroes of the old days invoke appear to him also, the
+prophet of the new teaching; they demand that he
+shall offer sacrifice, and insist on their worship; they
+grant him favour and gifts. It is precisely the ancient
+sacrifice of Haoma, the common possession of the Arians
+in Iran and India, which is declared by Zarathrustra
+to be the best means of repelling the evil ones, and
+not Zarathrustra only, but also Auramazda sacrifices
+to an ancient divinity that the son of Pourusha&ccedil;pa
+may be obedient to his commands, and then directs
+the latter to invoke the ancient gods, Mithra, Verethragna,
+&Ccedil;raosha, Vayu, and Tistrya, and to worship
+fire. Hence it was no new religion which Zarathrustra
+taught; it was nothing more than a reform of the
+ancient faith, and traditional modes of worship.</p>
+
+<p>We were able definitely to ascertain from the fragments
+of the Avesta that it arose in the east of Iran;
+the districts of the north-east are especially prominent
+in it. It denotes Bactra as the abode of dominion
+(p. 31). A doctrine which, as we shall see, lays the
+greatest stress on the cultivation of the land, could not
+have grown up in the deserts of the Gedrosians, or
+the steppes of the Sagartians. If, according to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>
+Avesta, "the evil custom of the burial of the dead
+prevails" in Arachosia (Harahvaiti);<a name="FNanchor_218_218" id="FNanchor_218_218"></a><a href="#Footnote_218_218" class="fnanchor">[218]</a> if Haetumat
+(Drangiana) is reproved for the sins which are practised
+there;<a name="FNanchor_219_219" id="FNanchor_219_219"></a><a href="#Footnote_219_219" class="fnanchor">[219]</a> if we are told of Haraeva (the land of the
+Arians) that it is indeed rich in houses but full of
+poverty and idleness,<a name="FNanchor_220_220" id="FNanchor_220_220"></a><a href="#Footnote_220_220" class="fnanchor">[220]</a> and of Ragha that it is indeed
+Zoroastian but full of utter unbelief<a name="FNanchor_221_221" id="FNanchor_221_221"></a><a href="#Footnote_221_221" class="fnanchor">[221]</a>&mdash;if the sin of
+burning corpses prevails in Chakhra (Chirhem?),<a name="FNanchor_222_222" id="FNanchor_222_222"></a><a href="#Footnote_222_222" class="fnanchor">[222]</a> it is
+clear that these lands are distinct from the region in
+which the pure doctrine of Zarathrustra, proclaimed in
+the Avesta, arose, and became so firmly established as
+to be universally current. Hence of all the lands in
+Iran, mentioned in the Avesta, only Airyana Vaeja,
+Margiana, Sogdiana, and Bactria remain.  In the
+Avesta Zarathrustra is famous in Airyana Vaeja; in
+that land he sacrifices; and, as the Avesta allots but
+two months of summer and ten months of cold winter
+to this region, we must look for it on the high mountain
+range of the North-east (p. 73). Zarathrustra stands
+in a close relation to Queen Hutao&ccedil;a and King Vista&ccedil;pa,
+who fights against the worshippers of the
+Daevas and Arejata&ccedil;pa, and prepares a way for the
+new doctrine. Among the heroes of the ancient time
+and the spirits of the pious who are invoked in the
+prayers of the Avesta, the immortal part of King
+Vista&ccedil;pa is repeatedly invoked besides Zarathrustra
+and Frashaostra. We have already shown in what a
+contrast the Bactrians and Sogdiani stood to the
+nations of the steppes of the Oxus, and what a position
+is allotted to King Vista&ccedil;pa as repelling the
+Iranians. In thus celebrating him as the protector
+of Zarathrustra, the Avesta plainly puts Zarathrustra
+himself in Bactria.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>If we may assume the fact that the reform of the
+religion must have proceeded from Bactria and Sogdiana
+in the north-east of Iran, the next question to
+be decided is, whether it is possible to determine the
+meaning and import of this reform. The forms and
+views, which are found to agree in the Avesta and
+Rigveda, we have already established, with complete
+certainty, to be the ancient possession of the Arians of
+Iran. The elements of the religious conception, and
+several very definite forms and traits in the belief and
+worship, were the same in the Panjab and Iran. The
+leading principle was the contrast of the bright beneficent
+powers who give life and increase and the evil
+spirits of darkness, drought, and death. This possession
+was therefore in existence before the reform. This
+principle must have become more prominent among
+the Arians of Iran owing to the nature of their
+country. The fertile land and the desert were in far
+greater proximity there than in the Panjab. The
+centre of Iran was filled with a vast desert; wide and
+barren table-lands spread out on north and south; the
+most favoured regions were almost like oases. Closely
+adjacent to the most fruitful valleys and slopes lay
+endless steppes; blooming plains, shaded by thick
+groups of trees, were surrounded by hot deserts of
+sand. If the alpine districts of the north possessed
+the most splendid forests and luxuriant pastures, yet
+the snow fell early, and the winter was severe; if
+vegetation ran riot on the fringe of the Caspian, fever
+and reptiles infested the marshy plains. Close beside
+abundant productiveness lay drought and desert, bare
+flats of rock, deserts of sand, and fields of snow. The
+inhabitants of Iran had not only to suffer from the
+heat of summer but also from the cold of winter, from
+the scorching winds of the desert as well as from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>
+snow-storms which came from the table-lands of the
+north. On the one hand, pastures and fields were
+covered for many weeks with snow; on the other, sand-storms
+from the desert ruined the tillage; in one
+district camels succumbed to the cold of the lofty
+terraces, or slipped from the icy slopes down the
+precipices; in another, the desert wind dried up fountains
+and springs. Here the winter, "which flies past
+to slay the herds, and is full of snow," as the Avesta
+says, was "of endless duration;" it was "on the water,
+the trees, and the field," and "its cold penetrated to
+the heart of the earth;" there the herds were tormented
+by the fly in the heat, bears and wolves fell
+upon the folds, and it was necessary to find protection
+against serpents and ravenous beasts of prey.<a name="FNanchor_223_223" id="FNanchor_223_223"></a><a href="#Footnote_223_223" class="fnanchor">[223]</a> In this
+land life was a conflict against the heat of summer and
+the south, against the chill of winter and the mountain
+heights, a struggle for the maintenance and protection
+of the herds; and as soon as these tribes had
+become settled in the more favoured regions and
+passed over to agriculture, there began on the edge of
+those oases the struggle against the desert and the
+steppe. Here water must be conveyed to the dry
+earth, there the tillage must be protected against the
+sand-storms of the desert. To these difficulties and contrasts
+in the nature of the land was added a contrast in
+the mode of life of the population. The majority of
+the tribes of the table-land of the interior, and a part
+of the inhabitants of the mountainous rim, could not,
+owing to the nature of the land, pass beyond a nomadic
+pastoral life, and even to this day the population of Iran
+is to a considerable extent nomadic;<a name="FNanchor_224_224" id="FNanchor_224_224"></a><a href="#Footnote_224_224" class="fnanchor">[224]</a> while other tribes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>
+toiled laboriously in the sweat of their brows, these
+wandered with their herds in idleness, ever ready for
+battle; and thus there could be no lack of ambuscades
+and plunder, of attacks and raids on the cultivated
+districts.</p>
+
+<p>All these contrasts are most marked on the slopes
+of the north-eastern edge, in Margiana, Bactria, and
+Sogdiana, which lay open to the steppes of the Caspian
+Sea. Here were fruitful, blooming valleys with luxuriant
+vegetation on the banks of the mountain streams,
+yet, wherever the mountains receded, the endless desert
+at once began. If the stars shone clear through the
+night on mountains and table-lands, in the pure and
+vapourless atmosphere of Iran, sand-storms and mist
+lay on the northern desert. The winds blowing from
+the north brought icy cold in the winter; in the
+summer they drove the sand of the deserts over the
+fruitful fields, to which water has to be laboriously
+conveyed in the time of the greatest heat, while
+eternal winter reigned in the heights of Belurdagh
+and Hindu Kush. There was also the continual fear
+of the nomads who dwelt on the steppes to the north,
+who made attacks on the fruitful slopes and valleys.
+We have already shown that it was precisely on the
+slopes of the Hindu Kush that the necessity of protection
+against the nations of the steppes led to a
+combination of the forces of the tribes who were settled
+there, and gave the impulse to the formation of a
+larger polity.</p>
+
+<p>In such a territory, when the tribes had once become
+settled in the more favoured regions, amid such struggles
+against nature and the plundering neighbours,
+it is clear that the conception of the contrast between
+good and evil spirits must become more widely developed
+and sharply pointed&mdash;that it should indeed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>
+form the hinge of all religious ideas. The good spirits
+had given fruit and increase to many excellent lands;
+but the evil spirits destroyed these blessings with their
+storms of sand and snow, their cold and heat, their
+beasts of prey and serpents. Wherever the herds
+throve and the fields were fruitful, there the good
+spirits were gracious; where the pastures withered,
+and the fields were covered with sand, the wicked
+spirits had maliciously rendered of no avail the labours
+of men. In the valleys of Bactria and Sogdiana there
+was labour, industry, increase and fruit; beyond, in
+the steppe, all was barren; the storms went whirling
+round, and wild hordes of robbers roamed to and fro.
+Thus in these regions the conception of the struggle of
+the good spirits, and the evil, which injure, torment,
+punish and murder men, was most lively, the religious
+feeling of these conceptions most completely penetrated
+and governed the minds of men.</p>
+
+<p>All creatures were oppressed by the evil spirits, so
+the Avesta told us (p. 129); and therefore Auramazda
+determines to teach Zarathrustra "the wise sayings."
+No new belief or new forms of worship are to be
+introduced; the means of protection against the evil
+ones were to be multiplied and strengthened. We
+know what importance the Arians in India ascribed to
+the correct prayer and invocation, what power over
+the spirits and indeed over the deities themselves they
+ascribed to the correct words, what a defensive power
+they attributed to the sayings of the Atharvan. The
+same ideas were current among the Arians of Iran.
+The heaven of the good god and holy spirits is, in the
+Avesta, the "dwelling of invocations" (Garonmana).
+Hence the first point in the reform was that new
+formul&aelig; and prayers should be added to the old
+prayers and incantations. The fire that slays demons<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>
+is to burn day and night on the hearth, and must
+always be tended with hard, dry, well-hewn wood;
+the spirits of light, the great Mithra, the sun, the stars,
+are to be earnestly invoked along with the victorious
+Verethraghna, and &Ccedil;raosha the slayer of demons, the
+life-giving god, to whom Haoma is to be offered; and
+the libation of Haoma is to be frequently offered to the
+spirits of light. If men prayed constantly to the good
+spirits, and cursed the evil, if they made use of the holy
+sayings when they observed that the evil beings came,
+then wicked creatures would certainly remain far from
+house, and farm, and field. According to the Avesta,
+Zarathrustra first uttered the Ahuna vairya, and Angromainyu
+says that though the deities have not been
+able to drive him from the earth, Zarathrustra will
+smite him with the Ahuna vairya.<a name="FNanchor_225_225" id="FNanchor_225_225"></a><a href="#Footnote_225_225" class="fnanchor">[225]</a> In the minds of
+the priests of the Avesta, this prayer is itself a mighty
+being to which worship is to be offered, just as in the
+Vedas the holy prayers and some parts of the ritual&mdash;nay
+even the verse-measure of the hymns&mdash;are treated
+as divine powers.</p>
+
+<p>It was an old Arian conception, which we have
+observed widely spread on the Ganges, that filth and
+pollution and contact with what is impure and dead
+gave the evil spirit power over those who had contracted
+such defilement. This uncleanness must be
+removed, and its operation checked. The reform,
+which bears the name of Zarathrustra, must have
+extended and increased in Iran the rules for purification
+and the removal of uncleanness. These regulations,
+carried out in long and wearisome detail on
+the basis of this new movement, are before us in the
+Vendidad. The Avesta says: Zarathrustra was the
+first who praised the Asha Vahista (<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the best truth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>fulness
+which is at the same time the highest purity)
+and represents Angromainyu as exclaiming; "that
+Zarathrustra made him as hot by the Ashi Vahista as
+metal is made in the melting."<a name="FNanchor_226_226" id="FNanchor_226_226"></a><a href="#Footnote_226_226" class="fnanchor">[226]</a></p>
+
+<p>Whatever gave increase and life, water and trees
+and good soil, and the animals which were useful to
+men, were the work of the good spirits, the good
+creation; the steppes, the desert, the heat, the fierce
+cold, the beasts of prey, these were the work of the
+evil ones, the bad creation. Did not a man increase
+life and growth if he industriously cultivated his field,
+watered it well, and extended it towards the desert, if
+he destroyed the animals and insects which did harm
+to the fields and trees, if he gave room to fruitfulness
+against unfertility? Did he not extend and sustain
+the good creation, and lessen the evil, if he planted and
+watered, and diminished the harmful animals, the
+serpents, the worms, and beasts of prey? By such
+work a man took the side of the good spirits against
+the evil, and fought with them. It was in the will
+and power of man by the act of his hands, by labour
+and effort, to strengthen the good creation. The
+importance which the Avesta ascribes to the cultivation
+of the land, we may regard as a prominent trait of the
+reform, as an essential part of its ethical importance.
+Beside warriors and priests the Avesta knows only
+the agricultural class.</p>
+
+<p>In the Veda the gods of the light and the highest
+heaven, Mithra and Varuna, are the guardians of truth
+and purity, the avengers and punishers of evil deeds.
+The invocation of Mithra in the Avesta, given above,
+showed us that the Arians of Iran recognised in this
+deity the spirit of purity, the inevitable avenger of
+injustice. With his all-penetrating eye he watches,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>
+not only over purity of body, but also over purity
+of soul. We may regard it as certain that the reform
+carried a long step forward the ethical impulse
+which lay in this conception of Mithra&mdash;a conception
+current on both sides of the Indus. This view is
+supported by the great importance which the Avesta
+ascribes to truthfulness, in the decisive value given
+to this virtue for the purity of the soul, and the
+identification of purity with truthfulness. As filth
+defiles the body, so, according to the Avesta, does a lie
+defile the soul. Lying and deception are the worst
+sins of which a man can be guilty. The ethical
+advance is obvious when the evil spirits are not merely
+regarded as doing harm to men, but it is emphatically
+stated that they deceive men, and a lie is the essence
+of the evil spirits. In the Avesta a part of them have
+simply the name of the spirits of deception, of the
+Druj. The suppliants of the true gods are called
+<i>Ashavan, i.&nbsp;e.</i> the true, the pure; the worshippers of
+the evil spirits are liars.</p>
+
+<p>The ideas of the Veda about the hosts of the spirits
+of ancestors, and the entrance of the good and pious
+into the heaven of light, are also current among the
+Arians of Iran. These the reform could not leave
+untouched. From the ethical characteristic which
+marks them, from the severe inculcation of a pure, true,
+active life, it proceeded to the idea of a sort of judgment
+on the souls after death. The detailed form in
+which this idea is presented to us in the Avesta will
+be given below.</p>
+
+<p>In all religions, when they have reached a certain
+stage of development, the impulse arises to find the
+unity of the divine being among the multifarious crowd
+of deities. On the Ganges the Brahmans or priests
+attained to this unity by elevating the power of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>
+holy acts which controlled the deities, and was mightier
+than they, into the lord of the gods, by uniting with
+this conception the great breath or world-soul, the
+source of life springing up in nature. In Iran the
+reform did not look on nature as one, like the Brahmans
+on the Ganges, and owing to the character of
+the land and the strong contrasts there met with it
+could not easily perceive in it any single whole; on
+the contrary, it comprehended in unity, on the one
+hand, the good beneficent side of nature, which gives
+increase, light, and life to men; and, on the other,
+ranged the harmful powers together in opposition to
+the good. Hence it came about that the spirits which
+worked on either side were, so to speak, combined,
+and the two totals came forward in opposition. To
+these totals the reform sought to give unity by placing
+a chieftain at the head of each, the good and the bad.
+The chief of the good was Ahura, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the lord, who
+is also denoted by the name Mazda, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the wise, but
+he is generally invoked by the united title Ahura
+Mazda (Auramazda in the dialect of Western Iran),
+the wise lord; occasionally, in the Avesta, he is called
+&Ccedil;pentomainyu, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the spirit of holy mind, the holy
+spirit. In the Rigveda the name Ahura Mazda, in the
+form Asura Medha, is used for more than one god of
+light. The chief of the evil spirits was Angromainyu,
+<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> he that thinks evil, the destroying spirit.</p>
+
+<p>The good and the evil spirits are regarded as active,
+the one on the beneficent, the other on the injurious
+side of nature. It was a step in advance when the
+reform arrived at the conception, that as the good
+and evil spirits ruled the life of nature and man,
+so in the beginning of the world, at the time of
+its origin, the good and evil spirits must have been
+active; the good was from the beginning the work<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>
+of the good; the evil the work of the evil. As
+the heavenly and infernal spirits were regarded as
+in perpetual activity, the reform could not here, as in
+India, look on nature and men as emanations from a
+being in repose&mdash;from the world-soul&mdash;the nature of
+which became ever less pure and bright, less really
+itself, as the emanations advanced. Instead of an
+emanation, the active force and contrast of the spirits
+gave rise to the idea that the world was brought into
+being by the will and power of the two supreme spirits
+to a creation of the world. The good side of the
+world must have been the work of the chief of the good
+spirits, the evil side the work of the evil. Auramazda
+created the good, but immediately he created
+it, Angromainyu created the evil in order to destroy
+the good. And as at the creation, so also in the
+created world, the mutual opposition of the good and
+evil god, the struggle of their hosts, goes on. There
+is no direct contest between Auramazda and Angromainyu;
+they operate against each other for increase
+and destruction, life and death, and for the souls of
+men; the direct conflict against evil remains, even
+after the reform, with the old spirits, with Mithra,
+Verethragna, &Ccedil;raosha, and Tistrya.</p>
+
+<p>From this we may without hesitation draw the
+inference that Auramazda and Angromainyu did not
+belong to the original belief of the Arians of Iran.
+From the absence of any myth about Auramazda, and
+the character of the names, "the wise lord," "the
+destroying spirit," it further follows that the gods
+thus named could not be the creation of any primitive
+religious feeling. These names belong to a period of
+reflection, which strives to make a presentment of the
+general operation of the good and evil powers, of
+their intellectual and ethical characteristics, and at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>
+the same time seeks to express their nature, as well
+as their relation to the world. Finally, the wavering
+position which Auramazda takes up in the Avesta
+towards the old deities, shows that he is of later
+origin. Though now the supreme deity, he sacrifices
+to Tistrya, in order to give him strength for the victory
+over Apaosha (p. 120); to Ardvi&ccedil;ura, that Zarathrustra
+may be obedient to him (p. 129); and to other
+gods of the old period. Beside him Mithra is praised
+in the old style as the highest power; he instructs
+Zarathrustra to invoke the old gods, who still continue
+in their traditionary activity. But we have express
+evidence that Auramazda belongs to the reform.
+"The first man," so the Avesta says, "who sacrificed
+to Auramazda was the sacred Zarathrustra."<a name="FNanchor_227_227" id="FNanchor_227_227"></a><a href="#Footnote_227_227" class="fnanchor">[227]</a> In the
+transformation, however loose, of the divine nature
+into "the wise lord," with his change from a natural
+force to an ethical and intellectual power, and elevation
+to be the creator "of the heaven and the earth"
+(p. 87), lay the most decisive step taken by the
+reform; by these conceptions it had raised the ancient
+possession of the Arians of Iran to a new stage.</p>
+
+<p>It is a remarkable fact that the evil spirits in the
+Avesta bear the name of Daevas. The Arians of India
+called their good gods, the gods of light, Devas; from
+the same root has sprung the general name of the gods
+among the Greeks, Italians, and the Celts. Hence
+among the Arians of Iran also it must once have been
+in use for the spirits of light. Why the names Bagha
+and Yazata became used in the Avesta for the good
+gods, while the evil spirits received the name of Daevas
+we cannot discover; nor can we decide whether this
+change of name came in with the reform. We can
+only discover that an analogous change has taken<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>
+place in India also. In the Rigveda the good gods
+are comprised under the name Asura (old Bactrian
+Ahura), <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the lord; at a later time the evil spirits
+among the Indians were always called Asuras, while
+in Iran the name is allotted to the highest among
+the good spirits.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_197_197" id="Footnote_197_197"></a><a href="#FNanchor_197_197"><span class="label">[197]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 29; Roth; "Z. D. M. G." 25, 6 ff. <i>Geus urva</i> means
+soul of the bull; the priests identified the soul of the first created bull
+with the protectress of the flocks, the Drva&ccedil;pa, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> having mighty
+horses. Spiegel, "Avesta," 3, 74.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_198_198" id="Footnote_198_198"></a><a href="#FNanchor_198_198"><span class="label">[198]</span></a> "Aban Yasht," 17-19.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_199_199" id="Footnote_199_199"></a><a href="#FNanchor_199_199"><span class="label">[199]</span></a> "Afrin Zartusht," 4.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_200_200" id="Footnote_200_200"></a><a href="#FNanchor_200_200"><span class="label">[200]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 9, 42.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_201_201" id="Footnote_201_201"></a><a href="#FNanchor_201_201"><span class="label">[201]</span></a> "Farvardin Yasht," 93, 94.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_202_202" id="Footnote_202_202"></a><a href="#FNanchor_202_202"><span class="label">[202]</span></a> "Ashi Yasht," 17 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_203_203" id="Footnote_203_203"></a><a href="#FNanchor_203_203"><span class="label">[203]</span></a> "Bahram Yasht," 28-33.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_204_204" id="Footnote_204_204"></a><a href="#FNanchor_204_204"><span class="label">[204]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 13, 18; 64, 38; 69, 65.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_205_205" id="Footnote_205_205"></a><a href="#FNanchor_205_205"><span class="label">[205]</span></a> "Vend." 19, 36-137.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_206_206" id="Footnote_206_206"></a><a href="#FNanchor_206_206"><span class="label">[206]</span></a> "Farvardin Yasht," 95.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_207_207" id="Footnote_207_207"></a><a href="#FNanchor_207_207"><span class="label">[207]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 28, 9, 44, 45; 46, 1-4; 49, 8; 50, 16, 18, according
+to Haug's translation, which however has been called in question.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_208_208" id="Footnote_208_208"></a><a href="#FNanchor_208_208"><span class="label">[208]</span></a> "Aban Yasht," 104-106.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_209_209" id="Footnote_209_209"></a><a href="#FNanchor_209_209"><span class="label">[209]</span></a> "Gosh Yasht;" cf. "Ram Yasht," 36; "Farvardin Yasht," 142.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_210_210" id="Footnote_210_210"></a><a href="#FNanchor_210_210"><span class="label">[210]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 45, 14 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_211_211" id="Footnote_211_211"></a><a href="#FNanchor_211_211"><span class="label">[211]</span></a> "Farvardin Yasht," 99; "Zamyad Yasht," 84 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_212_212" id="Footnote_212_212"></a><a href="#FNanchor_212_212"><span class="label">[212]</span></a> "Ashi Yasht," 49; "Aban Yasht," 112.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_213_213" id="Footnote_213_213"></a><a href="#FNanchor_213_213"><span class="label">[213]</span></a> "Afrin Zartusht," 1-4.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_214_214" id="Footnote_214_214"></a><a href="#FNanchor_214_214"><span class="label">[214]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 52, 3; "Farvardin Yasht," 98.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_215_215" id="Footnote_215_215"></a><a href="#FNanchor_215_215"><span class="label">[215]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 9, 46.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_216_216" id="Footnote_216_216"></a><a href="#FNanchor_216_216"><span class="label">[216]</span></a> "Ashi Yasht," 19.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_217_217" id="Footnote_217_217"></a><a href="#FNanchor_217_217"><span class="label">[217]</span></a> "Vend." 3, 23; 19, 1-32, 140-147.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_218_218" id="Footnote_218_218"></a><a href="#FNanchor_218_218"><span class="label">[218]</span></a> "Vend." 1, 46-48.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_219_219" id="Footnote_219_219"></a><a href="#FNanchor_219_219"><span class="label">[219]</span></a> "Vend." 1, 50-52.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_220_220" id="Footnote_220_220"></a><a href="#FNanchor_220_220"><span class="label">[220]</span></a> "Vend." 1, 30-32.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_221_221" id="Footnote_221_221"></a><a href="#FNanchor_221_221"><span class="label">[221]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 19, 51, 52; "Vend." 1, 60-62.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_222_222" id="Footnote_222_222"></a><a href="#FNanchor_222_222"><span class="label">[222]</span></a> "Vend." 1, 64-66.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_223_223" id="Footnote_223_223"></a><a href="#FNanchor_223_223"><span class="label">[223]</span></a> "Vend." 1, 9-12, 24; 7, 69.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_224_224" id="Footnote_224_224"></a><a href="#FNanchor_224_224"><span class="label">[224]</span></a> Herodotus states expressly that some tribes of the Persians were
+nomads (1, 125); beside the Sagartians nomadic tribes are also
+mentioned among the Carmanians, Areians, etc.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_225_225" id="Footnote_225_225"></a><a href="#FNanchor_225_225"><span class="label">[225]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 9, 41; "Ashi Yasht," 20.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_226_226" id="Footnote_226_226"></a><a href="#FNanchor_226_226"><span class="label">[226]</span></a> "Ashi Yasht," 20.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_227_227" id="Footnote_227_227"></a><a href="#FNanchor_227_227"><span class="label">[227]</span></a> "Ashi Yasht," 18.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE DOCTRINE OF THE AVESTA.</h3>
+
+
+<p>When the tribes of the Aryas advanced from the
+Panjab towards the East, and established themselves on
+the Ganges, the gods to whom they had offered prayers
+on the Indus faded away amid the abundant fertility
+of the new land; and the lively perception of the
+struggle of the gods of light against the spirits of
+darkness made room for the conception of the world-soul,
+from which nature and all living creatures were
+thought to have emanated. Similar religious principles
+led the Arians in Iran to a religious reform of an
+opposite kind. The idea of an emanation of the world,
+proceeding without any opposition, could not maintain
+itself in a life occupied in labour for the means of
+sustenance, in toiling and struggling against nature.
+Luxuriant growth and dreary desolation, scorching heat
+and severe winter, such as were found alternating in
+Iran, could not flow from one and the same source.
+There man must be active and brave, and therefore
+the divine being could not be regarded as existing in
+repose. The nature of the table-land, divided between
+fertile tillage and desert, between heat and cold, not
+merely caused the old idea of the conflict between good
+and evil spirits to continue, but even increased and
+extended it. All nature was made subject to this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>
+opposing action of the gods, and the old conception of
+the conflict was developed into a complete system.
+With the extension of the operation of the beneficent
+and harmful power over the whole of nature, man was
+drawn into the conflict as active force. He must not
+only invoke the assistance of the good spirits; he
+must himself take part in the struggle of the good
+against the evil. In this way he provided for his soul
+and salvation better than by prayer and sacrifice; he
+strengthened so far as in him lay the life and increase
+of the world, and lessened the sphere in which the
+power of the evil spirits could operate. If the Indians
+by the elevation of Brahman arrived only at the great
+contrast between nature and spirit, between soul and
+body; if all nature was regarded as something evil and
+to be annihilated, so that the mortification and torturing
+of the body and annihilation of self became the
+highest ethical aims&mdash;the Bactrians or Arians in Iran
+were directed by their reform to more energetic work
+and activity against the harmful side of nature, and
+the evil part of the soul. With the free choice of this
+or that side, with the duty of working on nature, and
+educating self, the conditions of a more happy and
+powerful development were given them.</p>
+
+<p>It was the duty of any earnest and eminent adherents
+of the reform, and afterwards of the priestly
+races who joined it, or grew up in it, to guide the
+impulse it had given, and bring the new ideas and the
+rules to be deduced from them into harmony with the
+old conceptions. If the contrast between the beneficent
+and harmful powers once took the shape of opposing
+spirits, the next object was to represent more exactly
+the character and nature of these spirits, and define
+more closely the good and evil Deity. As the reform
+tended to elevate the natural side in these shapes into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>
+ethical qualities, it was inevitable that advance in this
+direction should lead at an early time to abstract views&mdash;that
+both spirits should be identified with the pure
+contrast of light and darkness, of truth and lying, of
+moral good and moral evil.</p>
+
+<p>If the good spirit was supreme purity and truth, he
+must originally have created the world in accordance
+with his nature. Whence then came the injurious, the
+evil? Had the evil spirit also a creative power? Or
+was the evil first introduced after the creation of the
+world? If this was the case, and evil was not always
+in the world, then it must again disappear from it; if
+the pure god was the more powerful, he must again
+overcome the resistance of the evil. Moreover, with
+the subordination of the light and dark powers to
+Auramazda and Angromainyu, and their combination
+into these two forms, an impulse was given which
+gradually forced the ancient deities into the background.
+The first point was, to put the latter in the
+right relation to the new god, who had created heaven
+and earth, and even these ancient gods. In the same
+way the old Arian legend of the golden age of Yima
+must be harmonised with the new doctrine of the
+creation, and a relation must be established between
+the sacrificers of the old days, who were without the
+good law of Zarathrustra, and the latter. The sayings
+which held in check the evil spirits, and which the
+reform took from the body of ancient invocations or
+added to them in their spirit, must be accurately preserved
+if they were not to lose their force, especially the
+prayers and incantations which Zarathrustra himself
+had spoken or was thought to have spoken. Lastly,
+the mode of worship must be regulated in accordance
+with the tendencies of the reform. Which and what
+kind of sacrifices, which invocations and songs of praise<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>
+were the most efficacious, was a matter which required
+settling. The old customs of purification so indispensable
+for keeping at a distance the evil spirits, which
+the reform, as we ventured to assume, largely increased
+by new prescripts, must be united with the increased
+importance attached to truth and purity and combined
+into a comprehensive rule for the life pleasing to
+Auramazda. What means were there for wiping out
+offences against this rule, and sins when committed,
+for turning aside the anger of Mithra, for expiating
+falsehood, lying, and deception? We have already
+indicated (p. 101) how numerous and complicated
+were the duties of the priesthood arising out of
+pollution and its removal. The answers which the
+priesthood of Iran gave to all the questions which
+successively arose have been collected in the Avesta.</p>
+
+<p>The Gathas of the Avesta, in which the metre has
+been retained, and along with it the older forms of the
+language&mdash;poems which, according to another part of
+the Avesta (the &Ccedil;rosh Yasht), Zarathrustra composed
+and &Ccedil;raosha first sang<a name="FNanchor_228_228" id="FNanchor_228_228"></a><a href="#Footnote_228_228" class="fnanchor">[228]</a>&mdash;are the most speculative
+part of the book. They tell of the existence of the
+good and evil spirits, place both in the beginning of
+things, identify Auramazda with the truth and Angromainyu
+with the lie, bring forward Auramazda as the
+creator of the world and of living creatures, as the
+source of what is good in man and nature, and describe
+the duties of the true worshippers and the rewards
+which they may expect, together with the punishments
+which will come upon the worshippers of the
+Daevas. The ancient gods, Mithra, Haoma, Tistrya,
+Anahita and Drva&ccedil;pa are not mentioned in the
+Gathas; though emphasis is laid on the blessing of
+the "imperishable red fire of Auramazda." In their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>
+place we have Asha (Truthfulness), and Vohumano
+(Good disposition), Armaiti (Piety), and Kshathra
+(Dominion); these are at times merely ideas, at times
+they are personified beside Auramazda.</p>
+
+<p>In these poems Zarathrustra addresses a number of
+questions to Auramazda: "This question I will ask of
+thee; answer it truly, O Ahura. Who is the first
+father and begetter of truth? Who created their
+paths for the sun and stars? Who causes the moon
+to wax and wane? Who sustains the earth and holds
+the clouds above it? Who created the water and
+the trees of the field? Who is in the wind and the
+storms that they move so swiftly? Who created the
+beneficent lights and the darkness? For whom didst
+thou create the imperishable cow Ranyo&ccedil;kereti (the
+Earth)? Who formed the earth with its great blessings?
+Who are the Daevas, which fight against the
+good creation? Who slew the hostile demons? Who
+is the truthful one, who is the liar? How are we to
+chase away the lies, how shall I put the lies into the
+hand of Asha (Truthfulness)? How can I come to your
+dwelling (the dwelling of the gods), and to your song?
+Give me now the command, what ought to be and
+what ought not to be, in such a way that we attentive
+ones may understand it, O Mazda, with the tongue of
+thy mouth, how am I to convert all living creatures,
+and guide them to the right path, which leads to him
+who hears the praises of the truly pious in heaven
+(Garonmana). Tell me clearly, what ye command me
+as the best, that I may keep it in my heart, and
+remember what has been forgotten, Mazda Ahura, all
+that ought to be, and ought not to be. Teach us, O
+True one, the way of Vohumano created by thee.
+Let us, O Mazda, receive thy sayings which bring
+blessing."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"On thee have I looked as the source in the
+creation of life, because thou, O rich in gifts, didst
+establish the sacred customs and announce the words.
+He who first willed that the spaces of the sky should
+clothe themselves with lights, he in his wisdom establishes
+the law of duty for the pious. In the spirit a
+man must think of thee that thou art ever the same,
+Ahura. I regarded thee as the most excellent, O
+Mazda, whom thy people have to worship in spirit, as
+the father of the pious, since I saw thee with my eye,
+as the eternal law-giver of the world, living in his
+works. Since thou of old, O Mazda, didst create all
+beings and spirits according to thy will, and gave
+them reason and a material body, all men, the wise
+and the unwise, cause their voices to sound, each
+according to his heart and mind; he who strives after
+wisdom proves in his spirit on which side is error.
+All gleaming bodies with their manifestations, everything
+that by Vohumano has a bright eye, the stars
+and the sun, the herald of the day, move for thy
+praise, O Mazda. In thee the holy earth exists, and
+the highly-intelligent framer of the body of the earth,
+O living spirit Mazda. Thou didst create the world,
+the earth with the fire that rests in its bosom. With
+pleasant fields thou didst adorn it, after taking counsel
+with Vohumano, O Mazda. Thou didst first create
+the fields, and didst devise the sayings by thy spirit,
+and the various kinds of knowledge; thou didst then
+create this world of existence, by holy acts and speeches.
+To Mazda belongs this kingdom which he causes to
+grow by his grace."<a name="FNanchor_229_229" id="FNanchor_229_229"></a><a href="#Footnote_229_229" class="fnanchor">[229]</a></p>
+
+<p>"To you, all ye that come, I will announce the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>
+praises of Mazda the all-wise lord, and the hymns to
+Vohumano. O wise Asha, I will entreat that friendship
+may display itself through the stars. Hear with your
+ears the glorious, see with your spirit the clear, that
+every one for himself may choose his faith before the
+great work begins. Those two prim&aelig;val spirits, which
+are twins, represent themselves in thought, words, and
+works as this dualism, the good and the evil, and
+between both the virtuous know how to decide, but
+not the evil. When these two deities first came
+together, they created the good creatures and the bad,
+and (arranged) that at the last hell should be awarded
+to the bad and blessedness to the good. Of these two
+spirits the evil one chooses the worst way of action;
+but the increase-giving spirit chooses virtue, he whose
+robe is the firm heaven,&mdash;and those who in faith make
+Auramazda content by truthful acts. Between them
+the worshippers of the Daevas, the deceived, cannot
+rightly decide; they chose the worst disposition, and
+came to the evil ones when in council, and together
+they hastened to Aeshma, that by him they might
+bring plagues upon the life of men. But when the
+punishment of their evil deeds shall be accomplished,
+and thy kingdom as the reward of piety shall come
+upon those who put the Druj (the lie) in the hands of
+Asha (Truthfulness), then destruction overtake the
+destroying Druj; but those who possess high renown
+will gather as immortal in the beautiful dwellings of
+Vohumano, of Mazda, and Asha. Thus then let us
+work to make this world eternal, O Auramazda, O
+Asha that givest blessing; may our thoughts be there,
+where wisdom is enthroned."<a name="FNanchor_230_230" id="FNanchor_230_230"></a><a href="#Footnote_230_230" class="fnanchor">[230]</a></p>
+
+<p>"Teach me to know both, that I may walk in the
+way of Vohumano, the sacrifice, O Mazda, which is fit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>
+for a god like thee, and the pure words of thanksgiving;
+give me the duration over which Ameretat
+presides, and the blessings of Haurvatat.<a name="FNanchor_231_231" id="FNanchor_231_231"></a><a href="#Footnote_231_231" class="fnanchor">[231]</a> May he be
+praised, who in complete truth, so far as he knows it,
+will tell the charm of Asha, the utterance of prosperity
+(Haurvatat, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> health&mdash;and afterwards the spirit
+of prosperity and the waters) and of immortality
+(Ameretat immortality, and afterwards the spirit of
+long life and good plants)."<a name="FNanchor_232_232" id="FNanchor_232_232"></a><a href="#Footnote_232_232" class="fnanchor">[232]</a> "The acts, words, and
+sacrifices by which I, O Mazda, might attain immortality,
+purity, and power over Haurvatat, I will, so far
+as I can, perform for thee.<a name="FNanchor_233_233" id="FNanchor_233_233"></a><a href="#Footnote_233_233" class="fnanchor">[233]</a> Grant to me, O most
+holy spirit, Mazda, thou who didst create the cow, the
+waters, and the plants, grant me immortality and
+health, power and duration, that I may follow the
+doctrine of Vohumano."<a name="FNanchor_234_234" id="FNanchor_234_234"></a><a href="#Footnote_234_234" class="fnanchor">[234]</a> "From thee comes the
+nourishment of Haurvatat and Ameretat; may piety
+(Armaiti) increase with truth under the dominion of
+Vohumano, and power and continuance as a counter-protection."<a name="FNanchor_235_235" id="FNanchor_235_235"></a><a href="#Footnote_235_235" class="fnanchor">[235]</a>
+"Send us the blessing of a long life."<a name="FNanchor_236_236" id="FNanchor_236_236"></a><a href="#Footnote_236_236" class="fnanchor">[236]</a>
+"I ask thee, answer me truly, Ahura, When shall I
+win this reward by truthfulness?&mdash;ten mares with their
+stallions and a camel, that Haurvatat and Ameretat
+may be in my possession, and I make an offering to
+thee of their blessings."<a name="FNanchor_237_237" id="FNanchor_237_237"></a><a href="#Footnote_237_237" class="fnanchor">[237]</a> "I will proclaim what the
+most holy one says to me, the best word for mortals
+to hear; those who for its sake lend ear to me, to
+those will Haurvatat and Ameretat come." "To every
+one who is a friend to him in thought and word,
+Auramazda has given power over the rich Haurvatat
+(health), over the rich Ameretat (freedom from death);
+he has given him dominion and independence and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>
+riches of Vohumano."<a name="FNanchor_238_238" id="FNanchor_238_238"></a><a href="#Footnote_238_238" class="fnanchor">[238]</a> "Let none of you listen to
+the counsel and command of the evil one, for he brings
+farm and community, canton and land, into distress
+and ruin, but punish him with the weapon."<a name="FNanchor_239_239" id="FNanchor_239_239"></a><a href="#Footnote_239_239" class="fnanchor">[239]</a> "On
+the day when Asha will slay the Druj, on the day of
+immortality, when that comes forth, that was denied,
+when the Daevas and men will receive their reward;
+then, O Ahura, a mighty song of praise will be raised
+to thee."<a name="FNanchor_240_240" id="FNanchor_240_240"></a><a href="#Footnote_240_240" class="fnanchor">[240]</a></p>
+
+<p>"To thy kingdom and thy truth, I offer praise,
+Ahura, Asha. Listen to this with kindly spirit,
+Mazda; incline thine ear, Ahura. Let the worshippers
+of the liar be few; may all these turn themselves
+to the priests of the truthful fire! The good must
+rule over us, not the evil! Ahura, the all-knowing,
+cannot be deceived. I will think of thee, most
+glorious one, at the final departure of life. With
+prayers, O Mazda, Asha, will I come forward to praise
+thee, and with the works of Vohumano. In your
+dwelling, O wise one, sound the praises of them that
+give thanks. I will be called the singer of thy
+praises, and will continue to be so as long as I can, by
+advancing the laws of life, that the life of the world
+may continue of itself. With the verses which have
+been composed and handed down for your praise, I
+will approach both of you, and with uplifted hands.
+As a worshipper I will invoke you one and all, ye
+who give blessing, as well as all those who attain to
+the strong bridges of your blessedness, Auramazda,
+Asha, and Vohumano; those bridges which belong to
+you. Come ye to my aid."<a name="FNanchor_241_241" id="FNanchor_241_241"></a><a href="#Footnote_241_241" class="fnanchor">[241]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>These are the essential traits of the doctrine of the
+Gathas. Auramazda, himself a shining one (<i>hvathra</i>),
+has created the shining bodies of the heaven, the earth,
+the waters, the trees, and men; he has appointed their
+paths for the stars. He is the sustainer of the world,
+inasmuch as he devises the good sayings (<i>daena</i>) for
+the protection of the good creation. He is light and
+truth, and therefore is not to be deceived; he shows
+the right way to Zarathrustra, and gives him the
+proper charms against the evil spirits. That at this
+stage of ideas there can be no myth attached to
+Auramazda, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> to the concentrated essence of the
+gods of light, is obvious. In the Gathas it is only the
+quite abstract forces of Vohumano and Asha, of good
+disposition and truthfulness, which stand beside him.
+Auramazda is simply the creator and lord; and the
+same position is ascribed to him as we saw (p. 87) in
+the inscriptions of the Ach&aelig;menids. In spite of the
+strongly-marked trait of spiritualisation and abstraction
+which runs through the Gathas, there is no lack
+in them of unreflecting and na&iuml;ve conceptions, which
+have come down to us from ancient days. It is true
+that the contrasts in nature and men are elevated to
+the opposition of truth and falsehood, and the service
+of truth is proclaimed as the highest command; but
+on the other hand, it is the strong fire of Auramazda
+which causes the right to be recognised, and gives
+the decision in battle.<a name="FNanchor_242_242" id="FNanchor_242_242"></a><a href="#Footnote_242_242" class="fnanchor">[242]</a> It is the good sayings which
+sustain the world, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the old magic of prayers and
+invocations is to keep off the evil, and increase the
+strength of the good, spirits. However high may be
+the conception of Auramazda, he who walks in his
+way, and performs the commands of purity, not only
+expects his reward, but insists on it; he desires to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>
+obtain ten mares and stallions, and at least one camel;
+he wishes for the blessings of Haurvatat in order to
+sacrifice from them; he desires continuance and power,
+health and long life. In these traits the old contrast
+between powers that give increase, blessing, and
+life, and powers of destruction, is plainly retained.</p>
+
+<p>From the beginning the evil one was ranged over
+against Auramazda as his twin brother. He has
+created all that is evil, but nevertheless he is without
+any independent power of creation. If the Gathas
+express this merely in such a manner that they give
+prominence to Auramazda as the creator, they were as
+far from setting up a dualism of equally-balanced
+forces, as any other religion has been from attempting
+such a task, and carrying it out. The other fragments
+of the Avesta leave no doubt of the fact, that Angromainyu
+was not in a position to create the world
+according to his own will; he can only implant the
+form of evil in the good creation of Auramazda; he
+puts desolation, destruction, and death in the place of
+increase. The Vendidad quotes a whole series of
+lands which Auramazda created good, and enumerates
+the evils which the deadly Angromainyu brought into
+each:&mdash;into one winter, into another excessive heat;
+in one case vermin, in another disease, in a third
+beasts of prey. In the same way, in opposition to
+moral good, the evil one creates idleness, lies, lust,
+doubt, disbelief. An equally poised power of the two
+deities would have led to a direct conflict between
+them, which occurs nowhere in the Avesta; God and
+the devil only contend for the increase and injury of
+the world, and for the souls of men. The relative
+inferiority of the evil deity has not escaped the Greeks.
+"Some are of opinion," Plutarch says, "that there are
+two opposite deities, one of which framed the good,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>
+the other the evil. Others, however, name the better
+power the god, the other the demon, as Zoroaster
+the Magian. He calls one Oromazdes, the other Areimanius,
+and states that Oromazdes most resembles
+light among perceptible things, and Areimanius gloom
+and uncertainty."<a name="FNanchor_243_243" id="FNanchor_243_243"></a><a href="#Footnote_243_243" class="fnanchor">[243]</a> It is a later speculation, diverging
+from the Avesta, which formed the good and evil
+spirits into simple forces, and ranged them against
+each other with equal powers.<a name="FNanchor_244_244" id="FNanchor_244_244"></a><a href="#Footnote_244_244" class="fnanchor">[244]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In the Gathas we have the nucleus of the conceptions
+from which the reform of the ancient faith of
+Iran arose, but not in their original state. On the
+contrary, they have been systematised in the circles
+of the priests. Hence the contents and prescripts of
+other parts of the Avesta, which do not present a
+speculative tendency, are not on that account to be
+regarded as of later origin than the Gathas&mdash;least of
+all the invocations to the ancient deities. It was an
+essential object of priestly meditation to bring these
+old gods, which existed vividly before the soul of the
+nation, into harmony with the new faith. On every
+page of the Avesta it is clear that the priests of Eastern
+Iran did not attain to an accepted system in this
+direction; that the old gods remained in existence
+beside Auramazda, and the direct contest against the
+evil spirits, after the reform as before it, was carried
+on by Mithra, Verethraghna, and Vayu, Tistrya and
+&Ccedil;raosha, while Auramazda is in the background, and
+sits somewhat passively on his golden throne in the
+heaven of Garonmana. When the Avesta was written
+down and collected, the ideas of the priests were still
+so na&iuml;ve, or still preserved such a respect for the
+traditional forms of the gods of light and water, as
+they obviously lived in the mind of the people, that
+they represent Auramazda himself as offering sacrifice
+to Mithra,<a name="FNanchor_245_245" id="FNanchor_245_245"></a><a href="#Footnote_245_245" class="fnanchor">[245]</a> Anahita, Vayu, and Tistrya, with Haoma
+and the sacred bundle of twigs, in order to strengthen
+their power or carry out his own wishes, just as the
+gods of the Aryas in India offer sacrifices to one
+another. In India the old gods received a subordinate
+position as protectors of the world after the rise of
+Brahman, but in Iran this was not the case; nor were
+they brought into any genealogical connection with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>
+their new head Auramazda, though fire is occasionally
+spoken of in a figure as the son of Auramazda, and the
+earth (Armaiti) is once or twice called his daughter.<a name="FNanchor_246_246" id="FNanchor_246_246"></a><a href="#Footnote_246_246" class="fnanchor">[246]</a>
+The only bond of union between the new god and the
+old gods in the Avesta is the fact that Auramazda is
+made the creator of the old gods, and even of Mithra.
+Yet the old position of Mithra appears, when Auramazda
+says to Zarathrustra: "When I created Mithra,
+the lord of wide pastures, I created him as mighty to
+pray to, mighty to worship as myself." Tistrya also
+was created by Auramazda as worthy of adoration and
+praise as himself.<a name="FNanchor_247_247" id="FNanchor_247_247"></a><a href="#Footnote_247_247" class="fnanchor">[247]</a> We are already acquainted with
+Auramazda's command to Zarathrustra to invoke and
+worship Mithra, Vayu, the other ancient gods, and
+fire (p. 131). The existence and extent of this worship
+is proved not only by the prayers of the Ya&ccedil;na, but
+also by the accounts of western writers which we have
+already examined.</p>
+
+<p>As a compensation for the independent life of the
+ancient gods by the side of Auramazda, the priests
+surrounded his throne with six spirits, who were his
+associates and helpers. These are called Amesha
+&Ccedil;pentas, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the holy immortals; as good and wise
+kings they rule with Auramazda over the seven girdles
+of the earth,<a name="FNanchor_248_248" id="FNanchor_248_248"></a><a href="#Footnote_248_248" class="fnanchor">[248]</a> as in India the eight protectors of the
+world rule over the eight zones. The views out of
+which these spirits arose are found in the Gathas, but
+they did not receive their complete form till the
+Gathas had been composed and generally received.
+Plutarch tells us that, according to the faith of the Persians,
+Oromazdes had created six gods: the first, the
+god of good disposition (&#949;&#8020;&#957;&#959;&#953;&#945;);
+the second, the god<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>
+of truth (&#7936;&#955;&#942;&#952;&#949;&#953;&#945;);
+the third, the god of order and law
+(&#949;&#8016;&#957;&#959;&#956;&#943;&#945;); the three remaining deities were the gods of
+wisdom (&#963;&#959;&#966;&#943;&#945;), of wealth (&#960;&#955;&#959;&#8166;&#964;&#959;&#962;),
+and of delight in the beautiful
+(&#7952;&#960;&#8054; &#964;&#959;&#8150;&#962; &#1008;&#945;&#955;&#959;&#8150;&#962; &#7969;&#948;&#941;&#969;&#957;).
+The two first, good disposition (Vohumano), and truth or truthfulness,
+we already found frequently mentioned in the Gathas,
+but chiefly as ideas rather than persons. With the
+priests Vohumano and Asha vahista (the most excellent
+truthfulness) became the Amesha &Ccedil;pentas, who
+stand next to Auramazda. The Avesta speaks not
+only of the good way of Vohumano, but also of
+his acts, his dwelling, and his kingdom. According
+to the books of the Parsees it is his duty to protect
+the flocks. Asha vahista, as the truthful one, is the
+protector of fire, which points the right path, and,
+according to the Gathas, gives the decision in the
+contest against the liars. According to the books of
+the Parsees, Asha builds the bridge of Chinvat, to
+which the souls come after death, making it wide
+when the pious souls step upon it. Not less correctly
+does Plutarch describe the third Amesha &Ccedil;penta as
+the spirit of order and law. Kshathra, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the kingdom,
+the dominion, is mentioned impersonally in the
+Gathas; and this idea the priests have elevated into
+Kshathra vairya, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the good spirit of the desired
+dominion, of good order and law, which is the third
+Amesha &Ccedil;penta. Metals were allotted to him as the
+king of the Ameshas.<a name="FNanchor_249_249" id="FNanchor_249_249"></a><a href="#Footnote_249_249" class="fnanchor">[249]</a> The fourth figure in this circle,
+which Plutarch correctly describes as the spirit of
+wisdom, though he is wrong in calling it a god, is the
+earth spirit Armaiti. In the Rigveda Aramati (the
+earth) is a maiden worthy of praise, who, morning
+and evening, brings butter to Agni. In the Avesta
+Armaiti is "the beautiful daughter of Auramazda, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>
+bearer (<i>barethri</i>) of cattle, of beasts of draught, and
+men;" with "her hands Auramazda performs pure
+actions," while the Gathas also ascribe to her special
+relations to the corporeal world.<a name="FNanchor_250_250" id="FNanchor_250_250"></a><a href="#Footnote_250_250" class="fnanchor">[250]</a> Among the priests
+the spirit of the "patient humble earth" has become
+the spirit of humility and piety. According to the
+books of the Parsees Armaiti gives patience and firmness.<a name="FNanchor_251_251" id="FNanchor_251_251"></a><a href="#Footnote_251_251" class="fnanchor">[251]</a>
+The fifth and sixth spirits also, whom Plutarch
+calls the gods of wealth and delight in the beautiful,
+were found in existence by the priests, and merely
+ranged by them in the circle of the Amesha &Ccedil;pentas.
+These are Haurvatat and Ameretat. We saw how
+earnestly the Arians of India besought the gods for
+wealth and length of life; and in this matter the
+Arians of Iran were not behind them. Here, as
+there, the powers which could grant such gifts were
+elevated into special spirits, to whom, naturally, all
+that gave wealth and long life, good and healing
+plants and refreshing water, belonged. The good
+plants were the kingdom of Ameretat, refreshing water
+the domain of Haurvatat. In the fancy of the Arians
+of Iran good plants sprang from the tree of heaven,
+the Gaokerena, which grew in Ardvi&ccedil;ura (p. 126); the
+water flowed down from this source in heaven, or came
+from Vourukasha, the lake on the divine mountain.
+Those two spirits, who ruled over plants and water,
+were brought by the system of the priests into the
+circle of the Amesha &Ccedil;pentas; the province over which
+they ruled had long been apportioned to them. They
+were distinguished from the first four by the fact that
+those were personifications of moral ideas, these two
+were personifications of real goods.<a name="FNanchor_252_252" id="FNanchor_252_252"></a><a href="#Footnote_252_252" class="fnanchor">[252]</a> With wealth,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>
+prosperity and happy life is given, with length of
+life the complete enjoyment of its blessings, and so
+the Greeks could arrive at the conclusion that these
+two spirits were gods of wealth and delight in
+beauty. Thus Auramazda now ruled surrounded by
+six sacred forms. The semblance of this circle on
+earth was the throne of Cyrus and his successors,
+which was surrounded by the six tribal princes of
+the Persians.</p>
+
+<p>The personification of ideas&mdash;the process of transforming
+old figures, and changing them into abstractions&mdash;did
+not come to an end with the Amesha &Ccedil;pentas.
+We are acquainted with &Ccedil;raosha, the warrior against
+the Daevas, his habitation on the divine mountain, his
+horses, his club, and how he fights at the side of
+Mithra, and keeps watch in the dark of the night
+against the demons (p. 121). Now it is he who first
+sang the sacred four Gathas of Zarathrustra, who first
+bound the sacred withes, "three twigs, five twigs,
+seven twigs;" he not only knows the sacred word;
+the sacred word is the body of &Ccedil;raosha. Instead of
+the club which he held raised against the head of the
+Daevas, the invocations of the Avesta and the prayer
+Ahuna vairya are now the weapons with which he,
+"the pure lord of the pure," "advances the world."
+We remember the process by which the Arians in
+India came to represent Indra as smiting Vritra, and
+shattering his cave, not as formerly with the lightning,
+but with Brahman, the power of the prayer and the
+sacred acts. Obviously we have some influence of
+these old Arian conceptions of the mysterious power
+of prayer, and the control of the spirits possessed by
+the correct invocations and sayings against gods and
+spectres, when we find &Ccedil;raosha fighting with the
+prayers of the Avesta, and in the Avesta the sacred<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>
+word is praised as a Divine power&mdash;<a name="FNanchor_253_253" id="FNanchor_253_253"></a><a href="#Footnote_253_253" class="fnanchor">[253]</a> when Zarathrustra
+offers sacrifice to the good law.<a name="FNanchor_254_254" id="FNanchor_254_254"></a><a href="#Footnote_254_254" class="fnanchor">[254]</a> More liberal creations
+on the part of the system of the priests are the
+elevation of "excellent thought, knowledge, and conception,"
+of "the long study," "and the thought of
+the pure man," which are invoked and praised in the
+Avesta, into Divine powers. Of not less abstract
+nature are other forms, like Rashnu razista, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the
+most straight-forward justice,<a name="FNanchor_255_255" id="FNanchor_255_255"></a><a href="#Footnote_255_255" class="fnanchor">[255]</a> which, according to the
+Dinkart, tests the souls on the bridge of Chinvat; time,
+which is invoked as unlimited, as the ruler of the long
+periods, and like the genius of the five portions into
+which the priests divided the day. Of older origin,
+though also modified by the reform, is the invocation
+of the heights, which Mithra first illuminated with his
+light. In the Avesta this invocation is mainly addressed
+to the high "navel of the waters," the Divine
+mountain, which reaches to the sky, "on which were
+asked the holy questions," <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> on which Zarathrustra
+has received the revelation; "by reason of the revelation
+of the sacred word we invoke the height, which
+preserved the knowledge."<a name="FNanchor_256_256" id="FNanchor_256_256"></a><a href="#Footnote_256_256" class="fnanchor">[256]</a> Many of the traditional
+forms of ancient times were partly modified by the
+priests and partly allowed to fade away. The goddess
+Drva&ccedil;pa, to whom the ancient heroes had sacrificed,
+they changed into the soul of the primeval bull, which
+Angromainyu had slain.<a name="FNanchor_257_257" id="FNanchor_257_257"></a><a href="#Footnote_257_257" class="fnanchor">[257]</a> Nairyo&ccedil;angha, the Nara&ccedil;ansa
+of the Veda, an ancient name of the spirit of
+fire, which we learned to know in the Veda as the
+messenger of men to the heavenly beings, as priest
+and mediator between heaven and earth (IV. 39), appears
+in the Avesta merely as the messenger of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>
+gods.<a name="FNanchor_258_258" id="FNanchor_258_258"></a><a href="#Footnote_258_258" class="fnanchor">[258]</a> The form of Vayu, the more ancient conception
+of which still plainly breaks through (p. 116), becomes
+merely the air "whose operation is on high;" and
+Ashi vanguhi, whom the ancient sacrificers and heroes
+invoked, together with Ardvi&ccedil;ura, for victory, bears
+traces which can hardly any longer be recognised.
+We merely perceive that she could once confer
+power, fertility, beauty, and wealth. We saw above
+how she called Zarathrustra to her chariot, and promised
+splendour to his body, and long prosperity
+to his soul (p. 130). If the luminaries of heaven,
+in spite of the creation described to Auramazda, are
+extolled as "having no beginning," we have in this
+fact a glimpse of the old position of the spirits of light.
+The struggles of Tistrya against the demons of
+drought were allowed to remain (p. 120). Plutarch
+observes that, according to the doctrine of the Magians,
+Oromazdes had placed Sirius (Tistrya) as a watchman
+and advanced guard. On the other hand, the worship
+of the sun-god appears but faintly in the Avesta&mdash;in
+our fragments at any rate. Yet Herodotus informs us
+that with the Persians the neighing of horses at sunrise
+was regarded as a favourable sign from the gods,
+and Xenophon states that the Magians offered bulls
+to Zeus, but horses to the sun-god, and that on the
+journeys of the Ach&aelig;menids the chariot of Zeus went
+first, then that of the sun-god; both were white and
+crowned; and these were followed by a third chariot
+covered with purple, which as it seems was the chariot
+of fire. In the march of Xerxes to Hellas, according
+to the account of Herodotus, a sacred car, yoked with
+eight white horses, went before him; and ten sacred
+horses were led, clothed in the most beautiful trappings.
+Curtius represents the emblem of the sun as glowing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>
+over the tent of the last Darius, who invokes "the sun,
+Mithra, and the sacred eternal fire;" and he tells us
+of the chariot of Zeus in the army, yoked with white
+horses, behind which was led a horse of remarkable
+size, the horse of the sun, with golden bridle and
+white covering, like those before the chariot. Dio
+Chrysostom tells us that the Magians reared a yoke
+of Nisaean horses for Zeus, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> for Mithra, which were
+the largest and most beautiful in all Asia, and a horse
+for Helius.<a name="FNanchor_259_259" id="FNanchor_259_259"></a><a href="#Footnote_259_259" class="fnanchor">[259]</a> We can call to mind the battle-chariot
+of Mithra, "with golden wheels and silver spokes"
+(p. 110). These were imitations of the divine chariots
+of which the Greeks tell us, and if they were not in
+a position to distinguish accurately what belonged to
+Mithra (Auramazda does not come into the question),
+and what to Hvare Kshaeta (the sun-god)&mdash;Strabo is
+of opinion that the Persians called the sun Mithras<a name="FNanchor_260_260" id="FNanchor_260_260"></a><a href="#Footnote_260_260" class="fnanchor">[260]</a>&mdash;we
+may still conclude with certainty from these
+statements, that the worship of Mithra and the sun-god
+remained more vigorous and effectual among the
+princes and nations of Iran than our fragments of the
+Avesta would allow us to assume, if the old invocations
+to Mithra, Tistrya, Haoma, Vayu, and Verethraghna
+had not been preserved in them. Yet the fragments
+do present us with an invocation to the sun-god,
+though weakened, it is true, and adapted to the new
+faith.  "We celebrate the brilliant, immortal sun,
+whose horses are unwearied. When the sun gleams
+in heaven, the heavenly spirits come by hundreds and
+thousands, and spread the light over the earth for the
+salvation of the pure world, for the salvation of the
+pure bodies.  As the sun rises, the earth purifies
+herself, and the fructifying waters of the springs,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>
+pools and lakes; the sun-god purifies all creatures
+that belong to &Ccedil;pentomainyu. If the sun came not,
+the Daevas would slay all that inhabits the seven
+girdles of the earth, and the heavenly beings would
+not be able to withstand them; they could not drive
+them away. He who sacrifices to the sun in order to
+withstand the dark Daevas, the thieves and robbers,
+he sacrifices to Auramazda, to the Amesha &Ccedil;pentas
+and to his own soul."<a name="FNanchor_261_261" id="FNanchor_261_261"></a><a href="#Footnote_261_261" class="fnanchor">[261]</a> In the time of the Sassanids,
+the worship of the sun comes definitely forward.</p>
+
+<p>Plutarch states that the demon Areimanius had
+created an equal number of evil spirits to match the
+six good gods of Oromazdes, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the Amesha &Ccedil;pentas.
+The Vendidad mentions five of them: Andra, &Ccedil;aurva,
+Naonghaithya, Tauru, and Zairicha,<a name="FNanchor_262_262" id="FNanchor_262_262"></a><a href="#Footnote_262_262" class="fnanchor">[262]</a> to which we have
+only to add Akomano, which has been mentioned
+already in the Gathas, in order to make up the number.
+They are all of them creations of the priests, partly
+invented to match the Amesha &Ccedil;pentas, partly borrowed
+from older forms, which had lost their brightness among
+the Arians of Iran. Akomano, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> Bad disposition,
+is naturally the counterpart of Vohumano, or Good
+disposition: opposite Asha vahista, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the most
+excellent truthfulness, the priests placed the demon
+Andra (Indra), <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> an old Arian name which the
+Arians beyond the Indus had elevated to be the best
+warrior against the demons, the god of the storm.
+No special qualities of Andra are known or mentioned
+in the Avesta; the books of the Parsees can only say
+that he brings care and sorrow of heart to men, and
+makes narrow the bridge of Chinvat. The demon
+&Ccedil;aurva is the opponent of Kshathra vairya, of order
+and law, of good dominion; hence, according to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>
+Sad-der-Bundehesh, he leads kings astray into despotism,
+and nations into lawlessness and robbery. Naonghaithya
+is the opponent of Armaiti, the spirit of
+humility and piety; this spirit therefore, as the Bundehesh
+maintains, makes men impatient and proud;
+the science of languages claims to find in this name
+a Vedic name for the two A&ccedil;vins,&mdash;Nasatya (IV. 42).
+Only the last two opposing spirits of the Amesha
+&Ccedil;pentas, the opponents of Haurvatat and Ameretat,
+display, like these beings, real characteristics. If they
+are the spirits of water and plants, of prosperity and
+long life or immortality, then Tauru is the spirit
+of thirst and sickness, and Zairicha of hunger and
+death.<a name="FNanchor_263_263" id="FNanchor_263_263"></a><a href="#Footnote_263_263" class="fnanchor">[263]</a></p>
+
+<p>If the ancient gods have preserved more lively traits
+than the Amesha &Ccedil;pentas, the old demons have also
+more definite outlines than the opposing spirits. Such
+are the Daeva Apaosha, who parches up the land and
+keeps back the water from the earth; &Ccedil;penjaghra, the
+comrade of him who was struck by lightning; Zemaka,
+the spirit of the cold winter; and finally Azhi, who
+seeks to steal away the fire from men in the night.
+Among these evil spirits may further be reckoned a
+female demon Bushyan&ccedil;ta, with long hands and of a
+yellow hue, who leads men astray into much sleep and
+idleness, who does not allow them to see the rise of
+the sun, and shortens the joy of existence;<a name="FNanchor_264_264" id="FNanchor_264_264"></a><a href="#Footnote_264_264" class="fnanchor">[264]</a> the three
+Daevas of drunkenness, Kunda, Banga, and Vibanga;
+the Daeva Buiti, the spirit of lies and falsehood, who
+deceives men;<a name="FNanchor_265_265" id="FNanchor_265_265"></a><a href="#Footnote_265_265" class="fnanchor">[265]</a> the spirit of flattery, Ashemaogha;<a name="FNanchor_266_266" id="FNanchor_266_266"></a><a href="#Footnote_266_266" class="fnanchor">[266]</a> and
+the very wicked Ashma "of evil glance," who attempts<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>
+to slay the sleeping, and withstands &Ccedil;raosha by night
+with terrible weapons.<a name="FNanchor_267_267" id="FNanchor_267_267"></a><a href="#Footnote_267_267" class="fnanchor">[267]</a> Very evil also is A&ccedil;tovidhotu,
+<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the destroyer of bodies, and a female goblin, the
+spirit of the Daevas, the Druj Na&ccedil;u. This spirit enters
+the body immediately after death, and exercises power
+over all who come in contact with it.</p>
+
+<p>Under Auramazda are united the gods, the Amesha
+&Ccedil;pentas, the rest of the Yazatas (those worthy of
+adoration), in opposition to the troops of hell, the
+Daevas, Druj, Pairikas and Jainis, which are led by
+Angromainyu. The first are found in the light of
+sunrise, in the clear gleam of the pure sky; the latter
+in the gloom of sunset, or in the distant clouds of the
+north; in burial-places, and where the dead are placed;
+in all corners into which the light of heaven does not
+pierce; in the dark abyss under earth; in "the worst
+place."<a name="FNanchor_268_268" id="FNanchor_268_268"></a><a href="#Footnote_268_268" class="fnanchor">[268]</a> On the summit of the mountain Arezura
+(Demavend, apparently), they take counsel how they
+are to turn the evil eye on men; how they can injure
+and slay them.<a name="FNanchor_269_269" id="FNanchor_269_269"></a><a href="#Footnote_269_269" class="fnanchor">[269]</a> To them belong gloom, cold, drought,
+the barren land and the wilderness, thorns and
+poisonous herbs, hunger and thirst, sickness, death,
+dirt, laziness, lying, sin. Theirs are the harmful
+beasts, the Khraf&ccedil;tras; beasts of prey, wolves, serpents;
+all animals which live in holes and corners,
+lizards, scorpions, toads, frogs, rats, mice, gnats, and
+lastly mosquitoes, lice, and fleas.<a name="FNanchor_270_270" id="FNanchor_270_270"></a><a href="#Footnote_270_270" class="fnanchor">[270]</a> To the good spirits
+belong light, water, springs, rivers, the fruitful earth,
+good plants,<a name="FNanchor_271_271" id="FNanchor_271_271"></a><a href="#Footnote_271_271" class="fnanchor">[271]</a> trees, fields, pastures, good food, purity,
+truth, life in this world and the next; and theirs are
+the good animals, the animals of the flocks, the birds<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>
+which nestle on the heights, and live in the clear air.
+The dog and the cock are worshipped in the Avesta
+as fighting with men against the Daevas. The first
+protects the flocks against the beasts of prey of
+Angromainyu. Of the cock the Avesta says: "The
+bird Parodarsh, which evil-speaking men call Kahzkata&ccedil;
+(<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> Kikeriki or the like), lifts up his voice in the
+last third of the night, roused by the holy &Ccedil;raosha
+at every divine dawn. He cries: 'Rise up, ye men;
+praise the most excellent truth; drive away the Daevas.'
+Who gives a pair of these birds to a pure man, in
+purity and kindness, gives as much as if he had given
+a palace with a thousand pillars and a thousand
+beams, ten thousand windows, and a hundred thousand
+turrets." "And whoever gives to a pure man as
+much meat as makes the size of a Parodarsh"&mdash;the
+book of Auramazda tells us in another place&mdash;"I
+who am Auramazda will ask him no other question
+on his way to Paradise."<a name="FNanchor_272_272" id="FNanchor_272_272"></a><a href="#Footnote_272_272" class="fnanchor">[272]</a> According to the Avesta
+the dog and cock unite their powers against the
+Druj.<a name="FNanchor_273_273" id="FNanchor_273_273"></a><a href="#Footnote_273_273" class="fnanchor">[273]</a> The bird Asho-zusta fights against the
+Daevas, and the bird Karshipta (the sacred hawk)
+announces the good law in the garden of Yima.
+Two other mythical birds, the two eagles (<i>&ccedil;aena</i>) of
+the sky, Amru and Chamru, are invoked as helpful
+powers.<a name="FNanchor_274_274" id="FNanchor_274_274"></a><a href="#Footnote_274_274" class="fnanchor">[274]</a> They nestle on the tree of life in the
+heaven. Besides the tree Gaokerena, which grows
+in Ardvi&ccedil;ura and bears the heavenly Haoma, the
+Avesta has also the tree Vi&ccedil;pataokhma, which grows
+in the Lake Vourukasha, and bears all seeds. When
+Amru sits on this tree, the seeds fall down, and Chamru
+carries them away where Tistrya collects the water,
+who then rains down the seed with the water to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>
+earth. In the book of kings of Firdusi, Simurgh (&Ccedil;inmurv),
+the king of the birds, carries Rustem on his
+pinions over the broad earth as far as the sea of Chin
+(China) to the tree of life.<a name="FNanchor_275_275" id="FNanchor_275_275"></a><a href="#Footnote_275_275" class="fnanchor">[275]</a> A prophet of the Hebrews
+represents Jehovah as saying of Cyrus: "I summoned
+from the East the eagle, the man of my counsel."<a name="FNanchor_276_276" id="FNanchor_276_276"></a><a href="#Footnote_276_276" class="fnanchor">[276]</a>
+Xenophon tells us that Cyrus, and the Ach&aelig;menids
+who succeeded him, carried as a standard a golden
+eagle on a tall lance;<a name="FNanchor_277_277" id="FNanchor_277_277"></a><a href="#Footnote_277_277" class="fnanchor">[277]</a> and Curtius says, that a golden
+eagle with outspread wings was attached to the
+chariots of the Persian king.<a name="FNanchor_278_278" id="FNanchor_278_278"></a><a href="#Footnote_278_278" class="fnanchor">[278]</a></p>
+
+<p>The fragments of the Avesta which have been preserved
+do not give us very full information on the
+sacrifices. The essential matters are hymns of praise
+and prayers. The chief sacrifice is offered to one of
+the old deities, Haoma, the supporter and protector of
+life. When Plutarch represents the Magi as pounding
+a certain herb of the name of Omomi in a mortar,
+with invocations to avert Hades, he gives a correct
+account of the supposed tendency of this sacrifice.
+According to the Avesta the utensils for this sacrifice&mdash;the
+mortar, cup and bundle of twigs&mdash;were found in
+every house. The sacrifice consisted in the offering,
+<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the elevation of the cup filled with the juice of
+the Haoma, during the recitation of the proper prayers.
+Beside this offering, which even now is offered twice
+each day by the priests of the Parsees, the fire is to
+be kept up perpetually, and fed with good dry wood
+and perfumes. The flesh of the sacrifice (<i>myazda</i>) is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>
+not often mentioned; yet the book of the law provides
+that a thousand head of small cattle must be offered
+in expiation of certain offences,<a name="FNanchor_279_279" id="FNanchor_279_279"></a><a href="#Footnote_279_279" class="fnanchor">[279]</a> and we are told in
+the invocations that the heroes of old time, from
+Thraetaona down to King Vista&ccedil;pa, had offered great
+sacrifices of animals to Ardvi&ccedil;ura and Drva&ccedil;pa, in
+order to gain the victory, viz. 100 horses, 1000
+cattle, and 10,000 head of small cattle. Herodotus
+tells us that the Magians, when Xerxes marched
+into Hellas, sacrificed 1000 oxen on the summit of
+Pergamus to Athene of Ilium, and at a later time
+white horses in Thrace; Xenophon maintains that the
+Persians sacrificed beautiful bulls to Zeus, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> to
+Auramazda, and horses to the sun, and burnt them
+whole; Athen&aelig;us tells that with the king of the
+Persians a thousand animals were daily slaughtered
+as sacrifices; camels, horses, oxen, apes, deer, and
+especially sheep. According to Arrian, the Magians
+who kept guard over the burial-place of Cyrus received
+a horse every month, and a sheep every day, for sacrifice.<a name="FNanchor_280_280" id="FNanchor_280_280"></a><a href="#Footnote_280_280" class="fnanchor">[280]</a>
+Herodotus has already told us, that the animals
+were led to a pure place, and when the sacrificer had
+invoked the god were killed, cut up, cooked, and then
+laid out on delicate grass. The Magian then sang the
+theogony, and after some time, the person who offered
+the sacrifice "carried away the flesh, and used it at his
+pleasure" (p. 85). Herodotus is better informed than
+Xenophon; according to the Avesta only the head of
+the animal belongs to the gods.<a name="FNanchor_281_281" id="FNanchor_281_281"></a><a href="#Footnote_281_281" class="fnanchor">[281]</a> Obviously, as the
+nature of the gods became more spiritualised&mdash;and the
+reform prepared the way for this&mdash;the sacrifice of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>
+animals was restricted in this manner, so that it consisted
+essentially in the offering of the animals, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> in
+the consecration of the flesh. We may conclude from
+the statement in Athen&aelig;us, that only consecrated
+flesh could be eaten at the court of the kings. Xerxes
+certainly would not have sacrificed to Athene, "a lying
+deity" of the Greeks, on the summit of Ilium; but he
+might very well have selected the last eminence in
+Asia Minor, "the many-fountained Ida," in order to
+offer there a sacrifice of 1000 oxen to Ardvi&ccedil;ura for
+his victory beyond the sea&mdash;a sacrifice which corresponds
+exactly to the first offering made by Kava
+Hu&ccedil;rava and Kava Vista&ccedil;pa to the same goddess for
+victory over the Turanians.<a name="FNanchor_282_282" id="FNanchor_282_282"></a><a href="#Footnote_282_282" class="fnanchor">[282]</a></p>
+
+<p>Temples and images are unknown to the Avesta.
+The reform preserved for the nations of Iran the
+traditional form of worship without images, on which
+it was founded. The accounts of western writers, from
+Herodotus and Xenophon downwards, establish the
+fact that there were only sacrificial places on the
+heights and consecrated fire-altars in Iran.<a name="FNanchor_283_283" id="FNanchor_283_283"></a><a href="#Footnote_283_283" class="fnanchor">[283]</a> But
+this must not be taken to mean that the forms of
+worship and the images of the nations with which the
+Persians became acquainted after the foundation of
+their supremacy, especially of their nearest neighbours,
+the Semites on the Tigris and Euphrates, remained<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>
+without influence on them. On the monuments of
+Darius we see the picture of Auramazda, cut exactly
+after the pattern which the Assyrian monuments
+exhibit in the portraiture of their god Asshur. We
+are also told of images of Anahita. Berosus maintains
+that Artaxerxes Mnemon erected statues to Aphrodite
+Anaitis at Babylon, Ecbatana, and Susa, and taught
+this form of worship to the Damascenes and Lydians.<a name="FNanchor_284_284" id="FNanchor_284_284"></a><a href="#Footnote_284_284" class="fnanchor">[284]</a>
+From this statement, taken in connection with the
+account of Herodotus that the Persians had learnt to
+sacrifice to Mylitta,<a name="FNanchor_285_285" id="FNanchor_285_285"></a><a href="#Footnote_285_285" class="fnanchor">[285]</a> the conclusion has been drawn
+that Artaxerxes II. introduced the worship of Bilit
+among the Persians. But it was not necessary to
+teach this worship to the Damascenes and Lydians
+(I. 358, 563), and even in the Avesta, Anahita as the
+goddess of the heavenly water is the goddess of fertility.
+Hence the statues made by Artaxerxes were, no doubt,
+images of Anahita the goddess, whom he invokes along
+with Auramazda and Mithra in his inscription at
+Susa. Strabo describes the worship of the Magians at
+the fire-altars of Cappadocia in a manner which completely
+agrees with the accounts given in the Avesta,
+and then adds that these functions were also performed
+in the enclosures (&#963;&#951;&#1008;&#959;&#943;) which were consecrated
+there to Anaitis, Amardatus, and Omanus, and
+the image of Omanus was carried round in processions.
+He concludes with the words: "this (<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the form of
+worship described) I have myself seen."<a name="FNanchor_286_286" id="FNanchor_286_286"></a><a href="#Footnote_286_286" class="fnanchor">[286]</a> According
+to this account, then, Amardate,<a name="FNanchor_287_287" id="FNanchor_287_287"></a><a href="#Footnote_287_287" class="fnanchor">[287]</a> <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the Amesha
+&Ccedil;penta Ameretat, who averts death, was worshipped
+there beside Anahita, and Omanus, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the Amesha
+&Ccedil;penta Vohumano, the protector of the flocks, had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>
+an image. As this is all that we can discover about
+the image-worship of the Persians, it is clear that the
+influence of the picture-worship of Hither Asia and
+Egypt had no great influence even on the western
+nations of Iran. It is limited to the facts that Darius
+added the symbolical picture of Auramazda to his inscriptions
+without, however, building him a temple;
+that a century after him Artaxerxes II. erected statues
+and a temple to Anahita at Ecbatana; and that at a
+later time a portable image of Vohumano was in
+existence in Cappadocia.</p>
+
+<p>The nucleus of the old religious conceptions of the
+Arians&mdash;the desire to obtain increase and life from
+the gods&mdash;has been sufficiently disclosed; and that
+which could not be obtained in this world, the continuance
+of the individual life, heaven was to bestow
+upon them. This line was followed up by the reform;
+the spirits of health and long life were added by the
+priests to the circle of the Amesha &Ccedil;pentas. When
+Zarathrustra had increased the means for the protection
+and support of life; when it became a fixed
+maxim that purity preserved life in this world and
+ensured it after death; the sharp insistence on the
+command of the pure and active and truthful life
+which men ought to lead in this world, became
+developed into the conception of a judgment on the
+souls after death. He who had lived purely, and
+given the Daevas no room to exercise their power on
+his body, became himself pure and bright, and could
+therefore enter after death as a pure spirit among the
+spirits of light. Thus the Avesta announces that
+"when body and soul have separated," the soul on
+the third night after death, as soon as the brilliant sun
+arises, and the victorious Mithra seats himself with
+"pure brilliance" on the mountains, comes over the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>
+Hara berezaiti to the bridge of Chinvat, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the bridge
+of assembly or of assembling, which leads to Garonmana,
+<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> to the dwelling of hymns, the abode of the
+good gods. Here the Daevas and the gods contend for
+the soul;<a name="FNanchor_288_288" id="FNanchor_288_288"></a><a href="#Footnote_288_288" class="fnanchor">[288]</a> the judgment of the souls takes place;<a name="FNanchor_289_289" id="FNanchor_289_289"></a><a href="#Footnote_289_289" class="fnanchor">[289]</a>
+here Auramazda asks the souls about their conduct.<a name="FNanchor_290_290" id="FNanchor_290_290"></a><a href="#Footnote_290_290" class="fnanchor">[290]</a>
+The pure soul, whose odour the Daevas dread,<a name="FNanchor_291_291" id="FNanchor_291_291"></a><a href="#Footnote_291_291" class="fnanchor">[291]</a> which
+approaches with virtue and sanctity, is joined by the
+other pure souls and by the souls of the dogs which
+keep watch over the bridge of Chinvat,<a name="FNanchor_292_292" id="FNanchor_292_292"></a><a href="#Footnote_292_292" class="fnanchor">[292]</a> and the host
+of the heavenly Yazatas brings the soul of the good
+over the bridge into heaven. In contentment the
+pure soul goes to the golden throne of Auramazda, to
+the thrones of the Amesha &Ccedil;pentas, to the dwelling of
+the pure. And Vohumano rises from his golden
+throne and inquires of the pure one: "How hast
+thou, O pure one, come hither out of the perishable to
+the imperishable world?"<a name="FNanchor_293_293" id="FNanchor_293_293"></a><a href="#Footnote_293_293" class="fnanchor">[293]</a> But the souls which come
+to the bridge full of terror and sick, find no friend
+there; the evil spirits, Vizaresha by name, lead them
+bound down into the place of the bad, into the darkness,
+the dwelling of the Druj.<a name="FNanchor_294_294" id="FNanchor_294_294"></a><a href="#Footnote_294_294" class="fnanchor">[294]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the Veda the spirits of the fathers are invited to
+the sacrificial meal; they are to enjoy the gifts which
+are laid for them on the grass, to support the prayers
+of their descendants, to keep away the evil spirits, and
+to increase wealth. Each day water was poured there
+for the forefathers, and corns of rice were scattered for
+them; on the new moon the clans held the funeral
+feast for the dead; and we are acquainted with the
+consequences which attended expulsion from this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>
+banquet.<a name="FNanchor_295_295" id="FNanchor_295_295"></a><a href="#Footnote_295_295" class="fnanchor">[295]</a> The belief in the spirits of the ancestors,
+and their continued relation to their descendants,
+existed also among the Arians of Iran, and the Avesta
+alters it only so far as to limit consistently the assistance
+given by the spirits of the fathers to the souls of
+those who have lived in truth and purity, and have
+thus found entrance into heaven. According to the
+Avesta the Fravashis of the pure&mdash;this is the name
+given to the Pitaras, or fathers of the Indians&mdash;protect
+their descendants against the Daevas, help them in
+distress and danger, and fight for their families on the
+day of battle, if they are honoured and satisfied by
+their descendants. It is only an old conception,
+repeated in the Avesta, when we are told: "We
+invoke the good, strong, holy Fravashis. Where
+strong men fight in severe conflict, there come the
+Fravashis with strong shield, iron helmet, and iron
+weapons; with Mithra and the victorious wind they go
+forward; strong warriors against the enemies, they are
+mighty saviours; strong conquerors, they destroy the
+victory of the enemy&mdash;the Turas (Turanians)."<a name="FNanchor_296_296" id="FNanchor_296_296"></a><a href="#Footnote_296_296" class="fnanchor">[296]</a> It is
+due to the additions and modifications introduced
+by the priests that we hear that the hosts of the
+Fravashis watch the body of Kere&ccedil;a&ccedil;pa till the resurrection,
+and the seed of Zarathrustra, and protect the
+sleepers from the rising of the stars till midnight.<a name="FNanchor_297_297" id="FNanchor_297_297"></a><a href="#Footnote_297_297" class="fnanchor">[297]</a>
+As among the Arians of India the ancient belief in
+the fathers was retained in spite of all changes of
+the religious system, so also in Iran. At the close of
+the year, on the intercalary days which were added
+to it, the Fravashis come to their families, abide among
+them for ten nights, and ask: "Who will receive us,
+and sacrifice to us, and praise us?" and "if any one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>
+offers to them prayers and flesh and clothes, him they
+bless, and in his dwelling there will be abundance of
+oxen and men, swift horses and a strong car."<a name="FNanchor_298_298" id="FNanchor_298_298"></a><a href="#Footnote_298_298" class="fnanchor">[298]</a> The
+Greeks had therefore reason to say that according to
+the doctrine of the Magians the air was full of spirits.<a name="FNanchor_299_299" id="FNanchor_299_299"></a><a href="#Footnote_299_299" class="fnanchor">[299]</a></p>
+
+<p>In another direction the system of the priests
+deviated far more widely from the ancient conception
+of the spirits of the ancestors. They held that only
+the pure and bright part of the soul could live on
+after death. Hence, even in the living they distinguished
+this part from the polluted part, and in
+the pure immortal half they saw the side created by
+the good gods, its true being, the Fravashi or protecting
+spirit allotted to each man. In the Avesta therefore
+rules can be given for the invocation of this pure
+part and nature of the individual soul, of the separate
+Fravashis. The priests then transferred this notion to
+the heavenly spirits, and even to Auramazda himself.
+His purest nature, his best self, must be praised and
+invoked for aid. Auramazda says to Zarathrustra in
+the book of the law: "O Zarathrustra, praise thou my
+Fravashi, the Fravashi of Auramazda, the greatest,
+best, most intelligent, best-formed, highest in holiness,
+whose soul is the holy word."<a name="FNanchor_300_300" id="FNanchor_300_300"></a><a href="#Footnote_300_300" class="fnanchor">[300]</a> And in the prayers
+we are told: "We praise the Fravashis of the Amesha
+&Ccedil;pentas, of the holy &Ccedil;raosha, of Mithra, together with
+all the Fravashis of the heavenly Yazatas. I invoke the
+Fravashi of the holy Zarathrustra, the Fravashis of the
+men of the ancient law, and the Fravashis of the men
+of the new law, the good mighty Fravashis of the
+pure, of the nearest relations, and of my own soul."<a name="FNanchor_301_301" id="FNanchor_301_301"></a><a href="#Footnote_301_301" class="fnanchor">[301]</a>
+The Persians at the king's gate, according to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>
+Greeks, set apart a separate table at each meal with
+bread and food for the "demon" of the king, and at a
+Persian banquet the host, according to Plutarch, calls
+on his guests, "to honour the demon of king Artaxerxes."
+Hence it clearly follows that the priestly
+doctrine of the Fravashis of the living was current
+even in Western Iran under the Ach&aelig;menids.<a name="FNanchor_302_302" id="FNanchor_302_302"></a><a href="#Footnote_302_302" class="fnanchor">[302]</a></p>
+
+<p>Zarathrustra had increased the means for keeping
+off the evil ones, and had made the struggle against
+the wicked spirits easier for men. But the time will
+come when the struggle will be no longer necessary,
+and the bright spirits alone will rule. This doctrine
+is indicated even in the Gathas.<a name="FNanchor_303_303" id="FNanchor_303_303"></a><a href="#Footnote_303_303" class="fnanchor">[303]</a> In the book of the
+law Zarathrustra says to Angromainyu: he will smite
+the Daevas till &Ccedil;aoshyant is born from the water of
+Kan&ccedil;ava in the eastern region.<a name="FNanchor_304_304" id="FNanchor_304_304"></a><a href="#Footnote_304_304" class="fnanchor">[304]</a> &Ccedil;aoshyant, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the
+useful, the saviour, is called in the Avesta, "the
+sublime, the victorious;" he will smite the Druj, and
+Aeshma will bow before him. He will make the
+world to live for ever, without age and death; the
+dead will rise again, and the living will be immortal.
+Vohumano will smite Akomano, Asha will kill the
+lies. Haurvatat and Ameretat will destroy thirst and
+hunger: "The evil-doer Angromainyu, robbed of his
+dominion, bows himself."<a name="FNanchor_305_305" id="FNanchor_305_305"></a><a href="#Footnote_305_305" class="fnanchor">[305]</a> This doctrine of the Avesta
+also was well known to the western world. In Herodotus
+Prexaspes tells Cambyses that when the dead
+rise again he will see Smerdis and Astyages.<a name="FNanchor_306_306" id="FNanchor_306_306"></a><a href="#Footnote_306_306" class="fnanchor">[306]</a> Theopompus
+of Chios tells us: Zoroaster had proclaimed
+that there would be a time in which the dead will
+arise, and men will be immortal, and everything will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>
+be done by their invocations. Last of all, Hades will
+pass away; men will then be happy; they will need no
+nourishment, and throw no shadows, and the god who
+will accomplish this rests for a time, but not a long
+time for a god.<a name="FNanchor_307_307" id="FNanchor_307_307"></a><a href="#Footnote_307_307" class="fnanchor">[307]</a> It is true that men required no
+nourishment when &Ccedil;aoshyant had appeared, in the
+meaning of the Avesta, for Haurvatat and Ameretat
+had overcome hunger and thirst as well as sickness
+and death; and as the dark side of man was taken
+away, and only the bright side remained, they could
+not cast any shadows.</p>
+
+<p>As already remarked, it was part of the duty of the
+priests to bring the ancient legends of the old time into
+harmony with the new doctrine. We saw that the
+legends of Iran began with the happy age of Yima,
+and his reign of a thousand years full of increase and
+blessing. This conception of a perfect age for the
+creatures of earth at the very beginning of things did
+not suit with the struggle, which, according to the new
+doctrine, Angromainyu commenced immediately after
+the creation. The priests, therefore, conceived the
+beginning of things in a different manner. In their
+system Auramazda first created the heaven, then the
+water, then the earth and the trees, and after these
+the four-footed bull, and the two-legged pure man
+Gayo maretan.<a name="FNanchor_308_308" id="FNanchor_308_308"></a><a href="#Footnote_308_308" class="fnanchor">[308]</a> In the Avesta the primeval bull and
+man are at the head, and time extends from Gayo
+maretan to &Ccedil;aoshyant.<a name="FNanchor_309_309" id="FNanchor_309_309"></a><a href="#Footnote_309_309" class="fnanchor">[309]</a> The books of the Parsees
+then tell us that Angromainyu killed the primeval
+man and bull, but from the seed of the bull proceeded
+a pair of oxen, and then all kinds of good animals;
+and out of the seed of Gayo maretan grew up the first<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>
+man and the first woman. As we have already remarked,
+our fragments of the Avesta identify the soul
+of the first created bull with the Drva&ccedil;pa, the ancient
+guardian spirit of the flocks; next to Gayo maretan
+they place Haoshyangha, the Paradhata (p. 36), and
+represent him as sacrificing to Ardvi&ccedil;ura, Vayu, and
+Ashi vanguhi, in order to obtain the dominion over
+the evil spirits.<a name="FNanchor_310_310" id="FNanchor_310_310"></a><a href="#Footnote_310_310" class="fnanchor">[310]</a> After him Takhmo urupa rules the
+earth of seven parts; he sacrifices to Vayu in order to
+obtain grace to restrain Angromainyu for thirty years.<a name="FNanchor_311_311" id="FNanchor_311_311"></a><a href="#Footnote_311_311" class="fnanchor">[311]</a>
+Then, according to the system of the priests, follows
+the dominion of Yima the son of Vivanghana, during
+which there was no cold and no heat, no age and no
+death, as was represented in the old views. Yima
+kindles the red-glowing fire. Flocks and men, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i>
+life, increase; and the earth must be made larger. The
+end of this happy period, and the death of Yima, is
+brought about, according to the priests, by the fact that
+Yima refused to be the preacher of the doctrine of
+Auramazda, that he was unable to maintain purity
+and truth, and began to "love lying speech" (p. 41).
+As Yima was born to Vivanghana as a reward for his
+Haoma sacrifice, there follows a series of those who
+have offered the sacrifice: Athwya, Thrita, Pourusha&ccedil;pa,
+and their sons. To the first Thraetaona was
+born, who smites the serpent Dahaka; to Thrita Kere&ccedil;a&ccedil;pa,
+who smites the serpent &Ccedil;ruvara; and to Pourusha&ccedil;pa
+was born Zarathrustra, who receives the law
+of Auramazda and proclaims it; by this law the
+Daevas will be warded off till &Ccedil;aoshyant appears,
+when everything which has once had life will come
+to life again.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_228_228" id="Footnote_228_228"></a><a href="#FNanchor_228_228"><span class="label">[228]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 56, 3, 1-3.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_229_229" id="Footnote_229_229"></a><a href="#FNanchor_229_229"><span class="label">[229]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 28, 29, 42, 43, 44, 46, according to Haug's translation,
+which is not universally accepted; "Ya&ccedil;na," 31 after Roth. "Z. D.
+M. G." 25, 6 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_230_230" id="Footnote_230_230"></a><a href="#FNanchor_230_230"><span class="label">[230]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 30, after H&uuml;bschmann's rendering.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_231_231" id="Footnote_231_231"></a><a href="#FNanchor_231_231"><span class="label">[231]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 33, 8.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_232_232" id="Footnote_232_232"></a><a href="#FNanchor_232_232"><span class="label">[232]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 31, 6.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_233_233" id="Footnote_233_233"></a><a href="#FNanchor_233_233"><span class="label">[233]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 34, 1.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_234_234" id="Footnote_234_234"></a><a href="#FNanchor_234_234"><span class="label">[234]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 50, 7.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_235_235" id="Footnote_235_235"></a><a href="#FNanchor_235_235"><span class="label">[235]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 34, 11.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_236_236" id="Footnote_236_236"></a><a href="#FNanchor_236_236"><span class="label">[236]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 41, 10, 11; cf. 57, 20.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_237_237" id="Footnote_237_237"></a><a href="#FNanchor_237_237"><span class="label">[237]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 43, 18.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_238_238" id="Footnote_238_238"></a><a href="#FNanchor_238_238"><span class="label">[238]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 44, 5. The passages in the text concerning Haurvatat
+and Ameretat are given after Darmesteter, "Haurvatat et Ameretat,"
+p. 35 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_239_239" id="Footnote_239_239"></a><a href="#FNanchor_239_239"><span class="label">[239]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 31, 18.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_240_240" id="Footnote_240_240"></a><a href="#FNanchor_240_240"><span class="label">[240]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 47, 1.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_241_241" id="Footnote_241_241"></a><a href="#FNanchor_241_241"><span class="label">[241]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 47-49, according to Haug's translation.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_242_242" id="Footnote_242_242"></a><a href="#FNanchor_242_242"><span class="label">[242]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 31, 3, 19; 33, 3; 46, 7.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_243_243" id="Footnote_243_243"></a><a href="#FNanchor_243_243"><span class="label">[243]</span></a> Plut. "De Isid." 46.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_244_244" id="Footnote_244_244"></a><a href="#FNanchor_244_244"><span class="label">[244]</span></a> From the invocation of the time without limit, <i>Zrvana akarana</i>, in
+the Avesta (p. 79), some have sought to draw the conclusion, that
+this is the supreme principle, and that Auramazda and Angromainyu
+proceeded from it. This is no less incorrect than if it were maintained
+that according to the Christian dogma God and the devil owed their
+origin to eternity. In the Avesta Zrvana akarana does not assume an
+important place either at the creation or in the worship. I have
+already remarked above, that the spirits of light are called in the
+Rigveda sons of Aditi, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> of the unlimited, the eternal. Parallel
+similitudes which, however, mean no more than the eternity of the
+gods, could be made even among the Arians of Iran. But there is a
+difference between speaking in similes, and derivation from a principle.
+The faith of Iran was not a philosophical system, but a religion; a
+religion cannot combine the good and evil god into one unity. It is
+only when speculation becomes master over religion, that conceptions
+of this kind can find a place; and this speculation, which sought for
+primeval cosmical unity, arrived as a fact at an identical origin for the
+good and evil spirit; but this was not the case with the Avesta.
+Centuries after the establishment of the canon we find the oldest form
+of such teaching in a demand made to the Armenian Christians that
+they should join the faith of Auramazda. In this we are told that the
+great deity Zrovan had sacrificed for a thousand years, and had
+received two sons, Ormuzd and Ahriman. The first had created heaven
+and earth, the other had opposed him with evil works. About the same
+time Theodorus of Mopsuestia in Cilicia (Phot. "Biblioth." p. 63, ed.
+Bekker), tells us: "Zoroaster called the creator of all things Zaruam,
+and described him as fate;" and in the sixth century Damascius ("De
+prim. princip." p. 384) writes: "The Magi and the whole Arian nation
+call the Whole and One in thought, space and time respectively; from
+this One arose the good and evil god, Oromasdes and Areimanius, or as
+others say light and darkness were divided before these." The sect of
+the Zarvanites, who deviated from the faith of Zoroaster, inasmuch as
+they carried these principles still further, has been already mentioned
+(p. 67).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_245_245" id="Footnote_245_245"></a><a href="#FNanchor_245_245"><span class="label">[245]</span></a> "Mihr Yasht," 123.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_246_246" id="Footnote_246_246"></a><a href="#FNanchor_246_246"><span class="label">[246]</span></a> Ashi vanguhi is in one passage called the daughter of Auramazda
+and Armaiti; "Ya&ccedil;na," 44, 4; "Vend." 19, 45; "Ashi Yasht," 16.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_247_247" id="Footnote_247_247"></a><a href="#FNanchor_247_247"><span class="label">[247]</span></a> "Tistar Yasht," 50.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_248_248" id="Footnote_248_248"></a><a href="#FNanchor_248_248"><span class="label">[248]</span></a> "Vend." 19, 40; "Ya&ccedil;na," 56, 10, 2.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_249_249" id="Footnote_249_249"></a><a href="#FNanchor_249_249"><span class="label">[249]</span></a> "Vispered," 23, 1.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_250_250" id="Footnote_250_250"></a><a href="#FNanchor_250_250"><span class="label">[250]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 44, 4; 46, 2; 13, 6; "Vend." 19, 45; Haug, "Essays,"
+p. 231.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_251_251" id="Footnote_251_251"></a><a href="#FNanchor_251_251"><span class="label">[251]</span></a> Spiegel, "Eran," 1, 435.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_252_252" id="Footnote_252_252"></a><a href="#FNanchor_252_252"><span class="label">[252]</span></a> Darmesteter, "Haurvatat et Ameretat," p. 68, 81 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_253_253" id="Footnote_253_253"></a><a href="#FNanchor_253_253"><span class="label">[253]</span></a> "Vend." 19, 30-34, 54.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_254_254" id="Footnote_254_254"></a><a href="#FNanchor_254_254"><span class="label">[254]</span></a> "Din Yasht," 2.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_255_255" id="Footnote_255_255"></a><a href="#FNanchor_255_255"><span class="label">[255]</span></a> "Rashnu Yasht," 8.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_256_256" id="Footnote_256_256"></a><a href="#FNanchor_256_256"><span class="label">[256]</span></a> Burnouf, <i>l. c.</i> p. 417, 468.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_257_257" id="Footnote_257_257"></a><a href="#FNanchor_257_257"><span class="label">[257]</span></a> "Gosh Yasht;" Ya&ccedil;na, 29; 39, 1.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_258_258" id="Footnote_258_258"></a><a href="#FNanchor_258_258"><span class="label">[258]</span></a> "Vend." 19, 111, 112; 22, 22.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_259_259" id="Footnote_259_259"></a><a href="#FNanchor_259_259"><span class="label">[259]</span></a> Herod. 7, 40, 55; Xenoph. "Cyr. inst." 8, 3, 12; Curtius, 3, 3, 8;
+4, 48, 12. Dio Chrysost. 2, 60, ed. Dindorf.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_260_260" id="Footnote_260_260"></a><a href="#FNanchor_260_260"><span class="label">[260]</span></a> p. 732.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_261_261" id="Footnote_261_261"></a><a href="#FNanchor_261_261"><span class="label">[261]</span></a> "Khorshed Yasht," in De Harlez, "Avesta," p. 34.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_262_262" id="Footnote_262_262"></a><a href="#FNanchor_262_262"><span class="label">[262]</span></a> 10, 17, 18.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_263_263" id="Footnote_263_263"></a><a href="#FNanchor_263_263"><span class="label">[263]</span></a> "Zamyad Yasht," 96; Darmesteter, <i>l. c.</i> p. 10.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_264_264" id="Footnote_264_264"></a><a href="#FNanchor_264_264"><span class="label">[264]</span></a> "Vend." 18, 38.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_265_265" id="Footnote_265_265"></a><a href="#FNanchor_265_265"><span class="label">[265]</span></a> "Vend." 19, 6, 146.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_266_266" id="Footnote_266_266"></a><a href="#FNanchor_266_266"><span class="label">[266]</span></a> Burnouf, "Journ. Asiatic," 1845, p. 433.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_267_267" id="Footnote_267_267"></a><a href="#FNanchor_267_267"><span class="label">[267]</span></a> "Vend." 10, 23. Windischmann, "Zoroastrische Studien," s. 138.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_268_268" id="Footnote_268_268"></a><a href="#FNanchor_268_268"><span class="label">[268]</span></a> "Vend." 19, 147.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_269_269" id="Footnote_269_269"></a><a href="#FNanchor_269_269"><span class="label">[269]</span></a> "Vend." 4, 139.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_270_270" id="Footnote_270_270"></a><a href="#FNanchor_270_270"><span class="label">[270]</span></a> "Vend." 12, 65, 71; 14, 9 ff.; Plut. "De Isid." c. 46; Agath. 2, 24.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_271_271" id="Footnote_271_271"></a><a href="#FNanchor_271_271"><span class="label">[271]</span></a> Plut. "De Isid." c. 46.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_272_272" id="Footnote_272_272"></a><a href="#FNanchor_272_272"><span class="label">[272]</span></a> "Vend" 18, 34-37; 64-69.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_273_273" id="Footnote_273_273"></a><a href="#FNanchor_273_273"><span class="label">[273]</span></a> Cf. "Bundehesh," c. 19.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_274_274" id="Footnote_274_274"></a><a href="#FNanchor_274_274"><span class="label">[274]</span></a> "Yasht Farvardin," 109; "Yasht Bahram," 19-21.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_275_275" id="Footnote_275_275"></a><a href="#FNanchor_275_275"><span class="label">[275]</span></a> Kuhn, "Herabkunft des Feuers," s. 125; Darmesteter, <i>loc. cit.</i>
+p. 55. &Ccedil;inmurv has arisen out of <i>&Ccedil;aena (&Ccedil;in), i.&nbsp;e.</i> eagle, and <i>meregha</i>,
+"bird;" Middle Pers. <i>murv</i>; New Pers. <i>murgh</i>. In New Pers. &Ccedil;inmurv
+becomes Simurgh.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_276_276" id="Footnote_276_276"></a><a href="#FNanchor_276_276"><span class="label">[276]</span></a> Isaiah xlvi. 11. In Aeschylus also an eagle represents the Persians
+and a falcon the Hellenes; "Pers." 205-210.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_277_277" id="Footnote_277_277"></a><a href="#FNanchor_277_277"><span class="label">[277]</span></a> "Cyri instit." 7, 1, 4.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_278_278" id="Footnote_278_278"></a><a href="#FNanchor_278_278"><span class="label">[278]</span></a> 3, 7.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_279_279" id="Footnote_279_279"></a><a href="#FNanchor_279_279"><span class="label">[279]</span></a> "Vend." 18, 137, 138, 149.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_280_280" id="Footnote_280_280"></a><a href="#FNanchor_280_280"><span class="label">[280]</span></a> Xenophon, "Cyri instit." 8, 3, 11, 24; Athen. p. 145; Arrian,
+"Anab." 6, 29.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_281_281" id="Footnote_281_281"></a><a href="#FNanchor_281_281"><span class="label">[281]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 10. 38, 11, 16. Strabo, p. 732, tells us that the deity of
+the Persians received nothing from the sacrifice.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_282_282" id="Footnote_282_282"></a><a href="#FNanchor_282_282"><span class="label">[282]</span></a> What Herodotus tells us of the sacrifice of girls and boys by the
+Magi in Thrace contradicts his own statement that the Magi did not
+venture to kill any one, and the whole conception of the Avesta. If
+Cambyses is said to have caused twelve Persians to be buried alive, this
+is not to be regarded as a sacrifice, but as a barbarous form of execution,
+which occurs also under the Sassanids. What Herodotus says of the
+fourteen boys offered by Amestris as a sacrifice, if true, must have its
+origin in some other superstition, not in the Avesta; and the actions
+of Amestris and Parysatis in this direction, as recorded by Ctesias,
+were in any cases crimes, not sacrifices.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_283_283" id="Footnote_283_283"></a><a href="#FNanchor_283_283"><span class="label">[283]</span></a> Strabo, p. 732.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_284_284" id="Footnote_284_284"></a><a href="#FNanchor_284_284"><span class="label">[284]</span></a> Fragm. 16, ed. M&uuml;ller.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_285_285" id="Footnote_285_285"></a><a href="#FNanchor_285_285"><span class="label">[285]</span></a> 1, 131.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_286_286" id="Footnote_286_286"></a><a href="#FNanchor_286_286"><span class="label">[286]</span></a> Strabo, p. 733.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_287_287" id="Footnote_287_287"></a><a href="#FNanchor_287_287"><span class="label">[287]</span></a> Windischmann has shown, "Abh. Bair. Akad. phil. philol. Kl." 8,
+90, 120, that, &#7944;&#956;&#945;&#961;&#948;&#945;&#964;&#972;&#962; must be read for
+&#7944;&#957;&#945;&#957;&#948;&#945;&#964;&#972;&#962;.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_288_288" id="Footnote_288_288"></a><a href="#FNanchor_288_288"><span class="label">[288]</span></a> "Vend." 7, 132-136; 19, 90-100.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_289_289" id="Footnote_289_289"></a><a href="#FNanchor_289_289"><span class="label">[289]</span></a> "Vend." 19, 89.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_290_290" id="Footnote_290_290"></a><a href="#FNanchor_290_290"><span class="label">[290]</span></a> "Vend." 18, 68, 69.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_291_291" id="Footnote_291_291"></a><a href="#FNanchor_291_291"><span class="label">[291]</span></a> "Vend." 19, 108.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_292_292" id="Footnote_292_292"></a><a href="#FNanchor_292_292"><span class="label">[292]</span></a> "Vend." 13, 22, 25.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_293_293" id="Footnote_293_293"></a><a href="#FNanchor_293_293"><span class="label">[293]</span></a> "Vend." 19, 100-108.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_294_294" id="Footnote_294_294"></a><a href="#FNanchor_294_294"><span class="label">[294]</span></a> "Vend." 8, 252, 310; 19, 94; cf. 3, 118-121. In the Dinkart the
+proceedings on the bridge are related at greater length.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_295_295" id="Footnote_295_295"></a><a href="#FNanchor_295_295"><span class="label">[295]</span></a> Vol. IV., 61, 163, 230.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_296_296" id="Footnote_296_296"></a><a href="#FNanchor_296_296"><span class="label">[296]</span></a> "Farvardin Yasht," 35-48, 70, 71.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_297_297" id="Footnote_297_297"></a><a href="#FNanchor_297_297"><span class="label">[297]</span></a> "Farvardin Yasht," 61, 62.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_298_298" id="Footnote_298_298"></a><a href="#FNanchor_298_298"><span class="label">[298]</span></a> "Farvardin Yasht," 50-52.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_299_299" id="Footnote_299_299"></a><a href="#FNanchor_299_299"><span class="label">[299]</span></a> Diogen. Laert. "Prooem." 6.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_300_300" id="Footnote_300_300"></a><a href="#FNanchor_300_300"><span class="label">[300]</span></a> "Vend." 19, 46, 48.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_301_301" id="Footnote_301_301"></a><a href="#FNanchor_301_301"><span class="label">[301]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 1, 47; 23, 6; Burnouf, "Commentaire," p. 571.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_302_302" id="Footnote_302_302"></a><a href="#FNanchor_302_302"><span class="label">[302]</span></a> Plut. "Artax." 15; Theopomp. Fragm. 135, ed. M&uuml;ller.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_303_303" id="Footnote_303_303"></a><a href="#FNanchor_303_303"><span class="label">[303]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 45, 3; 47, 1; above, p. 156.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_304_304" id="Footnote_304_304"></a><a href="#FNanchor_304_304"><span class="label">[304]</span></a> "Vend." 19, 17-19; above, p. 135.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_305_305" id="Footnote_305_305"></a><a href="#FNanchor_305_305"><span class="label">[305]</span></a> "Zamyad Yasht," 89, 95, 96.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_306_306" id="Footnote_306_306"></a><a href="#FNanchor_306_306"><span class="label">[306]</span></a> 3, 62.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_307_307" id="Footnote_307_307"></a><a href="#FNanchor_307_307"><span class="label">[307]</span></a> Theopomp. Fragm. 71, 72, ed. M&uuml;ller.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_308_308" id="Footnote_308_308"></a><a href="#FNanchor_308_308"><span class="label">[308]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 19, 16-18.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_309_309" id="Footnote_309_309"></a><a href="#FNanchor_309_309"><span class="label">[309]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 26, 32; "Farvardin Yasht," 135.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_310_310" id="Footnote_310_310"></a><a href="#FNanchor_310_310"><span class="label">[310]</span></a> "Aban Yasht," 21-23; "Farvardin Yasht," 157; "Ashi Yasht,"
+24; "Zamyad Yasht," 26.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_311_311" id="Footnote_311_311"></a><a href="#FNanchor_311_311"><span class="label">[311]</span></a> "Ram Yasht," 11; "Zamyad Yasht," 28.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE PRIESTHOOD OF IRAN</h3>
+
+
+<p>In the form in which we have them the books of the
+Avesta are the work of the priests of Eastern Iran.
+According to the evidence repeatedly furnished by
+them, there were three orders in Sogdiana and Bactria:
+priests, warriors, and husbandmen. This sequence,
+which is uniformly preserved both in the invocations
+and in the book of the law, shows that the priests
+had risen above the warriors, and claimed to be the
+first of the three orders.<a name="FNanchor_312_312" id="FNanchor_312_312"></a><a href="#Footnote_312_312" class="fnanchor">[312]</a></p>
+
+<p>In considering the civilisation of the Bactrian kingdom
+we found ourselves compelled by the proximity
+of the nations of the steppes to assume, that when
+the Arians had become established there, the tribes
+which had a capacity or love for battle, undertook the
+protection of the land, the flocks and fields, against
+the incursions of the nomads of the north, and made
+battle and strife their special vocation. Such attacks
+increased with the increasing culture of Bactria, and
+led to a consolidation of powers; these clans raised
+one of their number distinguished in battle to be their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>
+leader, or followed him, and thus was laid the basis
+for the foundation of a great state. The importance
+ascribed in the Avesta to the splendour of majesty&mdash;we
+find the personification of good government in the
+Avesta among the Amesha &Ccedil;pentas&mdash;in combination
+with the battles which, as we learn from the book, the
+princes of Bactria carried on against the Turanians, and
+with the statements in the West Iranian Epos about
+the kingdom of the Bactrians, together with the later
+condition of the country, allowed us to draw the conclusion
+that at one time the kings of Bactria were not
+without power and importance. They reigned, surrounded
+by the families of the warriors, who were
+enabled by their possessions in lands and flocks, to
+devote themselves to the practice of arms and to
+battle.  The invocations to Mithra, Verethraghna,
+and Vayu, bear upon them very evident traces of a
+war-like spirit (p. 110, 114). That the spirits of the
+sky, which once fought with the cloud-dragons, have
+become mortal heroes in the Avesta, also proves&mdash;since
+even among other nations the Epic poetry which
+follows periods of warlike excitement transforms shapes
+of the sky into heroes of old time&mdash;that once on a
+time Bactria had experienced a period of warfare,
+when difficulties arose which it was mainly the business
+of the monarchy and the nobles to settle. The
+Avesta can tell us of arms and robes as well as of
+palaces with pillars and turrets; of earthen, iron,
+silver and golden vessels; of mats, carpets, and adornments
+of gold,<a name="FNanchor_313_313" id="FNanchor_313_313"></a><a href="#Footnote_313_313" class="fnanchor">[313]</a> such as are found among noble
+families; and those hecatombs of horses, cattle, and
+sheep which the heroes in the Avesta sacrifice to
+Anahita and Drva&ccedil;pa, in order to obtain their favour
+by victory, are no doubt borrowed from the sacrifices<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>
+which princes and nobles were wont to offer in cases
+where the numbers must be enlarged in honour of the
+heroes. Yet we see that Xerxes orders a thousand
+oxen to be sacrificed at one time. We have already
+shown (IV. 390), how important and pre-eminent
+was the position which the races of the warriors, "the
+princes," occupied on the Indus and the Ganges, and
+what respect they commanded among "the free Indians"
+in the Panjab, even in the fourth century <small>B.C.</small>
+That a warlike nobility of a similar character, attitude,
+and position, existed in Eastern Iran, is the less to be
+doubted, as the order of warriors in the Avesta is
+denoted by a name (<i>rathaestar</i>) which goes back to the
+chariots of war. The husbandmen, who were settled
+beside and among them, bear in the Avesta the name
+of Va&ccedil;trya,<a name="FNanchor_314_314" id="FNanchor_314_314"></a><a href="#Footnote_314_314" class="fnanchor">[314]</a> but the word Vae&ccedil;u is also used for them,
+which simply repeats the name of the Indian Vai&ccedil;yas.</p>
+
+<p>Like the Arians of India, the Arians of Iran believed
+in the power of the correct invocations, prayers, and
+sacrifice; among them also the sacrifice strengthens
+the gods and increases their power. In India too,
+the priests, and minstrels, and sacrificers handed down
+in their families the knowledge of the effective invocations
+and ceremonies which exercised compulsion on
+the gods, and the same was the case in Eastern Iran;
+priestly families arose at a very early period. They
+did not here retain the name of supplicators, as in
+India; but are called Athravas in the Avesta. In the
+Veda Atharvan kindles the sacrificial fire, and among
+the Arians of India the incantations of the race of
+Atharvan passed from the most powerful. In a similar
+way powerful invocations and sentences were handed
+down in Iran from father to son in the race of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>Athravas. These families preserved the ancient invocations
+to Mithra, Verethraghna, Anahita, Tistrya,
+which are preserved to us in the Avesta, though in a
+modified form. The god Haoma instructs Zarathrustra
+to praise him, as the other fire-priests had done
+(p. 124). The reform which bears the name of Zarathrustra
+cannot have left the condition of the priests
+unchanged. The doctrine may, as invocations in the
+Avesta would seem to show, have first found adherents
+in the race of Haechata&ccedil;pa, to which Zarathrustra
+belonged, and to which he first proclaimed his law
+(131), and next in the race of Jama&ccedil;pa and Frashaostra,
+who are spoken of as Zarathrustra's most
+zealous followers.  According to the creed of the
+Parsees the good law also came to Aderbat Mahresfant
+by family descent (p. 62). These new races of priests,
+who knew the sayings, invocations, and prayers of
+Zarathrustra, would then be joined by those among
+the races of the old fire-priests who approved of
+the reform, and the priesthood thus formed would be
+further strengthened by those who, deeply impressed
+by the new doctrine, sought and found reception as
+pupils into a family of the priests, thus entering into
+their circle, and becoming members of their families.
+United by a new doctrine and settled tenets, the
+priests who represented the reform would become
+united together more firmly than the priestly families
+of the old time.</p>
+
+<p>The priesthood could very well claim precedence
+of the warriors; on their prayers and sayings, their
+knowledge of the custom of sacrifice, depended the
+favour of the gods, the power of averting evil spirits,
+the removal of pollution, salvation in this world and
+the next. Yet they could not obtain such a position
+as the Brahmans held on the Ganges after the reform of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>
+the ancient faith, and the victory of Brahman over
+Indra. For in Iran there was no order of &Ccedil;udras, no
+vanquished remnant of an old population, which
+created a sharp line of division even among the orders
+of the Aryas; and moreover the Brahmans were the
+first-born of Brahman, a purer incarnation of the divine
+nature than any other order. The world had not
+emanated from Auramazda; there were in Iran no
+gradations of beings in which the divine essence
+existed in a more or less pure condition. All had to
+fight against evil deities and against evil; the priests
+were the leaders in this struggle&mdash;this leadership and
+nothing more could they claim. In their lives they
+studied especial purity of body and mind; and they
+were pre-eminently "the pure men." Only by their
+means, at any rate with their assistance, could sacrifice
+be offered; from their mouths alone could the correct
+invocations be uttered to the gods, and the evil ones
+be driven away. Men were compelled to submit to
+the rules of the life acceptable to the gods of light, of
+pure conversation, which were accurately known to the
+priests only; they had to take upon themselves the
+expiations which the priests prescribed, in order to
+wipe out offences and sins and their consequences&mdash;but
+they had not to reverence in them, as was the case
+beyond the Indus, a class of creatures raised by birth
+to a higher level. Hence the sharp separation of the
+priesthood from the rest of the orders, in the Brahmanic
+fashion, was at once placed out of the question.
+The priesthood of Iran perpetuated their knowledge
+and wisdom in their families; but they had not the
+right to bar all entrance into their families or their
+order on the score of higher birth, or to prohibit the
+marriage of priests with women of other orders, on
+the ground of their superior nature.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>From our fragments of the Avesta we may assume
+that although, as is obvious, the precedence of the
+priests above the remaining orders was strongly marked,
+and they were especially denoted as "pure men," the
+limits of their political and social position were far
+more modest than those of the Brahmans. So far as
+we can see, the Avesta allots no special income to the
+priests beyond the camels, horses, or small cattle given
+to them by warriors and husbandmen in quittance for
+the purifications they have performed. The penalties
+also which have to be paid in expiation of certain
+offences are to be given to "the pure men," and the
+Avesta repeatedly recommends the presentation of
+gifts to them. On the other hand, the priests do not
+possess the exclusive right to perform purifications.
+The Vendidad merely says that any one who wishes to
+perform purifications must have learned the law from
+one of the purifiers, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> it is only the instruction of
+the priest which is indispensable in this matter. Any
+one who performs purification without such instruction
+(except in the case of necessary purifications, p. 230),
+will take away from the places where it is performed,
+"food and fatness, health and all remedies, prosperity,
+luxuriance and growth, and increase of corn and
+fodder; and corn and fodder will not return to such
+places until for three days and nights the holy &Ccedil;raosha
+has been praised at the burning fire with bound withes
+and uplifted Haoma." The uncertified purifier is to
+be put in chains, his clothes taken from him, and his
+head cut off.<a name="FNanchor_315_315" id="FNanchor_315_315"></a><a href="#Footnote_315_315" class="fnanchor">[315]</a> If it was permitted to learn the purifications,
+it follows that men not of priestly descent
+could enter the order of the Athravas, and the boundary
+line between this order and the rest was not impassable.
+Among the Parsees of India any one can become a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>
+priest. The duties of the priest, according to the
+book of the law, consist in watching and tending the
+sacred fire, in praising the good spirits, in offering
+sacrifice, and performing purifications, and in the
+ceaseless study of the holy scriptures. The priest is to
+be provided with a mortar made according to certain
+rules, a cup (for the Haoma sacrifice), the snake-switch
+(a stick for killing impure animals), and the Paitidana,
+<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> a piece of cloth for veiling the mouth, in order that
+he may not approach the sacred fire with breath that
+is possibly impure. For the rest, the Vendidad lays
+down the rule that the priests are to be patient and
+content, and satisfied with a little bread, and they
+ought to eat what is offered to them.<a name="FNanchor_316_316" id="FNanchor_316_316"></a><a href="#Footnote_316_316" class="fnanchor">[316]</a> Auramazda
+says; "Many men, O Zarathrustra, carry the Paitidana,
+the serpent-switch, the sacred bundle of twigs, without
+being guided according to the law. These are wrongly
+called priests; do not thou call them priests, O Zarathrustra.
+He who lies the whole night without praising
+or hearing, or reciting, or learning, or teaching&mdash;call
+not such an one a priest. Call him a priest, O pure
+Zarathrustra, who inquires of the pure intelligence
+the whole night, of the wisdom which purifies from
+sins and makes the heart wide, which has merits in store
+on the bridge of Chinvat, and causes us to attain the
+purity and bliss of Paradise."<a name="FNanchor_317_317" id="FNanchor_317_317"></a><a href="#Footnote_317_317" class="fnanchor">[317]</a> The Avesta distinguishes
+different classes of priests, but the distinction
+only rests on the various acts which they perform in
+the sacred rites. The first rank is taken by the
+Zaotar, who utters the prayers and invocations (the
+Hotar, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the Repeater of the Veda); next to him
+apparently is the &Ccedil;raoshavareza, "who speaks very
+wise and truthful things;"<a name="FNanchor_318_318" id="FNanchor_318_318"></a><a href="#Footnote_318_318" class="fnanchor">[318]</a> he bears the club of &Ccedil;raosha,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>in order to keep the evil spirits at a distance from the
+sacred acts; then comes the Atarevaksha, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the
+priest who causes the fire to increase, and attends to
+the worship of it; then the A&ccedil;natar (the Washer), who
+has to cleanse the instruments of sacrifice to keep
+them from pollution; the Frabaretar, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the Carrier,
+etc. In the modern ritual of the Parsees all the duties
+of the sacred service have been transferred to the
+Zaotar and the Ra&ccedil;pi, which latter discharges the
+functions of ministering priest.</p>
+
+<p>If we were only approximately correct in placing the
+date of Zarathrustra and the reform of the ancient
+faith at 1000 <small>B.C.</small>, the formation of this priestly order,
+which took place on the basis of the new doctrine,
+may have come to an end about the year 800 <small>B.C.</small>
+We saw that from this date onwards the spread of
+the new doctrine must have begun in the west of Iran
+towards the Medes and Persians, since there existed
+among the Medes from 700 <small>B.C.</small> an hereditary priesthood,
+charged with the worship of the gods according
+to the regulations of Zarathrustra, and in this century
+it was already sufficiently numerous to be placed as an
+equal division beside the tribes of the Medes.</p>
+
+<p>We have no better information about the priests of
+the West than we have on the political and social
+position of the priests of Eastern Iran. They are not
+called Athravas but Magush. This name is first found
+in the inscription which Darius caused to be cut on the
+rock-wall of Behistun; afterwards it was consistently
+used by Western writers, from Herodotus to Agathias,
+for the priests of Iran. The Avesta has the words
+<i>magha</i> and <i>maghavan</i>, i.&nbsp;e. the powerful, the great,<a name="FNanchor_319_319" id="FNanchor_319_319"></a><a href="#Footnote_319_319" class="fnanchor">[319]</a> but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>
+does not use it of the priests, which are always called
+Athravas. If the last title is taken from the fire-worship,
+the first allows us to see the importance of the
+priests. He who can use incantations to the gods and
+spirits&mdash;can summon or remove them&mdash;is the mighty
+one, the powerful. If in this name we have evidence
+of the respect with which the laity of Western Iran
+looked up to the priests, the difference between the
+names in the East and West shows that there were
+priestly races among the Medes and Persians before
+the religion of Zarathrustra reached them. Had not
+such existed before the reform, and had they not
+possessed a definite name in the West&mdash;had priestly
+families become known there for the first time at the
+rise of the reform&mdash;they would never have had any
+other name than that of Athravas. Even without this
+positive proof we might assume that from all antiquity
+there had been priests among the Medes and Persians
+who understood how to invoke the gods of light in the
+old Arian faith&mdash;Mithra and Verethraghna, Vayu and
+Tistrya&mdash;and tend the fire which destroyed demons.
+When the new doctrine reached from the East to
+Ragha and then to Media (p. 96), the old races who
+passed over to the new faith united with the families
+the members of which were the prophets of the new
+doctrine. The teachers of the Medes in old times,
+which Pliny called successors of Zarathrustra, might
+have stood at the head of this transformation of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>
+ancient priestly families, of the creation of the Median
+priesthood on the basis of the new religion (p. 92).
+However this may have been, the priestly families
+among the Medes were so numerous, their connection
+and union so close and firmly fixed, that they could be
+counted as a sixth tribe beside the other five Median
+tribes.</p>
+
+<p>Among the tribes of the Persians Herodotus mentions
+no tribe of Magi. It would be a mistake to
+conclude from this that there were originally no
+priests among the Persians, and to put faith in Xenophon's
+statement that Cyrus was the first to give the
+Magians the care of the sacred fire, "because he
+preferred to go on board with the pious rather than
+the impious."<a name="FNanchor_320_320" id="FNanchor_320_320"></a><a href="#Footnote_320_320" class="fnanchor">[320]</a> No one will maintain that the Persians
+in ancient times were without worship and
+religious rites, or that when they accepted the doctrine
+of Zarathrustra, which did not permit sacrifice without
+Magians, they used the services of none but alien
+priests. Such a proceeding would be absurd. The
+proper conclusion from the fact that Herodotus does
+not mention a tribe of Magians among the Persians
+is that the priestly families there were less numerous;
+they had not broken away from the tribal connections
+to which they originally belonged, and formed themselves
+into a separate community. Further, from the
+fact that the priestly families of the Persians in old
+times had not formed themselves into a separate community,
+we may conclude&mdash;and indeed the conclusion
+follows from the position of Media and the notice in
+the Avesta about Ragha, and the observation about
+the ancient teachers of the Medes, who are said to
+have been followers of Zarathrustra&mdash;that the reform
+of the faith first came from Bactria to the Medes,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>
+that it was adopted and more strongly represented
+among them, and so passed on to the Persians. We
+cannot doubt that there were Persians belonging to
+the order of Magians. If Plato and his pupils call
+Zoroaster the "teacher of the Magians," and at the
+same time "a Persian," they must assume that there
+were Magians among the Persians; if, according to
+Plato's statement, the four teachers of the heirs to the
+Persian throne, of which one had to teach the Magism
+of Zoroaster, were selected out of "all the Persians;"&mdash;if
+at the time of Xerxes there were Persians who
+wrote on the doctrine of Zoroaster, they must have
+been initiated in the wisdom and knowledge of the
+Magians, and have known their invocations and customs;
+the contents of the holy scriptures and the
+scriptures themselves can hardly have been hidden
+from them. In order to prove that the Magians, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i>
+the priests, belonged exclusively to the Medes, the
+fact has been brought forward that the Persians, after
+Darius had dethroned the Pseudo-Smerdis, celebrated
+each year the feast of the slaughter of the Magians,
+at which no Magian allowed himself to be seen, but
+all were obliged to remain at home.<a name="FNanchor_321_321" id="FNanchor_321_321"></a><a href="#Footnote_321_321" class="fnanchor">[321]</a> The Magophonia
+was not the celebration of a victory over the
+Magi generally, but over the removal of a usurper, and
+the restoration of the dominion to the Ach&aelig;menids,
+which had been taken from them by one who happened
+to be a Magian. Herodotus at any rate calls
+this Magian a Mede.<a name="FNanchor_322_322" id="FNanchor_322_322"></a><a href="#Footnote_322_322" class="fnanchor">[322]</a> Darius contents himself with
+calling him the "Magian." Hence there is no ground
+to doubt that both before and after the reform, families
+of the Persians were charged with the worship
+of the gods; the less so because Plato, as already<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>
+remarked, represents the heirs to the throne in Persia
+as being instructed in the doctrine of Zoroaster, while
+Strabo and Pausanias speak expressly of "Persian
+Magi," and the chief Magian is enumerated among
+the tribes "which dwell in the districts of Persis."<a name="FNanchor_323_323" id="FNanchor_323_323"></a><a href="#Footnote_323_323" class="fnanchor">[323]</a></p>
+
+<p>When the dominion of the Ach&aelig;menids had been
+established over Iran, the priestly families of all the
+West must have been united into one community.
+There is no doubt that this remained an order in
+which the priestly wisdom and knowledge were traditional.
+Strabo, like Herodotus, calls the Magians a
+tribe; he adds that the members of it sought after a
+holy life. The tribe was large, he tells us in another
+place; Magians could be found even in Cappadocia.
+Ammianus also informs us that the Magians handed
+down their doctrines to later times, each by his
+descendants. Growing up through centuries from a
+small number, the Magians became a nation, and
+being regarded as dedicated to the service of the
+gods, they had acquired respect through their religion.
+They inhabited open villages, lived according to a
+law of their own, and possessed fruitful fields in the
+district called Nis&aelig;a. Agathias also calls the Magians
+a tribe.<a name="FNanchor_324_324" id="FNanchor_324_324"></a><a href="#Footnote_324_324" class="fnanchor">[324]</a> But the separation of the priestly order in
+the West cannot have been more strict than that of
+the Athravas in the East. Marriage with the women
+of other orders was not forbidden, nor transition
+from other orders into that of the Medes. The
+Avesta speaks of the teacher and the pupil (p. 203);
+and it is expressly said&mdash;though the statement comes
+from the beginning of the third century of our era&mdash;that
+the Magians among the Persians, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the Magians<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>
+under the Arsacids, instructed even those who were
+not Persians in their doctrine, but only at the special
+command of the king.<a name="FNanchor_325_325" id="FNanchor_325_325"></a><a href="#Footnote_325_325" class="fnanchor">[325]</a></p>
+
+<p>We find the Magians in close proximity to the rulers
+of the Medes and Persians; they were not without
+importance and influence. In Herodotus they tell
+Astyages that they had and would have great honours
+from him.<a name="FNanchor_326_326" id="FNanchor_326_326"></a><a href="#Footnote_326_326" class="fnanchor">[326]</a> Xenophon speaks of them as determining,
+at the time of Cyrus, which god is to be honoured on
+each day.<a name="FNanchor_327_327" id="FNanchor_327_327"></a><a href="#Footnote_327_327" class="fnanchor">[327]</a> Cambyses charges Magians with the duty
+of watching the grave of Cyrus, and this office became
+hereditary in their families;<a name="FNanchor_328_328" id="FNanchor_328_328"></a><a href="#Footnote_328_328" class="fnanchor">[328]</a> he also entrusts a
+Magian with the care of the royal household, while he
+marches with the army into the remote parts of Egypt
+and Nubia. The inscriptions of Darius showed us
+how much in earnest he was with the doctrines and
+regulations of the religion&mdash;how lively was his faith.
+On his march to Hellas, Xerxes was accompanied by
+Osthanes, a man skilled in the priestly dogmas, and by
+Magians; they offer sacrifice, and charm the storms.<a name="FNanchor_329_329" id="FNanchor_329_329"></a><a href="#Footnote_329_329" class="fnanchor">[329]</a>
+The sacred fire which was carried before the kings<a name="FNanchor_330_330" id="FNanchor_330_330"></a><a href="#Footnote_330_330" class="fnanchor">[330]</a>
+was conducted by Magians, and so also were the sacred
+chariot, the sacred horses of Mithra and the sun-god,
+in the campaigns of the Ach&aelig;menids (p. 167). Of
+greater importance was it that the heirs to the throne
+in Persia were instructed, as Plato tells us, in the
+Magism of Zoroaster,<a name="FNanchor_331_331" id="FNanchor_331_331"></a><a href="#Footnote_331_331" class="fnanchor">[331]</a> which could only be done by
+Magians. Nicolaus of Damascus relates that the
+Persian princes were instructed by the Magians in
+truthfulness, justice, and the laws of their country;<a name="FNanchor_332_332" id="FNanchor_332_332"></a><a href="#Footnote_332_332" class="fnanchor">[332]</a>
+and, according to Plutarch, Magians were the educators<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>
+of the Persian princes; Magians also under the Ach&aelig;menids
+performed the consecration at the accession of
+a new king.<a name="FNanchor_333_333" id="FNanchor_333_333"></a><a href="#Footnote_333_333" class="fnanchor">[333]</a> We are also told that this king of the
+Medes and that of the Persians, took the advice of the
+Magians on important occasions. Under the Arsacids
+they formed, along with the members of the race of
+the kings, the supreme council of the kingdom; in
+the time when this dynasty was at its height they
+ruled, as Pliny told us, "over the king of kings;"
+and we have seen (p. 60) that their influence under
+the Sassanids, at court, in the administration of law,
+and in politics, was even more powerful.</p>
+
+<p>Herodotus maintains that the Magians also occupied
+themselves with soothsaying and prophecy; like
+Ctesias, he ascribes to the Medes the interpretation of
+certain dreams and other miraculous acts. Of such
+interpretations and prophesying on the part of the
+priests the Avesta knows nothing, and those Greeks
+who were better informed, warmly contested the assertion
+that the Magians were occupied with such
+things. Plato tells us: "The Magism of Zoroaster is
+the worship of the gods;" and Aristotle assures us that
+the Magians knew nothing of soothsaying.<a name="FNanchor_334_334" id="FNanchor_334_334"></a><a href="#Footnote_334_334" class="fnanchor">[334]</a> What
+Herodotus tells us, on the other side, he certainly did
+not invent, but repeats after his informants. The
+Medo-Persian Epos, which, though indirectly, forms
+the basis of Herodotus' account of the rise of Cyrus
+and the death of Cambyses, allowed a wide field, even
+in the account of the fall of the Assyrian empire
+(III. 264), to the astrological and prophetic wisdom of
+the Chald&aelig;ans. From this we may conclude that
+prophecies of the Chald&aelig;ans were not left out of
+sight at the overthrow of Astyages. In Nicolaus of
+Damascus it is a Chald&aelig;an of Babylon who expounds<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>
+her dream to the mother of Cyrus,<a name="FNanchor_335_335" id="FNanchor_335_335"></a><a href="#Footnote_335_335" class="fnanchor">[335]</a> and possibly
+the kings of the Medes followed the example of the
+Assyrian and Babylonian courts in having astrologers
+and interpreters of dreams from Babylon about
+them.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever was the influence employed by the Magians
+at the court of the Ach&aelig;menids, the Arsacids and
+Sassanids, their influence was of a moral nature; it
+was only through the effect of religion on the heart
+and conscience of the king, that they could work;
+their position did not rest on any hierarchical institutions.
+In Iran the priesthood had no real means
+of power which permitted it to come forward in opposition
+to the power of the State. The priest was a
+subject of the king like any one else. It was within
+the king's power to proceed at his pleasure with the
+severest corporal punishment against the Magi, and
+it is abundantly clear that the kings did not shrink
+from inflicting such punishments, even if we do not
+regard as established facts the stories that Astyages
+impaled the Magians who had given him a false report,
+and that Darius caused forty Magians to be executed
+at once.<a name="FNanchor_336_336" id="FNanchor_336_336"></a><a href="#Footnote_336_336" class="fnanchor">[336]</a></p>
+
+<p>Diogenes Laertius relates that the Magians lived on
+lentils, bread and cheese, which agrees with the Avesta
+to the extent that the priests are there commanded to
+be content with a little food.<a name="FNanchor_337_337" id="FNanchor_337_337"></a><a href="#Footnote_337_337" class="fnanchor">[337]</a> What Herodotus tells
+us of the duties and occupation of the Magians agrees
+entirely with the rules given in the Avesta for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>
+Athravas. No one could sacrifice without a Magian;
+the sacrifices were offered on high places (in this Xenophon
+agrees<a name="FNanchor_338_338" id="FNanchor_338_338"></a><a href="#Footnote_338_338" class="fnanchor">[338]</a>) or in "pure places;" the most delicate
+grass was spread&mdash;we remember the importance of the
+Ku&ccedil;a-grass in the Veda and the Brahmanas&mdash;on this
+grass the flesh of the sacrifice was laid; the Magians
+sang the theogony, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> long sacrificial prayers, and the
+sacred rite is fulfilled. Herodotus also asserts that
+the Magians took great pride in killing serpents, ants,
+and other winged and creeping things with their own
+hands; that human life was greatly respected by them;
+that the dog was held in high honour (p. 86); and
+the corpses of the Magians were exposed to dogs or
+birds of prey. This he declares that he knows to be
+the truth; Xenophon represents the Magians as beginning
+their songs of praise with the break of day, and
+as offering their sacrifices at certain places, which were
+selected for the gods. Curtius relates that they sang
+native songs.<a name="FNanchor_339_339" id="FNanchor_339_339"></a><a href="#Footnote_339_339" class="fnanchor">[339]</a> Strabo told us above that the Magians
+sought after a holy life; he observes also that whatever
+was the god to which they sacrificed they first prayed
+to fire. At every sacrifice the Magians conducted the
+sacred rite; the victims were not slain with the knife
+but struck down with a club. No part of the flesh
+of the victim was set apart for the deity, for they
+declared that the god required only the soul of the
+animal; yet according to some they placed a small
+portion of the fat in the fire. "In Cappadocia there
+were enclosed places," Strabo continues, "in the midst
+of which was an altar, heaped up with ashes. On this
+the Magians kept up the unquenchable fire. Each
+day they went and sang for an hour before the fire,
+holding in their hands a bundle of twigs. On their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>
+heads they wore tiaras of felt, which fell down on
+both sides so far that the side-pieces covered the lips."<a name="FNanchor_340_340" id="FNanchor_340_340"></a><a href="#Footnote_340_340" class="fnanchor">[340]</a>
+Pausanias, who observed the worship of the Magians
+in the cities of Lydia, says: "At both places there
+was a shrine with a cell, and in the cell is an altar;
+on this are ashes the colour of which is not the
+ordinary colour of ashes. When the Magian comes
+into the cell, he lays the dry wood on the altar, puts
+the tiara on his head, and sings the invocation to some
+god or another, in a barbarian manner, quite unintelligible
+to the Hellenes; but he sings from a book.
+Then the pieces of wood, without being kindled, ought
+to become lighted, and a flame from them should flash
+all round the cell."<a name="FNanchor_341_341" id="FNanchor_341_341"></a><a href="#Footnote_341_341" class="fnanchor">[341]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_312_312" id="Footnote_312_312"></a><a href="#FNanchor_312_312"><span class="label">[312]</span></a> "Vend." 2, 87-89; "Ya&ccedil;na," 14, 4-6. If in "Ya&ccedil;na," 19, 46
+four occupations are mentioned instead of the four orders, and artisans
+are added to the husbandmen, this is only another theory, which does
+not, however, alter the series and system; in India the order of Vai&ccedil;yas
+comprises husbandmen, merchants, and artisans.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_313_313" id="Footnote_313_313"></a><a href="#FNanchor_313_313"><span class="label">[313]</span></a> "Vond." 8, 254.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_314_314" id="Footnote_314_314"></a><a href="#FNanchor_314_314"><span class="label">[314]</span></a> Under the Sassanids we find a chief of the husbandmen (<i>va&ccedil;triosan</i>),
+and a chief of the warriors (<i>arthestaran</i>); N&ouml;ldeke, "Tabari," s. 110.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_315_315" id="Footnote_315_315"></a><a href="#FNanchor_315_315"><span class="label">[315]</span></a> "Vend." 9, 172-180, 187-196.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_316_316" id="Footnote_316_316"></a><a href="#FNanchor_316_316"><span class="label">[316]</span></a> "Vend." 13, 126-129.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_317_317" id="Footnote_317_317"></a><a href="#FNanchor_317_317"><span class="label">[317]</span></a> "Vend." 18, 1-17.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_318_318" id="Footnote_318_318"></a><a href="#FNanchor_318_318"><span class="label">[318]</span></a> "Vispered," 3, 13, 14. Above, p. 165.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_319_319" id="Footnote_319_319"></a><a href="#FNanchor_319_319"><span class="label">[319]</span></a> The Mobedh of Middle Persian is <i>magupat</i>, i.&nbsp;e. lord of the Magians
+(p. 60). The derivation of the name Magus from the Turanian <i>imga</i>
+(apparently = honourable) can only be adopted by those who regard
+the Magians as descendants of the Turanians, or at any rate as containing
+a strong admixture of Turanians; a view which rests on the
+theory that the second series in the inscriptions of the Ach&aelig;menids is
+the Median translation of the Persian inscriptions. With this view
+I cannot agree; all that we learn from the Greeks of the customs,
+manners, and names of the Medes bears the mark of an Arian origin,
+and is in harmony with what is attributed to the Persians. In the inscription
+of the second class at Behistun, Gaumata is not called <i>imga</i>
+but <i>magush</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_320_320" id="Footnote_320_320"></a><a href="#FNanchor_320_320"><span class="label">[320]</span></a> "Cyri instit." 8, 1, 23.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_321_321" id="Footnote_321_321"></a><a href="#FNanchor_321_321"><span class="label">[321]</span></a> Herod. 3, 79.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_322_322" id="Footnote_322_322"></a><a href="#FNanchor_322_322"><span class="label">[322]</span></a> Herod. 3, 73.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_323_323" id="Footnote_323_323"></a><a href="#FNanchor_323_323"><span class="label">[323]</span></a> Strabo, p. 727; Pausanias, 5, 27, 3.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_324_324" id="Footnote_324_324"></a><a href="#FNanchor_324_324"><span class="label">[324]</span></a> Ammian. 23, 6, 32-35; Agathias, 2, 26.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_325_325" id="Footnote_325_325"></a><a href="#FNanchor_325_325"><span class="label">[325]</span></a> Philostratus in Rapp, "Z. D. M. G." 20, 71.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_326_326" id="Footnote_326_326"></a><a href="#FNanchor_326_326"><span class="label">[326]</span></a> Herod. 1, 120.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_327_327" id="Footnote_327_327"></a><a href="#FNanchor_327_327"><span class="label">[327]</span></a> "Cyri instit." 7, 5, 20; 8, 1, 8.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_328_328" id="Footnote_328_328"></a><a href="#FNanchor_328_328"><span class="label">[328]</span></a> Arrian, "Anab." 6, 29.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_329_329" id="Footnote_329_329"></a><a href="#FNanchor_329_329"><span class="label">[329]</span></a> Herod. 7, 191.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_330_330" id="Footnote_330_330"></a><a href="#FNanchor_330_330"><span class="label">[330]</span></a> Curtius, 3, 7; Ammian. 23, 6, 34.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_331_331" id="Footnote_331_331"></a><a href="#FNanchor_331_331"><span class="label">[331]</span></a> "Alcibiad. I." p. 122.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_332_332" id="Footnote_332_332"></a><a href="#FNanchor_332_332"><span class="label">[332]</span></a> Nic. Dam. fragm. 67, ed. M&uuml;ller.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_333_333" id="Footnote_333_333"></a><a href="#FNanchor_333_333"><span class="label">[333]</span></a> Plut. "Artaxerxes," c. 3.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_334_334" id="Footnote_334_334"></a><a href="#FNanchor_334_334"><span class="label">[334]</span></a> Diog. Laert. prooem. 6.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_335_335" id="Footnote_335_335"></a><a href="#FNanchor_335_335"><span class="label">[335]</span></a> Fragm. 66, ed. M&uuml;ller; cf. infra Bk. 8, c. 4.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_336_336" id="Footnote_336_336"></a><a href="#FNanchor_336_336"><span class="label">[336]</span></a> Herod. 1, 128; Ctes. "Pers." 15. The excerpt says 40 Chald&aelig;ans,
+but obviously Magi are here meant.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_337_337" id="Footnote_337_337"></a><a href="#FNanchor_337_337"><span class="label">[337]</span></a> Prooem. 7. Above, p. 190. The further statements of Diogenes
+about the white robes of the Magians, their avoidance of all ornament
+and gold, of their lying on the ground, and staff of reed, deserve little
+notice, inasmuch as the source whence they are derived is unknown.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_338_338" id="Footnote_338_338"></a><a href="#FNanchor_338_338"><span class="label">[338]</span></a> "Cyri instit." 8, 7, 3.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_339_339" id="Footnote_339_339"></a><a href="#FNanchor_339_339"><span class="label">[339]</span></a> "Cyri instit." 8, 7, 3; 7, 5, 20; 8, 1, 8; Curtius, 3, 3, 8.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_340_340" id="Footnote_340_340"></a><a href="#FNanchor_340_340"><span class="label">[340]</span></a> Strabo, p. 733.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_341_341" id="Footnote_341_341"></a><a href="#FNanchor_341_341"><span class="label">[341]</span></a> Pausan. 5, 27, 5, 6.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE LAW OF THE PRIESTS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The rules concerning purity and purification, the
+expiations and penances necessary to avert the Daevas,
+which we possess in the Vendidad of the Avesta, are
+only the remnant of a far more comprehensive law.
+From the list of books and chapters traditional among
+the Parsees, we can see that it was intended to include
+not only all the invocations and prayers which the
+worship required, the rules of sacrifice, and the entire
+ritual, together with the Calendar of the year of the
+Church, but also the arrangement of the process of
+law, the civil and criminal code, and, moreover, rules
+for agriculture and medicine. If to this we add the
+statements and quotations of the Greeks (p. 53), we
+may assume that the scriptures of Eastern Iran comprised
+the whole sum of the knowledge of the priests.
+In the Avesta the Athravas had sketched the ideal
+picture of the correct conduct pleasing to Auramazda
+in every department of life. How far the princes of
+Bactria and the viceroys of Cyaxares and the Ach&aelig;menids,
+or even these princes themselves, and the
+judges, wished or allowed themselves to be bound in
+their decisions by these regulations of the priests, may
+be left out of the question. The priests here, like the
+Brahmans in India, could only influence the action of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>
+the State and those charged with it, so far as the
+reverence for the principles of religion and the force of
+their own authority extended.</p>
+
+<p>The existing part of the law has obviously arisen
+out of the questions and considerations sketched
+above, which in consequence of the reform must have
+forced themselves into the circles of the priests. The
+reform also required above all things purity from men,
+but no supernatural purity, such as the Brahmans
+demanded. The body is not in the Avesta, as it was
+to the Brahmans and after them to the Buddhists, the
+impure prison of the soul which must be abandoned;
+on the contrary the Avesta rejoices in its health and
+vigour. It requires that the body should be kept
+pure from filth, from contamination by the impure,
+which gives the Daevas power over mankind, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> it
+demands the exclusion of the harmful side of nature;
+it desires that the soul should be pure from pollution,
+freed from untruthfulness, lying, and deceit, which are
+contradictory to the nature of the clear bright gods,
+and Auramazda, and make men companions of the
+Daevas, and sharers in their nature. In other words,
+it demands the invigoration of the light and wholesome
+side of man. The kingdom of the good spirits is
+truth, increase, and life; the kingdom of the evil is
+deception and falsehood, lying, destruction, and death.
+The Avesta praises Auramazda as purity itself; and
+next to him Asha vahista, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the best purity; the
+gods are chiefly extolled as "the pure," and Zarathrustra
+as the master and teacher of purity. The
+Avesta repeatedly declares "that purity after birth is
+the best thing for men." Hence it is the foremost of
+all duties to keep the soul and body pure. The
+worshipper of Auramazda must preserve his purity by
+good thoughts, words, and works; truth is required<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>
+in thinking, speaking, and acting; uprightness and
+honesty in all the relations of life; the sacredness of
+promises and pledges, and solemn assurances, at which
+Mithra is summoned to bear witness. It is an old
+function of the god which appears here. He is the
+guardian of the word, and the compact. "Mithra is
+twenty-fold between friends and kinsmen, thirty-fold
+between tradespeople, forty-fold between companions
+who live together, fifty-fold between man and wife,
+sixty-fold between associates in sacrifice, seventy-fold
+between scholar and teacher, eighty-fold between step-son
+and step-parents, ninety-fold between brothers, a
+hundred-fold between son and father." "Miserable are
+the houses, without descendants the dwellings, inhabited
+by those who deceive Mithra. Miserably does
+the cloven-footed cow go on the wrong path, which is
+oppressed by the burden of Mithra-deceiving men."<a name="FNanchor_342_342" id="FNanchor_342_342"></a><a href="#Footnote_342_342" class="fnanchor">[342]</a>
+In accordance with this view deception is in the eyes
+of the law the worst offence; worse than robbery or
+theft. Evil-speaking and calumny also are, according
+to the Vendidad, "lies and sins" against Mithra. The
+gravest offence of this kind is the calumny by which
+"a pure man" is disparaged "with a man of another
+religion," for this sin is committed with full knowledge,
+and by a man's own intelligence; and the worst of all
+lies is teaching a false law. "One who teaches such a
+law," says the Vendidad, "does no better than if he
+killed a thousand horses, slew the men in a village
+inhabited by worshippers of Auramazda, or carried off
+the cows on the wrong way."<a name="FNanchor_343_343" id="FNanchor_343_343"></a><a href="#Footnote_343_343" class="fnanchor">[343]</a></p>
+
+<p>It is not the least proof of the currency of the
+doctrines of the Avesta in the West of Iran that their
+ethical side, which gathers round the command of
+truthfulness, was there most distinctly recognised.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>
+King Darius has already told us that "the lie" had
+brought his kingdom into rebellion; the leaders of the
+rebellious lands, who gave themselves out to be descendants
+of the ancient royal families, he calls "liars
+against the kingdom." From their youth up, Herodotus
+tells us, the children of the Persians were
+instructed in truthfulness. He adds: Among the
+Persians it was forbidden to speak of that which it
+was forbidden to do; the Avesta requires truth "in
+thought, speech, and action." Lying and borrowing,
+Herodotus says, passed with the Persians for the most
+disgraceful acts, for they were of opinion that any
+one who contracted debts was generally compelled to
+tell lies. The Avesta says: "He who does not restore
+that which has been borrowed, seeks day and night to
+deceive the creditor." Plato states that the heirs to
+the Persian throne had, besides three others, a teacher
+whose special business it was to instruct them in truth.
+Xenophon assures us that pledges and oaths were
+religiously kept among the Persians; and Diodorus,
+that the pledge of hands was the strongest security
+among them.<a name="FNanchor_344_344" id="FNanchor_344_344"></a><a href="#Footnote_344_344" class="fnanchor">[344]</a> Practice in Persia was, it is true, not
+equal to these injunctions, however sharply expressed;
+on the contrary, we often find the two in the most
+glaring contradiction.</p>
+
+<p>Not falsehood and lies only, but also laziness and
+sloth pollute the soul of man. The pious man must
+rise early. &Ccedil;raosha awakes the bird Parodarsh, we
+are told in the book of the law. At the return of the
+divine Ushahina, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> of the morning (p. 108), this
+bird speaks to those who are in their beds: "Friend,
+up, arise. Praise purity, and the Daevas will fly away.
+Long sleep, O man, is not good for thee. The Bush<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>yan&ccedil;ta
+runs up to thee, who lays again in sleep the
+whole corporeal world. Turn yourselves not away
+from the three best things: good thinking, speaking,
+and acting. He who rises first will come into Paradise;
+he who first brings pure, dry, old, well-hewn
+wood to the fire of Auramazda, him will the fire bless
+(p. 122)."<a name="FNanchor_345_345" id="FNanchor_345_345"></a><a href="#Footnote_345_345" class="fnanchor">[345]</a> The pious man should be industrious
+and work; the best work is that which increases
+nourishment and fruit for men and animals, which
+furthers the increase and life of the world, and thus
+diminishes the kingdom of the evil, the power of the
+dark spirits. For this reason running water and
+growing fruits should be spread over the earth; "the
+field should be tilled, and trees planted which produce
+food." "When there are shoots," the law-book says,
+"the Daevas are in alarm; when there are stalks, the
+Daevas weep; when there are ears, the Daevas hiss;
+when there are grains, the Daevas fly."<a name="FNanchor_346_346" id="FNanchor_346_346"></a><a href="#Footnote_346_346" class="fnanchor">[346]</a> "In the
+house where there are most ears, the Daevas are
+smitten most heavily." "The earth is not glad
+which lies untilled. The greatest pleasure is given to
+the earth where a pure man builds his house, provided
+with fire and cattle, and good flocks, with wife and
+child, where most corn, fodder, and grain is produced
+by husbandry, where the dry land is most watered,
+where fruit-bearing trees are planted, where cattle and
+beasts of draught leave the most urine."<a name="FNanchor_347_347" id="FNanchor_347_347"></a><a href="#Footnote_347_347" class="fnanchor">[347]</a> "He who
+plants fruits and trees, who gives water to the earth
+where it is needed, and takes it away where too
+abundant, he worships the earth." When a man tills
+the earth she bestows life upon him; "as a friend to a
+beloved friend, she gives him descendants and wealth."
+To him who tills her, the earth says: "O man, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>
+tillest me with the left arm and the right, with the
+right arm and the left, in love will I bear thee all
+kinds of fruit." But to him who tills her not the
+earth says: "Thou wilt go to the doors of others and
+there stand, in order to beg for food; in idleness thou
+wilt ask for it and get but little." He who sows corn,
+sows purity; the law of Auramazda increases with the
+fruits of the field; they extend the law of Auramazda
+by 100, 1000, and 10,000 meritorious works.</p>
+
+<p>These regulations of the Avesta were fully accepted
+in the West. The great reverence paid to splendid
+trees by the Ach&aelig;menids is shown by Herodotus'
+story of Xerxes, that he furnished a beautiful plane
+tree, which he saw in Lydia, with golden ornaments,
+and appointed a perpetual guardian for it.<a name="FNanchor_348_348" id="FNanchor_348_348"></a><a href="#Footnote_348_348" class="fnanchor">[348]</a> Ameretat,
+as already observed, was the special protecting spirit
+of trees (p. 164). Xenophon tells us that the Persian
+kings gave special attention to agriculture; on their
+journeys they inquired into the tillage of the land,
+and demanded similar attention from their satraps.
+Round their palaces and wherever they came they
+caused the most beautiful gardens to be laid out,
+planted with trees and all the most excellent shrubs in
+the world.<a name="FNanchor_349_349" id="FNanchor_349_349"></a><a href="#Footnote_349_349" class="fnanchor">[349]</a> The satraps also had gardens of this kind
+(<i>pairidaeza</i>) round their residences, and the younger
+Cyrus assures Lysander, "in the name of Mithra,"
+that he never took food before he had induced perspiration
+by work in the garden or exercise in arms.<a name="FNanchor_350_350" id="FNanchor_350_350"></a><a href="#Footnote_350_350" class="fnanchor">[350]</a>
+The satraps, says Xenophon, whose provinces were
+found deficient in population and poorly cultivated,
+were punished and removed from their office, while
+those whose provinces were in good order, were rewarded
+by presents. When the king of the Persians<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>
+conferred distinctions, those were summoned first who
+had distinguished themselves in war, and next came
+those whose districts were best cultivated.<a name="FNanchor_351_351" id="FNanchor_351_351"></a><a href="#Footnote_351_351" class="fnanchor">[351]</a> Respect
+and reverence for trees was so deeply rooted in Iran,
+that even Islam did not extirpate the feeling. To this
+day in Shiraz old trees are presented with dedicatory
+offerings, and hung with amulets; and the pious
+prefer to pray under tall trees rather than in the
+neighbouring mosques; while in the barren regions of
+Iran even groups of bushes receive offerings.<a name="FNanchor_352_352" id="FNanchor_352_352"></a><a href="#Footnote_352_352" class="fnanchor">[352]</a></p>
+
+<p>Besides the care of trees, plants, and the soil, the
+labour of mankind must be directed to the care of the
+flocks, to the increase of the animals of the good god,
+and the destruction of the Khraf&ccedil;tras, or animals
+belonging to the evil spirit (p. 171). Cows are not
+held in such veneration in Iran as beyond the Indus,
+yet even here the "cow is not to be driven on the
+wrong way," and gomez (the urine of oxen) is the
+most effectual means of purification; in the theory
+of the priests Auramazda began the creation of living
+things with the bull. We have already mentioned
+the rank taken among the animals of Auramazda by
+the cock and dog. In the Vendidad Auramazda
+says: "I have created the dog with clothes and shoes
+of his own, with keen scent and sharp teeth, attached
+to men, savage against the enemy, for the protection
+of the flocks. No thief or wolf comes to the village
+or the fold and carries away anything unobserved, if
+the dog is healthy, in good voice, and among the
+flocks. The houses would not stand firm upon the
+earth if there were not dogs in the villages and flocks.
+The dog is patient, contented, and satisfied with little
+food, like a priest; he goes forward, and is before and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>
+behind the house, like a warrior; he sleeps less than
+the husbandmen, is talkative like a child, and friendly
+as a mistress."<a name="FNanchor_353_353" id="FNanchor_353_353"></a><a href="#Footnote_353_353" class="fnanchor">[353]</a> The dogs are to receive good food,
+"for of all the creatures of Auramazda old age comes
+upon them the most quickly;" especially must the
+watch-dog be provided with milk, fat, and flesh,
+"the proper food" for a dog; and a dog must never
+be among those who are eating without receiving
+something to eat. Any one who gives unbroken
+bones or hot food to a sheep-dog or house-dog, and
+the bones injure him, and the hot food burns his
+mouth and tongue, so that he dies&mdash;is worthy of
+death.<a name="FNanchor_354_354" id="FNanchor_354_354"></a><a href="#Footnote_354_354" class="fnanchor">[354]</a> Dogs with young are treated with the same
+care as pregnant women. It is a sin to chase or beat
+a dog which has brought forth; if she is injured or
+dies in running the sinner is worthy of death; and
+any one who beats a pregnant dog is to receive twice
+seven hundred stripes. It is the duty of every
+man to bring up for six months the dogs born on
+his ground, until they are able to run round in a
+circuit of twice seven houses.<a name="FNanchor_355_355" id="FNanchor_355_355"></a><a href="#Footnote_355_355" class="fnanchor">[355]</a> Sick dogs are treated
+with the same remedies as rich men; and to the
+question of Zarathrustra&mdash;"If the dog will not take
+the remedies?" Auramazda answers that in this case
+"the dog can be tied, and its mouth opened with a
+flat piece of wood."<a name="FNanchor_356_356" id="FNanchor_356_356"></a><a href="#Footnote_356_356" class="fnanchor">[356]</a> Wounds inflicted on dogs are to
+be punished with stripes to the number of twice eight
+hundred;<a name="FNanchor_357_357" id="FNanchor_357_357"></a><a href="#Footnote_357_357" class="fnanchor">[357]</a> and besides this, compensation is to be given
+for the damage which thieves or wolves do to the
+village so long as the dog is prevented by his injuries
+from keeping watch. The book of the law everywhere
+threatens all those men who beat dogs that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>
+their souls will go from this world full of terror, and
+sick. To kill a water-dog is the greatest crime;<a name="FNanchor_358_358" id="FNanchor_358_358"></a><a href="#Footnote_358_358" class="fnanchor">[358]</a>
+and is menaced with the worst penalties and expiations
+known to the Vendidad. As a general rule
+punishments do not go beyond 2000 stripes, or the
+necessity of killing 2000 noxious animals; but the
+slayer of the water-dog is to receive 10,000 stripes.
+Besides this, if he would save his soul, he must give
+10,000 parcels of hard wood, well hewn and dried,
+for the fire of Auramazda, and also 10,000 parcels of
+soft, fragrant wood; he must kill 10,000 snakes, and
+an equal number of tortoises, lizards, and water-lizards,
+ants, flies, and rats. He must fill up 10,000 impure
+holes in the earth; give to the priests all the utensils
+required for the holy rites; to a warrior a complete
+set of armour; to a husbandman he must give all that
+is needed for agriculture: a house, provided with
+a beautiful mat, and arable land for tillage. In
+addition, he must give, as an expiation for his soul,
+fourteen head of small cattle to the "pure men," and
+bring up fourteen young dogs, and build fourteen
+bridges over running water. He must cleanse eighteen
+dogs from fleas, and make eighteen bones into edible
+food; and satisfy eighteen "pure men" with wine
+and flesh. If he does not perform these expiations he
+will go into the dwelling of the Druj, and "the heat
+which is injurious to the pasture will not depart from
+his dwelling until he has offered sacrifice for three
+days and nights for the pure soul of the water-dog,
+on the burning fire, with bound rods and uplifted
+Haoma."<a name="FNanchor_359_359" id="FNanchor_359_359"></a><a href="#Footnote_359_359" class="fnanchor">[359]</a></p>
+
+<p>In order to extirpate the animals of Angromainyu,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>
+the priest is to be provided with a stick, the Khraf&ccedil;tra-killer.
+Herodotus has already told us, that the Magians
+held it a duty to kill serpents, ants, and other creeping
+and winged insects. For the expiation of sins
+the Avesta universally requires the killing of serpents,
+lizards, and ants; rats and mice, which do harm to
+the crops; flies, midges, fleas, lice, and other vermin.
+Plutarch tells us that the Persians count him a happy
+man who slays most water-mice; Agathias observes
+that in honour of the chief festival in Persia every
+one killed as many snakes, and beasts of prey, and
+animals living in the desert, as possible, and then
+brought them to the Magians as a proof of his piety.
+In this way they believed that they did what was
+pleasing to the good god, while they injured and
+distressed Arimanes.<a name="FNanchor_360_360" id="FNanchor_360_360"></a><a href="#Footnote_360_360" class="fnanchor">[360]</a></p>
+
+<p>According to the Avesta, the soul of man is kept
+pure by truthfulness, industry, and diligence, by good
+thoughts, good words and acts, which advance the
+kingdom of life; the body is to be kept free from dirt
+and the house from filth and dead creatures; from all
+that belongs to the evil spirits and is in their power.
+The soul of man is created pure; but from the first
+the body has certain impure parts, and the defilement
+which Angromainyu brought into the bodies of men.
+This defilement consists in the spittle, the excrements,
+dead skin, sores, etc; in everything that has an unpleasant
+smell, or is removed from the living body,
+like the hair and nails. These when cut are dead,
+and therefore belong to the kingdom of darkness;
+hence in Iran as in India they are impure things.
+"Wherever cut hair and nails lie," says the book of
+the law, "there the Daevas gather to these unholy
+places; there the impure animals come, which men call<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>
+lice. Therefore carry away&mdash;so saith Auramazda&mdash;cut
+hair and nails, ten paces from the pure men, twenty
+from the fire, thirty from the water, fifty from the
+sacred bundle of rods. Dig a hole below the house in
+the earth, pronounce the prayer Ahunavairya thrice,
+six times, nine times, and then say: To thee, O bird,
+Asho-zusta, I show these nails. These nails I dedicate
+to thee; may they be thy lances, thy swords, thy bow,
+thy swift-flying arrows, thy sling-stones against the
+Mazanian Daevas. If these nails are not announced to
+the bird Asho-zusta, they are weapons for, not against,
+the Daevas."<a name="FNanchor_361_361" id="FNanchor_361_361"></a><a href="#Footnote_361_361" class="fnanchor">[361]</a> Spittle is among the worst impurities.
+The priests could only approach the fire with veiled
+mouth, and even now the Parsees invariably cover the
+mouth in praying. They eat in silence, and two
+never use the same spoon, because the food would
+then be polluted by spittle. The removal of the excrements
+requires as much care in the Avesta as it did
+in the Brahmanic law, and the Vendidad gives minute
+regulations in regard to these matters.<a name="FNanchor_362_362" id="FNanchor_362_362"></a><a href="#Footnote_362_362" class="fnanchor">[362]</a> A man is
+rendered impure by excess and debauchery; a woman
+by her courses, "by marks and blood," and by the
+birth of a child. She must be carried to an elevated
+place in the dwelling, which is strewn with dry sand,
+fifteen paces from the fire, from water, and the sacred
+bundle of rods, "at a distance also from the trees," and
+so placed that she cannot see the fire on the hearth.
+No one may touch her. Only a definite amount
+of certain kinds of food can be given to her, and that
+in metal jars, because these contract the least amount
+of impurity, and are most easily cleansed; the person
+who brings the food must remain three paces distant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>
+from her bed. After childbirth a woman is unclean
+for three days; then she must wash her body with
+water and gomez. If she has had a miscarriage her
+body is also polluted by the dead child: she must be
+placed thirty paces away from the fire and the sacred
+objects of the house, and must pass a longer period on
+her dust-bed&mdash;at the present time forty-one days are
+required. The first thing she is allowed to taste is
+ashes mixed with gomez&mdash;three, six, and then nine
+drops. The nine apertures of her body&mdash;that number
+is common to the Indians and Iranians&mdash;must be
+washed with ashes and gomez. She may not drink
+any water out of her impure hand; if she does so, she
+must receive two hundred blows with the rod, and
+two hundred with the whip.<a name="FNanchor_363_363" id="FNanchor_363_363"></a><a href="#Footnote_363_363" class="fnanchor">[363]</a> Fire and water, springs,
+streams and rivers, the best gifts of the good gods,
+must, like the human body, be carefully preserved
+from all filth and defilement. The accounts of Western
+writers prove that the Persians and Medes observed
+the rules of purification given in the Book of the Law;
+it was not the custom among the Persians to spit in
+the presence of another, still less to sneeze, etc. They
+avoided the defilement of a river, or of the shadow of
+a man; and it was forbidden to uncover in the sight
+of the sun or moon.<a name="FNanchor_364_364" id="FNanchor_364_364"></a><a href="#Footnote_364_364" class="fnanchor">[364]</a></p>
+
+<p>"The sun, the moon, the stars shine unwillingly,"
+we are told in the Vendidad, "on the polluted man."<a name="FNanchor_365_365" id="FNanchor_365_365"></a><a href="#Footnote_365_365" class="fnanchor">[365]</a>
+"The impure takes away prosperity and increase; he
+brings sickness and death; after death he will not go
+into heaven."<a name="FNanchor_366_366" id="FNanchor_366_366"></a><a href="#Footnote_366_366" class="fnanchor">[366]</a> "But whatever pollution a man has
+contracted, and whatever sin he has committed, the
+good law quenches all impurity and sin, if the purifi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>cations,
+expiations, and penalties which it prescribes are
+performed and paid; for the good law of Auramazda
+surpasses all others in greatness, goodness, and salvation,
+as far as the heaven rises above the earth, and
+as the sea of Vourukasha includes all other waters."<a name="FNanchor_367_367" id="FNanchor_367_367"></a><a href="#Footnote_367_367" class="fnanchor">[367]</a>
+"The good law of Auramazda takes from the man who
+praises it and commits no evil actions afterwards, his
+deception; it takes away the murder of the pure man,
+and the burial of the dead; it takes away inexpiable
+actions, and accumulated guilt; it takes away all evil
+words, thoughts, and actions, even as the strong swift
+wind purifies heaven from the right side."<a name="FNanchor_368_368" id="FNanchor_368_368"></a><a href="#Footnote_368_368" class="fnanchor">[368]</a></p>
+
+<p>Slight pollution is removed by washing with pure
+water accompanied by certain prayers and imprecations
+on the Daevas, such as: "I contend with thee,
+O evil Angromainyu; away from this dwelling, away
+from the fire, the water, from this place, from all the
+blessings which Auramazda has created. I contend
+against pollution, direct and indirect; against the
+unclean spirits; I contend against the Daeva Andra,
+&Ccedil;aurva, Zairicha (p. 169); against the Pairika, who
+goes to the water, the earth, cattle, and trees," etc.<a name="FNanchor_369_369" id="FNanchor_369_369"></a><a href="#Footnote_369_369" class="fnanchor">[369]</a>
+More serious impurities require ablutions with gomez,
+which in certain cases have to be repeated thirty
+times, with various prayers.<a name="FNanchor_370_370" id="FNanchor_370_370"></a><a href="#Footnote_370_370" class="fnanchor">[370]</a> The most efficacious
+purification, which removes even the worst taint, is
+that of the nine nights. This can only be performed
+by a priest, who knows the law accurately, can repeat
+the sacred word by heart, and speaks the truth. A
+special place must be constructed for it; thirty paces
+(which are equal to ninety times the length of the
+foot) from the fire, the water, and the sacred bundle
+of rods. In the middle of this space nine pits are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>
+dug in the earth, and round them twelve furrows are
+drawn with a metal instrument. The purifier sprinkles
+the person who requires cleansing (who is entirely
+naked) with gomez, from a leaden vessel, with many
+prayers. He is then rubbed fifteen times with earth;
+he must then wash himself at each of the nine pits
+once, twice, thrice with water, after which he is fumigated
+with fragrant wood. Then follow washings with
+water and gomez in the third, sixth, and ninth night.
+"After this," says the book, "the purified person shall
+bring water of purification to the fire, hard wood, and
+perfumes; he is to utter praises to Auramazda, to the
+Amesha &Ccedil;pentas, and to the rest of the pure ones&mdash;so
+will the man be purified." The purifier must be
+rewarded for this purification; according to the measure
+of the man's property the payment rises from
+small cattle and cows to camels; "in order that the
+purifier may go away contented and without hatred."
+Instead of cattle, goods of another description can be
+given. "But if the purifier goes away discontented,
+the wicked spirit of impurity comes again into the
+purified persons, and they are impure for evermore."<a name="FNanchor_371_371" id="FNanchor_371_371"></a><a href="#Footnote_371_371" class="fnanchor">[371]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the view of the Avesta impurity consists essentially
+in that which is opposed to life; hence there is
+no worse form of uncleanness than that caused by the
+corpse. The body, as soon as the soul has left it,
+belongs to Angromainyu. The fiend of death, the
+Druj Na&ccedil;u, obtains possession of it, and from it she
+springs on all who touch it, or come near it. If a
+man dies, or a dog&mdash;and in this matter dogs are put
+quite on a level with men&mdash;and other men and women
+are in the same house&mdash;two, five, fifty, or a hundred&mdash;the
+Druj Na&ccedil;u comes immediately from the north
+in the form of a fly, and settles on all the inhabitants<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>
+of the house and makes them impure with infection,
+pollution, and uncleanness.<a name="FNanchor_372_372" id="FNanchor_372_372"></a><a href="#Footnote_372_372" class="fnanchor">[372]</a> In the first instance she
+is to be met by incantations&mdash;the Gathas, Bisamruta,
+Thrisamruta, Chathrasamruta, must be repeated; then
+the fiend falls to pieces like grass that has been
+dead a year.<a name="FNanchor_373_373" id="FNanchor_373_373"></a><a href="#Footnote_373_373" class="fnanchor">[373]</a> After this the hearth-fire must be
+removed from the house of the dead, and the sacred
+utensils&mdash;the mortar, the cup, the sacred bundle of
+rods, and the Haoma. In winter the fire can be
+kindled again upon the hearth after nine nights; in
+summer, when the need for warmth and cooked food
+is less pressing, after a month; any one who does not
+observe these periods is to be punished with twice two
+hundred stripes.<a name="FNanchor_374_374" id="FNanchor_374_374"></a><a href="#Footnote_374_374" class="fnanchor">[374]</a> After purification the kinsmen are
+to utter prayers for the departed, and the number of
+these is fixed, in the Vendidad, in the same fanciful
+manner which is so often met with in the book of
+Manu. The number decreases according to the degree
+of relationship; for the nearest kinsmen thirty prayers
+are spoken; for the most remote, five; if the dead
+man has led an impure life the number of prayers is
+doubled in order to give efficacy to the petition.<a name="FNanchor_375_375" id="FNanchor_375_375"></a><a href="#Footnote_375_375" class="fnanchor">[375]</a></p>
+
+<p>The preservation and increase of life is the foundation
+of the teaching of the Avesta. The good life of
+nature is promoted by planting and agriculture, by
+tending the useful and destroying the pernicious
+animals; and by posterity provision is to be made for
+the life of men. From this point of view the Vendidad
+lays especial weight on marriage. "I declare," Auramazda
+says, "that the married is before the unmarried,
+and he that has a house before him that has
+none, and the father of children before the childless."<a name="FNanchor_376_376" id="FNanchor_376_376"></a><a href="#Footnote_376_376" class="fnanchor">[376]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>
+We can only ascertain very incompletely from the
+remaining fragments of the Avesta the rules which
+it prescribed for family life. We see that bringing
+about a marriage was regarded as a meritorious work,
+and marriage between close relations was considered
+happy. Yet maidens are not to be given in marriage
+before their fifteenth year.<a name="FNanchor_377_377" id="FNanchor_377_377"></a><a href="#Footnote_377_377" class="fnanchor">[377]</a> To those who have long
+remained unmarried the god Haoma, the special protector
+of life, sends truthful, active husbands, gifted
+with good understanding (p. 125). We never hear of
+any difference of the orders in contracting marriage;
+nor is there the least hint that the priest can only
+marry a wife of priestly blood, or the husbandman
+a wife of his own class. On the other hand, the strictest
+directions are given that the worshippers of
+Auramazda are only to marry among themselves;
+marriage with those of an alien religion is severely
+reprobated. "A man who mingles the seed of the
+faithful and the unbelievers, the seed of the worshippers
+of the Daevas with the worshippers of Mazda,
+keeps back a third part of the flowing water, a third
+part of the increase of the blooming plants, and their
+golden fruits; he annihilates a third part of the
+clothing of &Ccedil;penta Armaiti (the Earth); he robs the
+just men of a third part of their power, their merits,
+their purity. They who do this are more destructive
+than forked serpents, than howling wolves, than the
+she-wolf which rushes on the flocks, than the thousand-fold
+brood of the lizard, which pollutes the
+water."<a name="FNanchor_378_378" id="FNanchor_378_378"></a><a href="#Footnote_378_378" class="fnanchor">[378]</a> The Vendidad gives the house-father a
+similar power over his wife and children to that given
+in Manu's law&mdash;so far as we can conclude from
+certain indications. He is to be spoken of with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>
+same reverence as the house-father on the Ganges;
+the wife is to be honoured, but is to "be watched
+perpetually, like the fire of Auramazda."<a name="FNanchor_379_379" id="FNanchor_379_379"></a><a href="#Footnote_379_379" class="fnanchor">[379]</a> With
+regard to the education of children, we can only
+gather from the Vendidad they were to be tended for
+seven years; "protect dogs for six months, children
+for seven years;"<a name="FNanchor_380_380" id="FNanchor_380_380"></a><a href="#Footnote_380_380" class="fnanchor">[380]</a> and boys are to be invested in their
+fifteenth year with the sacred girdle.<a name="FNanchor_381_381" id="FNanchor_381_381"></a><a href="#Footnote_381_381" class="fnanchor">[381]</a> We remember
+the sacred girdle which the three upper castes wore
+and still wear beyond the Ganges; the investiture
+with this, and adoption into the family and caste&mdash;"the
+second birth" takes place, according to Manu's
+law, among the Brahman boys in the eighth year,
+among the Kshatryas, in the eleventh, and the Vai&ccedil;yas
+in the twelfth. The habit of wearing the girdle,
+which prevails on both sides of the Indus, proves that
+this custom was in use before the two branches of the
+Arians separated. Originally the girdle was intended
+to be a protection or amulet against the evil spirits.<a name="FNanchor_382_382" id="FNanchor_382_382"></a><a href="#Footnote_382_382" class="fnanchor">[382]</a>
+In the girdle which the priests prepare with traditional
+ceremonies, and put on boys in their seventh or tenth
+year, the modern Parsees see the bond which encloses
+and unites the worshippers of Auramazda.</p>
+
+<p>If I attempt to supplement the scanty hints of the
+Avesta on family life from the accounts preserved to us
+on this subject by Western writers, it must be remembered
+that the more ancient of these statements hold
+good only of the West of Iran. But as we have
+hitherto found the worship and manners of the Persians
+and Medes, as described by the Greeks, agreeing with
+the rules of the Avesta, we may suppose that in this
+province also East and West were in agreement.
+Herodotus states that the Persians married many<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>
+wives, and had concubines in addition. They considered
+it honourable and right to have as many
+children as possible; next to bravery in war it was the
+greatest merit to have many children, and the king
+sent presents every year to the man who had most.<a name="FNanchor_383_383" id="FNanchor_383_383"></a><a href="#Footnote_383_383" class="fnanchor">[383]</a>
+Of all days the Persians celebrated most the day
+on which they were born. A more abundant meal
+was served on this day: among the wealthy an ox,
+a horse, or a camel was roasted whole; and smaller
+animals among those who were poorer. Plato adds:
+"When the first son, the heir of the kingdom, was
+born to the king of Persia, all the subjects of the king
+celebrated the day, and on the birthday of the king
+there were festivals and sacrifices throughout all
+Asia."<a name="FNanchor_384_384" id="FNanchor_384_384"></a><a href="#Footnote_384_384" class="fnanchor">[384]</a> Herodotus observes, that the respect of children
+for their parents was great. The Persians
+regarded the murder of parents by a son as impossible;
+if such a thing happened they believed that the
+child was supposititious.<a name="FNanchor_385_385" id="FNanchor_385_385"></a><a href="#Footnote_385_385" class="fnanchor">[385]</a> Aristotle tells us that the
+power of the father over the sons among the Persians
+was tyrannical, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> unlimited; he treated them as
+slaves.<a name="FNanchor_386_386" id="FNanchor_386_386"></a><a href="#Footnote_386_386" class="fnanchor">[386]</a> That the mother was also treated with
+respect follows from the statement that the son
+might not remain seated when the mother entered,
+and could only resume his seat at her permission.
+At the court of the Ach&aelig;menids the mother of the
+king had the first place, the king the second.<a name="FNanchor_387_387" id="FNanchor_387_387"></a><a href="#Footnote_387_387" class="fnanchor">[387]</a> That
+the queen-mother often exercised great influence is
+shown by the history of this ruling family. Of the
+careful education of the heir to the throne, the other
+princes, and the sons of the wealthy Persians, both
+in the exercise and strengthening of their bodies and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>
+in moral training, the Western writers had much
+to tell.</p>
+
+<p>What the Greeks narrate respecting the celebration
+of the birthday among the Persians, the distinction of
+the satraps whose provinces were best cultivated and
+populated, and the rewards given to those who had
+most children, agrees entirely with the delight in life
+which runs through the Avesta, and the exhortations
+to increase life everywhere present in that book.
+The Avesta always speaks of one wife only. The
+polygamy noticed by the Greeks was limited to the
+rich (the number of wives among the Persians, says
+Ammian, was regulated by property<a name="FNanchor_388_388" id="FNanchor_388_388"></a><a href="#Footnote_388_388" class="fnanchor">[388]</a>); in consequence
+of the religious feeling just noticed, it prevailed, no
+doubt, far more extensively among the Arians of Iran
+than among the Indians. Yet the harems of the
+Indian princes were large. However numerous the
+harems of the Ach&aelig;menids, only one wife was the
+lawful wife; and she alone, as in India, bore the name
+of queen: only her sons could be considered heirs to
+the throne. The other wives greeted the queen on
+their knees: the queen must belong to the race of the
+Ach&aelig;menids, or at any rate to one of the six tribal
+princes.<a name="FNanchor_389_389" id="FNanchor_389_389"></a><a href="#Footnote_389_389" class="fnanchor">[389]</a> The same was the case among the rest of
+the Persians who had several wives; one only was the
+house-wife. The Avesta told us above that the wife
+must be watched. According to Plutarch the Persians
+were more strict in this matter than the rest of the
+barbarians; they kept not only the wife but the concubines
+shut up, and they left the houses in covered
+cars only.<a name="FNanchor_390_390" id="FNanchor_390_390"></a><a href="#Footnote_390_390" class="fnanchor">[390]</a> Manu's law also requires that women
+should be watched (IV. 263). The power of the father,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>
+and the respectful attitude of the children to the
+mother, correspond to the principles of family life
+which we have seen beyond the Indus. Yet, so far as
+we can see, marriage was not in Iran so close and
+firmly established a relation as among the Arians of
+India, where the wife belonged absolutely to the man,
+and surrendered herself in complete devotion to him;
+nor did the relation of children to parents in Iran experience
+that excellent and happy development which
+on the whole attended it in India, and of which we can
+still perceive the results. If Western writers maintain
+that it was the custom among the Persians to take the
+nearest relations in marriage, so that even the brother
+married the sister (of which Herodotus gives an
+example in Cambyses) and the son the mother after
+the father's death (the latter is said to have prevailed
+especially among the Magi)<a name="FNanchor_391_391" id="FNanchor_391_391"></a><a href="#Footnote_391_391" class="fnanchor">[391]</a>&mdash;the Avesta, as we have
+seen, declared marriages between near relations to be
+good, and the history of the Ach&aelig;menids mentions
+marriage with sisters more than once. The more
+extreme assertions, especially in regard to the Magi,
+are to be regarded as exaggerations of the Greeks, and
+owed their origin to their astonishment at a custom
+which was more than revolting. On the relation of
+the sexes both before and after marriage, and other
+matters connected with procreation, the Vendidad
+supplies a number of minute regulations.<a name="FNanchor_392_392" id="FNanchor_392_392"></a><a href="#Footnote_392_392" class="fnanchor">[392]</a></p>
+
+<p>The preservation of life also receives great attention
+in the Avesta. We remember the incantations of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>
+Rigveda which banish sickness into thrushes and woodpeckers,
+and the sentences of the Atharvaveda against
+sickness and death (IV. 281). The remedies of the Veda
+are water and plants. All remedies are in water;
+the waters of the springs and the waters of the rivers
+drive away sickness. The plants said, when they came
+from heaven, that they descended from the water of
+the sky. "The mortal whom we touch will suffer no
+harm." "May Agni protect me with the waters, and
+Soma with the plants," we are told in the Veda; and
+again: "The plants whose king is Soma, have rescued
+me from death."<a name="FNanchor_393_393" id="FNanchor_393_393"></a><a href="#Footnote_393_393" class="fnanchor">[393]</a> The priest who knows the sentences
+is at the same time the physician, though the Rigveda
+has a separate name for the latter (IV. 35). How
+highly the Indians respected doctors and physicians
+at a later time, in spite of the theory of the Brahmans
+of the unworthiness of the body, and how it was the
+custom there in the sixth century <small>B.C.</small> to send for the
+physician in every sickness, has been mentioned in its
+place (IV. 323). Proceeding from precisely the same
+conceptions, the Avesta went on to fill several books
+with medical remedies. The best mode of healing
+is that by charms, and the sacred word. In such
+incantations of the Avesta we are told: "I contend
+against sickness, I contend against death, I contend
+against pain, I contend against fever, I contend against
+the corruption and pollution which Angromainyu has
+created in the body of men. Sickness, I curse thee;
+fever, I curse thee; death, I curse thee."<a name="FNanchor_394_394" id="FNanchor_394_394"></a><a href="#Footnote_394_394" class="fnanchor">[394]</a> The sacred
+word is invoked to heal by its power. "Mayst thou
+heal me, O Manthra &Ccedil;penta. As a recompense I will
+give to thee a thousand stall-fed oxen, a thousand
+spotless cattle, a thousand swiftly-running horses, a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>
+thousand camels, swift and with strong backs. I will
+bless thee with beautiful, pious blessings; with dear,
+pious blessings, which make the deficient full, and the
+full to overflow, which bind the friend and make the
+bond firm."<a name="FNanchor_395_395" id="FNanchor_395_395"></a><a href="#Footnote_395_395" class="fnanchor">[395]</a> As in the Veda, the remedies are water
+and plants, "Draw up, ye clouds, draw up," we are
+told in the Vendidad; "Let the water fall as thousand-fold,
+ten thousand-fold rain, to drive away sickness, to
+drive away corruption, to drive away death. May it
+rain for the renewal of the waters, the earth, the plants,
+the means of healing."<a name="FNanchor_396_396" id="FNanchor_396_396"></a><a href="#Footnote_396_396" class="fnanchor">[396]</a> As in the Veda Soma is the
+king of plants, so in Iran Haoma, the god of life, is
+the lord of plants.<a name="FNanchor_397_397" id="FNanchor_397_397"></a><a href="#Footnote_397_397" class="fnanchor">[397]</a> The white heavenly Haoma grows,
+as we have seen, on the Gaokerena, the tree of heaven;
+from it springs the earthly Haoma and all plants of
+which the seed falls from the tree Vi&ccedil;potaokhma in
+Vourukasha, which the bird Chamru carries where
+Tistrya collects the clouds, in order to let the seed fall
+down from them to the earth.<a name="FNanchor_398_398" id="FNanchor_398_398"></a><a href="#Footnote_398_398" class="fnanchor">[398]</a> "I, who am the giver
+of all blessings," says Auramazda, "created this dwelling
+(the earth), the beautiful, brilliant, and noteworthy;
+then Angromainyu, who is full of death,
+created nine diseases, ninety diseases, nine hundred
+diseases, nine thousand diseases, nine and ninety thousand
+diseases. Thrita desired as a favour a means to
+withstand death, to withstand pain, to withstand the
+heat of fever, and the evil corruptions and filth which
+Angromainyu has brought into the body of men.
+Then I, who am Auramazda, brought forth the healing
+plants, many hundreds, many thousands, many tens of
+thousands, around the one Gaokerena." The invocation
+then follows: "We bless thee, we invoke thee, we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>
+worship thee for the healing of the body of men, in
+order to drive away sickness, in order to drive away
+death, the hot fever and the cold fever."<a name="FNanchor_399_399" id="FNanchor_399_399"></a><a href="#Footnote_399_399" class="fnanchor">[399]</a></p>
+
+<p>Thrita, a spirit of heaven, who has a place among
+the sages and sacrificers of old time (p. 42) was, in
+the Avesta, the first physician who kept back disease
+and death; and every one who follows in his course,
+every physician, must appear as a willing combatant,
+an active co-operator against the evil spirits, from
+whom death and disease proceed. According to the
+Vendidad, those have the first place among the physicians
+who heal by charms, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> by the sacred word,
+the words of the law; these are the "physicians of
+physicians;" next come the physicians who heal by
+remedies; and last of all, those who heal by the knife.<a name="FNanchor_400_400" id="FNanchor_400_400"></a><a href="#Footnote_400_400" class="fnanchor">[400]</a>
+These latter must first use the knife on the worshippers
+of the Daevas; when they have done so three times,
+and the patient has died each time, they are incapable
+for ever of practising the art of healing. But if they
+have healed three worshippers of the Daevas, they are
+capable of "healing the worshippers of Auramazda, and
+they can try their skill upon them as they please."
+The physician is not only to heal sick men, but sick
+animals also, and above all the sick dog. The Vendidad
+fixes the sum which the physician is to receive
+for his services. He is to heal a priest, and ask for no
+more than his blessing. For healing the overseer of
+a district he is to receive a yoke of four oxen, and for
+his wife a she-camel; the overseer of a canton is to
+pay a large beast of draught, and his wife a mare; the
+head of a village pays a smaller beast, and his wife a
+cow; the head of a house a small beast, and his wife a
+she-ass. For healing a large beast of draught the
+price is a beast of moderate size; and for one of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>
+moderate size, a head of small cattle, etc.<a name="FNanchor_401_401" id="FNanchor_401_401"></a><a href="#Footnote_401_401" class="fnanchor">[401]</a> Pliny quotes
+a number of remedies and means of cure used by the
+Magi, some of them of an extraordinary character;
+indeed, the impression made on Pliny by the importance
+ascribed to medicine in the doctrine of Zarathrustra
+was so great, that he maintained that the
+Magism of Zoroaster had arisen out of the art of
+healing, and had introduced, as it were, a higher and
+sacred medicine. To this was subsequently added the
+power of religion, and the mathematical arts of investigating
+the future by the heavens, so that Zoroaster's
+doctrine had taken possession of the mind of
+men by a three-fold bond.<a name="FNanchor_402_402" id="FNanchor_402_402"></a><a href="#Footnote_402_402" class="fnanchor">[402]</a> How greatly he is mistaken
+in ascribing to the Magians the astrology of the
+Chald&aelig;ans, has been remarked above; the mistake
+is explained by the fact, that the Avesta includes the
+astronomical knowledge of the priests of Iran in the
+books which treated of medicine (p. 52).</p>
+
+<p>The astronomical chapters are lost as well as those
+on medicine. From our fragments we cannot so
+much as fix the year by which the Avesta reckons.
+We merely perceive that it counted by nights, not by
+days. It is from the Bundehesh that we first learn
+that the year of Eastern Iran is made up of 360 days
+in twelve months of thirty days, with five additional
+days. This year is said to have begun with the
+vernal equinox, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the period when the vigour of
+nature again shows itself. In the last five nights of
+the old year, and the first five nights of the new one,
+the spirits of the forefathers, the Fravashis, come to
+their descendants in the houses; they awake with
+nature to new life (p. 179). The first month is called
+Farvardin after these spirits; of the remaining eleven,
+six are called after the Amesha &Ccedil;pentas, and the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>remaining five, which are inserted between the six,
+after Mithra, Tistrya, the spirits of fire and water,
+and lastly after the law (Din). The inscriptions of
+the Ach&aelig;menids give us nine names of months entirely
+different from these. Hence the West had its own
+calendar, as well as its own alphabet, and made use of
+it as early as the year 500 <small>B.C.</small> In the East the
+calendar of the Avesta was in use; and this seems
+to have been current in the West also in the first
+half of the fourth century <small>B.C.</small> There is no doubt
+whatever that it was the standard for all Iran at the
+time of the Sassanids.<a name="FNanchor_403_403" id="FNanchor_403_403"></a><a href="#Footnote_403_403" class="fnanchor">[403]</a></p>
+
+<p>We have already set forth in detail what weight
+the Avesta lays on purity, and the avoidance of contact
+with dead matter, which has fallen into the power
+of the Daevas. From these points of view, in consequence
+of the reform, the priests in Iran came to adopt
+a peculiar mode of burial. Among the Arians of the
+Panjab the oldest form of burial was interment, and in
+time cremation came into use (IV. 62). But could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>
+the Athravas allow anything so unclean as a corpse to
+be laid on fire, the pure "son of Auramazda"? If the
+corpse was thrown into water the pure water was
+defiled; if buried in the earth pollution was cast
+on the beautiful, submissive daughter of Auramazda.
+Nothing therefore remained for the priests but to leave
+the corpse above the earth; in this case it served the
+pure animals, the birds and dogs, for nourishment,
+and was thus destroyed in the best manner. To
+throw a corpse into water, to bury or burn it, are
+great sins, actions which do not admit of expiation,<a name="FNanchor_404_404" id="FNanchor_404_404"></a><a href="#Footnote_404_404" class="fnanchor">[404]</a>
+and those who do such things "help the drought
+which destroys the pasture, and the evil onsweeping
+winter, which kills the flock, and is full of snow; such
+men are impure for ever."<a name="FNanchor_405_405" id="FNanchor_405_405"></a><a href="#Footnote_405_405" class="fnanchor">[405]</a> Any one who buries a
+dead dog or a dead man in the earth, and does not
+dig the body up again within half a year, is to receive
+twice five hundred stripes; any one who allows it to
+remain in the earth for a year, is to receive twice a
+thousand stripes; but if a man leaves a corpse in the
+earth for more than two years, there is for him neither
+penalty, nor expiation, nor purification.<a name="FNanchor_406_406" id="FNanchor_406_406"></a><a href="#Footnote_406_406" class="fnanchor">[406]</a></p>
+
+<p>The dead are to be carried away on peculiarly dry
+paths, little trodden by cattle, beasts of draught, and
+pure men, and laid on the driest and barest places in
+the earth, on the highest eminences where carnivorous
+birds and dogs may most easily see them.<a name="FNanchor_407_407" id="FNanchor_407_407"></a><a href="#Footnote_407_407" class="fnanchor">[407]</a> The soil
+is to be dug out, waist deep, if the earth is soft; if
+hard, to the depth of half a foot, and this depression
+is to be filled with tiles, stones, and dust; for damp
+earth contracts pollution most readily, whereas stones,
+tiles, and dust contract it very slowly. To this place
+(Dakhma) the naked corpse is to be taken on a bier,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>
+which has a foundation of stones or tiles, by two strong
+men&mdash;never by one: one bearer would pollute himself
+for ever, and the Druj Na&ccedil;u would never leave him.
+Any one who throws a cloth on the dead must be
+punished with twice four hundred, or twice a thousand
+stripes, according to the size of the cloth. The corpse
+is to be placed on the Dakhma, with the face turned
+to the sun (any one who does not place the body with
+its face to the sun, is to pay the same penalty as is
+prescribed for the murder of a pure man<a name="FNanchor_408_408" id="FNanchor_408_408"></a><a href="#Footnote_408_408" class="fnanchor">[408]</a>): the corpse
+is then to be secured in its place by iron, stones, or
+lead, attached to the feet or hair, in order that the
+birds and dogs may not carry away the bones and
+remains to water and trees: the neglect of these
+fastenings is to be punished with twice two hundred
+stripes.<a name="FNanchor_409_409" id="FNanchor_409_409"></a><a href="#Footnote_409_409" class="fnanchor">[409]</a> If it rains or snows, or the wind is strong, so
+that the necessary preparations cannot be made on
+the day of death, the corpse can be carried on its own
+bed and mat to the Dakhma.<a name="FNanchor_410_410" id="FNanchor_410_410"></a><a href="#Footnote_410_410" class="fnanchor">[410]</a></p>
+
+<p>At these burial-places the Daevas hold their meetings;
+there they propagate and assemble, "in order
+to bring to death, fifty, a hundred, a thousand, ten
+thousand, an innumerable host of men;" there the
+Daevas are most dangerous and deadly to men: for
+in the places of burial are "infection, disease, fever,
+impurity, ague, trembling, and old hair." A Dakhma
+is not pure till the body has been eaten by dogs and
+birds, till the remains have entirely changed into dust,
+and become utterly mixed up with the foundation of
+mortar, tiles, and stones. When this point has been
+reached, the Dakhma should be levelled. Such destruction
+of the place of burial is regarded by the law-book
+as the annihilation of death itself; as one of the
+highest virtues of the faithful. "He who levels only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>
+so much as the size of his own body of a burial-place,"
+says the book of the law, "has repented of all his
+sins which he has committed in thought, speech, and
+action; he has not only repented of them, but he has
+expiated them, and the two heavenly powers will not
+begin a contest about his entrance into paradise."<a name="FNanchor_411_411" id="FNanchor_411_411"></a><a href="#Footnote_411_411" class="fnanchor">[411]</a></p>
+
+<p>The prescriptions of the law for the purification of
+the vessels and clothes which have touched the corpse,
+are given from regard to utility, and from the point of
+view of a certain simple rationalism, which forms an
+advantageous contrast between Iran and India. Vessels
+of lead, wood, and earth, are impure for ever; vessels
+of gold and silver can be taken into use again after a
+number of washings with gomez. Garments on which
+spittle, moisture, or dung have fallen are to be cut in
+pieces and buried; in other cases they can be purified
+with gomez, water, and earth, and aired, and then
+again taken into use for women at the time of impurity.
+The house of the dead is pure when the
+period for the extinction of the fire is over, when
+the prayers appointed for the dead have been said,
+and the inhabitants of the house have had their
+bodies and clothes washed three times, and the sacred
+hymns have been sung (p. 215).</p>
+
+<p>For the bearers, who have carried a corpse to the
+Dakhma, and those who in any way have come into
+contact with a corpse, special forms of purification are
+necessary. The washing of the bearers must be begun
+immediately after the corpse has been deposited. For
+this purpose the gomez of the nearest male and female
+relation of the dead is required as well as that of
+"cattle and beasts of draught." At the last washing
+the Druj Na&ccedil;u springs out of the forehead between
+the eyebrows, from thence to the shoulders and under<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>
+the arms, until at length by continued ablutions she
+is driven into the left toes, and is compelled to pass
+away from there to the north in the form of a fly.<a name="FNanchor_412_412" id="FNanchor_412_412"></a><a href="#Footnote_412_412" class="fnanchor">[412]</a>
+In order to purify the way on which the dead has
+been carried to the Dakhma, a dog must be led along
+it, three times, six times, and nine times. Then a
+priest must walk along it, who pronounces the "victorious
+words," <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> certain exorcisms. "I drive
+back the Daevi Druj, so that she flies to the North.
+Avaunt! She must not slay the corporeal world of
+the pure. May Auramazda and &Ccedil;penta Armaiti protect
+us from our enemies; may &Ccedil;raosha come, and Vohumano."<a name="FNanchor_413_413" id="FNanchor_413_413"></a><a href="#Footnote_413_413" class="fnanchor">[413]</a>
+The worst of all forms of pollution is that
+contracted by touching a corpse in a distant place in
+solitude, for here the power of the demon was greatest.
+Any one to whom this has happened, is to wash himself
+fifteen times with water, and rub himself an equal
+number of times with earth, to hurry away from the
+spot, and call out to every one whom he meets: "I
+have touched a dead body, without wishing it in
+thought, word, or deed; my desire is purification."
+Every one is to avoid him unless he wishes to bring
+on himself the guilt of the impure man.<a name="FNanchor_414_414" id="FNanchor_414_414"></a><a href="#Footnote_414_414" class="fnanchor">[414]</a></p>
+
+<p>Pools and streams are polluted by corpses till the
+corpses have been removed and rain has thrice fallen
+upon the water; after this cattle and men can again
+drink of the water. So long as the corpse lies in a
+river, the fiend of death extends over nine paces
+above and three paces below it, and six paces on
+either side; in a pool the domain of the fiend is six
+paces in every direction; in snow and ice-water it is
+three paces. When Zarathrustra asks, whether the
+water which falls from heaven on the corpse is impure,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>
+the god answers, "I, Auramazda, allow the water to
+go forth from Lake Vourukasha, with storms and
+clouds, and to fall on a corpse; I, Auramazda, and to
+flow upon a burial-place, and upon a dung-heap, and
+carry away a bone, and wash all into Lake Puitika (the
+pool of purification in heaven). When purified the
+waters flow from Lake Puitika into Lake Vourukasha.
+I, Auramazda, rain down herbs of all kinds, to be
+food for the pious men, food for the useful cattle.
+With such speeches Auramazda appeased the just
+Zarathrustra."<a name="FNanchor_415_415" id="FNanchor_415_415"></a><a href="#Footnote_415_415" class="fnanchor">[415]</a> Zarathrustra further inquires, whether
+corpses which have been carried by dogs, wolves, and
+panthers to a field make the field and men impure?
+Auramazda, as frequently happens in such cases,
+argues from the point of view of the possible and
+attainable. "If such corpses," says the god, "rendered
+men impure, all mankind would quickly be rendered
+impure owing to the multitude of the corpses which
+are upon the earth." But Zarathrustra is not satisfied;
+he says: "A man dies in the hollow of a valley; from
+the heights of the mountains a bird flies down to the
+valley, and then back to the summit of a mountain,
+and alights on a tree of hard or soft wood. There he
+is sick and voids excrements. Then a man goes up
+from the valley to the summit of the mountain, and
+comes to the tree, on which the bird has sat, and seeks
+fuel for his fire. He cuts the tree down, splits it up,
+and kindles a fire with it. What is his penalty?"
+Auramazda again replies that nothing carried away
+by wolves, dogs, birds, flies, or winds pollutes men.
+But now it occurs to Zarathrustra, or rather to the
+priests who have written these things down, whether
+the animals which have eaten the corpses are not
+impure. This difficulty Auramazda solves by declar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>ing
+the animals pure; but no flesh of such animals is
+to be eaten within a year, or offered for sacrifice.<a name="FNanchor_416_416" id="FNanchor_416_416"></a><a href="#Footnote_416_416" class="fnanchor">[416]</a></p>
+
+<p>With the exception of Herodotus, Strabo, and
+Agathias, the Western writers give us only very exaggerated
+accounts of the peculiar mode of burial in use
+among the Persians. Herodotus has already told us
+that the corpses of the Magians were exposed to dogs
+and birds; with regard to the corpses of the rest he
+had no accurate knowledge, for a mystery was made of
+the matter.<a name="FNanchor_417_417" id="FNanchor_417_417"></a><a href="#Footnote_417_417" class="fnanchor">[417]</a> Onesicritus relates that those Bactrians,
+who were weakened by disease and age, were thrown to
+dogs brought up for the purpose and called buriers of
+the dead; and Strabo says that among the Caspians,
+parents, when they had reached seventy years of age,
+were shut up by their children, and so killed by starvation;<a name="FNanchor_418_418" id="FNanchor_418_418"></a><a href="#Footnote_418_418" class="fnanchor">[418]</a>
+though he also observes that the Magians
+gave over the corpses to birds.<a name="FNanchor_419_419" id="FNanchor_419_419"></a><a href="#Footnote_419_419" class="fnanchor">[419]</a> Cicero narrates that
+it was not the custom of the Magians to bury the
+corpses of their dead before they had been torn by
+wild animals: in Hyrcania a peculiar kind of dog
+was reared&mdash;by the lower classes in common; of the
+wealthier men each had his own&mdash;by which they
+might be torn after death, and this was considered
+the best kind of burial.<a name="FNanchor_420_420" id="FNanchor_420_420"></a><a href="#Footnote_420_420" class="fnanchor">[420]</a> From Eusebius we hear
+that the Medes gave the dying to carefully-reared
+dogs; the Hyrcanians and Caspians those who were
+still alive; the Bactrians the old; others the dead.<a name="FNanchor_421_421" id="FNanchor_421_421"></a><a href="#Footnote_421_421" class="fnanchor">[421]</a>
+Agathias, on the other hand, tells us, that the dead
+among the Persians were carried out before the
+gates of the cities naked and without a coffin, and
+eaten by dogs, so that the bones lay about in the
+fields. If any man's corpse was not at once eaten, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>
+Persians believed that he had been of an unholy mind,
+that his soul was unjust and wicked, and so had
+come into the power of the evil spirits, and would be
+carried into hell. Such men were lamented by their
+friends, because they had no part in the better lot.
+Those who were most quickly eaten up, the Persians
+praised as fortunate; they called their souls the best,
+and like the gods, and said of them that they had
+gone into the good land.<a name="FNanchor_422_422" id="FNanchor_422_422"></a><a href="#Footnote_422_422" class="fnanchor">[422]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Greeks maintained that the Ach&aelig;menids were
+buried at Pasargadae and Persepolis, and that the
+corpse of Cyrus rested at Pasargadae.<a name="FNanchor_423_423" id="FNanchor_423_423"></a><a href="#Footnote_423_423" class="fnanchor">[423]</a> Of Darius
+we are told that even in his lifetime he caused his
+tomb to be prepared on the summit of a mountain.
+The corpses of Artaxerxes I. of Damaspia, and of
+his son Xerxes, were buried, according to Ctesias, in
+Persia.<a name="FNanchor_424_424" id="FNanchor_424_424"></a><a href="#Footnote_424_424" class="fnanchor">[424]</a> The last Darius was buried by Alexander in
+the royal sepulchre, when he had already given the
+honours of burial to the Persian queen Statera.<a name="FNanchor_425_425" id="FNanchor_425_425"></a><a href="#Footnote_425_425" class="fnanchor">[425]</a> Diodorus
+tells us that these tombs were on the eastern
+side of the citadel of Persepolis, at a distance of four
+hundred feet, in the "royal mountain." The rock
+was hewn out, and contained several chambers. But
+these tombs had no entrance; the corpses were drawn
+up by machines to the summit, and so laid in them.<a name="FNanchor_426_426" id="FNanchor_426_426"></a><a href="#Footnote_426_426" class="fnanchor">[426]</a></p>
+
+<p>The burial-places of the rulers of ancient Persia can
+still be recognised. Some hundred paces to the east
+of the remains of the royal palace at Persepolis, towards
+the rising of the sun, precisely as Diodorus
+describes the place, are three stone pictures in Mount
+Rachmed. Sculptures which begin three hundred feet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>
+above the ground on the perpendicular front of the
+mountain form three high fa&ccedil;ades, with pillars, which
+present a gateway with woodwork, supporting a large
+canopy, on which are seen several rows of dogs; the
+same animals are to be seen on the lower lines of
+ornamentation. Within this framework are the pictures
+of the buried sovereigns. In the left hand is the bow
+without a string; the right is raised in an attitude of
+prayer, and the figures are standing before an altar of
+burning fire. The king is supported on a foundation
+upheld by the arms of several rows of men, who represent
+the conquered lands. Two leagues to the north of
+Persepolis are four great sculptures, now called Naksh-i-Rustem,
+<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> pictures of Rustem, of a similar kind, but
+beginning only sixty or seventy feet from the ground,
+deeply cut in the perpendicular wall of two hundred
+feet in length. Three of these pictures are close together;
+the fourth is on a spur of the rock, at right
+angles to the other three. The centre of the three
+marks the tomb of Darius, the son of Hystaspes. It
+is the only one among the seven monuments which
+has inscriptions.</p>
+
+<p>The corpses of the princes might have been exposed
+to the sun, the dogs, and birds on the summit above
+these pictures. In that case they would merely mark
+the place of exposure, and these rocks would be burial-places
+like those of the modern Parsees in Bombay.
+But behind the sculptures, though not accessible from
+them, sepulchral chambers have been discovered. From
+this, and from the description which the Greeks give
+us of the tomb of Cyrus, we must draw the conclusion
+that the Persian custom of burial did not agree with
+the rule of the Avesta&mdash;with the exception of the
+priests, whose corpses, as Herodotus expressly states,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>
+were exposed. The Vendidad laments that in certain
+districts of the East, Arachosia and Chakhra, the dead
+were burned, or buried.<a name="FNanchor_428_428" id="FNanchor_428_428"></a><a href="#Footnote_428_428" class="fnanchor">[428]</a> Under the Sassanids exposure
+was strictly observed both in the East and
+West, as is clear from the account of Agathias already
+quoted, and all the statements which relate to this
+later period.</p>
+
+<p>The regulations of the book of the law with regard
+to the burial of corpses and the places of exposure are
+still strictly observed by the Parsees. Great care is
+taken at the erection of a Dakhma that the rain-water
+can run off from the bier of the corpse. At the last
+moment a dog is brought into the presence of the
+dying person, so that its eye may be directed on him;
+and when a woman with child dies two dogs are
+brought, because two lives are in question. The eye
+of the dog has the power to keep the evil spirits at a
+distance. But every one must remain at nine paces
+distance from the dying person. After death the two
+corpse-bearers at once strip the body&mdash;their hands are
+protected from immediate contact by napkins made of
+old clothes&mdash;and carry it on a bier of iron&mdash;for metal
+contracts less pollution than wood&mdash;accompanied by
+the prayers of the priests, to the place of burial. The
+kinspeople follow the corpse in silence to within ninety
+paces of the Dakhma. For the first three nights the
+priests and kinsmen repeat continually the prescribed
+prayers for the soul of the dead; in the third night
+the decision is made at the bridge of Chinvat (p. 178).
+The burial-places of the Parsees at Bombay are
+situated on a mountain on the coast, on the summit of
+which several hollows have been cut. From a distance
+the relatives look eagerly to this summit, to see
+whether the vultures are already attacking the corpse,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>
+and which part of it they first consume. For the first
+year after death a prayer is said daily before meals for
+the soul of the dead to the Fravashis of the pure,<a name="FNanchor_429_429" id="FNanchor_429_429"></a><a href="#Footnote_429_429" class="fnanchor">[429]</a> and
+a service is held on the day of the month on which the
+death took place. In the years that follow, on the
+fourth, tenth, and thirtieth day of each month, as the
+book prescribes, but above all on the festival of all
+souls&mdash;<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> on the feast of the ten nights during which
+the Fravashis come down (p. 224)&mdash;prayers are said
+for the dead.</p>
+
+<p>It is hardly possible to ascertain the arrangement
+and life of the state from the very scanty and obscure
+traits in the existing fragments of the law. We have
+no rules on the rights and duties of the monarchy,
+though these were included in the Avesta, if we may
+trust the list of contents.<a name="FNanchor_430_430" id="FNanchor_430_430"></a><a href="#Footnote_430_430" class="fnanchor">[430]</a> But the splendour of majesty
+as it dwelt with the rulers of old time, with Yima,
+Thraetaona, and Kere&ccedil;a&ccedil;pa, and was imparted to
+&Ccedil;yavarshana and Vista&ccedil;pa, is brought strongly into prominence;
+and among the Amesha &Ccedil;pentas we found
+the spirit of good order, of good government. Of the
+position of the orders so much only is clear&mdash;that the
+priests claimed precedence over the warriors and husbandmen;
+that the Avesta allows them certain privileges
+of moderate extent (p. 187); and that the priestly
+families did not form exclusive castes, though the
+priestly functions were hereditary in them. Still less
+can we learn of the families of the warriors. We do
+not hear that they enjoyed a favoured position; they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>
+are merely mentioned before the husbandmen; and
+the Vendidad also gives us some information about
+their armour. It should consist of a coat of mail and
+helmet, a girdle and greaves, a bow with thirty arrows, a
+sling with thirty stones, a sword, a club, and a lance.<a name="FNanchor_431_431" id="FNanchor_431_431"></a><a href="#Footnote_431_431" class="fnanchor">[431]</a>
+Under the Ach&aelig;menids there were rich families in
+Bactria and Sogdiana, in which we may no doubt
+venture to find descendants of the old military families,
+enjoying an influential position in politics; under
+the Sassanids the knightly nobility of Iran comes
+plainly to the front. The Avesta speaks of great and
+intermediate houses, of important and unimportant
+inhabitants of the villages. We also read of rich and
+poor, men who have property and beggars; and mention
+is made of tradespeople and slaves. The Avesta
+rises from the lord of the house to the lord of the
+village or community (<i>vi&ccedil;</i>), then to the lord of the
+tribe or canton (<i>zantu</i>) and to the lord of the province
+(<i>danhu</i>); an arrangement which corresponds to
+the Indian government as fixed by Manu's regulations.
+When Alexander of Macedon forced his way
+to Bactria and Sogdiana, he met with resistance from
+the native overseers of cantons or chieftains, whom he
+had summoned to Zariaspa, "the largest city" in
+Bactria (p. 12).<a name="FNanchor_432_432" id="FNanchor_432_432"></a><a href="#Footnote_432_432" class="fnanchor">[432]</a> When the castles of the most
+powerful had been taken, and their lords had submitted,
+he sought to gain them by marrying their
+daughters to the captains of his army, while he
+himself took to wife the daughter of the Bactrian
+Oxyartes.</p>
+
+<p>The protection of property is obviously a matter
+of great importance in the Avesta. The utility of
+dogs is frequently mentioned, which protect flocks and
+villages from thieves and wolves. Theft is looked on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>
+as especially wicked, because the thief leads a roving
+life, eats raw and unprepared food, and carries on his
+evil work in the darkness.<a name="FNanchor_433_433" id="FNanchor_433_433"></a><a href="#Footnote_433_433" class="fnanchor">[433]</a> In regard to contracts the
+Vendidad distinguishes six kinds, according as they
+are concluded by word, by the pledge of hands, and
+are concerned with the value of a head of small cattle,
+a beast of draught, a man (<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> a slave), and a piece of
+land. Anyone who violates the first kind is to receive
+300 blows with the rod, and 300 with the whip, and
+the punishment increases in the violation of the other
+kinds up to 1000 stripes with both instruments.<a name="FNanchor_434_434" id="FNanchor_434_434"></a><a href="#Footnote_434_434" class="fnanchor">[434]</a> To
+check injury of the person the Vendidad lays down
+the rule, that anyone who lifts up his weapon against
+a man without beating him, is to receive twice five
+stripes the first time, and twice two hundred on the
+seventh occasion of committing the offence, if he has
+not expiated the preceding six offences; if he has expiated
+them, the measure of the first offence is dealt
+out on each occasion. Anyone who attacks another
+not in anger but with malice, is to be punished with
+twice fifteen, and on the sixth occasion with 200
+stripes, in case he has not expiated the former offences.
+Anyone who inflicts a wound on another, is punished
+the first time with twice thirty, the fifth time with
+twice two hundred stripes. The same punishment is
+inflicted on a man who breaks the bones of another, if
+he does not expiate the offence. If the wound proves
+fatal, he is to be punished with twice ninety stripes,
+and on a second offence with twice two hundred.<a name="FNanchor_435_435" id="FNanchor_435_435"></a><a href="#Footnote_435_435" class="fnanchor">[435]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>We have but few indications in the Avesta from
+which to draw conclusions as to the state of civilisation.
+The amounts to be paid to the purifier and the
+physician are given in animals; the series of contracts
+is determined according to the value of small
+cattle, beasts of draught, slaves, and landed property.
+But other property may be given in place of the
+animals; we find mention of money (<i>shaeta</i>),<a name="FNanchor_436_436" id="FNanchor_436_436"></a><a href="#Footnote_436_436" class="fnanchor">[436]</a> and, as
+has been observed, of tradespeople; of mats and
+carpets, vessels of earth, silver, and gold, rich garments,
+palaces with pillars and turrets, ovens for smelting and
+for glass. The art of the physician cannot have been
+in a primitive stage, when so much space is devoted to
+remedies (p. 223), and the physicians who heal with
+the knife are designated as a separate class. So far as
+I can see, the Avesta betrays a state of civilisation,
+which, beginning from the pastoral condition, has
+remained in close connection with cattle-breeding and
+agriculture, but has also reached a more advanced
+stage. The unions of the tribes seem dissolved, and
+neither the previous importance of the warlike families
+nor their present position is brought prominently
+forward. This, no less than the liberal imposition
+of bodily punishment, shows that long before the
+dominion of the Ach&aelig;menids, the East of Iran must
+have been in the hands of princes who ruled with
+despotic power.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_342_342" id="Footnote_342_342"></a><a href="#FNanchor_342_342"><span class="label">[342]</span></a> "Mihr Yasht," 38, 116, 117.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_343_343" id="Footnote_343_343"></a><a href="#FNanchor_343_343"><span class="label">[343]</span></a> "Vend." 1, 18, 20; 18, 22-32.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_344_344" id="Footnote_344_344"></a><a href="#FNanchor_344_344"><span class="label">[344]</span></a> Herod. 1, 136; Plato, "Alcib. I." p. 122; Xen. "Cyri instit." 8,
+8, 2; Diod. 16, 43.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_345_345" id="Footnote_345_345"></a><a href="#FNanchor_345_345"><span class="label">[345]</span></a> "Vend." 18, 35-42; 53-57.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_346_346" id="Footnote_346_346"></a><a href="#FNanchor_346_346"><span class="label">[346]</span></a> "Vend." 3, 105 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_347_347" id="Footnote_347_347"></a><a href="#FNanchor_347_347"><span class="label">[347]</span></a>  <i>Loc. cit.</i> 3, 1-20.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_348_348" id="Footnote_348_348"></a><a href="#FNanchor_348_348"><span class="label">[348]</span></a> Herod. 7, 31.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_349_349" id="Footnote_349_349"></a><a href="#FNanchor_349_349"><span class="label">[349]</span></a> "&#338;conom." 4, 13 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_350_350" id="Footnote_350_350"></a><a href="#FNanchor_350_350"><span class="label">[350]</span></a> Ibid. 4, 20-24.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_351_351" id="Footnote_351_351"></a><a href="#FNanchor_351_351"><span class="label">[351]</span></a> Ibid. 4, 8-12; "Cyri instit." 8, 6, 16.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_352_352" id="Footnote_352_352"></a><a href="#FNanchor_352_352"><span class="label">[352]</span></a> Darmesteter, "Haurvatat et Ameretat," p. 64 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_353_353" id="Footnote_353_353"></a><a href="#FNanchor_353_353"><span class="label">[353]</span></a> "Vend." 13, 125-162.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_354_354" id="Footnote_354_354"></a><a href="#FNanchor_354_354"><span class="label">[354]</span></a> "Vend." 15, 2, 3, 4.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_355_355" id="Footnote_355_355"></a><a href="#FNanchor_355_355"><span class="label">[355]</span></a> "Vend." 15, 5, 20, 21, according to Goldner's translation. [Cf.
+Darmesteter.]</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_356_356" id="Footnote_356_356"></a><a href="#FNanchor_356_356"><span class="label">[356]</span></a> "Vend." 13, 97-105.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_357_357" id="Footnote_357_357"></a><a href="#FNanchor_357_357"><span class="label">[357]</span></a> "Vend." 13, 26-47.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_358_358" id="Footnote_358_358"></a><a href="#FNanchor_358_358"><span class="label">[358]</span></a> It is not certain whether the <i>udra</i> of the Vendidad is the water-dog
+(spaniel?) or the otter.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_359_359" id="Footnote_359_359"></a><a href="#FNanchor_359_359"><span class="label">[359]</span></a> "Vend." 13, 169-174; 14, 4-75.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_360_360" id="Footnote_360_360"></a><a href="#FNanchor_360_360"><span class="label">[360]</span></a> Agath. 2, 24.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_361_361" id="Footnote_361_361"></a><a href="#FNanchor_361_361"><span class="label">[361]</span></a> "Vend." Farg. 17.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_362_362" id="Footnote_362_362"></a><a href="#FNanchor_362_362"><span class="label">[362]</span></a> "Wer den Urin mit vorgestrecktem Fusse l&auml;sst macht die Drudsch
+schwanger," so dass sie neue Unholde geb&auml;ren.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_363_363" id="Footnote_363_363"></a><a href="#FNanchor_363_363"><span class="label">[363]</span></a> "Vend." 5, 45-55, 136-157; 7, 158-182.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_364_364" id="Footnote_364_364"></a><a href="#FNanchor_364_364"><span class="label">[364]</span></a> Herod. 1, 133; Xen. "Cyri instit." 1, 2, 16; 8, 9, 11; Plin. "H.
+N." 28, 19.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_365_365" id="Footnote_365_365"></a><a href="#FNanchor_365_365"><span class="label">[365]</span></a> "Vend." 9, 161.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_366_366" id="Footnote_366_366"></a><a href="#FNanchor_366_366"><span class="label">[366]</span></a> "Vend." 9, 187.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_367_367" id="Footnote_367_367"></a><a href="#FNanchor_367_367"><span class="label">[367]</span></a> "Vend." 5, 23-25.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_368_368" id="Footnote_368_368"></a><a href="#FNanchor_368_368"><span class="label">[368]</span></a> "Vend." 3, 140-147; 8, 87.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_369_369" id="Footnote_369_369"></a><a href="#FNanchor_369_369"><span class="label">[369]</span></a> "Vend." 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 26-28.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_370_370" id="Footnote_370_370"></a><a href="#FNanchor_370_370"><span class="label">[370]</span></a> "Vend." 8, 275, 276.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_371_371" id="Footnote_371_371"></a><a href="#FNanchor_371_371"><span class="label">[371]</span></a> "Vend." 9, 119-158; 19, 69-80.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_372_372" id="Footnote_372_372"></a><a href="#FNanchor_372_372"><span class="label">[372]</span></a> "Vend." 5, 83-108; 7, 4 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_373_373" id="Footnote_373_373"></a><a href="#FNanchor_373_373"><span class="label">[373]</span></a> "Vend." 9, 168-171; Farg. 10.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_374_374" id="Footnote_374_374"></a><a href="#FNanchor_374_374"><span class="label">[374]</span></a> "Vend." 5, 124-135.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_375_375" id="Footnote_375_375"></a><a href="#FNanchor_375_375"><span class="label">[375]</span></a> "Vend." 12, 1-59.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_376_376" id="Footnote_376_376"></a><a href="#FNanchor_376_376"><span class="label">[376]</span></a> "Vend." 4, 130-133.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_377_377" id="Footnote_377_377"></a><a href="#FNanchor_377_377"><span class="label">[377]</span></a> "Vend." 14, 64-66.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_378_378" id="Footnote_378_378"></a><a href="#FNanchor_378_378"><span class="label">[378]</span></a> "Vend." 18, 123-133, after Harlez' translation. [Cf. Darmesteter.]</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_379_379" id="Footnote_379_379"></a><a href="#FNanchor_379_379"><span class="label">[379]</span></a> "Vend." 15, 126.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_380_380" id="Footnote_380_380"></a><a href="#FNanchor_380_380"><span class="label">[380]</span></a> "Vend." 15, 125.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_381_381" id="Footnote_381_381"></a><a href="#FNanchor_381_381"><span class="label">[381]</span></a> "Vend." 18, 115.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_382_382" id="Footnote_382_382"></a><a href="#FNanchor_382_382"><span class="label">[382]</span></a> "Vend." 18, 23.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_383_383" id="Footnote_383_383"></a><a href="#FNanchor_383_383"><span class="label">[383]</span></a> Herod. 1, 135, 136.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_384_384" id="Footnote_384_384"></a><a href="#FNanchor_384_384"><span class="label">[384]</span></a> Plato, "Aloib. I."; p. 121.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_385_385" id="Footnote_385_385"></a><a href="#FNanchor_385_385"><span class="label">[385]</span></a> Herod. 1, 137.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_386_386" id="Footnote_386_386"></a><a href="#FNanchor_386_386"><span class="label">[386]</span></a> "Ethic. Nicom." 8, 10, ed. Zell.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_387_387" id="Footnote_387_387"></a><a href="#FNanchor_387_387"><span class="label">[387]</span></a> Curt. 5, 9; Plut. "Artax." c. 5.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_388_388" id="Footnote_388_388"></a><a href="#FNanchor_388_388"><span class="label">[388]</span></a> Ammian, 23, 6.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_389_389" id="Footnote_389_389"></a><a href="#FNanchor_389_389"><span class="label">[389]</span></a> Herod. 3, 70, 88; Dinon. fragm. 17, ed. M&uuml;ller; Ctes. "Pers.
+Ecl." 44.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_390_390" id="Footnote_390_390"></a><a href="#FNanchor_390_390"><span class="label">[390]</span></a> Plut. "Themist." c. 26.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_391_391" id="Footnote_391_391"></a><a href="#FNanchor_391_391"><span class="label">[391]</span></a> Herod. 3, 31; Diogen. Laert. Prooem. 6; Plut. "Artax." c. 26;
+Ctes. "Pers. Ecl." 44; Agathias, 2, 23; Heracl. Cum. fragm. 7 ed.
+M&uuml;ller.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_392_392" id="Footnote_392_392"></a><a href="#FNanchor_392_392"><span class="label">[392]</span></a> The regulations respecting sexual intercourse, abortion, etc., which
+here follow in the German text will be found in "Vend." 16, 33-40;
+18, 100-122, 136, 152; <i>ib.</i> 15, 9-17, 60; 18, 115; <i>ib.</i> 18, 115-119;
+<i>ib.</i> 8, 74-82; <i>ib.</i> 8, 96-106.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_393_393" id="Footnote_393_393"></a><a href="#FNanchor_393_393"><span class="label">[393]</span></a> "Rigveda," 10, 97, 17; "Atharvaveda," 2, 10, 2; 8, 1, 18 in Darmesteter
+<i>loc. cit.</i> 73, 76.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_394_394" id="Footnote_394_394"></a><a href="#FNanchor_394_394"><span class="label">[394]</span></a> "Vend." 20, 19, 25.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_395_395" id="Footnote_395_395"></a><a href="#FNanchor_395_395"><span class="label">[395]</span></a> "Vend." 22, 7-38.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_396_396" id="Footnote_396_396"></a><a href="#FNanchor_396_396"><span class="label">[396]</span></a> "Vend." 21, 3-19.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_397_397" id="Footnote_397_397"></a><a href="#FNanchor_397_397"><span class="label">[397]</span></a> Justi, "Bundehesh," c. 24.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_398_398" id="Footnote_398_398"></a><a href="#FNanchor_398_398"><span class="label">[398]</span></a> West, "Mainyo-i-Khard," c. 62. Above, p. 172.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_399_399" id="Footnote_399_399"></a><a href="#FNanchor_399_399"><span class="label">[399]</span></a> "Vend." 20, 11-20.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_400_400" id="Footnote_400_400"></a><a href="#FNanchor_400_400"><span class="label">[400]</span></a> "Vend." 7, 118, 121.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_401_401" id="Footnote_401_401"></a><a href="#FNanchor_401_401"><span class="label">[401]</span></a> "Vend." 7, 105, 117.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_402_402" id="Footnote_402_402"></a><a href="#FNanchor_402_402"><span class="label">[402]</span></a> "H. N." 30, 1.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_403_403" id="Footnote_403_403"></a><a href="#FNanchor_403_403"><span class="label">[403]</span></a> Von Gutschmid ("Das iranische Wandeljahr, Berichte der K.
+S&auml;chsischen Gesellschaft der Wiss." 1862) places the establishment of
+the cycle, by which, in order to bring the year of 365 days into
+agreement with the natural time, a month was inserted every 120
+years, and consequently the introduction of the East Iranian calendar
+into the whole kingdom, in the year 411, or between 428 and 381
+<small>B.C.</small> That the beginning of the year was universally placed in the
+spring after the introduction of this calendar, and fixed between
+March and the middle of June, would follow from the importance
+of the Farvardin festival, even if it were not sufficiently vouched
+for by other evidence. The Bundehesh (c. 25) speaks of the year as
+fixed, inasmuch as it reckons the shortening of the days from a certain
+day in the month of Tir, and puts the shortest day on the 20th of the
+month of Din, yet it adds that the priests reckoned on this basis, and
+that the lunar year did not correspond to the year thus calculated.
+The Cappadocian names for the months are those of the East Iranian
+calendar; and the Cappadocians cannot have obtained these till
+the calendar was current throughout the whole kingdom of the
+Ach&aelig;menids. On this ground also Von Gutschmid's dates do not
+seem to be too high.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_404_404" id="Footnote_404_404"></a><a href="#FNanchor_404_404"><span class="label">[404]</span></a> "Vend." 1, 48; 6, 6 and <i>loc. cit.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_405_405" id="Footnote_405_405"></a><a href="#FNanchor_405_405"><span class="label">[405]</span></a> "Vend." 7, 65-71.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_406_406" id="Footnote_406_406"></a><a href="#FNanchor_406_406"><span class="label">[406]</span></a> "Vend." 3, 122-136.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_407_407" id="Footnote_407_407"></a><a href="#FNanchor_407_407"><span class="label">[407]</span></a> "Vend." 6, 93-95; 8, 13; 3, 50-54.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_408_408" id="Footnote_408_408"></a><a href="#FNanchor_408_408"><span class="label">[408]</span></a> "Vend." 5, 13, 14, 47, 48.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_409_409" id="Footnote_409_409"></a><a href="#FNanchor_409_409"><span class="label">[409]</span></a> "Vend." 6, 98 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_410_410" id="Footnote_410_410"></a><a href="#FNanchor_410_410"><span class="label">[410]</span></a> "Vend." 6, 106.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_411_411" id="Footnote_411_411"></a><a href="#FNanchor_411_411"><span class="label">[411]</span></a> "Vend." 7, 126-147.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_412_412" id="Footnote_412_412"></a><a href="#FNanchor_412_412"><span class="label">[412]</span></a> "Vend." 8, 34-36; 130-228.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_413_413" id="Footnote_413_413"></a><a href="#FNanchor_413_413"><span class="label">[413]</span></a> "Vend." 8, 38-64.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_414_414" id="Footnote_414_414"></a><a href="#FNanchor_414_414"><span class="label">[414]</span></a> "Vend." 8, 271-310; 9, 164-166.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_415_415" id="Footnote_415_415"></a><a href="#FNanchor_415_415"><span class="label">[415]</span></a> "Vend." 5, 15-21, according to Geldner's rendering.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_416_416" id="Footnote_416_416"></a><a href="#FNanchor_416_416"><span class="label">[416]</span></a> "Vend." 5, 1-22; 7, 189-191.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_417_417" id="Footnote_417_417"></a><a href="#FNanchor_417_417"><span class="label">[417]</span></a> Herod. 1, 140; 3, 16.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_418_418" id="Footnote_418_418"></a><a href="#FNanchor_418_418"><span class="label">[418]</span></a> Strabo, p. 517.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_419_419" id="Footnote_419_419"></a><a href="#FNanchor_419_419"><span class="label">[419]</span></a> Strabo, p. 735. Cf. p. 520.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_420_420" id="Footnote_420_420"></a><a href="#FNanchor_420_420"><span class="label">[420]</span></a> "Quaest. Tuscul." 1, 45.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_421_421" id="Footnote_421_421"></a><a href="#FNanchor_421_421"><span class="label">[421]</span></a> Euseb. "Praep. Evang." p. 277.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_422_422" id="Footnote_422_422"></a><a href="#FNanchor_422_422"><span class="label">[422]</span></a> Agath. 2, 23.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_423_423" id="Footnote_423_423"></a><a href="#FNanchor_423_423"><span class="label">[423]</span></a> Diod. 17, 71; Arrian, "Anab." 3, 22; 6, 29.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_424_424" id="Footnote_424_424"></a><a href="#FNanchor_424_424"><span class="label">[424]</span></a> Ctes. "Pers. Ecl." 44, 46; Strabo, p. 730.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_425_425" id="Footnote_425_425"></a><a href="#FNanchor_425_425"><span class="label">[425]</span></a> Arrian, l. c.; Justin, 11, 15; Aelian, "Var. Hist." 6, 8; Plut.
+"Alex." c. 30.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_426_426" id="Footnote_426_426"></a><a href="#FNanchor_426_426"><span class="label">[426]</span></a> Diod. 17, 71; cf. Ctes. "Pers. Ecl." 15.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><span class="label">[427]</span> K. Niebuhr, "Reise," 2, 150 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_428_428" id="Footnote_428_428"></a><a href="#FNanchor_428_428"><span class="label">[428]</span></a> "Vend." 1, 46, 48, 60, 64; cf. above, p. 137, 138.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_429_429" id="Footnote_429_429"></a><a href="#FNanchor_429_429"><span class="label">[429]</span></a> "Ya&ccedil;na," 26.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_430_430" id="Footnote_430_430"></a><a href="#FNanchor_430_430"><span class="label">[430]</span></a> Above, p. 52. The Mainyo-i-Khard contains some rules on the
+duties of the king. The prince is to defend the city and land against
+enemies and risings, to respect water and fire, to keep at a distance bad
+laws and customs, and promote the worship of Auramazda, and good
+works, and to bring back to the right way those who have left it. A
+king of this kind is like the Yazatas and Amesha &Ccedil;pentas: c. 15, 20,
+33, 68, ed. West.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_431_431" id="Footnote_431_431"></a><a href="#FNanchor_431_431"><span class="label">[431]</span></a> "Vend." 14, 32-40.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_432_432" id="Footnote_432_432"></a><a href="#FNanchor_432_432"><span class="label">[432]</span></a> Arrian, "Anab." 4, 1, 5.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_433_433" id="Footnote_433_433"></a><a href="#FNanchor_433_433"><span class="label">[433]</span></a> "Vend." 13, 143-145.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_434_434" id="Footnote_434_434"></a><a href="#FNanchor_434_434"><span class="label">[434]</span></a> "Vend." 4, 4-53 according to Harlez.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_435_435" id="Footnote_435_435"></a><a href="#FNanchor_435_435"><span class="label">[435]</span></a> "Vend." 4, 54-113. Even after all that has been advanced by De
+Harlez, "Avesta," p. 101, I cannot convince myself that the stripes
+appointed here and elsewhere in the Vendidad are to fall, not on the
+guilty, but on animals of Angromainyu. If animals are to be killed,
+we are told so expressly in the Vendidad, and this duty is often mentioned
+along with the stripes (p. 209). To kill twice 90 or 200 flies or
+lizards is no equivalent for murdering a man. I allow that no one
+could endure blows by thousands, if they were given in earnest, yet in
+running a "muck" five and six hundred very severe blows have been
+endured. In my opinion the punishments of the Avesta are not intended
+for legal penalties; they mark what was needed, in the opinion
+of the priests, to expel the evil disposition, which could recur again
+and again.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_436_436" id="Footnote_436_436"></a><a href="#FNanchor_436_436"><span class="label">[436]</span></a> "Vend." 4, 120; "Astad Yasht," 1; Justi, "Handbuch," <i>sub. voc.</i></p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE LATER DEVELOPMENT OF EASTERN IRAN.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Of the tribes of the Arians occupying the table-land
+called by their name, those which had their habitations
+on the northern slope of the Hindu Kush, in the
+valleys of the Murghab and Zarefshan, outstripped the
+rest in combining their forces, and uniting into a larger
+community. In these regions they held advanced
+posts over against the steppes and the migratory
+nations of the low plains stretching before them without
+limit towards the north. We had good reason to
+suppose that it was the repulsion of the attacks of the
+nomads from the steppes of the Oxus and Jaxartes,
+which brought these tribes, whose possessions consisted
+of flocks and pastures, into the habit of living in
+arms, and of undertaking the protection of the country.
+From their midst arose the monarchy intended to lead
+and combine the defence, the formation of which we
+placed about the year 1100 <small>B.C.</small>, and having its centre
+at Bactria and Zariaspa. The tribes of the West, on
+the other hand, for four centuries after this time lived
+in isolation under their chieftains. The continuance
+of the struggles which Bactria had to undergo, even
+after the formation of the monarchy, is proved, not
+only by the proximity of the nomads of the steppes,
+but also by the traits of warlike feeling preserved<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>
+in the Avesta; by the order of warriors which existed
+beside the orders of priests and husbandmen; by the
+chieftains and their citadels, which we found here in
+the fourth century <small>B.C.</small>; and lastly, by the circumstance,
+that the old shapes of the myth of the Arians,
+the spirits of the sky which smite the demons, are
+changed in the Avesta not merely into ideal patterns,
+but even into ancestors of the Bactrian kings, and
+connected with the genealogical tree of the nation.
+Yima, Thraetaona, Manuschithra, Airyu, U&ccedil;a, and
+Hu&ccedil;rava, are changed into ancestors of the kings
+and the people.</p>
+
+<p>Like the Aryas in the Panjab, the tribes of the
+Airyas in Iran prayed to Mithra, to the spirits of light,
+the clear air, the wind, and fire, which protected them
+against the demons of the night and gloom, and
+gave increase to their pastures and flocks, and recovered
+the water of the sky which the demons
+sought to carry away. As in India, the juice of the
+Soma plant was the principal offering presented to
+the gods; as Soma was not only the king of plants,
+the lord of nourishment and life&mdash;so the liquor
+which gave strength to the gods was here also a god,
+Haoma. The belief in the opposition of the spirits of
+light and the spirits of destruction, in the power of
+the correct sacrifice, in the influence of the good
+sayings, the sacred words, was on both sides of the
+Indus, the starting-point of religious ideas, and in
+Iran it became the hinge on which they turned.</p>
+
+<p>Iran was divided into fertile land and deserts;
+next to the most luxuriant growth lay wide tracts, in
+which heat or cold, morass or drought, storms of sand
+or of snow, made life and agriculture impossible.
+These contrasts were most striking on the upper Oxus,
+in Sogdiana and Margiana. Hence it came to pass<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>
+that in Bactria the ancient belief in the struggle of
+the good and evil spirits made an essential advance.
+The old gods and spirits, the ancient worship of fire,
+were not indeed overthrown by the doctrine of Zarathrustra;
+on the contrary, the struggle between the
+good and evil powers was spread over the whole of
+nature, and the means of repelling the evil ones were
+increased. The good and evil spirits were respectively
+ranged under chiefs, on the counter-operation of whom
+and their spirit-armies rests the life of nature; and
+on this life depends the life of man. Henceforth
+man must not merely keep the evil ones from himself,
+he must take part in the struggle of the good against
+the evil powers, increase so far as he can the good
+creation which now belongs to Auramazda and has
+proceeded from him; and thus restrict the sphere in
+which the evil spirit exercises his power. After death
+he will receive the reward of his conflict; and if in
+and through this struggle he has been made a participator
+in the nature of the pure and bright deities, he
+will continue to live in their heaven of light.</p>
+
+<p>This development of the old Arian views and
+reform of the religion received the impulse which
+eventually called it into life at the time when Vista&ccedil;pa
+was king of Bactria. It must have taken place about
+the year 1000 <small>B.C.</small>, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> about the time when the
+Brahmans on the Ganges came to reform their ancient
+faith, and exalted Brahman above Indra and the
+ancient deities. From the idea of this new god, in
+which the power of the Holy and the world-soul were
+equal factors, the Brahmans arrived at a sharp distinction
+between spirit and matter. Their ethics, beginning
+with the rejection of nature, could not but
+require the annihilation of the body as their final
+goal, and this led to the vain pursuit of impossibilities,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>
+to the ascetic suicide of body and soul. The doctrine
+of Zarathrustra does not recognise the contradiction
+of spirit and matter. The good God has not created
+the world in order to entangle men in evil and
+wickedness, but in order to give to it and to mankind
+life and increase. It is only one side of nature, not
+the whole of it, and that side harmful to men, which
+has proceeded from evil, and this evil does not come
+from the good, but from the wicked spirit. Evil is
+here limited to gloom, desolation, drought and death.
+As it is this part, and this only in nature, which has
+to be removed, man is not called upon to lay aside his
+whole nature, but on the contrary to rejoice in the
+beneficial side of it. This he must tend and strengthen
+in himself, while he keeps the harmful side at a distance,
+struggles against and annihilates it so far as
+possible both in himself and all around him. He
+must strengthen the light side of his soul against the
+dark, and make it the master of the dark; he must
+banish from his soul lying and deceit, idleness and
+filthiness; purity of soul consists in truthfulness.
+Thus must a man watch and work with the good
+gods and under their eyes. It is not contemplation,
+meditation, or asceticism, as in the doctrine of the
+Brahmans; it is practical activity and inward effort
+that the teaching of Zarathrustra requires from men;
+the object it placed before men was not self-annihilation,
+but the purification of soul and body, and true
+assertion of self. If a man kept his body and soul
+pure; if he was truthful in word and work, and increased
+the good creation in meadow, field, and forest;
+if he slew the animals of the evil spirits, then all
+would be well with him; he would have abundance
+of cattle and descendants, long life in this world, and
+eternal life in the heaven of the spirits of light.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This reform had been accomplished in its fundamental
+principles in Bactria, and Auramazda had been
+elevated above Mithra as the creator of heaven, of
+the gods, and the earth, when about the middle of the
+ninth century <small>B.C.</small> the armies of Shalmanesar II. of
+Asshur invaded the East of Iran. About this time,
+or soon after, the order of Athravas was formed. It
+rose, on the one hand, out of the ancient families of the
+fire-priests, who understood the custom of sacrifice,
+and had preserved the efficacious prayers to Mithra,
+Verethraghna, Haoma, and Tistrya, to Ardvi&ccedil;ura and
+Drva&ccedil;pa down to the period of the reform, so far as
+they came over to the new doctrine; and on the other
+hand, out of the race of Zarathrustra, and the families
+of the zealous adherents of the new doctrine, who
+devoted themselves to the service of religion. This
+order of priests, which handed down in its families
+the sayings of Zarathrustra and those of old days, the
+ancient invocations as well as those of the new teaching,
+took precedence of the families of the nobles,
+warriors, and husbandmen, though they were not
+separated from them by any rights of connubium or
+other privileges. From the whole tendency of the
+reform there could not be any thought of acquiring
+such a position as that which the Brahmans&mdash;the first
+created of Brahman&mdash;attained among the orders of
+India. When the army of Tiglath-Pilesar II. entered
+Arachosia about the middle of the eighth century <small>B.C.</small>
+the new doctrine had already advanced to the West.
+It was represented among the Medes by eminent
+teachers. In this region, at the time when the Medes
+were under the supremacy of Assyria, a priestly order
+grew up out of the old families of the priests or
+Magians, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the powerful, and adherents of the new
+doctrine; the families of this order abandoned their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>
+tribal connection among the Medes, and thus formed
+an hereditary caste, which preserved the name already
+in use in the West for the priests, and became so
+numerous that it could be ranked as a tribe among
+the other tribes of the Medes. The formation of this
+order was already complete when, after the middle of
+the seventh century <small>B.C.</small>, the Medes rebelled against
+the kings of Asshur.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the Athravas of the East were busily
+occupied in developing and fixing the contents and
+meaning of the new idea of God, and of the ethics
+resulting from it. They ranged the old gods under
+the new doctrine, and determined their relation to the
+new supreme deity; they peopled heaven with shapes
+corresponding to the reformed teaching, and brought
+mythology into harmony with it; from the commands
+of purity they developed in the spirit of the reformed
+religion the rules of purification and the
+removal of impurities as required in every occurrence
+of life. Thus, beside the old invocations of the
+gods, arose theories of a speculative cast which sought
+to regard the gods as ethical forces, and prayers of a
+formal character; from the dialectic of the priestly
+schools was developed a very complicated system of
+purity of life, of rubrics for expiation and purification,
+in which formalism and casuistry were not
+wanting. Enquiries arose how law and justice should
+be shaped so as to conform to the rules of religion;
+while, on the other hand, the old sacrificial songs were
+collected, the liturgy was fixed, as well as the order
+of the festivals and sacrifices for the new moon and
+full moon, and the course of the year; the prescriptions
+of medicine were written down, and those cycles
+formed which comprised the battle between Auramazda
+and Angromainyu down to the last and eternal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>
+victory of light and life. After various attempts at
+compilation, the priests of the East finally succeeded in
+uniting the sum of these labours into one great whole,
+which was the canon of the sacred scriptures. We
+may assume that the labours of the priesthood of Bactria,
+which came to an end with this result, may have
+occupied the same space of time as the growth and
+writing down of the Brahmanas on the Ganges. There
+are good reasons for supposing that the canon was
+finally established about the year 600 <small>B.C.</small>, and therefore,
+on the calculation given, the labours of the priests
+upon it must have commenced about the year 800 <small>B.C.</small></p>
+
+<p>Like the kindred tribes in India, the Arians in
+Iran were not destitute of imagination and a tendency
+to abstraction. But from the first these qualities
+were restrained within narrower limits owing
+to the nature of the land,&mdash;while the scenery and
+phenomena of the Ganges tended to develop them,&mdash;and
+the teaching of Zarathrustra provided a counterpoise
+in the practical requirements which it set up.
+Labour took the place of idle dreaming, conflict and
+energetic activity the place of asceticism, and the
+imagination received impulses to simple and great
+conceptions. The ethics of this religion guaranteed
+the conditions of a healthy human existence; man's
+effort was essentially directed to this present world,
+and the duties imposed upon him were such as he could
+fulfil. Thus they led to results different from the introspection,
+quietism, and asceticism of the Indians,
+and the relapse into sensuality which was the inseparable
+concomitant of the latter. The doctrine of
+Zarathrustra contributed essentially to educate the
+tribes which followed it in truthfulness and manliness,
+and to qualify them for energy and action.
+In their sensible, intelligent view of the world,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>
+in putting theory below practice, and aiming at an
+active life, the Iranians are as far before the Indians
+as the Romans are before the Greeks.</p>
+
+<p>If Eastern Iran, in the first instance, discharged a
+religious mission, the duty of politics was undertaken
+by the West. The empire of the Medes and of the
+Persians rose and fell, but the religion of Auramazda
+survived the fall of the Ach&aelig;menids. It rose to renewed
+life with the empire of the Arsacids and Sassanids.
+The national reaction against the dominion of
+the Seleucids began with the Parthians; the empire
+of the Sassanids, which subsequently took the place of
+that of the Arsacids, was supported in the first place
+by the tribes of the Persians, and was connected with
+the remembrance of the Ach&aelig;menids. Yet from the
+first the Sassanids were prepared to deal equal measure
+to the East and West of Iran; in opposition to any
+attempt at religious innovation they held firmly to
+the tradition of the East. When after a rule of more
+than four centuries the Sassanids succumbed to the
+invasion of the Arabs, Yezdegerd III. attempted to
+maintain himself in Merv, as Darius III. had attempted
+to maintain himself in Bactria. The attempt failed.
+Iran succumbed to Islam. Yet it was the East from
+which, not quite two centuries after the fall of the
+Sassanids, a reaction commenced against the Arabs,
+and this gradually increased till it rescued the nationality
+and the language of Iran. It was the viceroys
+in the districts of the East who rebelled against the
+Chalifate, and they found support in the population of
+their provinces. A process similar to that which had
+previously broken down the dominion of the Seleucids
+over Iran shattered the empire of the Abbasids. The
+impulse to this movement rose in Taberistan, where
+the Taherids appeared, as independent princes soon after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>
+the death of Harun-al-Rashid; some decads later the
+Soffarids rebelled in Sejestan, and towards the end of
+the ninth century the power of the Samanids sprang
+up in Sogdiana, Balkh, and Merv, and founded seats
+in Samarcand and Bokhara. Not long after the Ziads
+obtained an independent position in Dilem and Jorjan
+(the ancient Hyrcania). Towards the end of the tenth
+century the Ghasnavids, who had hitherto been the
+servants and captains of the Samanids, threw off
+their allegiance; and united under their dominion all
+the lands which had been subject to the Soffarids,
+the Samanids, and Ziads. Soon after the year 1000
+<small>B.C.</small> they ruled from their abode in Ghasna over
+Cabul, Balkh, Merv, and Chovaresm to the north, and
+over Sejestan and Afghanistan to the south, and to
+the west over the lands of Elburz, while their armies
+crossed the Indus to the east, and advanced beyond
+the Panjab to the valley of the Ganges. The ancient
+religion of Iran was not wholly lost even in the time
+of Harun-al-Rashid; Magians were tolerated at the
+court of the Chalifs for the sake of their skill in
+medicine. The Barmecides, who came from Balkh,
+displayed, even under the Chalifate, a partiality for
+the legends and the religion of Iran. The Samanids
+boasted to be sprung from the Sassanids, the Ziads
+were reproached with being idolaters in heart and
+Moslem in tongue. They called themselves once more
+by the names celebrated in the legends of Eastern
+Iran: Minocher after Manuschithra, Kai Kobad after
+Kava Kavata, Kai Kaus after Kava U&ccedil;a, Isfendyar
+after &Ccedil;pentodata; and in the list of the Ghasnavids,
+the Afghan princes in India, we meet at a later time
+with the name of Kava Hu&ccedil;rava (Chosru).</p>
+
+<p>The regeneration of Old Iran, in opposition to
+the Arabs, found its firmest stronghold in Ghasna.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>
+The deeds of the Ach&aelig;menids were completely forgotten
+in the East which had no part in them; but
+the legends of Yima, Thraetaona, Kava Hu&ccedil;rava, and
+Kava Vista&ccedil;pa, had lived on under the dominion of
+the Ach&aelig;menids, the Seleucids, the Greek princes of
+Balkh and Cabul, and under the Arsacids. Then
+came the revival of the Avesta under Shapur II.
+about the middle of the fourth century <small>A.D.</small> (p. 61).
+The first Chosru (531-578 <small>A.D.</small>) caused the legends
+and traditions of the nation and the priests to be
+collected and copied; a comprehensive exposition of
+the whole was made under the last Yezdegerd. Thus
+as early as the last days of the Sassanids the tradition
+of Iran was collected and fixed, and this, transcribed
+in Pehlevi, outlived the fall of the kingdom, and descended
+as a legacy of ancient glory to the Soffarids,
+Samanids, and Ghasnavids.<a name="FNanchor_437_437" id="FNanchor_437_437"></a><a href="#Footnote_437_437" class="fnanchor">[437]</a> On the basis of this
+"book of kings," which he possessed in an Arabic
+translation, Firdusi of Tus on the Tejend, a city of
+which at the present day some scanty ruins remain
+not far from Meshhed, undertook to restore to life the
+remembrance of the past of Eastern Iran and the
+fame of her ancient heroes in a great Epic poem. He
+gathered together the entire existing tradition, and
+under the dominion of Islam cast a new glory on
+the ancient belief in Auramazda, who was now known
+as Yazdan. This poem, the book of kings (Shahnameh)
+exhibits at the same time the New Persian language
+in its pure form, developed out of the Eastern dialects,
+and not yet contaminated with Aram&aelig;an and Arabic
+elements.</p>
+
+<p>The first king in Firdusi is Gayumart. He assembles
+men and animals, and teaches the first to hide<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>
+their nakedness with the skins of leopards. His son
+Siyamek is torn in pieces by a demon. We are acquainted
+with the primeval man Gayo maretan; whom
+the priests placed at the beginning of things (p. 183).
+Then king Hoshang taught men to harness the bull,
+to tame the horse, to forge iron, to till the field, and
+introduced the worship of fire. After Hoshang king
+Tahmurath reigned, who overcame the Divs (Daevas),
+and compelled them to teach him the art of writing.
+He taught his people the art of weaving, and rode
+round the world on Angromainyu (now Ahriman) till
+the latter threw him off on Elburz, and so killed him.
+In the Avesta Haoshyangha sacrifices in order to obtain
+power over the evil spirits, and Takhmo urupa also
+sacrifices in order to curb Angromainyu for the space
+of thirty years (p. 183). After Tahmurath, Jemshid
+(Yima) is king. He teaches the art of forging weapons
+and weaving precious stuffs, divides men into priests,
+warriors, husbandmen, and artisans; discovers the
+art of healing, and compels the demons to build
+houses, and erect for him a splendid palace and a
+gorgeous throne adorned with gold and precious
+stones. Three hundred years passed away while he
+was king, in which the Divs were bound, and death
+could not approach mankind. Then Jemshid boasted
+that he had saved the world by his remedies from
+sickness and death, and demanded divine honours.
+This sin alienated from him the princes of his kingdom.
+Jemshid was compelled to fly before Zohak,
+the king of Babylon. Zohak pursued him. In the
+remote East, on the sea of China, Jemshid was overtaken
+and slain.</p>
+
+<p>The old Arian legend of the happy age of Yima
+shows itself even yet through Firdusi's version. Death
+could not approach men under his dominion; there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>
+was no sickness, and therefore Jemshid is said to have
+discovered the art of healing. The Avesta had already
+found a motive for the fall of Yima in the fact that
+he had refused to announce the law, and at length
+had begun to love lies (p. 41). The Zohak of Firdusi
+is no other than the ancient cloud dragon, Azhi
+dahaka, which attempts to carry away the waters of
+the sky, and swallows up men and horses. He is
+now a foreign, hostile, bloodthirsty king, who puts an
+end to the blessings of Yima's reign in order to bring
+the reverse of blessing upon Iran. Azhi dahaka had
+three heads and three throats; Zohak has two serpents
+growing from his shoulders, to which by degrees
+thousands fall as sacrifices, for they are fed with the
+brains of men, and for this purpose two youths are
+slaughtered every day. That Zohak is called king of
+Babylon is due to a reminiscence of the fact that the
+Assyrians ruled over Western Iran, and the Seleucids
+and Chalifs over the whole country. Zohak persecutes
+severely the descendants of Jemshid. Abtin, the
+last of these, finally falls into his power; he causes
+him to be slain for his serpents; but Abtin's wife
+carries off his young son Feridun in safety to Elburz.
+When the latter is sixteen years of age his mother
+discloses to him the fate of his father; the discontented
+gather round him, and the angel Serosh
+teaches him how to overcome the magician Zohak.
+In the citadel at Babylon Feridun strikes Zohak to
+the ground with a blow of the club which Kave, the
+smith, has forged for him. But Serosh bids him
+not to kill Zohak, who is now chained in a deep
+cave in Elburz, under Demavend, the highest summit
+on the chain. Abtin, the descendant of Jemshid, is
+the Athwya of the Avesta; Feridun is Thraetaona,
+the son of Athwya, the slayer of Dahaka; the angel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>
+Serosh is the well-known god &Ccedil;raosha. Feridun is
+not permitted to slay Zohak, because Azhi dahaka
+is also a demon.</p>
+
+<p>Feridun has three sons&mdash;Salm (&Ccedil;airima), Tur
+(Tuirya), and Yrej (Airyu); to the last, who was the
+youngest, Feridun gives Iran, the best part of his
+dominions, while Salm receives the West and Tur the
+North. Filled with envy at the favour shown to their
+youngest brother, Salm and Tur slay the pious Yrej.
+Feridun is deeply moved; but he gives the daughter
+whom Yrej has left in marriage to Pesheng. The
+son of Pesheng is Minocher, who grows up to avenge
+his grandfather's death. In order to prevent this,
+Salm and Tur invade Iran. The battle continues for
+three days, till Minocher has slain Tur with his own
+hand. He also overtakes Salm in flight, and slays
+him. Feridun can now die in peace, as he has seen
+the kingdom handed over to Minocher. After the
+death of the latter the kingdom descended to his son
+Naudar.<a name="FNanchor_438_438" id="FNanchor_438_438"></a><a href="#Footnote_438_438" class="fnanchor">[438]</a> Then Afrasiab of Turan, the great-grandson
+of Tur, whom Minocher had slain, invaded Iran to
+avenge the death of his ancestor on the descendant
+of Minocher. Naudar's army was defeated; he was
+taken captive with many princes of Iran, and beheaded
+by the order of Afrasiab.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the race of Abtin, Jemshid had left other
+descendants. In union with the daughter of the king
+of Cabul, whose kingdom extends from Bost on the
+Hilmend to Ghasna (and consequently includes the
+region of Sejestan, the ancient Haetumat),<a name="FNanchor_439_439" id="FNanchor_439_439"></a><a href="#Footnote_439_439" class="fnanchor">[439]</a> he had
+begotten Gershasp, a mighty hero who stood by the
+side of Minocher in the struggle against Salm and
+Tur; the sons of Gershasp are Neriman and Sam, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>
+his grandson is Zal. The Gershasp of Firdusi is the
+Kere&ccedil;a&ccedil;pa of the Avesta, the son of Thrita, of the race
+of &Ccedil;ama (p. 35), who slays the serpent &Ccedil;ruvara and
+the giant Gandarewa. The Avesta gives him the
+epithet Nairimanao, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the man-hearted, heroic, and
+represents him as seizing the brilliance of majesty,
+when it departed for the third time from Yima (p.
+36). This hint was enough to give the royal power
+to Kere&ccedil;a&ccedil;pa; his epithet and his tribal name are
+personified, and become his descendants Neriman and
+Sam. In accordance with their origin these princes
+from Zabul are in Firdusi the most faithful adherents
+of the race of Feridun, which has rewarded them with
+the dominion over the South. In this way the legend
+of Sejestan is woven into the closest connection with the
+legend of the Avesta. The power of the descendants of
+Feridun is extinguished with Naudar, from whose sons
+"the splendour of the royal majesty shines no longer;"
+thus does Firdusi repeat the metaphor current in the
+Avesta. The princes of Zabul now take their place
+as the protectors and guardians of Iran. The son of
+king Sam of Zabul is Zal. After Naudar's melancholy
+fall he makes peace between Iran and Turan; the
+Oxus is fixed as the boundary, Afrasiab returns to his
+own country, and in the place of the sons of Naudar
+Zal allows Zav to be chosen king of Iran. Zav is
+already aged and soon dies; Afrasiab invades Iran
+again. Then Zal deliberates with the Mobedhs (<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i>
+with the chiefs of the Magians, p. 60), who is to be
+king of Iran. It is resolved to raise Kai Kobad to the
+throne, who like Feridun before him dwells on Elburz.
+Zal sends his son Rustem (Moses of Khorene is the
+first who mentions the Persian legend of Rustem), a
+youth of great strength, who as a boy had slain an
+infuriated elephant, to fetch Kai Kobad from Elburz.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>
+Rustem finds him prepared, for he has seen in a dream
+two white falcons who place a golden crown upon
+his head. Afrasiab's army, which opposes him, is
+defeated; Kai Kobad ascends the throne of Iran,
+the Turanians are defeated in a great battle, Rustem
+seizes Afrasiab by his girdle and drags him from his
+horse; but the girdle breaks, Afrasiab falls to the
+ground, and is saved by his own people. In the peace
+the Oxus is once more fixed as the boundary between
+Iran and Turan. Kai Kobad is followed by his son
+Kai Kaus. Against the advice of his vassals and of
+Zal he leads his army against Mazanderan, a land
+inhabited by demons, which take the king captive
+with his whole army. A single warrior escapes to bring
+the terrible news to Zal. As Zal is now 200 years old,
+Rustem undertakes to liberate the king. He has to
+overcome seven terrible monsters before he can arrive
+at the demons. At last he makes his way to them,
+and on his horse Reksh, he destroys the army of the
+demons. Then he slays their chief, the white demon,
+in the dark cave, and liberates Kai Kaus and the army
+of Iran. Kai Kaus now causes the conquered demons
+to build him splendid palaces on Elburz, and resolves
+to fly up to heaven, in order to see the course of the
+sun. Four eagles bound to his throne carry him
+upwards, but then allow him to fall to earth. Ashamed
+at his pride he humbles himself, and his penance
+appeases the wrath of heaven. When Afrasiab breaks
+the peace and again invades Iran, Kai Kaus sends his
+son Siavaksh, under the guidance of Rustem, against
+the Turanians. For three days the battle rages at the
+gates of Balkh, and at length Siavaksh is victorious.
+Afrasiab sues for peace, Siavaksh concludes a treaty;
+but Kai Kaus will not confirm it. That he may not
+break his word, Siavaksh gives himself up to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>
+Turanians. Afrasiab receives him with honour, and
+gives him his daughter Feringis to wife. Subsequently
+he harbours suspicion against him, causes him to be
+executed, and the son, whom Feringis bears after the
+execution of her husband, to be brought up among
+the shepherds without any knowledge of his birth.
+To this son an abode is then allotted in a remote
+region of Turan.</p>
+
+<p>To avenge the execution of Siavaksh Rustem invades
+Turan. Victorious in the battle he causes
+Surkha, the son of Afrasiab, whom he captures in the
+battle, to be put to death in the same way as Siavaksh,
+pursues Afrasiab to the extreme border of his kingdom,
+and does not return till the whole of Turan has been
+laid waste: the booty is immense. Many years afterwards
+it was revealed in a dream to Guderz (Gotarzes),
+a descendant of that Kave, who had once forged for
+Feridun the club used against Zohak, that a son of
+Siavaksh survived. Gev, the son of Guderz, arose to
+seek in Turan the right heir to the throne of Iran.
+For seven years he seeks in vain. At length he
+discovers Kai Chosru, to whom his mother Feringis has
+already revealed the secret of his birth. In spite of
+the most severe persecution on the part of Afrasiab,
+Gev succeeds in carrying away mother and son to
+Iran; they swim through the swollen Oxus on horseback.
+But when Kai Kaus wishes to make the grandson
+so happily discovered his successor, Tur, the son of
+king Naudar, opposes the elevation of a king who has
+Turanian blood in his veins. Kai Chosru proves his
+higher claim by capturing a citadel of the demons,
+and erecting a fire-altar in its place. Then he sets
+himself to avenge the death of his father on Afrasiab.
+But the first army of the Iranians under Tur is
+defeated; and when Feriborz receives the command<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>
+the warriors of Iran are again severely beaten in the
+valley of Peshen; a third army is shut up on Mount
+Hamaven. To liberate this Rustem sets forth, and
+conquers in the most terrible battle which he has ever
+fought. At length Afrasiab and Kai Chosru take the
+lead of their armies. After a bloody struggle the
+Turanians are compelled to retire, first beyond the
+Oxus, and then beyond the Jaxartes. Afrasiab flies
+for refuge to his fortified city Kang Bihist; the city
+is taken, but he escapes into a cave. Kai Kaus and
+Kai Chosru entreat the fire Adar gu&ccedil;asp, that Afrasiab
+may not escape them. A pious penitent, Hom, who
+hears the lament of Afrasiab in his cave, recognises
+him, overpowers and binds him, and leads him forth.
+Afrasiab entreats the penitent to loose his bonds, and
+then escapes once more, into a lake. The pious Hom
+obtains possession of him again, and hands him over
+to Kai Chosru, who has his head cut off in revenge for
+his father Siavaksh. Kai Kaus has now seen the
+fulfilment of vengeance on Afrasiab for the death of
+Siavaksh; his days draw to a close. For sixty years
+after him, Kai Chosru rules over Iran in peace, and
+then resolves to enter on a pilgrimage to heaven.
+When the angel Serosh has bidden him nominate
+Lohrasp as his successor, he fulfils this injunction,
+establishes Rustem as general-in-chief of the kingdom
+and successor of his father Zal in the kingdom of the
+South, and after long meditation, accompanied by the
+sons of Naudar, Tus and Gustehem, and the heroes
+Gev and Feriborz, he begins the pilgrimage to the
+East. When high up in the mountains he advises
+his companions to return; soon they will see him no
+more. He disappears after bathing in a spring; his
+heroes, in spite of the command to return, seek for
+him, and are buried in a storm of snow.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>We saw above that in the Avesta, Manuschithra
+and Airyu are connected with Thraetaona, and that
+the group of the Paradhatas comes to an end with
+these names. Hence Firdusi also represents the crown
+as being brought to the first ruler of the new group,
+Kai Kobad, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the Kava Kavata of the Avesta, from
+the sky by two falcons; he also represents him as
+being fetched from Elburz, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> from the holy mountain
+of the old legend, in order to overcome Zohak,
+just as Thraetaona descended from the same mountain.
+Kai Kaus, the Kava U&ccedil;a of the Avesta, who succeeded
+Kai Kobad, betrays his divine nature in Firdusi by his
+march against the demons, by the castles which these
+demons build for him on Elburz, and by his attempt
+to fly into heaven. In the Avesta Kava U&ccedil;a offers
+sacrifice, in order to obtain the dominion over men
+and Daevas, and this favour is granted to him. That
+the march against the demons is made in the direction
+of Mazanderan is due no doubt to the frequent mention
+of the Mazanian Devs in the Avesta. Siavaksh, the
+son of Kai Kaus, who honourably gives himself up to
+the Turanians, is the &Ccedil;yavarshana of the Avesta&mdash;from
+which we merely learn that he was spotless, and
+that after Kava U&ccedil;a the royal majesty united with
+the beautiful body of &Ccedil;yavarshana, and that he died
+by a violent death (p. 37). The destructive Turanian
+Franghra&ccedil;yana, who is now called Afrasiab, is known
+to the Avesta. "Thrice," we are told, "he sought
+after the royal majesty which belongs to the Arian
+lands, but he found it not."<a name="FNanchor_440_440" id="FNanchor_440_440"></a><a href="#Footnote_440_440" class="fnanchor">[440]</a> Kai Chosru, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> Kava
+Hu&ccedil;rava, is in the Avesta also the son of &Ccedil;yavarshana;
+he offers sacrifice, in order that it may be granted
+to him "to put an end to the long period of dimness,"
+"to bind the Franghra&ccedil;yana filled with abundance;"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>
+he is said to be "without sickness and death." Firdusi's
+poem neglects none of these traits. After the
+triple war which, kindled by Afrasiab, has lasted for a
+long time, Firdusi represents Chosru as invoking the
+fire Gu&ccedil;asp, that Afrasiab may not escape him. In
+the Avesta the god Haoma is said himself to bind
+Franghra&ccedil;yana, and to carry him away as a captive of
+king Hu&ccedil;rava, in order that the latter may slay him
+beyond the lake Chaecha&ccedil;ta (p. 37). In Firdusi the
+pious Hom discovers the hiding-place of Afrasiab; he
+binds him and carries him away a prisoner. Afrasiab
+escapes; but Hom captures him once more in lake
+Kanyesht. As Hu&ccedil;rava is "without sickness and
+death," Firdusi represents him as vanishing on a
+pilgrimage to heaven.</p>
+
+<p>In Firdusi, Lohrasp, whom Chosru has made his
+successor, erects a fire-temple at Balkh, his royal
+abode, and after reigning 120 years, abdicates in
+favour of Gushtasp, his elder son, in order to devote
+his life to pious exercises at his temple. When Zartusht
+proclaims the Avesta, Gushtasp and his wife
+receive the new doctrine. But Arjasp, the king of
+Turan, sent Gushtasp a command not to listen to the
+words of Zartusht. To this request Gushtasp did not
+accede; a battle took place on the banks of the Oxus,
+which turned in favour of Iran, owing to the bravery
+of Zarir, the brother of Gushtasp. An arrow from an
+ambush lays the hero low at the moment of victory.
+His death terrifies the Iranians; not one of them
+ventures to avenge it till Gushtasp promises Isfendyar,
+the strongest and bravest of his sons, that he will
+give him the crown if he succeeds in avenging the
+death of Zarir. Isfendyar overthrows the warriors
+of Iran, brings the arms and horse of Zarir into the
+camp of Iran, and Arjasp retires into his land. In<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>
+the place of the promised crown, Isfendyar receives
+from his father the high mission of spreading abroad
+the new faith. By means of a chain which he places
+on his neck, Zartusht makes Isfendyar invulnerable,
+and surrounds him with a charm so that anyone who
+slays him will himself quickly die. When Isfendyar
+returns home after a long time, his mission fully accomplished,
+as all have received the law of Zartusht,
+accusations are made against him that he is collecting
+an army to dethrone his father. On this unfounded
+charge Gushtasp causes Isfendyar to be cast into
+prison. But while he remains in Zabul, the Turanians
+attack Balkh. The aged Lohrasp takes up arms; he
+cannot check the Turanians; he falls; the city is
+taken: Zartusht with the fire-priests is slain in the
+fire-temple, the sacred fire is quenched in their blood,
+and two daughters of Gushtasp are carried away to
+Turan. In vain does Gushtasp hasten up, when he
+has collected his army; thirty-eight of his sons are
+slain in the battle against the Turanians. Gushtasp
+takes to flight, and with his warriors finds refuge in a
+mountain which is quickly invested by Arjasp. Then
+Jamasp, the faithful adviser of Gushtasp, passes in
+disguise through the camp of the Turanians, to fetch
+Isfendyar out of prison, and urge him to save his
+father and Iran. Forgetting his deep injury and wrong,
+Isfendyar forces a way through the camp of Arjasp,
+and in the subsequent battle slaughters so many of the
+enemy's men that he takes to flight. But the task is
+not yet accomplished; it still remains to set at liberty
+the two sisters whom the Turanians had carried away
+from Balkh, and whom Arjasp keeps imprisoned in
+"the brazen fortress." After seven conflicts, corresponding
+to those which Rustem had to undergo, when
+he liberated Kai Kaus from the power of the demons,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>
+Isfendyar reaches the fortress. He sends his army
+back, and in the guise of a merchant obtains entrance
+into the citadel. Here he asks Arjasp, to whom he is
+unknown, for permission to give a feast to the principal
+men on the turrets of the citadel. When the
+wine has done its work, Isfendyar gives the signal of
+fire already agreed upon to his followers; the garrison
+is overpowered; Arjasp is slain by Isfendyar in single
+combat, and Isfendyar returns victorious with his
+sisters to Balkh.</p>
+
+<p>Here a new and yet more dangerous task awaits
+him. Rustem, who made Kai Kobad ruler of Iran,
+and has since done such good service, and achieved
+such noble acts for Kai Kaus and Kai Chosru, remains
+at a distance from the court and army of king
+Gushtasp. He despises the doctrine of Zartusht.
+At Gushtasp's bidding Isfendyar must break down
+this opposition, and bring him to the king. Isfendyar
+marches out and commands Rustem to follow
+him in chains to the court. With a heavy heart
+Rustem seeks to withdraw from the contest; he treats
+with Isfendyar; but the latter obstinately insists on
+his terms. Nothing remains for the aged hero but to
+give battle against his will. Isfendyar's invulnerable
+body resists his blows, and Reksh, the horse of Rustem,
+is wounded; Rustem is himself wounded and compelled
+to retire. He has no hope of conquering in
+the battle which is to begin again on the next day.
+In his deep distress he calls to the bird Simurgh, who
+comes, sucks the blood from his wound, and heals the
+horse. Simurgh is acquainted with the future, and
+advises a compromise: there is indeed a way of
+overcoming Isfendyar, but anyone who takes his life
+"must not expect salvation in this world or the next."
+Rustem cannot bring himself to suffer defeat in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>
+battle, and therefore in the night Simurgh carries him
+away to the tree of life, on the sea of China, and bids
+him break off the branch to which Isfendyar's life is
+bound. Out of this branch is cut the death-arrow for
+the conflict of the morrow. With it Rustem hits
+the place in the eye in which alone Isfendyar is
+vulnerable. But for Rustem also the lot of death is
+cast. He is invited by the king of Cabul, a tributary
+prince, to hunt; and the king's son-in-law, Sheghad,
+prepares a pit filled with swords and lances, for the
+destruction of the aged hero. Into this Rustem falls
+with his horse, but even in the moment of death his
+arrow hits Sheghad, who had concealed himself in a
+hollow tree, in order to watch the success of his
+scheme. Rustem's son Feramorz avenges the murder
+of his father on the king of Cabul; but Gushtasp
+renounces the world, and transfers the government
+to his grandson Bahman, the son of Isfendyar.</p>
+
+<p>Here also we find traces of the Avesta underlying
+the poem. In the Avesta Aurvata&ccedil;pa, now Lohrasp,
+and Vista&ccedil;pa, now Gushtasp, form a group distinct
+from the most ancient princes. Firdusi represents
+Kai Chosru as making Lohrasp his successor in spite
+of the murmurs of the nobles. Arejata&ccedil;pa, now Arjasp,
+the Turanian, sacrifices in the Avesta in order to
+obtain victory over Vista&ccedil;pa, and the great equestrian,
+Zairivairi, the brother of Vista&ccedil;pa. In Firdusi this
+brother, the bravest warrior of Iran against Turan, is
+Zarir. In the Avesta Vista&ccedil;pa conquers Arejata&ccedil;pa; in
+Firdusi Arjasp finally succumbs in the conflict. In the
+Avesta Jama&ccedil;pa is a prince of great influence with Vista&ccedil;pa;
+in Firdusi he is his faithful counsellor. In the
+Avesta Zarathrustra offers sacrifice that he may unite
+with the warlike Vista&ccedil;pa, and that the king's consort
+Hutao&ccedil;a may impress the law on her memory (p. 37);<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>
+in Firdusi Gushtasp and his wife receive the new law.
+According to the Avesta Vista&ccedil;pa has given his support
+and protection to the law, has set up the law in
+the world, and given it a high position, and made the
+path broad for purity. In Firdusi Isfendyar is sent
+to spread abroad the new law over the earth. The
+Avesta mentions twenty-nine sons of Vista&ccedil;pa, Firdusi
+even more; in both &Ccedil;pentodata (Isfendyar) has the
+first place. In the Avesta Zarathrustra pronounces a
+blessing on Vista&ccedil;pa, in Firdusi he pronounces it on
+Isfendyar. That the latter was extolled, even in the
+Avesta, as supporting the faith and spreading it abroad&mdash;though
+our fragments do not allow us to draw any
+further conclusions&mdash;is nevertheless clear from the
+creed of the Parsees: "I abide in the law which the
+lord Ormuzd taught to Zartusht, and Zartusht to
+king Gushtasp, and Gushtasp to Frashaostra (p. 62),
+Jamasp, and Isfendyar, and these to all the faithful
+in the world." Firdusi has made use of the spread of
+the new law by Isfendyar, in order to bring to a conclusion
+the legend of Sejestan which he connects with
+the tradition of the Avesta, and to provide an adequate
+motive for the fall of the mighty Rustem of Ghasna,
+the descendant of the mighty Kere&ccedil;a&ccedil;pa. In his zeal
+for the faith, Isfendyar demands more than Rustem
+can grant; the champion of the faith is stronger in
+the conflict than Rustem; and the latter, in order
+to keep his honour, avails himself of wicked magical
+arts. We have seen what was the occupation of the
+two eagles of the sky, Amru and Chamru, at the tree
+in Lake Vourukasha, which bears the seeds of all life
+(p. 172). To these arts the champion of the faith
+succumbs, but by his success the victor has pronounced
+judgment on himself.</p>
+
+<p>In the form which Firdusi has given them, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>
+legends of Ancient Iran have to some extent continued
+to live among the people, and to some extent
+they have failed. The Shahnameh celebrates Jemshid's
+(Yima's) glittering palace and splendid throne; hence
+the ruins of the great palace of the Ach&aelig;menids at
+Persepolis have gained the name of the throne of
+Jemshid; ruins near Bamiyan in the Hindu-Kush, on
+the road from Balkh to Cabul, are still called Zohak's
+castle. The smoke rising out of the crater of Demavend
+is the breath of Zohak chained in the depths of
+the mountain. Each year, on the last day of August,
+the inhabitants of Elburz celebrate the festival of the
+overthrow of Zohak with bonfires on every height,
+and demonstrations of joy. The ruins of Takt-i-Bostan
+are called the garden of Kai Chosru, and in Iran
+Balkh is still the mother of cities.<a name="FNanchor_441_441" id="FNanchor_441_441"></a><a href="#Footnote_441_441" class="fnanchor">[441]</a> A lofty and steep
+rock in Lake Zirreh in Sejestan is said to have been
+crowned with the castle of Rustem, and the site of a
+second castle is pointed out at Aivan. Aqueducts
+and dams pass for works of Rustem. In the desert
+of Beluchistan, the ancient Gedrosia, the tracks of the
+camels of Rustem are still shown by large stones in
+the sand. In Mazanderan is the battle-field where
+Rustem defeated the Divs in order to liberate Kai
+Kaus (p. 253). The sculptures of the Ach&aelig;menids on
+the tombs at Persepolis are called pictures of Rustem
+(Naksh-i-Rustem), and in the bed of the Hilmend his
+grave is shown. When Timour's Mongols devastated
+Sejestan in the fourteenth century, the people called
+on Rustem to raise his head from the grave, and
+behold Iran in the hand of his enemy, the warrior of
+Turan. By a strange misconception the nobles in
+Mazanderan assume the name Div as a title of honour.
+A large family of nobles in Sejestan call themselves
+Ka&iuml;anids, and boast of their descent from Jemshid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>
+and the ancient kings, and to this family, down to
+the most recent times, the viceroyalty of Sejestan
+belonged as an hereditary office. When the holder
+of it died, the eldest of the family went to court
+in order to apply for the office, and was duly installed
+by investment with the robe of honour and armour.<a name="FNanchor_442_442" id="FNanchor_442_442"></a><a href="#Footnote_442_442" class="fnanchor">[442]</a></p>
+
+<p>While the ancient legends have lived on in Iran,
+the religion of Zoroaster has passed beyond Iran, and
+survives on the Malabar coast. Every day the Parsees
+utter their invocations before the sacred fire, and
+present bowls filled with the juice of the Haoma.
+Each month, as we have seen, belongs to one of the
+heavenly deities, who is then specially invoked; each
+of the thirty days of the month has its own protecting
+spirit, who is especially honoured on his own day.
+Six yearly festivals, each of five days, celebrate the
+creation of the heaven, water, the earth, the trees,
+animals, and men (p. 182); on each of which special
+prayers are said. At the close of the year the
+Parsees purify and adorn their houses, in order to
+receive worthily the souls of their ancestors: sacrificial
+bread, fruits, milk, wine, and meat are put ready for
+them. The Fravashis, now called Farvars, are invoked
+"to receive the sacrifice, to lift up their hands
+to it, and depart in peace from the dwelling."<a name="FNanchor_443_443" id="FNanchor_443_443"></a><a href="#Footnote_443_443" class="fnanchor">[443]</a> On
+these days the priests read the liturgies appointed as
+prayers for the souls of the damned, and for ten days
+the laity have to repeat many thousands of times the
+prayers "Ahuna-vairya" and "Ashem Vohu." Each
+morning, on waking, the Parsee prays: "The best
+purity is to the just, who is pure. He is pure who
+does pure works. I pray with purity of thought, of
+word, and act." When removing, and again when
+putting on, his girdle (p. 217), he says, with face
+turned to the East: "May Ormuzd be king; may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>
+Ahriman be defeated and destroyed; may the enemies
+be confounded, and remain far off; of all my sins I
+repent." Then he takes gomez for ablutions, washes
+his face and hands with it, rubs himself with earth,
+and with gomez in his hand says: "May Ahriman be
+destroyed; may the thirty-three Amshaspands and
+Ormuzd be victorious and pure." After a prayer to
+&Ccedil;rosh (&Ccedil;raosha)&mdash;"the pure and strong, may he increase
+to greater majesty, whose body is the word, and
+whose club is victorious"&mdash;follows ablution with water,
+dressing of the fire with wood and perfumes, and the
+proper morning prayer to Ushahin, the spirit of the
+morning: "Praise to thee, high Dawn." When it is
+light, a prayer is offered to Mithra, and two others
+at midday and sunset. In the morning a prayer to
+Ormuzd is recited, in which all his names and qualities
+are enumerated. Before eating, the Parsee must wash
+himself and pronounce the prayer "Ahuna-vairya,"
+and after eating, the prayer "King Ormuzd." When
+the Parsee goes to rest he must arrange his bed in
+such a way that he lies towards the fire, or the moon,
+or the East. Before sleeping, a prayer is offered to
+Ormuzd. On turning over in bed, sneezing, the
+discharge of natural or sexual functions, kindling a
+light, approaching water or fire, special prayers are
+uttered, and the sum of daily duties is increased on
+many occasions in family life&mdash;at the time of a birth,
+or death, or festivals, and when impurities have been
+incurred. However external and formal these numerous
+prayers and rituals may appear, the Parsee forms of
+confession are nevertheless evidence of the depth of
+their religious feeling, and their retention in the
+family and social life proves that the ancient religion
+still possesses a powerful influence.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_437_437" id="Footnote_437_437"></a><a href="#FNanchor_437_437"><span class="label">[437]</span></a> Fl&uuml;gel, "Mani," s. 407; Mohl, "Livre des Rois," Intro. Mordtmann,
+"Z. D. M. G." 19, 485 ff; N&ouml;ldeke, "Tabari," s. xv.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_438_438" id="Footnote_438_438"></a><a href="#FNanchor_438_438"><span class="label">[438]</span></a> Nohodares in Ammian, 1, 14, 3; 1, 25, 3.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_439_439" id="Footnote_439_439"></a><a href="#FNanchor_439_439"><span class="label">[439]</span></a> Spiegel, "Eran," 1, 557.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_440_440" id="Footnote_440_440"></a><a href="#FNanchor_440_440"><span class="label">[440]</span></a> "Zamyad Yasht," 56 ff. Above, p. 37.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_441_441" id="Footnote_441_441"></a><a href="#FNanchor_441_441"><span class="label">[441]</span></a> Ritter, "Erdkunde," 8, 153, 183, 491, 561.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_442_442" id="Footnote_442_442"></a><a href="#FNanchor_442_442"><span class="label">[442]</span></a> Chanikof, in Spiegel, "Eran," 1, 556.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_443_443" id="Footnote_443_443"></a><a href="#FNanchor_443_443"><span class="label">[443]</span></a> "Farvardin Yasht," 147.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<div class="bbt">
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="BOOK_VIII" id="BOOK_VIII"></a>BOOK VIII.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE EMPIRE OF THE MEDES AND
+PERSIANS.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="THE_EMPIRE_OF_THE_MEDES" id="THE_EMPIRE_OF_THE_MEDES"></a>THE EMPIRE OF THE MEDES<br />
+AND PERSIANS.</h1>
+
+
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE FOUNDATION OF THE MEDIAN KINGDOM.</h3>
+
+
+<p>On the northern edge of the table-land of Iran, where
+the mountains descend to the Caspian Sea, we found
+dwelling towards the east the Hyrcanians (<i>Vehrkana</i>
+in the Avesta, <i>Varkana</i> in the inscriptions of Darius).<a name="FNanchor_444_444" id="FNanchor_444_444"></a><a href="#Footnote_444_444" class="fnanchor">[444]</a>
+Their territory may have corresponded to the modern
+district of Jorjan, which has preserved their name
+(p. 9). To the west of the Hyrcanians, between
+Elburz and the Caspian, lay the Tapurians, whose
+name has survived in the modern Taberistan, and
+further yet, on the sea-coast, and at the mouth of the
+Mardus (now Safidrud), were the Mardians. Adjacent
+to these, on the shores of the Caspian Sea as far as
+the mouth of the Cyrus, lay the nation whom the
+Greeks called Cadusians, but whose native name was
+Gaels<a name="FNanchor_445_445" id="FNanchor_445_445"></a><a href="#Footnote_445_445" class="fnanchor">[445]</a>&mdash;a name still preserved in the name of the
+district of Ghilan.<a name="FNanchor_446_446" id="FNanchor_446_446"></a><a href="#Footnote_446_446" class="fnanchor">[446]</a> To the south of these tribes&mdash;the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>
+Tapurians, Mardians, and Cadusians&mdash;the north-west
+of the table-land was entirely occupied by the Medes.</p>
+
+<p>The country of the Medes, Herodotus tells us, is
+very high and mountainous in the north towards the
+Euxine, and covered with forests, but the remainder
+of it is flat.<a name="FNanchor_447_447" id="FNanchor_447_447"></a><a href="#Footnote_447_447" class="fnanchor">[447]</a> Polybius gives a more minute description
+of the nature of Media. "It is difficult to speak
+adequately of the natural strength and of the extent
+of the country of the Medes. It lies in the centre of
+Asia, and in the size and elevation of the land surpasses
+all other parts, while the situation enables it
+to govern the strongest and most populous nations.
+Towards the east it is protected by the desert which
+lies between Persia and Parthia, it has control of the
+Caspian gates, and abuts on the mountains of the
+Tapurians, which are not far distant from the Hyrcanian
+Sea. Towards the north it is bounded by the
+Matieni and Cadusians, on the west it extends to the
+Saspeires, who dwell close to the tribes which lie on
+the Euxine. Towards the south it extends to Mesopotamia
+and abuts on Persia; on this side it is
+protected by the range of the Zagrus, which reaches
+an elevation of one hundred stadia, and is broken into
+various ranges and groups, separated by deep valleys
+and open plains, in which dwell the Carchi, Cossaei,
+and other warlike tribes. Media itself is traversed
+by several ranges in the direction from east to west,
+but between them are plains filled with cities and
+villages. The Medes possess corn and cattle in
+untold abundance, and in horses their country is
+superior to the whole of Asia, so that it takes the first
+place, not only in virtue of its extent, but also owing
+to the number and excellence of the men and horses."<a name="FNanchor_448_448" id="FNanchor_448_448"></a><a href="#Footnote_448_448" class="fnanchor">[448]</a>
+Strabo allows Media an extent of 4000 stades (500<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>
+miles) in length and breadth. It reached from the
+Zagrus to the Caspian gates. The greater part of the
+land was high and cold, but the district below the
+Caspian gates on the lower ground was very fertile.
+Even in the rest of the land, with the exception of
+some mountain districts, there was no lack of the
+means of subsistence, and everywhere on the high
+ground there was excellent pasture for horses.<a name="FNanchor_449_449" id="FNanchor_449_449"></a><a href="#Footnote_449_449" class="fnanchor">[449]</a></p>
+
+<p>The nation of the Medes belongs to the group of
+the Arian tribes, which occupied the table-land of
+Iran. This has been already proved by the statement
+of Herodotus that in ancient time the Medians were
+called Areans by all men (p. 14), by the religion of
+the Medes, and by all the Median words and names
+that have come down to us.<a name="FNanchor_450_450" id="FNanchor_450_450"></a><a href="#Footnote_450_450" class="fnanchor">[450]</a> According to Herodotus
+the nation consisted of six tribes: the Arizanti, Busae,
+Struchates, Budii, Paraetaceni, and Magi. Whether
+certain parts of the land belonged to these tribes as
+their habitation, is not clear from this statement.
+The Magians we have already found to be a hereditary
+order of priests (p. 191), and therefore we can hardly
+assume a separate part of the country as their habitation.
+The question thus becomes limited to the
+remaining five tribes. The name of the Paraetaceni
+occurs in the mountain district, which the later Greeks
+call Paraetacene. This district separated Media from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span>
+Persia, and there is therefore nothing remarkable in
+the fact that the Paraetaceni are counted among the
+Persians or spoken of as an independent tribe.<a name="FNanchor_451_451" id="FNanchor_451_451"></a><a href="#Footnote_451_451" class="fnanchor">[451]</a> If
+the Paraetaceni had a special province, we shall be all
+the more justified in allotting the same to the Arizanti,
+the Budii, Struchates, and Busae, as the tribe of the
+Matieni, which Strabo reckons among the Medes,<a name="FNanchor_452_452" id="FNanchor_452_452"></a><a href="#Footnote_452_452" class="fnanchor">[452]</a>
+had a special habitation and territory in the district of
+Matiene, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> in the region which after the time of the
+Seleucids was known as Atropatene; and the tribes
+of the Persians, who were closely akin to the Medes,
+were also settled in special regions, or marched through
+them with their flocks. The name Arizanti (<i>Arizantu</i>)
+might signify the noble families, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> an eminent tribe,
+which tribe might nevertheless possess a separate
+habitation. Among the Persians there was a privileged
+tribe, to which the royal family belonged, which
+ruled over all the tribes, and this tribe like the rest
+had a special territory.</p>
+
+<p>The districts of Media, as we know them from
+the accounts of later writers, are beside Atropatene:
+Choromithrene, Nisaea, Rhagiana, Cambadene, and
+Bagistana.<a name="FNanchor_453_453" id="FNanchor_453_453"></a><a href="#Footnote_453_453" class="fnanchor">[453]</a> Atropatene is the elevated plain which
+spreads round the lake which Ptolemy calls the
+Matienian lake (now Urumiah). The inscriptions of the
+kings of Asshur call the inhabitants of this land Mati
+and Mala.<a name="FNanchor_454_454" id="FNanchor_454_454"></a><a href="#Footnote_454_454" class="fnanchor">[454]</a> Shut in by mighty summits which reach<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>
+a height of more than 12,000 feet, naked ridges, fields
+of snow, mountain pastures, green forests and meadows
+here make up the wildest, but at the same time most
+beautiful, Alpine landscape in the west of Iran. The
+snow lies on the backs of the heights for about nine
+months, but in the valleys there reigns for the most
+part uninterrupted spring; in the deeper clefts the
+summer is hot, and the naphtha springs must have
+caused this region to appear as one highly favoured
+by the gods in the eyes of such zealous worshippers
+of fire as the Arians of Iran. We have already seen
+(p. 74) that the name Atropatene, which in middle
+Persian is Aturpatkan, and modern Persian Aderbeijan,
+means "protected by fire."</p>
+
+<p>In the ranges of the Zagrus, which, running from
+the Alps of Atropatene to the south-east, separate
+the table-land of Iran from the valley of the Tigris&mdash;these
+summits rise above the hilly land of Assyria to
+a height of 15,000 feet&mdash;we must seek the territory
+which Ptolemy calls Choromithrene, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> by a name
+which beyond doubt goes back to the worship of
+Mithra. Further to the east, beyond the isolated
+mountain-group of Elvend, on the eastern foot of the
+mountains, lay the territory where Ecbatana was subsequently
+built. To the south-east were the "Nis&aelig;an
+plains" of Herodotus, on which, as he tells us, were
+kept the most beautiful and largest horses, superior
+to those of the Indians.<a name="FNanchor_455_455" id="FNanchor_455_455"></a><a href="#Footnote_455_455" class="fnanchor">[455]</a> Polybius has already
+stated, that in regard to horses Media surpassed
+the rest of Asia; the mares of the Parthian kings
+were kept in Media owing to the excellent pastures.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span>
+According to Strabo, there were 50,000 mares on the
+"horse pastures" in the time of the Ach&aelig;menids;
+these pastures any one going from Babylonia and
+Persia to the Caspian gates, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> to the Sirdarra-pass
+in Elburz, would cross. Diodorus places them seven
+days' march to the east of Behistun, and tells us that
+at one time there were 160,000 wild horses here,
+though Alexander found only 60,000. Arrian puts
+the previous number at 150,000, and the number
+found by Alexander at 50,000, as the greater part
+had been carried off by robbers.<a name="FNanchor_456_456" id="FNanchor_456_456"></a><a href="#Footnote_456_456" class="fnanchor">[456]</a> That Herodotus has
+given the name of this region correctly is shown by
+the inscriptions of Darius, which speak of a province
+of Ni&ccedil;aya in Media.<a name="FNanchor_457_457" id="FNanchor_457_457"></a><a href="#Footnote_457_457" class="fnanchor">[457]</a> To the north-east of the region
+of Ecbatana, on an elevated plateau, lay the district
+of Raghiana. It takes its name from the metropolis
+Ragha, a city on the southern foot of Elburz, mentioned
+both in the Avesta and the inscriptions.
+Under the Arsacids Ragha was the largest city of
+Media. Its later name was Rai; the ruins (near the
+modern Teheran) are said to cover the land for leagues.
+Besides Ragha there were at one time numerous
+flourishing cities in Raghiana.<a name="FNanchor_458_458" id="FNanchor_458_458"></a><a href="#Footnote_458_458" class="fnanchor">[458]</a> Campadene,<a name="FNanchor_459_459" id="FNanchor_459_459"></a><a href="#Footnote_459_459" class="fnanchor">[459]</a> the
+Campada of the inscriptions of Darius, we must look
+for in the south of Media, to the east of the Zagrus;
+it is no doubt the district now called Chamabatan.<a name="FNanchor_460_460" id="FNanchor_460_460"></a><a href="#Footnote_460_460" class="fnanchor">[460]</a>
+According to the statement of the Greeks, the district
+of Bagistana extended to a mountain which was sacred<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>
+to Zeus. As Diodorus says, it was a region fit for
+the gods, filled with fruit-trees and every other
+kind that ministers to delight and enjoyment.<a name="FNanchor_461_461" id="FNanchor_461_461"></a><a href="#Footnote_461_461" class="fnanchor">[461]</a> The
+name of the mountain consecrated to Zeus, Bagistana,
+and the similar name of the district, go back to the
+title under which the gods are comprised in the Avesta
+and the inscriptions of Darius (Old Bactr. <i>bagha</i>,
+Old Pers. <i>baga</i>, New Pers. <i>bag</i>); and if Diodorus tells
+us that the region was a land fit for the gods, the
+name Bagistana means the abode of the gods. The
+district may have been held peculiarly sacred by the
+Medes, or the name may have been intended to express
+their gratitude for its fertility and beauty. We can
+fix precisely the position of this district by the hill
+consecrated to Zeus near the modern Behistun. It
+lies south-west of Elvend, between that mountain and
+the Zagrus in the valley of the Choaspes, and is the
+district now known as Kirmenshah.</p>
+
+<p>According to the statements of Berosus, the historian
+of Babylon, the Medes in the most ancient
+period had already reigned over Babylonia for more
+than two centuries. They had suddenly collected an
+army, reduced Babylonia, and there set up tyrants of
+their own people. According to the succession of the
+dynasties which Berosus represents as ruling over
+Babylonia, the beginning of this supremacy of the
+Medes fell, as has been shown (I. 241, 247), in the
+year 2458 <small>B.C.</small> The first of the Medes who thus ruled
+in Babylon is called Zoroaster by Syncellus, after
+Polyhistor; according to this writer the seven Medes
+reign till the year 2224 <small>B.C.</small> Whether Berosus
+called the first Median king who reigned in Babylon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>
+Zoroaster, or Polyhistor has ascribed that position to
+him as the most famous name in Iran, or the only
+name known in antiquity, must be left undecided, no
+less than the actual fact of the Median supremacy.</p>
+
+<p>The Medo-Persian epos told us that Ninus of Asshur,
+after subjugating Babylonia and Armenia, attacked
+the Medes. Pharnus, their king, met him with a
+mighty army, but was nevertheless beaten. He was
+crucified with his wife and seven children by Ninus;
+one of his retinue was made viceroy of Media; and for
+many years the Medes were subject to the successors
+of Ninus on the throne of Assyria (II. 3 ff). Herodotus'
+account is as follows: "When the Assyrians had
+reigned over upper Asia for 520 years, the Medes
+were the first to revolt, and as they fought bravely for
+their freedom against the Assyrians, they succeeded in
+escaping slavery and liberating themselves. Afterwards
+the rest of the nations did what the Medes had done.
+And as all the nations of the mainland lived according
+to laws of their own, they again fell under a tyranny
+in the following manner:&mdash;Among the Medes was a
+man of ability, called Deioces, the son of Phraortes.
+He desired the tyranny, and did as follows: The
+Medes dwelt in villages, and Deioces, who was previously
+a man of importance, set himself more and
+more zealously to the task of doing justice, since
+lawlessness reigned throughout the whole of Media.
+When the Medes of his village discovered these qualities
+in him, they chose him for their judge. And as
+his heart was already set on the empire, he acted justly
+and rightly, and thus got no small credit among his
+fellow-citizens, so that the men from other villages,
+when they found that Deioces alone judged rightly,
+gladly resorted to him, since hitherto they had had to
+endure unjust sentences, and at last they would not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>
+go to any one else. As the number of the applicants
+became greater, and Deioces found that everything
+depended upon him, he refused to sit any longer in
+court and pronounce sentence, saying, that it was of no
+advantage to himself to neglect his own business and
+spend the day in settling the disputes of others. Then
+robbery and lawlessness became more rife than ever
+in the villages, and the Medes gathered together and
+consulted on the position of affairs. In my belief the
+friends of Deioces were the first to speak: 'As things
+are, it is impossible to live in the land; let us choose
+some one to be king, and thus the land will obtain
+good government. We can occupy ourselves with our
+own business, and shall not be compelled to wander
+from home.' With these words they persuaded the
+Medes to set up a monarchy. And when they at once
+began the discussion who should be king, Deioces
+was highly commended and put forward by every one,
+so that at last he was chosen by all to be king. Then
+Deioces commanded the Medes to build him a palace
+suitable for a king, and strengthen his power by a
+body-guard. This they did, and built a great and
+strong palace, on the place which Deioces pointed out
+to them, and allowed him to choose his lance-bearers
+out of all the nation. When he had obtained the
+sovereign power he at once compelled the Medes to
+build him a large city, in order that, being thus
+occupied, they might trouble him less about other
+things; and when the Medes obeyed him in this matter
+also, he erected the great and strong citadel now known
+as Ecbatana. The walls formed seven circles, in such
+a manner that the inner was always higher by the
+turrets than the next outer circle, an arrangement
+assisted by the locality, for the town was situated on
+a hill. In the seventh wall was the palace and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>
+treasure-house of Deioces. After erecting this fortification
+for himself, and his palace, the king commanded
+the people to settle round the citadel. When the
+building was completed Deioces first made the arrangement
+that no one should enter in to the king, but
+every thing was done by messengers, in order that
+those who had grown up with him, and were of
+similar age, equal in descent and bravery, might not
+envy him, and set conspiracies on foot, but that by
+being invisible he might appear a different being; it
+was also disgraceful to laugh or spit, or do anything of
+that kind in his presence. When he had made these
+arrangements, and thus strengthened his tyranny, he
+adhered strictly to justice. Plaints had to be sent in to
+him in writing, and he sent back the sentence. Thus
+he managed this and all other matters, and if he found
+that any one was guilty of insolence, and did violence
+to others, he punished him according to the measure
+of his offence, and his spies and emissaries were everywhere
+in the land.<a name="FNanchor_462_462" id="FNanchor_462_462"></a><a href="#Footnote_462_462" class="fnanchor">[462]</a> In this manner Deioces united
+the Medes, and governed them for 53 years. After
+his death, his son Phraortes succeeded to the throne.
+Not content with ruling over the Medes only, he
+marched against the Persians, and first made them
+subject to the Medes. When he had become master
+of these two powerful nations, he subjugated all Asia,
+attacking one nation after another. Finally, he marched
+against the Assyrians, who had previously ruled over
+all men, but, though otherwise in excellent condition,
+were then abandoned by their allies, who had revolted.
+In the war against these Phraortes fell, after a reign
+of 22 years, and with him the greatest part of his
+army."<a name="FNanchor_463_463" id="FNanchor_463_463"></a><a href="#Footnote_463_463" class="fnanchor">[463]</a></p>
+
+<p>The account of the history of the Medes given by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>
+Ctesias is wholly different. As their subjugation to
+Assyria is coeval with the founding of that kingdom,
+so is their liberation coeval with the fall of it. When
+the Medes, after their conquest by Ninus, had been
+subject to the rulers of Asshur, down to his thirty-sixth
+successor, Arbaces, the viceroy of Media, with
+Belesys, the viceroy of Babylonia, revolted from the
+Assyrian king. The kingdom of Assyria still remains
+unbroken; it is only after severe struggles, and in
+consequence of the desertion of the Bactrians and
+other nations during the conflict, that it is overthrown.
+After the capture of Nineveh, Arbaces, as supreme
+lord, takes the place of the king of Asshur.</p>
+
+<p>According to the dates of Herodotus Deioces ascended
+the throne of Media in the year 714 or 708 <small>B.C.</small><a name="FNanchor_464_464" id="FNanchor_464_464"></a><a href="#Footnote_464_464" class="fnanchor">[464]</a>
+The time which elapsed between the liberation of the
+Medes and Deioces' elevation is not given by him.
+According to Ctesias Arbaces established the dominion
+of the Medes at least 170 years before the date given
+by Herodotus for Deioces. In Herodotus Phraortes,
+Cyaxares, and Astyages follow Deioces in the dominion
+over the Medes, with a total of 97 years. In Ctesias
+the successors of Arbaces, who reigns 28 years, are
+Mandaces with a reign of 50 years, Sosarmus with 30,
+Artycas with 50, Arbianes with 22, Artaeus with 40,
+Artynes with 22, Astibaras with 40, and finally Aspadas
+with 38 years. On this calculation the dominion of
+the Median kings lasted 320 years, and consequently
+Arbaces must have overthrown the Assyrian and
+established the Median Empire in the year 878
+<small>B.C.</small>; or as Ctesias puts the fall of the last Median
+king in 564, and not in 550 <small>B.C.</small>&mdash;in the year 884 <small>B.C.</small><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>&mdash;<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i>
+precisely at the time when Assyria began to
+rise into the position of a widely dominant power
+(III. 269, 270). In the list of kings given by Ctesias
+Mandaces and Artycas each rule fifty years, Arbianes
+and Artynes 22 years, Artaeus and Astibaras 40 years.
+This uniformity points to an artificial extension of the
+series by duplicates.<a name="FNanchor_465_465" id="FNanchor_465_465"></a><a href="#Footnote_465_465" class="fnanchor">[465]</a> If it is reduced by striking
+out the three seconds in these pairs, and Arbaces is
+followed by Mandaces with 50 years, Sosarmus with
+30 years, Arbianes with 22 years, Artaeus with 40
+years, and Aspadas with 38 years, we obtain a period
+of 178 years for the kings of the Medes, and so
+arrive at a point nearer that given by Herodotus for
+the commencement of the Median kingdom, the year
+736 <small>B.C.</small> (558 + 178), as the first year of Arbaces. Yet
+even so we do not find any coincidence whatever
+between the two narratives.</p>
+
+<p>In the narrative of Herodotus we find with surprise
+that the Medes attained their liberation without any
+combination in the people; without the leadership of
+a single head. Yet soon after the time at which he
+describes the Medes as revolting from the Assyrians,
+Herodotus tells us that Sennacherib marched against
+Egypt, and asserts that for 75 years after the accession
+of Deioces, "the Assyrians were indeed without
+allies, since they had revolted, but were otherwise in a
+good condition," so that Phraortes and the greatest
+part of his army fell in battle against them. If after
+acquiring their freedom the Medes lived isolated in
+villages, as Herodotus states, would not the Assyrians
+have made use of this anarchy close upon their borders
+in order to reduce the Medes again to subjection,
+rather than engage in campaigns against Syria and
+Egypt? According to the account of Herodotus,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>
+it was the justice of Deioces which won for him
+ever-increasing importance, and finally helped him
+to the throne. But had Deioces, who sits on the
+throne for 53 years afterwards, sufficient time before
+his elevation to make himself known for his love of
+justice throughout all Media, unless we are willing to
+assign him a very unusual age?<a name="FNanchor_466_466" id="FNanchor_466_466"></a><a href="#Footnote_466_466" class="fnanchor">[466]</a> And if such dire
+anarchy did indeed prevail among the Medes, what
+man in such times submits to even the most righteous
+sentence? Least of all are the mighty and powerful
+willing to do so. How did Deioces obtain the means of
+compelling the insubordinate to obey his sentence?&mdash;how
+could he give protection to the accused, oppressed,
+and weak against their opponents? And supposing
+that he was able to do this, would he have been
+unanimously elected king? Herodotus himself remarks
+that Deioces knew that "the unjust are the
+enemies of the just."<a name="FNanchor_467_467" id="FNanchor_467_467"></a><a href="#Footnote_467_467" class="fnanchor">[467]</a> Moreover, if the Medes at that
+time lived in the simplest manner, how could a
+sovereign elected from their midst change these conditions
+at a single stroke, or at any rate in the course of
+a single reign, though a long one, so entirely as Herodotus
+supposes? Village life is changed into city life,
+the Medes are settled in one city round the royal
+fortress, and in the place of a patriarchal government
+over a simple people, Deioces, "as the first," establishes
+the whole apparatus of Oriental tyranny. Immense
+palaces, citadels, and walls are built; the wide outer
+walls are adorned with gold and silver; the secluded
+life of the sovereign in the palace becomes the established
+law; the legal process is carried on by writing;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>
+and a system of espionage is introduced over the whole
+country. It is obvious that in this narrative elements,
+belonging to the tradition of the Medes, have been
+taken by Herodotus and mingled with the views of the
+Greeks, who were familiar with the combination of
+villages into one canton, and the union of hamlets
+into a city, and had experience of the establishment of
+a monarchy by setting up a tyranny in consequence of
+the services rendered by the aspirant to the multitude.
+Herodotus expressly calls the dominion of Deioces
+a tyranny. It is a fact beyond dispute that Herodotus
+was influenced by such conceptions in shaping
+and forming the material which came to him from
+tradition.</p>
+
+<p>Apart from the motives which influenced him in
+describing the elevation of Deioces, Herodotus wishes
+to show how the nations of Asia obtained their freedom,
+and subsequently lost it. He begins with the statement,
+that the Medes revolted from Assyria, and all
+the nations of Asia followed their example. According
+to his dates, which have been already mentioned, the
+Medes must have revolted precisely at the time when
+Tiglath Pilesar II. and Sargon reigned over Assyria,
+<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> in the period between 745 and 705 <small>B.C.</small> The
+liberation of the remaining nations must therefore have
+taken place under Sargon or his successors, Sennacherib
+and Esarhaddon, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> between the year 705
+and 668 <small>B.C.</small> That this general liberation from the
+sovereignty of the Assyrians did not take place at
+this period is abundantly clear from the inscriptions
+of the kings and the Hebrew Scriptures. We have seen
+above to what an extent Tiglath Pilesar caused the
+whole of Syria to feel the weight of the Assyrian
+arms; he reduced Babylonia to dependence as far as
+the Persian Gulf; Sargon was sovereign of Babylonia,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>
+maintained Syria, and received the homage of the
+island of Cyprus, and the islands of the Persian Gulf.
+His successor, Sennacherib, though unable to protect
+Syria against Egypt, yet retained Babylonia and the
+eastern half of Asia Minor under his dominion. Esarhaddon
+united the crowns of Asshur and Babel,
+restored the supremacy of Assyria over Syria, subjugated
+a part of Arabia and the whole of Egypt.<a name="FNanchor_468_468" id="FNanchor_468_468"></a><a href="#Footnote_468_468" class="fnanchor">[468]</a>
+Hence it is clear, that precisely at the time when,
+according to Herodotus, the rest of the nations following
+the example of the Medes threw off the Assyrian
+yoke, that kingdom reached a wider extent than at any
+previous time. If, nevertheless, we wish to maintain
+the statement that the rest of the nations followed the
+example which the Medes are supposed to have set
+about the year 736 <small>B.C.</small>,<a name="FNanchor_469_469" id="FNanchor_469_469"></a><a href="#Footnote_469_469" class="fnanchor">[469]</a> we must place these events
+in the last decade of the reign of Assurbanipal, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> in
+the period between 636 and 626 <small>B.C.</small> We must therefore
+bring them down a full century, and this was a
+very late result of the action of the Medes.</p>
+
+<p>Let us attempt, by a comparison of the statements
+of the Assyrian inscriptions on the events which
+took place on the table-land of Iran and the narrative
+of Herodotus, to ascertain the real facts of the
+liberation of the Medes. We saw above (p. 19) that
+Shalmanesar II. of Asshur (859-823 <small>B.C.</small>) carried his
+campaigns as far as the East of Iran. In the year
+835 <small>B.C.</small> he imposed tribute on twenty-seven princes
+of the land of Parsua, and "turned against the plains
+of the land of Amadai;" in 830 <small>B.C.</small> his general-in-chief,
+Dayan Asshur, went down into the land of
+Parsua, and laid tribute on the land of Parsua, "which
+did not worship Asshur," obtained possession of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span>
+cities, and sent their people and treasures into the
+land of Assyria.<a name="FNanchor_470_470" id="FNanchor_470_470"></a><a href="#Footnote_470_470" class="fnanchor">[470]</a> Tiglath Pilesar II. (745-727 <small>B.C.</small>),
+in the campaign which carried him to Arachosia, subjugated
+"the land of Nisaa" and "the cities of the
+land of Media (Madai)." In the following year he
+occupied "the land of Parsua;" "Zikruti in rugged
+Media, I added to the land of Assyria; I received the
+tribute of Media;" and on his ninth campaign he
+again marched into "the land of Media." In an
+inscription which sums up all his achievements, he
+declares that he has imposed tribute "on the land of
+Parsua," the city of Zikruti, "which depends on the
+land of the Medes," and on the chieftains of "the land
+of Media."<a name="FNanchor_471_471" id="FNanchor_471_471"></a><a href="#Footnote_471_471" class="fnanchor">[471]</a> The books of the Hebrews tell us that
+after the fall of Samaria in 721 <small>B.C.</small> "the king of
+Assyria carried Israel away, and gave them habitations
+in Chalah, and in the cities of the Medes." It
+was Sargon (722-705 <small>B.C.</small>) to whom Samaria yielded.<a name="FNanchor_472_472" id="FNanchor_472_472"></a><a href="#Footnote_472_472" class="fnanchor">[472]</a>
+His inscriptions also tell us that he carried away the
+inhabitants of Samaria, and they make mention of the
+cities of the Medes. According to them, he received
+heavy tribute from twenty-five chiefs of the Medes in
+the year 716 <small>B.C.</small>, and set up his royal image in the
+midst of their cities. In the next year he carried
+away captive "Dayauku with his people and his
+family, and caused him to dwell in the land of Amat,"
+built fortresses in order to control Media, received
+tribute from twenty-two chiefs of the Medes, conquered
+thirty-four cities in Media, and united them with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>
+Assyria. In the year 713 <small>B.C.</small> he marched against
+Bit Dayauku, reduced the chief districts of Media,
+which had cast off the yoke of Assyria, and received
+tribute from forty-five Median chiefs; 4609 horses,
+asses, and sheep in great abundance. Sargon repeatedly
+boasts that "he has reduced the distant land of Media,
+all the places of distant Media, as far as the borders
+of the land of Bikni; that he brought them under the
+dominion of Asshur; and that his power extended as
+far as the city of Simaspati, which belonged to distant
+Media in the East."<a name="FNanchor_473_473" id="FNanchor_473_473"></a><a href="#Footnote_473_473" class="fnanchor">[473]</a> The inscriptions of his successor
+Sennacherib (705-681 <small>B.C.</small>) tell us that on his return
+from his second campaign (against the land of Ellip),
+he received the heavy tribute of the distant land of
+Media, and subjugated the land to his dominion.<a name="FNanchor_474_474" id="FNanchor_474_474"></a><a href="#Footnote_474_474" class="fnanchor">[474]</a>
+Esarhaddon (681-668 <small>B.C.</small>), the successor of Sennacherib,
+according to the Hebrew Scriptures, deported
+people from Persia to Samaria. He tells us himself:
+"The land of Patusarra, a district in the region of
+&mdash;&mdash;, in the midst of distant Media, on the border of
+the land of Bikni, the copper mountains. None of
+the kings my forefathers had subjugated this land.
+Sitirparna and Iparna, the chiefs of the fortified
+places, had not bowed before me. I carried them
+away with their subjects, horses, chariots, oxen, sheep,
+asses, as rich booty to Assyria." "The chiefs of the
+cities of Partakka, Partukka, and Uraka-zabarna, in
+the land of Media, who lay far off, and in the days
+of the kings my forefathers had not trodden the soil
+of Assyria&mdash;them the fear of Asshur, my lord, threw
+to the ground; they brought for me, to my city
+Nineveh, their great animals, copper, the product of
+their mines, bowed themselves with folded hands
+before me, and besought my favour. I put my viceroys<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>
+over them, who united the inhabitants of these
+regions with my kingdom; I imposed services upon
+them, and a fixed tribute."<a name="FNanchor_475_475" id="FNanchor_475_475"></a><a href="#Footnote_475_475" class="fnanchor">[475]</a> The period at which
+this tribute was imposed on the most distant part of
+Media can only be so far fixed that it must lie
+between 681 and 673 <small>B.C.</small> Assurbanipal, who succeeded
+Esarhaddon (668-626 <small>B.C.</small>), tells us: "I
+captured Birizchadri, the warden of the city of
+Madai (?); Sariti and Pariza, the sons of Gagi, the
+warden of the cities of the land of Sakhi, and 75
+citadels had cast off the yoke of my dominion; I took
+the cities; the chiefs fell alive into my hands; I
+sent them to Nineveh my metropolis." These events
+belong to the period between the years 660 and
+650 <small>B.C.</small><a name="FNanchor_476_476" id="FNanchor_476_476"></a><a href="#Footnote_476_476" class="fnanchor">[476]</a></p>
+
+<p>To weaken the contradiction between this series of
+statements and the narrative of Herodotus, we may
+call to mind the gross exaggerations in which the kings
+of Assyria indulge in describing their acts and successes,
+and the grandiloquence which we have already
+noticed more than once in the statements of Assyrian
+history (III. 139, 200). But however great or however
+small may have been the success of the campaigns
+of Tiglath Pilesar II., Sargon, Sennacherib,
+Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal against the chiefs of
+the Medes, it cannot be denied that these campaigns
+took place. And if from the very frequency of such
+campaigns, after the reign of Tiglath Pilesar, we are
+inclined to draw the conclusion that they are a proof
+of the lax and nominal character of the dominion of
+Assyria over Media, this conclusion proves too much.
+The same repetition of warlike enterprises on the part
+of the kings of Asshur takes place, as we saw, in every
+direction. We shall have as much right to conclude<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span>
+that there was no such thing as an Assyrian empire,
+either before the year 736 or after it, over the Medes
+or any other nation. As I have shown (III. 185), the
+Assyrian kingdom never acquired a firm dominion
+over the subjugated nations, still less an organisation
+of the empire, like the subsequent kingdom of the
+Ach&aelig;menids. Their sovereignty consisted almost exclusively
+in the collection of tribute by force of arms,
+in the subjugation or removal of the princes who
+refused it, and setting up of others, who in turn soon
+withheld it. At the most, Assyrian fortresses were
+planted here and there; and no doubt Assyrian viceroys
+were placed over smaller regions. The same
+procedure is seen in the inscriptions as in use
+towards the Medes; and if this is not regarded as the
+sovereignty of Assyria, no such sovereignty existed
+before Tiglath Pilesar. If, to meet this objection, the
+existence of an Assyrian dominion is allowed, in the
+very lax form which is everywhere characteristic of
+it, we may, from the same frequency of the campaigns
+against Media, draw the opposite conclusion, that the
+Medes had struggled very vigorously for freedom,
+that in the first place the most remote tribes acquired
+it, and for them the liberation gradually spread, and
+the tradition of the Medes has accepted the beginning
+of the movement as the completion of it.</p>
+
+<p>Setting aside any conclusions of this kind, even
+tradition can only have regarded the beginning of the
+struggle for freedom as the beginning of liberation, if
+it covered the nucleus of a firm resistance, either in
+some definite district, or in a dynasty which took
+the lead in the struggle and carried it on. Herodotus
+is not acquainted with any leader in the struggle and
+does not mention any, while the campaigns of the
+Assyrians are always directed against a greater or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>
+less number of princes and cities; sometimes they
+fall on this chieftain and sometimes on that.<a name="FNanchor_477_477" id="FNanchor_477_477"></a><a href="#Footnote_477_477" class="fnanchor">[477]</a> If,
+moreover, the fact that Sargon receives tribute from
+twenty-five, then from twenty-two, and then from
+forty-five chieftains, is brought forward to confirm
+the narratives of Herodotus about the anarchy which
+prevailed among the Medes, it is not the separation
+of the Medes under different chiefs which constitutes
+the anarchy as described by Herodotus, but
+actual lawlessness. His description gives us no chieftains
+in Media, ruling their lands as captains in war
+and judges in peace. The Medes dwell in villages,
+and the inhabitants choose the village judge, though it
+is in their power to go for decision to another village.
+Chieftains, even if they had not forbidden their tribes
+to seek for justice out of the tribe, would in any case
+have left the decision of Deioces unnoticed.</p>
+
+<p>However this may be, one harsh contradiction between
+the narrative of Herodotus and the inscriptions
+cannot be removed by any exposition or any deductions.
+According to Herodotus Deioces reigned
+from the year 708 to 655 <small>B.C.</small>, Phraortes from 655
+to 633 <small>B.C.</small>, over the whole of Media. The inscriptions
+of Sennacherib mention the great payment of tribute
+by the distant land of Media, and its subjugation
+under Sennacherib (p. 282); Esarhaddon removes two
+chieftains with their flocks and subjects out of Media
+from the border of the land of Bikni to Asshur, and
+three chiefs from the same district bring their tribute
+to Nineveh; he places his viceroys over them, and
+they unite this district with Assyria. After the year<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span>
+660 <small>B.C.</small> Assurbanipal is said to have taken a chieftain
+of Media captive; and in the inscriptions there
+is nowhere any mention of Deioces, Phraortes, and the
+Median kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>The inscriptions extend the land of the Medes to
+the East as far as the copper mountains, or borders of
+the land of Bikni.<a name="FNanchor_478_478" id="FNanchor_478_478"></a><a href="#Footnote_478_478" class="fnanchor">[478]</a> The people lived separately under
+a considerable number of chieftains. The five tribes
+of the Median nation, enumerated by Herodotus, if
+they also possessed separate territory, were not isolated
+groups, but on the contrary broken up into yet smaller
+divisions. The booty taken by the Assyrians from
+the Medes, the tribute imposed upon them, consists
+chiefly in oxen, asses, sheep, and horses. The number
+of horses given by the chieftains to Sargon allows on
+an average a hundred for each, and we also hear of
+other property, treasures, and the product of copper
+mines. We have repeated mention of the cities of
+Media and their governors; Sargon conquers thirty-four
+cities. Though we ought to regard these mainly
+as citadels, yet civic life cannot have been so unknown
+to the Medes as the narrative of Herodotus would
+compel us to suppose. Other elements of civilisation
+also are known to the Medes at this time, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> in the
+second half of the eighth and first half of the seventh
+century <small>B.C.</small> It has been proved above that at the
+beginning of this period the doctrine of Zoroaster must
+have reached them, and the names could be given of
+the men in Media who published it; and the priests
+of the new religion became formed during this century
+into an order which perpetuated in their families the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>
+knowledge of the good sayings and the customs of
+sacrifice. To this order we may also attribute what
+the Medes acquired of the superior civilisation and
+skill of Assyria, especially the knowledge of the
+Assyrian cuneiform writing, which underwent a change
+in the hands of the Magians, and assumed the form
+known to us from the Ach&aelig;menid inscriptions of the
+first class. When Herodotus ascribes the introduction
+of written process at law to Deioces, the tradition presupposes
+an established and extensive use of writing.</p>
+
+<p>The dominion of the princes under which the Medes
+stood is followed by the dominion of the monarchy,
+which must have arisen out of it. One of the families
+of these princes must have succeeded in obtaining
+influence and power over the others. The position of
+Deioces and Phraortes must have arisen and developed
+itself in this manner. Whether the Dayauku, whom
+Sargon carried off in the year 715 <small>B.C.</small> with his followers
+to Amat, is one and the same person with the
+prince of Bit Dayauku, against whom the Assyrian
+king marched in the year 713 <small>B.C.</small> (p. 282), would
+be difficult to decide; and even if the matter could be
+determined with certainty, it would not be of great
+importance. We often find the kings of Asshur replacing
+conquered and captive princes in their dominions.
+On the other hand, it is of importance that there was
+a region of Media, which could be called Bit Dayauku,
+<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the land of Dayauku, by the Assyrians in the
+year 713 <small>B.C.</small> There must have existed at this time
+a principality of Deioces among other principalities,
+and the beginning of this must be put earlier than
+the date allowed by Herodotus for the election, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i>
+at the latest at 720 <small>B.C.</small> In course of time the land
+of Deioces may have increased in extent, and the
+importance of the ruler may have grown&mdash;though<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span>
+he may not, after the conflict of 713 <small>B.C.</small>, have taken
+any leading part in the resistance to the payment of
+tribute, the conflicts and successes of other chieftains
+against the Assyrians; at any rate, there is no subsequent
+mention of the land in the inscriptions. Neither
+Deioces nor his land is mentioned when Sennacherib
+speaks of the tribute of the whole of Media, and the
+subjugation of the country under his dominion; nor
+even when Esarhaddon speaks of the conquest of the
+most distant princes. Hence we can only grant to
+the narrative of Herodotus that, in the times of Sennacherib
+and Esarhaddon, Deioces, the son of Phraortes,
+had a considerable territory among the chiefs of
+the Medes, and greater importance than others, and
+we have no reason to look for his dominion elsewhere
+than at Ecbatana. His son Phraortes (Fravartis), who
+according to Herodotus came to the throne in the year
+655 <small>B.C.</small>, must have succeeded in uniting the chiefs of
+the Medes under his sway, and combining with the
+tribes of the Persians, among whom at that time the
+race of the Ach&aelig;menids had acquired a prominent
+position,<a name="FNanchor_479_479" id="FNanchor_479_479"></a><a href="#Footnote_479_479" class="fnanchor">[479]</a> in order to maintain their independence
+against Assyria.</p>
+
+<p>From this point downwards we can date the union
+and independence of Media. Had the country been
+free and united at the time of Sargon, Sennacherib,
+and Esarhaddon, the rulers of Assyria would not have
+marched against Syria and Cilicia, or undertaken
+the conquest of Egypt. Assurbanipal could not have
+employed the forces of the kingdom to maintain
+Egypt, or reduce Babylon, or annihilate Edom, or
+make campaigns to the distant parts of Arabia, if the
+united power of Media had existed behind the Zagrus,
+close on the borders of his native land, the very centre<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span>
+of the Assyrian power. Still less could he have looked
+on in inaction, while Phraortes, as Herodotus tells
+us, conquered the Persians, and attacked one nation
+after another till he had subjugated Asia. On the
+other hand, the annihilation of Elam by Assurbanipal,
+and consequent strengthening of the Assyrian power
+on the borders of Persia, may well have determined
+the Persians to unite with the Medes, and accept a
+position under Phraortes.</p>
+
+<p>In considering the situation and importance of the
+powers, we may assume that Phraortes, in the first
+instance, thought rather of defence than of any attack
+on Assyria, and for this object undertook the fortification
+of Ecbatana on a large scale. What could have
+induced him to abandon the protecting line of the
+Zagrus, in order to attack under the massive walls of
+its metropolis the power which had just dealt such
+heavy and destructive blows on ancient states like
+Babylonia and Elam, unless we attribute to him the
+most reckless audacity? Nor, on the other hand, can
+we suppose that an ancient ruler like Assurbanipal,
+who had held his own successfully against the searching
+attack of his brother, and finally gained important
+conquests, would have allowed the formation of
+the Median power in the closest proximity, and its
+combination with the Persians, without the least
+attempt to prevent it. It was in repulsing this attack
+that Phraortes fell.<a name="FNanchor_480_480" id="FNanchor_480_480"></a><a href="#Footnote_480_480" class="fnanchor">[480]</a></p>
+
+<p>If this inquiry leads us to attribute to Phraortes the
+foundation of a consolidated government, the establish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>ment
+of monarchy in Media, the union of the Persians
+and Medes, and the subordination of the former to
+Phraortes, we can yet understand that the traditions of
+the Medes, anxious to increase the glory of the country,
+threw the monarchy further back, ascribed to Deioces,
+the father of Phraortes, the consolidation of Media,
+and represented the liberation from the sway of
+Assyria as prior to the foundation of the monarchy.
+What Median poems can do for the glorification of
+their country, even in the teeth of the established
+facts of history, will soon become even more clear.
+How this tradition explained the elevation of Deioces
+we cannot now discover; it is clear that Herodotus
+gives a Greek turn to this part of the story (p. 280).
+And if tradition ascribes to Deioces the extensive and
+strong fortifications of Ecbatana, which more correctly
+belong to Phraortes and his successors, it is Herodotus
+who credits him with the discovery of the mode of life
+usual among Oriental monarchs. The Medo-Persian
+Epos shows us the successors of Semiramis in the
+seclusion of the palace. On the other hand, the
+Median tradition must have ascribed the reduction of
+Asia to Phraortes. We have already remarked (III.
+280), that towards the close of the sixth century <small>B.C.</small>
+Cyaxares and not Phraortes was regarded by the nation
+as the founder of the power and greatness of Media.
+Herodotus himself tells us "that Cyaxares was far
+more powerful than his predecessors." Hence the
+later legend, which Herodotus reproduces, ascribed the
+foundation to Phraortes, and the extension of the
+Median power to Cyaxares. But if Phraortes was to
+be the conqueror of Asia, he must "when he had
+attacked and conquered the other nations one after
+the other," have finally marched against the Assyrians,
+against whom he did in fact contend.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_444_444" id="Footnote_444_444"></a><a href="#FNanchor_444_444"><span class="label">[444]</span></a> "Vend." 1, 42; Behist. 2, 92.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_445_445" id="Footnote_445_445"></a><a href="#FNanchor_445_445"><span class="label">[445]</span></a> Plin. "H. N." 6, 18, (48).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_446_446" id="Footnote_446_446"></a><a href="#FNanchor_446_446"><span class="label">[446]</span></a> Alexander came from Hyrcania and Parthia to the land of the
+Tapurians. According to Arrian's statements, the Hyrcanians, Parthians
+and Tapurians were all under one leader in the army of Darius
+III. "Anab." 3, 8, 4; 3, 11, 4; Strabo, p. 507, 508, 514, 524; Justin,
+12, 3; 41, 5.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_447_447" id="Footnote_447_447"></a><a href="#FNanchor_447_447"><span class="label">[447]</span></a> Herod. 1, 110.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_448_448" id="Footnote_448_448"></a><a href="#FNanchor_448_448"><span class="label">[448]</span></a> Polyb. 5, 44; 10, 27. Cf. Curt. 3, 2 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_449_449" id="Footnote_449_449"></a><a href="#FNanchor_449_449"><span class="label">[449]</span></a> Strabo, p. 523-525.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_450_450" id="Footnote_450_450"></a><a href="#FNanchor_450_450"><span class="label">[450]</span></a> In the most recent times it has been maintained that the Medes
+were of Turkish-Tatar (Altaic) family, but this view rests simply on
+the assumption that the inscriptions of the second class in the inscriptions
+of the Ach&aelig;menids must have been written in the language of
+the Medes. This hypothesis contradicts everything that has come
+down to us of Median names and works, and the close relationship
+between the Medes and Persians. Whether the Arians, on immigrating
+into Media, found there Turkish-Tatar tribes, overpowered, expelled
+or subjugated them, is another question. If this were the
+case, the fragments of the population could hardly have exercised any
+influence worth mentioning on the Arian Medes.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_451_451" id="Footnote_451_451"></a><a href="#FNanchor_451_451"><span class="label">[451]</span></a> Paraetacene is derived no doubt from <i>parvata</i>, mountain, or <i>parvataka</i>,
+mountainous. Strabo remarks that when the Persians had
+conquered the Medes, they took some land from them. The distance
+between Persepolis and Ecbatana was twenty marches; Alexander
+reached the borders of Media on the twelfth day after leaving Persepolis.
+Arrian, "Anab." 3, 19.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_452_452" id="Footnote_452_452"></a><a href="#FNanchor_452_452"><span class="label">[452]</span></a> Strabo, p. 73; 509.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_453_453" id="Footnote_453_453"></a><a href="#FNanchor_453_453"><span class="label">[453]</span></a> Under the Sassanids Media (Mah) consisted of four regions:
+Aderbeijan, Rai (Rhagiana), Hamadan (Ecbatana), Isfahan.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_454_454" id="Footnote_454_454"></a><a href="#FNanchor_454_454"><span class="label">[454]</span></a> Herodotus allows the Matieni a considerable extent, for he
+includes under the name the Armenians and the inhabitants of Atropatene.
+Later authors confine the Matieni to the region round the
+lake of Urumiah; in this sense, Polybius, quoted above in the text,
+limits Media in the North by the Cadusians and Matieni.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_455_455" id="Footnote_455_455"></a><a href="#FNanchor_455_455"><span class="label">[455]</span></a> Herod. 3, 106; 7, 40.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_456_456" id="Footnote_456_456"></a><a href="#FNanchor_456_456"><span class="label">[456]</span></a> Strabo, p. 525; Diod. 17, 110; Arrian, "Anab." 7, 13.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_457_457" id="Footnote_457_457"></a><a href="#FNanchor_457_457"><span class="label">[457]</span></a> Behist. 1, 13. Strabo's
+&#925;&#951;&#963;&#945;&#943;&#945; (p. 509, 511), the Nisiaea of Pliny
+(6, 29), the Parthaunisa of Isidore of Charax, must be sought in the
+neighbourhood of Nishapur, which was built by Shapur II. The
+Avesta puts Ni&ccedil;a between Merv and Balkh.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_458_458" id="Footnote_458_458"></a><a href="#FNanchor_458_458"><span class="label">[458]</span></a> Diod. 19, 44. Alexander in eleven forced marches advanced from
+Ecbatana to Ragha.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_459_459" id="Footnote_459_459"></a><a href="#FNanchor_459_459"><span class="label">[459]</span></a> Isid. Ch. "M. P." c. 5.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_460_460" id="Footnote_460_460"></a><a href="#FNanchor_460_460"><span class="label">[460]</span></a> Mordtmann, "B. d. Bair. Akademie," 1876, s. 364.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_461_461" id="Footnote_461_461"></a><a href="#FNanchor_461_461"><span class="label">[461]</span></a> Diod. 2, 13; 17, 110. The city of Baptana, which Isidore (c. 5)
+mentions "as situated on a mountain in Cambadene," is in any case
+Bagistana (Behistun).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_462_462" id="Footnote_462_462"></a><a href="#FNanchor_462_462"><span class="label">[462]</span></a> Herodotus, 1, 95-101.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_463_463" id="Footnote_463_463"></a><a href="#FNanchor_463_463"><span class="label">[463]</span></a> Herod. 1, 102.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_464_464" id="Footnote_464_464"></a><a href="#FNanchor_464_464"><span class="label">[464]</span></a> Vol. III. 257 ff. According to the reigns which Herodotus allows
+to Deioces and his successors, 150 years before the overthrow of
+Astyages, which took place 558 <small>B.C.</small>, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> 708, but, according to the
+total given by Herodotus&mdash;156 years, 714 <small>B.C.</small></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_465_465" id="Footnote_465_465"></a><a href="#FNanchor_465_465"><span class="label">[465]</span></a> Volney, "Recherches," 1, 144 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_466_466" id="Footnote_466_466"></a><a href="#FNanchor_466_466"><span class="label">[466]</span></a> In order to remove this objection, the dates of Deioces and
+Phraortes must be transposed, and the 22 years of Phraortes given to
+the former, the 53 years of Deioces to the latter. Phraortes would
+then have marched out against the Assyrians in extreme old age, and
+fallen in the battle.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_467_467" id="Footnote_467_467"></a><a href="#FNanchor_467_467"><span class="label">[467]</span></a> Herod. 1, 96.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_468_468" id="Footnote_468_468"></a><a href="#FNanchor_468_468"><span class="label">[468]</span></a> Vol. III. Bk. 4; Chaps. 1, 4, 5-8.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_469_469" id="Footnote_469_469"></a><a href="#FNanchor_469_469"><span class="label">[469]</span></a> According to Von Gutschmid. Cf. <i>supr.</i> p. 278.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_470_470" id="Footnote_470_470"></a><a href="#FNanchor_470_470"><span class="label">[470]</span></a> Vol. II. p. 319. I cannot accept the theory which Lenormant has
+attempted to establish on the geographical differences in the inscriptions
+of Shalmanesar II. and Tiglath Pilesar II.&mdash;that the Medes and
+Persians obtained possession of Western Iran shortly before the middle
+of the eighth century. "Lettres Assyriolog." and "Z. Aegypt. Spr."
+1870, s. 48 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_471_471" id="Footnote_471_471"></a><a href="#FNanchor_471_471"><span class="label">[471]</span></a> Vol. III. 3-5.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_472_472" id="Footnote_472_472"></a><a href="#FNanchor_472_472"><span class="label">[472]</span></a> Vol. III. 85.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_473_473" id="Footnote_473_473"></a><a href="#FNanchor_473_473"><span class="label">[473]</span></a> Vol. III. 101.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_474_474" id="Footnote_474_474"></a><a href="#FNanchor_474_474"><span class="label">[474]</span></a> Vol. III. 113.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_475_475" id="Footnote_475_475"></a><a href="#FNanchor_475_475"><span class="label">[475]</span></a> Vol. III. 150.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_476_476" id="Footnote_476_476"></a><a href="#FNanchor_476_476"><span class="label">[476]</span></a> Vol. III. 167.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_477_477" id="Footnote_477_477"></a><a href="#FNanchor_477_477"><span class="label">[477]</span></a> That is the reason why I cannot regard the parallels which Von
+Gutshchmid suggests ("Neue Beitr&auml;ge," s. 90 ff.) of the struggle
+between the Arsacids and Seleucids, and the relations between the
+Great Mogul and the Mahrattas, as pertinent.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_478_478" id="Footnote_478_478"></a><a href="#FNanchor_478_478"><span class="label">[478]</span></a> The Patusarra of Esarhaddon might be the Patisuvari of Darius;
+the Pateischoreans, whom Strabo quotes among the tribes of the
+Persians; Von Gutschmid, <i>loc. cit.</i> s. 93, but in the Babylonian
+version of the inscription of Behistun the Pateischoreans are called
+<i>Pidishuris</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_479_479" id="Footnote_479_479"></a><a href="#FNanchor_479_479"><span class="label">[479]</span></a> Von Gutschmid, <i>loc. cit.</i> s. 88; below, c. 3.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_480_480" id="Footnote_480_480"></a><a href="#FNanchor_480_480"><span class="label">[480]</span></a> Vol. III. 280. The Assyrian inscriptions are silent from 644 <small>B.C.</small>
+downwards. Von Gutschmid, "Neue Beitr." s. 89. From this silence
+I have concluded, and still conclude, that the liberation of the Medes
+took place towards 640 <small>B.C.</small>, and moreover that the victory of the
+Assyrians over Phraortes, and his death in battle did not bring about
+a decisive change in favour of the Assyrians.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE EMPIRE OF THE MEDES.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"When Phraortes had fallen, he was succeeded by his
+son Cyaxares. This prince collected all his subjects
+and marched against Nineveh, in order to avenge the
+death of his father and destroy the city. He defeated
+the Assyrians, and while encamped before Nineveh,
+there came upon him the vast army of the Scythians,
+led by their king Madyas, the son of Protothyas,
+who invaded Asia in pursuit of the Cimmerians, and
+as they did not come through the land of the Saspeires,
+but kept the Caucasus to the right, they
+reached the Median country. Here they attacked the
+Medes, and the latter being conquered in the battle
+lost their empire; the Scythians became masters of
+the whole of Asia, and ruled over it for 28 years.
+With reckless cruelty they laid everything waste;
+they not only imposed tribute on all the nations, but
+went round and took from every one all that he
+possessed. But Cyaxares and the Medes massacred
+the greater part of them after making them intoxicated
+at a banquet, and in this way the Medes recovered
+their empire, and again governed those who
+had previously been subject to them. Then a horde
+of Scythians, which had separated from the rest and
+put themselves under the protection of Cyaxares, were
+guilty of a crime against a Median boy who had been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span>
+entrusted to them, and fled for refuge to Alyattes, king
+of Lydia, who refused to give them up. This led to
+a war between Media and Lydia which continued for
+five years, and was brought to an end by a treaty in
+which Alyattes gave his daughter Aryanis to wife
+to the son of Cyaxares. Cyaxares was master of all
+Asia beyond the Halys, took Nineveh, and subjugated
+the Assyrians, with the exception of the Babylonian
+portion." Such is the history, given by Herodotus,
+of Cyaxares, who, on his reckoning, ascended the
+throne of Media in the year 633 <small>B.C.</small></p>
+
+<p>If Phraortes had fallen in battle against the
+Assyrians with the greater part of his army, Cyaxares
+(Uvakshathra) could hardly have at once undertaken
+an attack on Nineveh, with a view of avenging his
+father's death by the destruction of that city; his
+first care, on the contrary, would have been to prevent
+the Assyrians from making use of their great victory,
+to guard against further advances on their part, and
+to maintain the freedom of Media. This struggle
+Cyaxares passed through with success; that his good
+fortune carried him as far as the walls of Nineveh,
+is indeed possible, but not probable; according to
+Herodotus the collision of the Scythians and Medes
+did not take place in the land of Asshur, but further
+to the East, in Media.</p>
+
+<p>The facts about the pursuit of the Cimmerians and
+the invasion of the Scythians have been already examined,
+and it has been shown that Herodotus has
+connected the immigration of the Cimmerians into
+Asia Minor, which took place in the eighth century
+<small>B.C.</small>, with the incursion of Sacian tribes from the Oxus
+into Media, about the year 630 <small>B.C.</small> He was deceived
+by the circumstance that the Cimmerians from their
+abode on the lower Halys penetrated to Sardis and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>
+the cities of the Western coast, about the time when
+the Sac&aelig; invaded Media and inundated Hither Asia
+(III. 276). The truth is that the hordes of the Sac&aelig;
+not only overthrew Media, but passed through Mesopotamia
+into Syria as far as the borders of Egypt.
+Their attack shattered and destroyed the cohesion of
+the Assyrian empire.</p>
+
+<p>About the year 620 Cyaxares succeeded in overpowering
+the section of the Scythians which remained
+in Media (these hordes were no doubt widely dispersed),
+and again became master in his own dominions.
+He made use of his advantageous position as the
+first who could again direct the forces of his people.
+He showed himself to the Armenians and Cappadocians
+as a champion to defend them from the plundering
+Scythians, and at the same time aided in liberating
+them from the dominion of the Assyrians. The incursion
+of the Scythians had prepared the way for
+him; in a few years he was able to extend his power
+to the West as far as the Halys.<a name="FNanchor_481_481" id="FNanchor_481_481"></a><a href="#Footnote_481_481" class="fnanchor">[481]</a> Nabopolassar, the
+viceroy of Assyria in Babylon, who had determined to
+turn to account the severe blow which the incursion
+of the Scyths had given to the Assyrian kingdom, had
+already offered him his hand in alliance. Amyite, the
+daughter of Cyaxares, had become the wife of Nebuchadnezzar,
+the son of Nabopolassar. But in Asia Minor,
+far to the West, the princes of the Lydians had taken
+advantage of the disturbance and confusion which the
+advance of the Cimmerians had carried to the Western
+coast, to extend their power over Phrygia as far as the
+Halys (III. 435). Here the two rapidly-developing
+powers met. Though inferior in numbers the Lydians<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>
+showed themselves a match for the Medes. After a
+war of five years, peace was established between them
+by Nabopolassar of Babylon and Syennesis of Cilicia,
+in order to set the power of Media free to act against
+Nineveh. The Halys became the boundary of the
+two kingdoms, and the peace was confirmed by an
+alliance. Alyattes of Lydia gave his daughter Aryanis
+to wife to Astyages the son of Cyaxares (610 <small>B.C.</small><a name="FNanchor_482_482" id="FNanchor_482_482"></a><a href="#Footnote_482_482" class="fnanchor">[482]</a>).
+Media and Babylonia now thought themselves strong
+enough to undertake the contest against the remains
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span>of the Assyrian kingdom. Cyaxares led out the
+Medes, Nabopolassar the Babylonians against king
+Assur-idil-ili. The latter offered a long and stubborn
+defence, and when at length the walls of Nineveh were
+broken through, he burnt himself in the citadel. The
+Assyrian country as far as the Tigris fell to the share
+of Media; Mesopotamia was united with the new
+kingdom of Babylon (607 <small>B.C.</small><a name="FNanchor_483_483" id="FNanchor_483_483"></a><a href="#Footnote_483_483" class="fnanchor">[483]</a>). Thus Media and
+Babylonia took the place of Assyria; and Babylon, as
+Herodotus says, was now the chief city of the
+Assyrians.</p>
+
+<p>When the kingdom had fallen which for three
+centuries had ruled in the East and West, Cyaxares
+might indulge the thought of making his empire more
+complete on the table-land of Iran. According to
+the story which Ctesias has preserved for us from the
+Medo-Persian Epos of the fall of Assyria (III. 249),
+the Bactrians had been prevailed upon to join the
+Medes and Babylonians in the course of the war
+against Assyria, and the Persian songs which describe
+the contest of Cyrus and Astyages, represent the
+Hyrcanians, Parthians, Bactrians, and other nations of
+the East, as ruled by viceroys of the Median king.<a name="FNanchor_484_484" id="FNanchor_484_484"></a><a href="#Footnote_484_484" class="fnanchor">[484]</a>
+We may regard it as certain that Cyaxares succeeded
+in subjugating the table-land of Iran to a considerable
+extent. No slight proof is afforded of the increase
+and greatness of the Median kingdom in his reign by
+the unusual care and extraordinary efforts of the
+successor of Nabopolassar to protect Babylonia and
+Babylon by fortifications against the event of a
+struggle between the two powers, whose united
+exertions had destroyed Assyria (III. 366).</p>
+
+<p>The position which the Medo-Persian poems assign
+to the chief of the Babylonians beside the chief of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span>
+the Medes, during and after the common struggle,
+has been already explained. The Babylonian is the
+astrologer, the adviser, the helper; the Mede is the
+man of action. In the event of success against
+Assyria he promises the Babylonian the viceroyalty of
+Babylon, and has already given it to him, free of
+tribute, when the fraud is discovered by which the
+cunning Babylonian has acquired the most valuable
+part of the spoil of Nineveh. For this offence the
+chief is condemned to death; but the Mede pardons
+him, and in consideration of his former services and the
+promise made, leaves him the viceroyalty. So eager
+were the Median minstrels to conceal the independence
+of Babylonia beside Media, and represent a power as
+great as Babylon was under Nebuchadnezzar as a
+satrapy of their kings. This fiction is maintained in
+other episodes of the Medo-Persian Epos which have
+come down to us. We are told of the stubborn
+resistance which the Cadusians made to the Medes;
+and an explanation is given how this unimportant
+nation on the shore of the Caspian (p. 268) could
+withstand the mighty kingdom of the Medes. This
+episode has come to us in the Persian form. It is the
+fault of the Median king that the Cadusians have become
+stubborn and successful enemies. He failed to
+help to his rights a brave warrior in his service; this
+warrior betook himself to the Cadusians, and became
+their chief, led them well, and bequeathed his thirst
+for vengeance to his descendants. From such a point
+of view even a Median minstrel could lament the
+perversity of the Median king, and the power of Babylonian
+gold, the abundance of which is strongly marked
+in the narrative, could praise the ancient simplicity of
+the Medes: "who took no heed of silver, and did not
+regard gold," as we are told in the Hebrew Scriptures,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span>
+and reprobate the victory of gold over strict justice.
+But it is a Persian to whom the wrong is done, who
+summons the Cadusians to freedom; and the resistance
+of the Cadusians to the Median kingdom, thus
+brought about by a Persian, subsequently furnishes
+Cyrus with a pretext for arming the Persians, and
+also provides him with allies in the Cadusians. It was
+the merit of a brave Persian to have provided this
+assistance for his people long before. The king of
+the Medes who was guilty of this mistake is called
+in Ctesias Artaeus; we have seen (p. 277) that
+Artaeus and Astibaras, who reigned 40 years each, are
+but one and the same person; and as the reign of
+Cyaxares occupies 40 years in Herodotus, we may
+conjecture that he is the king hidden behind the
+Artaeus-Astibaras of Ctesias. The king of Babylon,
+the satrap of the episode, is brought in as a descendant
+of Belesys (Nabopolassar), and described as an
+effeminate man. His name, in the form given by
+Ctesias, is Annarus. Evilmerodach or Neriglissar of
+Babylon must be meant; but, without doubt, we are
+dealing with mere fiction.</p>
+
+<p>The episode is as follows: There was a Persian of
+the name of Parsondes, in the service of the king of the
+Medes, an eager huntsman, and active warrior on foot
+and in the chariot, distinguished in council and in the
+field, and of influence with the king. Parsondes often
+urged the king to make him satrap of Babylon in
+the place of Annarus, who wore women's clothes and
+ornaments, but the king always put the petition aside,
+for it could not be granted without breaking the
+promise which his ancestor had made to Belesys
+(p. 297). Annarus discovered the intentions of Parsondes,
+and sought to secure himself against him, and
+to take vengeance. He promised great rewards to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span>
+cooks who were in the train of the king, if they succeeded
+in seizing Parsondes and giving him up. One
+day Parsondes in the heat of the chase strayed far
+from the king. He had already killed many boars
+and deer, when the pursuit of a wild ass (the Sassanids
+also hunt this animal) carried him to a great
+distance. At last he came upon the cooks, who were
+occupied in preparations for the king's table. Being
+thirsty, Parsondes asked for wine; they gave it, took
+care of his horse, and invited him to take food&mdash;an
+invitation agreeable to Parsondes, who had been hunting
+the whole day. He bade them send the ass
+which he had captured to the king, and tell his own
+servants where he was. Then he ate of the various
+kinds of food set before him, and drank abundantly of
+the excellent wine, and at last asked for his horse in
+order to return to the king. But they brought beautiful
+women to him, and urged him to remain for
+the night. He agreed, and as soon as, overcome by
+hunting, wine, and love he had fallen into a deep sleep,
+the cooks bound him, and brought him to Annarus.
+Annarus reproached him with calling him an effeminate
+man, and seeking to obtain his satrapy; he had
+the king to thank that the satrapy granted to his
+ancestors had not been taken from him. Parsondes
+replied that he considered himself more worthy of the
+office, because he was more manly and more useful
+to the king. But Annarus swore by Bel and Mylitta
+that Parsondes should be softer and whiter than
+a woman, called for the eunuch who was over the
+female players, and bade him shave the body of
+Parsondes and bathe and anoint him every day,
+put women's clothes on him, plait his hair after
+the manner of women, paint his face, and place
+him among the women, who played the guitar and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span>
+sang, and to teach him their arts. This was done, and
+soon Parsondes played and sang better at the table of
+Annarus than any of the women. Meanwhile the
+king of the Medes had caused search to be made
+everywhere for Parsondes, and since he could nowhere
+be found, and nothing could be heard of him,
+he believed that a lion or some other wild animal
+had torn him when out hunting, and lamented for his
+loss. Parsondes had lived for seven years as a woman
+in Babylon, when Annarus caused an eunuch to
+be scourged and grievously maltreated. This eunuch
+Parsondes induced by large presents to retire to
+Media and tell the king the misfortune which had
+come upon him. Then the king sent a message commanding
+Annarus to give up Parsondes. Annarus
+declared that he had never seen him. But the
+king sent a second messenger charging him to bring
+Annarus to be put to death if he did not surrender
+Parsondes. Annarus entertained the messenger of
+the king, and when the meal was brought, 150
+women entered, of whom some played the guitar
+while others blew the flute. At the end of the meal
+Annarus asked the king's envoy which of all the
+women was the most beautiful and had played best.
+The envoy pointed to Parsondes. Annarus laughed
+long and said, "That is the person whom you seek,"
+and released Parsondes, who on the next day returned
+home with the envoy to the king in a chariot. The
+king was astonished at the sight of him, and asked
+why he had not avoided such disgrace by death?
+Parsondes answered: "In order that I might see you
+again, and by you execute vengeance on Annarus,
+which could never have been mine had I taken my
+life." The king promised him that his hope should
+not be deceived, as soon as he came to Babylon.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span>
+But when he came there, Annarus defended himself
+on the ground that Parsondes, though in no way
+injured by him, had maligned him, and sought to
+obtain the satrapy over Babylonia. The king pointed
+out that he had made himself judge in his own
+cause, and had imposed a punishment of a degrading
+character; in ten days he would pronounce sentence
+upon him for his conduct. In terror Annarus hastened
+to Mitraphernes, the eunuch of greatest influence
+with the king, and promised him the most liberal
+rewards (10 talents of gold and 100 talents of silver,
+10 golden and 200 silver bowls) if he could induce
+the king to spare his life and retain him in the satrapy
+of Babylonia. He was prepared to give the king 100
+talents of gold, 1000 talents of silver, 100 golden
+and 300 silver bowls, and costly robes with other
+gifts; Parsondes also should receive 100 talents of
+silver and costly robes. After many entreaties Mitraphernes
+persuaded the king not to command the
+execution of Annarus, as he had not killed Parsondes,
+but to condemn him in the penalty which
+he was prepared to pay Parsondes and the king.
+Annarus in gratitude threw himself at the feet of
+the king, but Parsondes said: "Cursed be the man
+who first brought gold among men; for the sake
+of gold I have been made a mockery to the Babylonians."
+The eunuch advised him to lay aside his
+anger, and be reconciled with Annarus, for that was
+what the king desired; but Parsondes determined to
+take vengeance for the sentence of the king, and
+waited for a favourable opportunity in order to fly
+with a thousand horse and three thousand infantry
+to the Cadusians, whose most distinguished chief had
+married his sister. Then he persuaded the Cadusians
+to revolt from the Medes, and was elected to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span>
+their general. When the king of the Medes armed
+against them, Parsondes armed in return, and occupied
+the passes into the country with 200,000 warriors.
+Though the Median king brought up 800,000 men,
+Parsondes nevertheless put him to flight, and slew
+50,000 Medes. In admiration of such noble deeds,
+the Cadusians made Parsondes king, and they often
+invaded Media and laid it waste. At the end of his
+days, Parsondes commanded his successor to remain
+an enemy of the Medes, and pronounced a curse: "If
+ever peace should be concluded between the Medes
+and the Cadusians, might his race and the whole
+nation of the Cadusians perish." This is the reason
+why the Cadusians remained the enemies of the
+Medes, and were never subject to them.<a name="FNanchor_485_485" id="FNanchor_485_485"></a><a href="#Footnote_485_485" class="fnanchor">[485]</a></p>
+
+<p>Another episode tells us of the contests which the
+Medes had to sustain under the dominion of Astibaras-Artaeus,
+<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> of Cyaxares, against the Parthians
+and the Sac&aelig;. The Parthians, whose chief was
+Marmares, revolted from the Medes, but handed over
+their land and city to the king of the Sac&aelig;, Cydraeus,
+that he might protect them against the Medes; and
+the sister of Cydraeus, Zarinaea (Zaranya, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the
+golden), who was distinguished for her beauty and
+wisdom, her boldness and bravery (for the women of
+the Sac&aelig; took the field with the men), became the wife
+of Marmares. As the Medians intended to reduce the
+Parthians again to subjection, a war broke out between
+them and the Parthians and Sac&aelig;, which lasted for
+several years, and led to battles in which many fell
+on one side and the other. In one of these battles
+Zarinaea was wounded. Stryangaeus, the Mede, to
+whom Cyaxares had given his daughter Rhoet&aelig;a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>
+to wife, pursued, overtook, and threw her from her
+horse. But the sight of her beauty and youth, and
+her entreaties, moved him; he allowed her to escape.
+Not long afterwards Stryangaeus with other Medes
+was taken captive by the Parthians. Marmares wished
+to put him to death, and though Zarinaea entreated
+for his life, insisted on his execution. Then Zarinaea
+loosed the bonds of the captive Medes, caused Marmares
+to be put to death by them, and allowed
+Stryangaeus to escape. When, after the death of her
+brother Cydraeus, she ascended the throne of the Sac&aelig;,
+she sent messengers to the king of the Medes to
+conclude peace and friendship. The Parthians were
+to return under the sovereignty of the Medes, the
+Sac&aelig; and Medes were to keep what previously belonged
+to them, and to be friends and allies for ever.
+This was done. Stryangaeus, the real author of this
+treaty, ever since the battle in which he had first seen
+Zarinaea, had been possessed with violent love for
+her, and went to Roxanace (<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the brilliant),<a name="FNanchor_486_486" id="FNanchor_486_486"></a><a href="#Footnote_486_486" class="fnanchor">[486]</a> where
+was the royal citadel of the Sac&aelig;, in order to see the
+beloved princess once more. Zarinaea, who returned
+his affection, came to see him full of joy, received him
+and his attendants in the most splendid manner,
+kissed him in the sight of all, and ascended his chariot,
+and thus, while conversing with each other they
+arrived in the palace. Here Stryangaeus sighed in
+the chambers assigned to him, and could not resist the
+violence of his passion. At length he took counsel
+with the most faithful of his eunuchs, who encouraged
+him to discover his passion to Zarinaea. Easily persuaded,
+Stryangaeus hastened to the queen, and after
+much delay and many sighs, sometimes blushing and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span>
+again turning pale, he ventured to declare that he
+was consumed with love for her. Zarinaea answered
+quietly and gently that it would be shameful and
+fatal for her to surrender herself to him, and far more
+shameful and dangerous for Stryangaeus, as his wife
+was the daughter of the king of the Medes, and, as
+she heard, more beautiful than herself and many other
+women. He must be brave, not only against his
+enemies, but against himself, and not bring about a
+long calamity for the sake of a brief enjoyment. No
+other wish of his but this should remain unsatisfied.
+Stryangaeus was silent for a long time, then embraced
+and kissed the queen, and departed. He was far more
+dejected than before, and determined to take his life.
+"Thou hast been saved by me," he wrote to Zarinaea,
+"but through thee I am destroyed. If in this thou
+hast done justly, then may all good things be thine,
+and mayest thou be happy; if thou hast done evil,
+may a passion like mine overtake thee." When he
+had bound the eunuch by an oath to give this letter
+to Zarinaea immediately after his death, he lay back
+on his cushions and demanded his sword. As the
+eunuch refused to give it, he ended his days by
+starvation. Zarinaea ruled over the Sac&aelig; with
+wisdom and power. She conquered the neighbouring
+nations who sought to subjugate her people,
+caused a great part of the land to be cultivated, and
+built a considerable number of cities, and brought
+the Sac&aelig; into greater prosperity. In gratitude for
+the benefits received from her, and in remembrance
+of her virtues, the Sac&aelig; erected on her grave a three-sided
+pyramid, three stades in length on each side,
+and ending in a point a stadum in height, on which
+was placed a colossal golden statue of the queen.
+Worship was also offered to her as to a hero, so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span>
+that she received greater honours than any of her
+predecessors.<a name="FNanchor_487_487" id="FNanchor_487_487"></a><a href="#Footnote_487_487" class="fnanchor">[487]</a></p>
+
+<p>We have already acquainted ourselves with the land
+of the Parthians (p. 10). The Sac&aelig; were neighbours
+of the Hyrcanians, the Parthians, and the Bactrians
+in the steppes of the Oxus. Herodotus tells us that
+the Sac&aelig; were a nation of the tribe of the Scyths,
+and that their proper name was Amyrgians; the Persians
+called all the Scythians Sac&aelig;. The inscriptions
+of Darius speak of &Ccedil;aka Humavarka; in the
+second version the name is Omuvargap, and in the
+Babylonian-Assyrian version Umurga. According to
+the account of Herodotus the Sac&aelig; wore trousers,
+and upright, pointed caps, and carried bows of a
+peculiar character, battle-axes and daggers. They
+fought as mounted bowmen. On the monument of
+Darius at Behistun &Ccedil;akuka,<a name="FNanchor_488_488" id="FNanchor_488_488"></a><a href="#Footnote_488_488" class="fnanchor">[488]</a> the leader of the Sac&aelig;,
+wears a tall pointed cap. In the army of Xerxes the
+Sac&aelig; were ranged with the Bactrians. What our
+episode tells us of the royal citadel and the cities
+built by Zarin&aelig;a does not harmonise with the nature
+of the steppe-country of the Sac&aelig;, and the statement
+of the Greeks, that the Sac&aelig; lived in variegated tents,
+and that their wealth consisted in flocks of sheep, but
+it does agree with the fact that the women went to
+battle on horseback with the men. The companions
+of Alexander describe the Sac&aelig; as strong, warlike,
+well-grown men, with flowing hair; the Macedonians
+only came up to their shoulders. Later accounts
+speak of heavy-armed horse among them; both horse
+and rider were covered with armour, and the weapons
+of attack were long lances.<a name="FNanchor_489_489" id="FNanchor_489_489"></a><a href="#Footnote_489_489" class="fnanchor">[489]</a> From the narratives given<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span>
+in the episodes we may retain the fact that although
+the Persians followed the lead of the Medes from
+the time of Phraortes, Cyaxares, even after the fall of
+Nineveh, did not succeed in subjugating the remaining
+nations of Iran without severe struggles. There
+is no reason to doubt that the Cadusians made an
+obstinate resistance, and maintained their independence:
+The Parthians were able to combine with the
+Sac&aelig; in order to preserve their freedom, and did not
+become subject to Cyaxares without severe contests.
+That the Sagartians on the edge of the great desert
+(p. 6) were subject to Cyaxares, is clear from the
+inscription of Darius at Behistun. If the Medes
+had to fight with the Sac&aelig;, who were settled on the
+Oxus, Bactria must have been reduced to form a part
+of their kingdom. Beside the Hyrcanians, Parthians,
+and "other nations," the Bactrians and Sac&aelig; are
+specially mentioned as subjects of the Median kings,<a name="FNanchor_490_490" id="FNanchor_490_490"></a><a href="#Footnote_490_490" class="fnanchor">[490]</a>
+and Arrian assures us that the A&ccedil;vakas, whom we
+found north of the Cabul on the right bank of the
+Indus (IV. 393), were subjects of the Medes.<a name="FNanchor_491_491" id="FNanchor_491_491"></a><a href="#Footnote_491_491" class="fnanchor">[491]</a></p>
+
+<p>Herodotus tells us that Cyaxares was the first to
+separate the lance-bearers, archers, and horsemen, and
+combine them into divisions; that is, he introduced a
+better and more manageable arrangement of the army.
+To the same prince, no doubt, is due the completion
+of the fortifications of Ecbatana, which we found had
+been strengthened by his predecessor Phraortes. When
+the fortifications were first begun, the place was merely
+intended as a point of defence against Assyria; but
+as soon as it became destined to aid in the maintenance
+of independence, it was necessary that it should
+be capable of offering refuge and support to the
+Median army, if hard pressed. The mountains of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span>
+Zagrus form the boundary wall, and at the same time
+the line of division between the Medes and Assyrians.
+As Polybius told us (p. 268), it was an ascent of
+twelve miles&mdash;<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> four leagues&mdash;to the top of the
+pass. If the Medes failed to hold these passes, and
+were then defeated in their own table-land, the mountains
+of the Orontes formed a new point of protection
+to their retreat. The Orontes (Old Persian, <i>Urvanda</i>;
+now Elvend) is a steep range of mountains, traversing
+Media from north-west to south-east; the heights
+of the passes are given by travellers at 7000 or
+10,000 feet; Ctesias puts the ascent at twenty-five
+stades;<a name="FNanchor_492_492" id="FNanchor_492_492"></a><a href="#Footnote_492_492" class="fnanchor">[492]</a> recent explorers fix the time at four hours.
+On the eastern spur of this mountain wall, in a
+fertile plain, six leagues long and four leagues broad,
+lay Ecbatana, Old Persian <i>Hangmatana, i.&nbsp;e.</i> place of
+assembly, the Achmeta of the Hebrews. If the
+Orontes could not be held, the fortifications of Ecbatana
+formed a last point of protection for the Median army.
+From the Assyrians there was nothing more to be
+feared after the fall of Nineveh, but Cyaxares had
+no doubt felt, in the inundation of Media by the
+nomadic tribes of the Sac&aelig;, and then in the final
+battles against Asshur, what a support was given
+by a strong metropolis; what good service the walls
+of Nineveh had rendered to the enemy, even in his
+decline. He saw what measures were being taken
+by Nebuchadnezzar, his step-son, to make his metropolis
+secure, and determined that the kingdom, which
+he had so rapidly and brilliantly erected and developed,
+should not be without the nucleus of an
+impregnable fortress and royal citadel. The booty in
+silver and gold, which the Medes gained in Nineveh,
+and of which we hear not in the Median poems only,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span>
+but also from the Hebrew prophets who lived at the
+time of the fall of the city, provided no doubt ample
+means both for the erection of the strongest works,
+and for the adornment of these as well as the citadel.</p>
+
+<p>Ctesias tells us that Semiramis built a splendid
+palace at Ecbatana, a city lying in a plain, and as
+there were no springs near, she cut through the roots
+of the range of mountains, twelve stades distant from
+the city (the Orontes), on the farther side of which
+was a lake flowing into a river, in order to convey the
+water of the river into the city. For this object a
+tunnel was cut through the mountain, fifteen feet in
+breadth and forty feet in depth, and through it the
+river was carried into Ecbatana.<a name="FNanchor_493_493" id="FNanchor_493_493"></a><a href="#Footnote_493_493" class="fnanchor">[493]</a> If Ctesias ascribes
+the palace of Ecbatana and the tunnel, like other
+monuments of Media, to Semiramis, we have already
+seen that the queen is no more than a poetical fiction;
+nor could any of the sovereigns who ruled over Assyria
+entertain the project of building citadels and conduits
+for the Median kings. These could only be the work
+of Median princes, who resided in Ecbatana; and as
+Phraortes could hardly have had the means and the
+time for such important structures, we must ascribe
+both the completion and adornment of the royal
+citadel, as well as the tunnel, to Cyaxares, unless we
+are to reject the latter as a pure invention, for which
+there seems to me no sufficient proof.</p>
+
+<p>"When the palace had been built at Ecbatana, it
+was surrounded with large and strong walls," Herodotus
+tells us, "of which one encircled another, in
+such a manner that the inner overtopped the outer by
+the height of the turret. The situation, which was
+on a hill, contributed to this result, and the natural
+elevation was artificially increased. In all there were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span>
+seven circles; the innermost contained the king's
+dwelling and treasure-house; the outermost wall was
+of about the extent of the wall of Athens. The towers
+of the first circle were white, of the second black, of the
+third red-purple, of the fourth blue-purple, of the fifth
+red; the towers of the sixth are covered with silver;
+and those of the seventh, which surrounds the buildings
+of the palace, with gold. The city was built round
+the outermost wall."<a name="FNanchor_494_494" id="FNanchor_494_494"></a><a href="#Footnote_494_494" class="fnanchor">[494]</a> Polybius describes the situation
+of Ecbatana and the palace as they were under the
+Ach&aelig;menids, who were wont to pass some of the hot
+summer months in the cool and fresh air of Ecbatana.
+"Ecbatana lies in the northern regions of Media, and
+commands the parts of Asia which look towards the
+Maeotis and the Euxine. The city was in old days
+the royal abode of the Median kings, and it appears
+to have far surpassed all other cities in wealth and
+in the splendour of its buildings. It is built under
+the spurs of the Orontes. Though without walls, it
+possesses a citadel built by the hand of man, of surprising
+strength. Below the citadel is the palace,
+which it is as difficult to speak of in detail as to pass
+over in silence. Ecbatana is an excellent theme for
+those who love to tell of marvellous things with adornment
+and exaggeration; but those who enter with
+caution on anything which goes beyond the ordinary intelligence
+find themselves in difficulties. The circuit
+of the palace is about seven stades, and the rich ornamentation
+of the various parts proves how flourishing
+was the condition of those who founded it. Though
+the entire wood-work consists of cedar and cypress,
+this is never allowed to appear; on the contrary, the
+beams of the roof and the panelling, the pillars in the
+chambers and halls, are covered with gold or silver<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span>
+plates, and the roof consists wholly of silver tiles.
+Most of these were carried off at the time of the
+expedition of Alexander, and the remainder in the
+reign of Antigonus and Seleucus-Nicanor. Nevertheless
+the temple of Aine (<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> of Anahita) at the time
+when Antiochus Theos (261-245 <small>B.C.</small>) came to Ecbatana,
+had gilded pillars round it; and some of the
+gold plates in the side-walls were still remaining, and
+the greater part of the silver plates, while the silver
+tiles of the roof were still there in considerable quantities."<a name="FNanchor_495_495" id="FNanchor_495_495"></a><a href="#Footnote_495_495" class="fnanchor">[495]</a>
+At the time of Alexander, Diodorus allows
+the city of Ecbatana a circuit of 250 stades, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> of
+more than 30 miles.<a name="FNanchor_496_496" id="FNanchor_496_496"></a><a href="#Footnote_496_496" class="fnanchor">[496]</a> Isidore of Charax mentions the
+treasure-house at Ecbatana, the metropolis of Media
+and the shrine of Anaitis, in which sacrifice was constantly
+offered.<a name="FNanchor_497_497" id="FNanchor_497_497"></a><a href="#Footnote_497_497" class="fnanchor">[497]</a></p>
+
+<p>It is not clear from these descriptions whether the
+fortifications at that time included the whole city or
+not. Herodotus only speaks of the fortifications of
+the citadel, and represents the city as built at the foot
+of its walls. Yet we may assume that Phraortes and
+Cyaxares followed the pattern of the chief cities of
+Assyria and Babylonia in placing a strong wall round
+their city. A late and very uncertain authority, the
+book of Judith, states that the walls of Ecbatana
+consisted of splendid masonry, and reached a height
+of seventy cubits (about 110 feet); the towers of these
+walls were a hundred cubits in height, and there were
+gates in them.<a name="FNanchor_498_498" id="FNanchor_498_498"></a><a href="#Footnote_498_498" class="fnanchor">[498]</a> When the Medes lost their empire and
+became subject to the Ach&aelig;menids, it was to their
+interest that the metropolis of the Medes should not be
+fortified, but that the citadel should be in the hands<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span>
+of a Persian garrison. Cyrus himself, therefore, after
+the conquest of Astyages, or Darius, after suppressing
+the rebellion of the Medes, may have thrown down
+the walls which surrounded Ecbatana. The silence of
+Herodotus respecting them would then be explained
+by the fact that they were no longer in existence
+in his time. The circuit of the external wall Herodotus
+compares with the circuit of the city of Athens,
+which, exclusive of the harbour cities but including
+the space between the Phaleric and the long
+walls, reached 60 stades, or 7-1/2 miles.<a name="FNanchor_499_499" id="FNanchor_499_499"></a><a href="#Footnote_499_499" class="fnanchor">[499]</a> If we chose
+to assume that Herodotus included the Phaleric and
+long walls in the circuit, the total extent would be
+22-1/2 miles, an incredible length for the wall of a
+citadel. Of the outer walls of the royal citadels at
+Babylon, Diodorus puts those on the one bank of the
+Euphrates at 30 stades, and those on the other at 60,
+and of the two inner walls of the latter the first was
+40 stades in length and the second 20.<a name="FNanchor_500_500" id="FNanchor_500_500"></a><a href="#Footnote_500_500" class="fnanchor">[500]</a> The circuit
+of 22-1/2 miles may, therefore, refer only to the whole
+extent of the citadel and city of Ecbatana, and it
+would then come near the statement of Diodorus, who
+puts the circuit of Ecbatana at 250 stades.</p>
+
+<p>The royal citadel of the Ach&aelig;menids at Persepolis
+was surrounded, according to Diodorus, with a triple
+wall; the first wall was 16, the second 32, the third
+60 cubits in height. These walls were decorated with
+great expense, and adorned with towers. The citadel
+of Ecbatana is said to have had seven walls, and,
+however strange this may appear, religious no less
+than military motives might have led to that number.
+We know the importance ascribed in the Avesta to
+the number seven&mdash;the seven supreme deities, and the
+seven girdles of the earth. On the other hand, if we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span>
+leave out of sight the hill on which the citadel was
+built, the elevated plateau of Ecbatana did not present
+the natural difficulties such as rivers and heights,
+which strengthened the fortification of the Assyrian
+metropolis and the walls of Babylon; hence it was
+more important to meet this deficiency by the number
+of towers and walls. The successive walls would have
+been of little service had not each inner one been higher
+than the outer, and they would have been the reverse
+of serviceable, had not the distance between them been
+so great that the arrows and missiles of the enemy,
+when they had gained the outer walls, failed to reach
+from it to the next, so that the assault of the next
+wall had to be begun afresh after the capture of the
+adjacent outer wall, without any cover. If we might
+assume that the words of Polybius: "The palaces, of
+which the extent reaches to about seven stades, lie
+below the citadel," are to be interpreted as meaning
+that these buildings lay under the protection of the
+walls of the citadel, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> behind them&mdash;and it is
+scarcely conceivable that the Ach&aelig;menids should have
+chosen an unprotected palace in Media for a constant
+residence, and deposited there large treasures, and the
+archives of the kingdom&mdash;the circuit of the buildings
+of the palace and that of the external wall of 60
+stadia would give a space between the walls of each
+of about 2000 feet; a distance not much in excess of
+that absolutely required. Hence the circuit of 60
+stadia from the outer wall does not appear too large.</p>
+
+<p>More astonishing still is the account given by
+Herodotus of the ornamentation of the turrets of these
+walls&mdash;the colours of the turrets of the first five, the
+silver and gold of the two last. The attempt has
+been made to explain these statements as a legendary
+echo of the fame of the splendour of Ecbatana in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span>
+the time of Cyaxares and his successor Astyages.
+But Polybius tells us very distinctly that the roof of
+the palace and that of the temple of Anahita consisted
+of silver tiles at the time of the Ach&aelig;menids, that
+the beams and panels of the roofs as well as the
+pillars were entirely covered with gold and silver
+plates, and that these decorations remained in the
+temple of Anahita at the time of Antiochus Theos.
+This ornamentation might be extended to the turrets
+of the inner walls. Considering the amount of the
+spoil of Nineveh, it cannot be regarded as an impossibility
+that the ramparts of the interior walls, the
+length of which, according to the statement of Polybius,
+did not reach more than 4200 feet, were covered
+with plates of gold, and of the next with plates of
+silver, when the roof of the palace could consist of
+silver tiles. That the overthrow of the Assyrian kingdom
+and the spoil of the cities brought considerable
+possessions to the Median nation may be concluded
+from the remark of Herodotus that the Persians had
+adopted better clothing and more luxurious habits
+from the Medes. The kings would without doubt
+receive the richest part of the spoil. The decoration
+of the turrets was possibly rude, but it exhibited in a
+striking manner the splendour and exaltation of the
+kingdom, which was thus encased in gold and silver,
+while the sovereign dwelt in gold and silver chambers.
+Such a parade of royal magnificence is not out of
+harmony with the character of the ancient East. To
+those who were not allowed to enter the wide and
+high gates of the palace, these turrets showed far
+and wide, through city and country, the splendour
+of the citadel. The colours of the five outer walls
+would be given by glazed tiles, such as those found in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span>
+the ruins of Nineveh and Chalah, of Babylon and
+Mugheir. We may assume with certainty that Cyaxares
+desired to give to his palace and citadel a
+splendour no less than that displayed by the palaces
+of Nineveh, or the royal citadel of Nebuchadnezzar
+in Babylon, or the golden citadel in Sardis. Religious
+conceptions may also have determined the colours of
+the decoration as well as the number of the walls.
+As Auramazda sat in pure light, on a golden throne
+on the golden Hukairya, so was the ruler on earth to
+dwell in his palace of Ecbatana in golden chambers
+surrounded by golden walls. The Avesta exhibits
+Mithra with a golden helmet and silver coat of mail,
+the wheels of his chariots are of gold, his horses are
+greys,<a name="FNanchor_501_501" id="FNanchor_501_501"></a><a href="#Footnote_501_501" class="fnanchor">[501]</a> shod on the fore hoofs with gold, and on
+the hinder hoofs with silver; in like manner the
+upper turrets of the citadel must shine with silver
+and the highest with gold. We have seen that the
+metals, owing to the brilliance inherent in them, belonged
+in the ideas of the Iranians to the good spirits.
+And as the splendour of gold and silver belonged to
+the highest gods, so must the colours of the other
+turrets have been assigned to the good spirits, to
+whose protection each separate wall was entrusted.<a name="FNanchor_502_502" id="FNanchor_502_502"></a><a href="#Footnote_502_502" class="fnanchor">[502]</a></p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span></p>
+<p>The account which Polybius gives of the structure
+of the palace, the cedar and cypress wood of which
+the door-posts, pillars, roofs, and panels in the walls
+were made, shows that wood was employed in building
+in Media, which agrees with the habits of mountaineers.
+In Teheran and Ispahan buildings of wood
+of this kind are still in use, and no doubt the
+mountain forests of northern Media provided better
+materials in ancient times than now. The noblest
+trunks and best kinds of wood were sought out for
+the royal house. The kings of Asshur, and Nebuchadnezzar
+tell us in their inscriptions that they have
+caused trees to be cut down on this or that mountain
+for their buildings. The wooden palace, which Deioces,
+and perhaps Phraortes, first erected, must have been
+extended by Cyaxares, and may have been furnished
+by him or his successor with the brilliant ornamentation.
+The inner walls of the palace of the Ach&aelig;menids
+at Persepolis, if we may draw this conclusion from
+the metal supports which are found in the remains of
+the stone walls, were decorated in a similar manner.
+When the palace of the Median kings at Ecbatana
+had become the summer residence and treasure-house
+of the Persian monarchs, it would, no doubt, be
+enriched and adorned yet more. The temple of
+Anahita, connected with the palace, which Polybius
+has described above, is the work of Artaxerxes II.
+Alexander caused the spoil he had taken in Babylon,
+Susa, Persepolis, and Pasargad&aelig;, to be brought to
+Ecbatana, where he is said to have collected 180,000<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span>
+talents in gold and silver.<a name="FNanchor_503_503" id="FNanchor_503_503"></a><a href="#Footnote_503_503" class="fnanchor">[503]</a> At a later time, the
+Arsacids are said to have resided at Ecbatana during
+the summer like the Ach&aelig;menids.<a name="FNanchor_504_504" id="FNanchor_504_504"></a><a href="#Footnote_504_504" class="fnanchor">[504]</a> At the present
+day, Hamadan, which is built high up on a slope of
+Elvend, marks the site of the ancient Ecbatana. It
+contains about 40,000 inhabitants; the ruins of the
+ancient city have not yet been satisfactorily explored.
+The slender pillars with lotus-like capitals, discovered
+here, are like the pillars of Persepolis, and therefore
+might be the work of the Ach&aelig;menids; what has
+been discovered in engraved stones and coins comes
+from the time of the Arsacids and Sassanids. Some
+cylinders covered with cuneiform inscriptions have
+not yet been examined.</p>
+
+<p>Cyaxares had rescued Media from the most extreme
+peril. The consequences of the defeat, in which his
+father, with the greatest part of his army, fell before
+the Assyrians, had been averted. Though subsequently
+overpowered by the Scythians, he yet became
+once more sovereign in his own country. This rise
+of Media, and the weakening of the Assyrian kingdom
+by the inundation of the Scythians, he used in order
+to subjugate Armenia and Cappadocia. And though
+he was not able to achieve anything decisive against
+the Lydians, he attained a greater success; in combination
+with Babylonia he avenged on the Assyrians
+the supremacy they had exercised over Media; he
+overthrew the remnant of that kingdom, whose tough
+vigour showed itself even at the final hour in an
+obstinate resistance. It was a great achievement and
+at the same time an important extension of the
+Median dominions, not merely by the whole extent
+of the Assyrian country on the left bank of the Tigris,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span>
+which fell to Media, but also by the closer connection
+which Cyaxares thus obtained with Armenia
+and Cappadocia, the subject lands to the west. Then
+followed the spread of the Median power over the
+kindred nations in the north and east of Iran. The
+Persians were already subjected to Phraortes, and
+Cyaxares brought under his sovereignty the Sagartians,
+Hyrcanians, Parthians, and Bactrians; he made the
+Sac&aelig; dependant on him, and in the east perhaps
+extended his power as far as the Indus. From his
+proud citadel at Ecbatana he ruled from the Halys
+to the Oxus. It was a powerful empire. Herodotus
+depicts the reign of Cyaxares when he says:
+"He was far more powerful than his predecessors."
+With the Medes he passes as the founder of their
+sovereignty; and his reign must have been held
+in grateful remembrance, not by the Medes only, but
+also by the subject nations. Those who afterwards
+attempted to bring the Medes and Sagartians under
+arms against the dominion of the Persians, called
+themselves the descendants of Cyaxares&mdash;and one
+even laid aside his own name, Phraortes, to do so.</p>
+
+<p>After the fall of Assyria the leading portion passed
+to Media, Babylonia, and Lydia. As the two first had
+united for the overthrow of Assyria, and had come to
+terms with Lydia for this object, so in other respects
+they displayed a friendly feeling towards each other.
+The daughter of Cyaxares became the consort of
+Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and the daughter of
+Alyattes, king of Lydia, was married to his son
+Astyages. Afterwards, Babylon prevented the attempt
+of Egypt to unite Syria with the land of the
+Nile; it was eagerly occupied with subjugating Mesopotamia
+and Syria, while Lydia established its power
+over the tribes and cities of Asia Minor as far as the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span>
+Halys. Neither Media nor Lydia thought of putting
+any hindrances in the way of the extension of
+the Babylonian dominion over Syria and Ph&#339;nicia.
+Of these three kingdoms, thus connected by mutual
+alliances, Media was the strongest. Babylonia and
+Lydia were not equal either in extent of country or
+amount of population; Lydia was perhaps inferior
+in the vigour of the ruling tribe, and Babylonia certainly
+inferior in the military strength of the population.
+Even when united they did not reach the
+size or strength of the Median power, whose army
+Cyaxares had arranged, and for which he had provided
+at Ecbatana a strongly fortified centre, equidistant
+from the Halys and the Oxus. When Astyages
+ascended the throne, on the death of his father in
+593 <small>B.C.</small>, he entered upon the inheritance of a secure
+dominion in peaceful and friendly relations to all the
+neighbouring powers. While his father-in-law, Alyattes
+of Lydia, and his son Croesus were occupied in subjugating
+the Carians and the Greek cities on the west
+coast of Anatolia (III. 439), and Nebuchadnezzar
+carried on one campaign after another in order to
+incorporate in his kingdom the great trading marts
+of the Syrian coasts, Astyages could enjoy, for more
+than thirty years, the fruits of the efforts by which
+his father had founded and established the Median
+empire.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_481_481" id="Footnote_481_481"></a><a href="#FNanchor_481_481"><span class="label">[481]</span></a> Herod. 1, 72. In Xenophon, who represents Astyages as reigning
+before Cyaxares, Astyages had subjugated the king of Armenia; the
+rebellion of this king was afterwards repressed by Cyaxares. "Cyri
+instit." 3, 1, 6 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_482_482" id="Footnote_482_482"></a><a href="#FNanchor_482_482"><span class="label">[482]</span></a> Vol. III. 287, 438. Even after the discussions of Gelzer ("Rheinisches
+Museum," 1875, s. 264 ff.) on the date of the eclipse, I believe
+that Oltmann and Bailly's calculation may hold good for it, until it is
+proved astronomically that in the year 610 <small>B.C.</small> an eclipse of the sun
+would not have been visible in Asia Minor. If this were proved,
+Herodotus' dates for Cyaxares, who not only in his work but on the
+evidence of the inscription of Behistun, was the founder of the Median
+empire, would have to be thrown back more than half a century,
+which the date of Cyrus does not allow. To assume a confusion of
+Cyaxares with Astyages in Herodotus, is impossible, for Cyaxares is
+twice expressly mentioned (1, 74, and 103), and moreover Astyages is
+spoken of as the son of Cyaxares to whom Aryanis was married. Nor
+can I regard it as finally proved that the double capture of Sardis
+rests simply on Callisthenes, and a deduction from Strabo. Gelzer
+agrees that the incursions of the Cimmerians into Asia Minor and their
+establishment in Cappadocia must be placed at the least before the
+year 705 <small>B.C.</small> ("Z. Aegypt. Sprache," 1875, s. 18); the devastation of
+Phrygia by the Cimmerians he puts in the year 696 or 676 <small>B.C.</small>
+According to the dates of Eusebius Midas (the husband of Damodike)
+began to reign in Olymp. 10, 3 = 738, and took his own life in Ol. 21, 2
+= 695 (Euseb. ed. Sch&ouml;ne, 2, 82, 85); his reign extended therefore from
+738 to 695 <small>B.C.</small> Hence the devastation of Phrygia by the Cimmerians
+must have taken place in the year 695. If they were masters of
+Phrygia at this date, it is not easy to see why these successes did not
+carry them on into Lydia. As a fact, this is far from improbable; and
+if the image at Nymsi is their work, they would not have had any
+time for it in 630 <small>B.C.</small>, for that incursion was merely a "plundering
+raid," and the change in the dynasty of Lydia, the accession of Gyges
+in the year 689 <small>B.C.</small> (Vol. III. 416), seems to me to point to some
+previous violent change. Besides, Strabo's words, p. 61, and p. 647,
+are plain and conclusive enough, so that I see no reason to attach
+much weight to the interpretation of the passage, p. 627. Cf. C&aelig;sar,
+"Ind. lect. Marb. Sem. aestivum," 1876.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_483_483" id="Footnote_483_483"></a><a href="#FNanchor_483_483"><span class="label">[483]</span></a> Vol. III. 284 ff., 291.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_484_484" id="Footnote_484_484"></a><a href="#FNanchor_484_484"><span class="label">[484]</span></a> Diod. 2, 34; Nicol. Damasc. fragm. 66.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_485_485" id="Footnote_485_485"></a><a href="#FNanchor_485_485"><span class="label">[485]</span></a> Nicol. Damasc. fragm. 9, 10, ed. M&uuml;ller; Diod. 2, 33; Ctes. Fragm.
+52, ed. M&uuml;ller.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_486_486" id="Footnote_486_486"></a><a href="#FNanchor_486_486"><span class="label">[486]</span></a> Roxane and Roxanace are both formed from the old Bactrian
+<i>raokshna</i>. M&uuml;llenhoff, "Monatsberichte Berl. Akadem." 1866, s. 562.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_487_487" id="Footnote_487_487"></a><a href="#FNanchor_487_487"><span class="label">[487]</span></a> Ctes. Fragm. 25-28, ed. M&uuml;ller; Nic. Damasc. fragm. 12 ed. M&uuml;ller.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_488_488" id="Footnote_488_488"></a><a href="#FNanchor_488_488"><span class="label">[488]</span></a> Oppert gives the form of the second version as &Ccedil;akuka Iskunka.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_489_489" id="Footnote_489_489"></a><a href="#FNanchor_489_489"><span class="label">[489]</span></a> Choerilus in Strabo, p. 303; Herod. 3, 93; 7, 64; 9, 71; Ptolem.
+6, 13; Curtius, 7, 4, 6; Arrian, "Anab." 3, 13; Cf. Plut. "Crassus," 24.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_490_490" id="Footnote_490_490"></a><a href="#FNanchor_490_490"><span class="label">[490]</span></a> Nicol. Damasc. fragm. 66, ed. M&uuml;ller.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_491_491" id="Footnote_491_491"></a><a href="#FNanchor_491_491"><span class="label">[491]</span></a> "Ind." 1, 1.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_492_492" id="Footnote_492_492"></a><a href="#FNanchor_492_492"><span class="label">[492]</span></a> Diod. 2, 13; 17, 110; Strabo, p. 127.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_493_493" id="Footnote_493_493"></a><a href="#FNanchor_493_493"><span class="label">[493]</span></a> Diod. 2, 13.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_494_494" id="Footnote_494_494"></a><a href="#FNanchor_494_494"><span class="label">[494]</span></a> Herod. 1, 98, 99.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_495_495" id="Footnote_495_495"></a><a href="#FNanchor_495_495"><span class="label">[495]</span></a> Polyb. 10, 27.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_496_496" id="Footnote_496_496"></a><a href="#FNanchor_496_496"><span class="label">[496]</span></a> 17, 110.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_497_497" id="Footnote_497_497"></a><a href="#FNanchor_497_497"><span class="label">[497]</span></a> "Mans. Parth." c. 6.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_498_498" id="Footnote_498_498"></a><a href="#FNanchor_498_498"><span class="label">[498]</span></a> Judith, i. 2-4. On the date of the composition of this book, cf.
+Volkmar. "Rheinisches Museum," 12, 481. In any case it dates from
+the end of the first or the second century of our reckoning.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_499_499" id="Footnote_499_499"></a><a href="#FNanchor_499_499"><span class="label">[499]</span></a> Thuc. 2, 13, and the Scholia.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_500_500" id="Footnote_500_500"></a><a href="#FNanchor_500_500"><span class="label">[500]</span></a> Diod. 2, 8.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_501_501" id="Footnote_501_501"></a><a href="#FNanchor_501_501"><span class="label">[501]</span></a> Diod. 17, 71.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_502_502" id="Footnote_502_502"></a><a href="#FNanchor_502_502"><span class="label">[502]</span></a> Hence I see no reason for connecting the colours of the turrets
+with the Babylonian star-worship. The only fact in favour of this is
+the black of the second wall; but as the highest turrets exhibited the
+two most precious metals, the others may have received the colours of
+the remaining five, over all of which Kshathra vairya presided, and in
+the order of the Avesta in which silver and copper follow gold, while
+iron and steel end the list. It can hardly be proved that Babylonian
+star-worship had a decisive influence among the Medes at the time of
+Cyaxares. Isaiah xiii. 17 might be quoted against the wealth of
+Ecbatana, but this passage only gives the idea of the writer that the
+Medes would not be bought off by Babylonian money, and abandons the
+destruction of Babylon for the sake of gold. Setting this aside, the
+episodes quoted above show that at the time of Astyages men could
+regret the loss of ancient simplicity in Media, and extol it against the
+gold which had come from Nineveh to Ecbatana, and against the gold
+of Babylon (p. 301). The nation may also have remained in simple
+habits of life however brilliant the royal citadel may have been. Yet
+it has already been observed in the text that at the time of Cyaxares
+and Astyages the upper classes lived in wealth and comfort.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_503_503" id="Footnote_503_503"></a><a href="#FNanchor_503_503"><span class="label">[503]</span></a> Diod. 17, 66, 71; 19, 48; Strabo, p. 731; Plut. "Alex." 72.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_504_504" id="Footnote_504_504"></a><a href="#FNanchor_504_504"><span class="label">[504]</span></a> Strabo, p. 523.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE TRIBES OF THE PERSIANS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The oldest subjects in the Median kingdom were the
+Persians. Their country lay in the south-west corner
+of the table-land of Iran. The heights of the Zagrus,
+which run down to the sea in a south-easterly direction,
+divide it from the ancient kingdom of Elam,
+and the land of the Tigris, just as in the north they
+divide the land of the Medes from the valley of the
+two rivers. The Eastern border of the Persian
+territory was formed, almost down to the coast, by
+the great desert, which fills the centre of Iran; the
+northern boundary towards the land of the Medes
+is marked by the range which the Greeks call Parachoatras;
+the name would be <i>Kuruhvathra</i>, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> very
+brilliant, in Old Persian. The southern boundary of
+Persia was the sea. Nearchus, who sailed along the
+coast of Persia, gives it an extent of 4400 stades, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i>
+550 miles; their land began at the mouth of the
+Oroatis (Old Persian, <i>Aurvaiti</i>, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the swift),<a name="FNanchor_505_505" id="FNanchor_505_505"></a><a href="#Footnote_505_505" class="fnanchor">[505]</a> the
+Tsab, which falls into the Persian Gulf below the
+modern Hindian, and reached to the east almost as
+far as the entrance into this gulf, where it ended
+opposite the island of Colo&euml; (Kishm).<a name="FNanchor_506_506" id="FNanchor_506_506"></a><a href="#Footnote_506_506" class="fnanchor">[506]</a> Euripides<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span>
+contrasts the sun-lit mountain flats of Persia with the
+wintry land of Media and the citadels of Bactria.<a name="FNanchor_507_507" id="FNanchor_507_507"></a><a href="#Footnote_507_507" class="fnanchor">[507]</a>
+According to Strabo the coast of Persia was hot and
+sandy, and, with the exception of some palms, produced
+no fruit. But beyond the coast was a land of
+very great fertility, abounding in lakes and rivers, and
+providing the most excellent pasture. Further to the
+north, the Persian land became cold and mountainous,
+and supported nothing but droves of camels and their
+keepers. Arrian tells us that to the north of the
+coast of Persia the air was temperate, and the land
+traversed by the clearest streams, in addition to which
+there were also lakes; the meadows were grassy and
+well watered, and provided excellent pastures for
+horses and other beasts of draught. The soil produced
+all kinds of fruits and even wine, but not olives. The
+forests were extensive and rich in game, and all kinds
+of water-fowl were to be found there. But further
+to the north the land of the Persians was wintry and
+full of snow.<a name="FNanchor_508_508" id="FNanchor_508_508"></a><a href="#Footnote_508_508" class="fnanchor">[508]</a> What the Greeks relate of the desolation
+of the Persian coast is still applicable; it consists
+of naked sand-flats, broken only by scanty groves of
+palms. Above this coast the soil rises in terraces,
+which are separated from each other by yet higher
+ranges. Further to the north the slopes of the mountains
+provide excellent pastures, till the ground becomes
+more bare as we approach Media, while on the
+east it gradually passes into the great desert of the
+centre. On the mountain terraces and in the depressions
+between them are some favoured lands and valleys.
+The warmth of the southern situation is tempered by
+the elevation of the soil and the winds blowing from
+the sea. This happy climate allows a perpetual
+spring to reign, and increases the fertility which the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span>
+abundant mountain springs produce in such a degree
+that groves of orchard trees, cypresses, and myrtles
+alternate with vineyards and carpets of flowers. The
+beauty of Persia and the fertility of the vegetation is
+concentrated in the valleys of Kazerun, Shiras, and
+Merdasht, which lie in stages one above the other,
+between mountain walls which rise to a height of
+8000 feet. The most extensive and at the same time
+the highest valley is that of Merdasht. It is traversed
+by the Murghab, which brings an abundant supply
+of water from the snow-covered heights in the north-west.
+The upper course is surrounded by steep cones,
+and jagged walls of rock; in the lower part it takes
+another name, and is called the Pulwar. Further
+down, it unites with the Kum-i-Firuz (the Araxes
+of the Greeks), and from this confluence down to the
+mouth in the great lake of Bakhtegan it is known
+as the Bendemir. The Greeks called the Pulwar the
+Medus, and the Bendemir, which is also known as
+the Kur in modern times, they named the Cyrus.<a name="FNanchor_509_509" id="FNanchor_509_509"></a><a href="#Footnote_509_509" class="fnanchor">[509]</a></p>
+
+<p>According to Herodotus the Persians regarded their
+land as of moderate extent, poorly equipped, and
+filled with rocks. In the Books of the Laws which
+are ascribed to Plato, we are told that the Persian
+land is naturally adapted to produce strong shepherds,
+and as they had to watch their flocks night and day,
+they were thus in a position to do good service in war.
+As a fact Persia is a mountainous country; the slopes
+are admirably fitted for cattle breeding, but there is
+little room or encouragement for agriculture. According
+to Xenophon's description, the Persians in ancient
+times were much occupied in the chase, and in riding;
+they only ate once in the day, and at their banquets
+goblets might indeed be seen, but no pitchers of wine.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span>
+Strabo remarks, with reference to a later period, that
+the Persian youth remained long in the open air
+with their flocks, and were eager hunters; when
+thus engaged, their only drink was water, their food
+bread, flesh, and salt. The Greeks with one consent
+describe the Persians of ancient times as simple,
+hardy, self-controlled men, of great endurance and
+martial vigour, with few requirements. They were
+also called "Eaters of Terebinths," in order to mark
+the scantiness of their food: their drink was water;
+and their clothing, coats as well as trousers, were of
+leather.<a name="FNanchor_510_510" id="FNanchor_510_510"></a><a href="#Footnote_510_510" class="fnanchor">[510]</a></p>
+
+<p>The nation of the Persians consisted of various
+tribes. Herodotus gives a special prominence to
+three, on which the rest were dependent. These were
+the Pasargadae, the Maraphians, and the Maspians.
+"Other tribes are the Panthialaei, the Derrusiaei, the
+Germanii, all of which are agricultural; while the remainder,
+the Dai, Mardi, Dropici, and Sagartii are
+Nomads."<a name="FNanchor_511_511" id="FNanchor_511_511"></a><a href="#Footnote_511_511" class="fnanchor">[511]</a> According to this statement six of the
+Persian tribes carried on agriculture, and four were
+pastoral. But the Germanians and Sagartians were
+distinguished from the tribes of the Persians in the
+narrower sense. The Sagartians (A&ccedil;agarta) are spoken
+of in the inscriptions of Darius, and by Herodotus himself
+in other passages, as a separate nation; we have
+already found their country on the western edge of the
+great desert, and observed its character (p. 6). The
+Germanians of Herodotus are the Carmanians of the
+later Greeks, who also passed with them as a separate
+nation, though closely allied to the Persians and Medes.<a name="FNanchor_512_512" id="FNanchor_512_512"></a><a href="#Footnote_512_512" class="fnanchor">[512]</a>
+They wandered to and fro to the east of Persia in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span>
+the district now called Kirman. The number of the
+tribes mentioned by Herodotus would therefore have to
+be reduced to the Pasargadae, Maraphians, Maspians,
+Panthialaeans, Derusiaeans, Dai, Mardi, and Dropici,
+if we did not hear of two others in the inscriptions
+of Darius, the Yutiyas and the Patisuvaris, whose
+names were known to the later Greeks in the form
+Utei and Pateischorei. These later authorities tell us
+also of other Persian tribes: Kyrtians, Rhapaesans,
+Stobaeans, Suzaeans, etc. They also reckon the
+Paraetaci, or Paraetaceni, among the Persians.<a name="FNanchor_513_513" id="FNanchor_513_513"></a><a href="#Footnote_513_513" class="fnanchor">[513]</a> The
+Mardians of Herodotus are also called Amardians by
+later writers, who place them in the West, among the
+mountains which divide Persia from Elam.<a name="FNanchor_514_514" id="FNanchor_514_514"></a><a href="#Footnote_514_514" class="fnanchor">[514]</a> With
+regard to the position of the rest of the tribes, we can
+only ascertain that the Pasargadae occupied the best
+part of the Persian land&mdash;the valley of the Pulwar;
+that the Maraphians<a name="FNanchor_515_515" id="FNanchor_515_515"></a><a href="#Footnote_515_515" class="fnanchor">[515]</a> and the Maspians were their
+neighbours, and the land of the Pateischorei followed
+next after that of the Pasargadae on the eastern
+side, towards Carmania. Besides these three chief
+tribes, the Pasargadae, Maraphians, and Maspians,
+the Persian nation, according to these statements,
+was made up of a considerable number of more or
+less powerful tribes, of whom each one, like the
+chief tribes themselves, must have had a separate
+territory, or, at any rate, a pasture for its flocks.</p>
+
+<p>If the name Parsua could signify Persians, the inscriptions
+of the kings of Asshur would confirm the
+division of the Persians into several tribes. Shalmanesar
+II. tells us, that in the year 833 <small>B.C.</small> he
+received tribute from the heads of the Parsuas, as the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span>
+inscription says: from twenty-seven princes of the
+Parsuas. Afterwards Tiglath Pilesar II. traversed the
+land of the Parsuas and imposed tribute upon them
+(744 <small>B.C.</small>).<a name="FNanchor_516_516" id="FNanchor_516_516"></a><a href="#Footnote_516_516" class="fnanchor">[516]</a> The books of the Hebrews confirm
+Esarhaddon's dominion over Persia, inasmuch as they
+tell us that he settled Persians and Dai (Dahas) in
+Samaria (III. 154).</p>
+
+<p>It must have been in the period of the supremacy
+of Assyria, at the latest in the first half of the seventh
+century <small>B.C.</small>, that the worship of the gods, which the
+Persians shared from all antiquity with their fellow-tribesmen
+on the table-land of Iran, the worship of
+Mithra, Vayu, Anahita, and fire, underwent the change
+which bears the name of Zarathrustra. As we saw
+good reason to assume, the new doctrine first came to
+the Medes from the North-East; from the Medes it
+passed, without doubt, to the Persians. If Herodotus
+places the Magians, or special priestly order, among
+the tribes of the Medes and not among those of the
+Persians, among whom Strabo is the first to mention
+them, the conclusion is, as has been sufficiently
+proved, not that the Persians were without priests
+before and after the reform, but rather that even after
+the reform the priestly families remained in their
+natural unions, and did not form themselves into a
+special tribe (p. 192).</p>
+
+<p>The supremacy of Assyria over the West of Iran
+came to an end when Phraortes united the tribes of
+the Medes under his leadership, and, towards the year
+640 <small>B.C.</small>, undertook to maintain the independence of
+Media against Assurbanipal, the successor of Esarhaddon.
+In this struggle the Persians joined the
+Medes and ranged themselves under them. Herodotus,
+who obviously follows the tradition of the Medes, re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span>presents
+Phraortes as marching against the Persians,
+conquering and subjugating them; according to the
+Persian account, which is preserved in Ctesias, the
+chief of the Medes induced the Persians to revolt
+against the Assyrians, and to join him, by the promise
+that they should remain free under his leadership (III.
+250). The situation of affairs agrees better with the
+second version than with the first. Considering the
+enormous power which Assyria under Assurbanipal
+possessed down to the middle of the seventh century,
+it is hardly probable that Phraortes would have inaugurated
+the recent independence of Media by an
+attack on the Persians, which might, and indeed must,
+drive them into the arms of the Assyrians. It is far
+more probable that the two nations formed a league
+against Assyria. As already observed, the annihilation
+of the kingdom of Elam, which Assurbanipal accomplished
+in the year 645 <small>B.C.</small>, would supply the Persians
+with a strong incentive to unite themselves with the
+kindred and more powerful nation of the Medes.</p>
+
+<p>Of the three tribes of the Pasargadae, Maraphians,
+and Maspians, the most prominent&mdash;so Herodotus tells
+us&mdash;are the Pasargadae.<a name="FNanchor_517_517" id="FNanchor_517_517"></a><a href="#Footnote_517_517" class="fnanchor">[517]</a> To them belongs the race
+of the Ach&aelig;menids, from which sprang the Persian
+kings. In the inscription of Behistun, King Darius
+says: "From old time we were kings; eight of my
+family have been kings (Kshayathiya), I am the
+ninth; from very ancient times we have been kings."<a name="FNanchor_518_518" id="FNanchor_518_518"></a><a href="#Footnote_518_518" class="fnanchor">[518]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span>
+He enumerates his ancestors: "My father was Vista&ccedil;pa,
+the father of Vista&ccedil;pa was Arsama, the father
+of Arsama was Ariyaramna, the father of Ariyaramna
+was Khaispis, the father of Khaispis was Hakhamanis;
+hence we are called Hakhamanisiya (Ach&aelig;menids)."
+In these words Darius gives the tree of his own family
+up to Khaispis; this was the younger branch of the
+Ach&aelig;menids. Teispes, the son of Ach&aelig;menes, had
+two sons; the elder was Cambyses (Kambujiya), the
+younger Ariamnes; the son of Cambyses was Cyrus
+(Kurus), the son of Cyrus was Cambyses II.<a name="FNanchor_519_519" id="FNanchor_519_519"></a><a href="#Footnote_519_519" class="fnanchor">[519]</a> Hence
+Darius could indeed maintain, that eight princes of
+his family had preceded him; but it was not correct
+to maintain that they had been kings before him,
+and that he was the ninth king.<a name="FNanchor_520_520" id="FNanchor_520_520"></a><a href="#Footnote_520_520" class="fnanchor">[520]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In this series of the ancestors of Darius we find
+names belonging not only to the East of Iran, but
+also to the Arians of India. The name Cambyses
+(Kambujiya) points to the Cambojas, a nation which
+we found in the north-west of India (IV. 249); the
+name Cyrus (Kurus) to the ancestors of the ancient
+princely race who founded the first great empire in the
+land of the Ganges on the upper course of the river,
+whose contest with and overthrow by the Pandus is
+celebrated by the Indian epic, while the name Vista&ccedil;pa
+repeats the name of the King of Bactria, whom the
+prayers of the Avesta extol as the protector of Zarathrustra
+(p. 132). Of Ach&aelig;menes we are told that
+an eagle nourished him;<a name="FNanchor_521_521" id="FNanchor_521_521"></a><a href="#Footnote_521_521" class="fnanchor">[521]</a> a prophet of the Hebrews
+calls Cyrus "the eagle;" we know the importance
+which the Avesta ascribes to the two eagles of the
+sky, and the modern Persian epic to Simurgh; and we
+have seen that the standard of the Ach&aelig;menids was
+an eagle (p. 173). Hence from this notice we may
+with certainty conclude that the tradition of the
+Persians ascribed to this ancestor of their kings a
+youth distinguished by the favour of heaven.</p>
+
+<p>As Cambyses the father of Cyrus is a contemporary
+of Astyages of Media, Teispes the father of Cambyses
+must be reckoned a contemporary of Cyaxares, and
+Ach&aelig;menes, the father of Teispes, as a contemporary
+of Phraortes.<a name="FNanchor_522_522" id="FNanchor_522_522"></a><a href="#Footnote_522_522" class="fnanchor">[522]</a> We must therefore assume either
+that Ach&aelig;menes was at the head of the Persians, at
+the time when they joined Media, or that he was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span>
+established by Phraortes as the chief of Persia and
+his vassal-king, and that his throne passed with the
+duties of vassalage to his descendants Teispes and
+Cambyses. It is not very probable that the traditions
+of the Persians should have accorded signs of divine
+favour to the youth of a man, who had been placed
+over them after their subjugation as viceroy of Media.
+Moreover, we find among the Persians, according to
+this tradition, a form of constitution, such as a Median
+viceroy would hardly have established, even for
+the object of overthrowing the Median power. The
+race of the Ach&aelig;menids belonged to the tribe of
+the Pasargadae; we may therefore assume that
+Ach&aelig;menes was the first to become chief of this tribe.</p>
+
+<p>Aeschylus enumerates the seven men who stand at
+the side of the king of the Persians.<a name="FNanchor_523_523" id="FNanchor_523_523"></a><a href="#Footnote_523_523" class="fnanchor">[523]</a> Josephus says
+that the "seven houses" of the Persians had named
+Darius as king. As a fact we see that when Darius,
+after the extinction of the older line of the descendants
+of Ach&aelig;menes, sets himself to ascend the throne,
+six men stand at his side, whom Herodotus distinguishes
+as the "first of the Persians." The Laws
+ascribed to Plato say that the empire was then
+divided into seven parts between Darius and the Six,
+and that a relic of this division was still in existence.<a name="FNanchor_524_524" id="FNanchor_524_524"></a><a href="#Footnote_524_524" class="fnanchor">[524]</a>
+In regard to the privileges of the Six and their
+descendants we find that they consisted in the right
+of free access to the king, and that the king could
+choose his chief wife only from their families;<a name="FNanchor_525_525" id="FNanchor_525_525"></a><a href="#Footnote_525_525" class="fnanchor">[525]</a> the
+descendants of the Six had also the right to wear the
+head-dress of the king, the upright <i>kidaris</i>, which was
+the symbol of royal dignity. In the kingdom of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span>
+Sassanids, we find seven hereditary princes under the
+king; these princes, like the king, wear crowns, but
+their crowns are lower than that of the king; the "sons
+of the houses," <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the members of these seven families,
+form the highest rank of the nobility. Hence in these
+six chieftains of the Persians standing at the side of and
+beneath the seventh, who is the prince of the Pasargadae,
+we may suppose that we have the princes of the
+remaining tribes.<a name="FNanchor_526_526" id="FNanchor_526_526"></a><a href="#Footnote_526_526" class="fnanchor">[526]</a> And in respect of the privileges
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span>of the six co-chieftains in the kingdom of the Ach&aelig;menids
+we may assume that they originally occupied
+a position close to the king, and formed the council
+and court of the chief tribal prince. These privileges
+the Greeks ascribe to the services which the Six
+rendered at the time when Darius ascended the
+throne. But as the seven houses existed before, and
+the Six had previously been "the first of the Persians,"
+their privileged position must have been of an older
+date; it must have been introduced by Cyrus or be
+of even more remote origin. It is not probable that
+such a mighty warrior prince as Cyrus would, after
+the reduction of the Medes, impose limitations on his
+power by sharing the symbols of royalty and hereditary
+privileges. According to the narrative of Herodotus,
+Cyrus does not simply command the Persians
+to take up arms against the Medes, but he assembles
+the tribes, and ascertains their feeling. In considering
+the peculiar position of these six families we may
+certainly assume, that under the ancestors of Cyrus
+there were chiefs among the Persians with whom
+the Ach&aelig;menids had to deal. If the Ach&aelig;menids
+were the heads of the tribe of the Pasargadae, the
+other tribes would have chiefs also. Yet we only
+hear of "six princes" besides the Ach&aelig;menids,
+though we have seen that the number of the Persian
+tribes was considerably more than seven.</p>
+
+<p>Following the indications thus given, we may
+sketch the course of events as follows. When
+Ach&aelig;menes had acquired the headship of the tribe
+of the Pasargadae, he must have combined the two
+neighbouring tribes, the Maraphians and Maspians,
+whom Herodotus classes with the Pasargadae as the
+most important among the Persians, into closer
+union, perhaps by some understanding with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span>
+chiefs. Supported by these three tribes, who possessed
+the favoured regions of Kazerun, Shiras, and Merdasht,
+Ach&aelig;menes must then have subjugated the
+remainder to his power. Herodotus told us above
+that the remaining tribes depended on the three
+mentioned. They must, therefore, have been combined
+into larger groups, and in fact into four
+communities. To the chiefs who became the heads
+of these new combinations, a position must have been
+accorded similar to that enjoyed by the Maraphians
+and Maspians beside Ach&aelig;menes&mdash;above all, the right
+to bequeath the chieftainship to their descendants.
+When the chiefs of the Persians, now seven in number,
+mutually guaranteed to each other their position,
+the foundation was laid of a community of interests,
+and thus of a community of the Persian nation.
+That the princes of the four new combinations of
+tribes belonged to those tribes, and not to the three
+first, is proved by the inscription of Darius at Naksh-i-Rustem,
+where one of the princes of the date of
+Darius is called a Pateischorean. In some such way
+as this Ach&aelig;menes may have brought about the
+union of the Persian tribes, and at the same time
+have obtained the leadership of them. His position
+thus rested essentially on the relation of the prince
+of the Pasargadae to the other six tribal princes, a
+relation of which we find no trace in the Medes.
+That the number seven was normal for the combinations
+of the tribes we may ascribe to the influence
+of the recently-introduced doctrine of Zarathrustra,
+of which we found echoes in the legend of Ach&aelig;menes.</p>
+
+<p>Ach&aelig;menes and his race after him must have had
+their dwelling in the canton of the tribe to which
+they belonged, at the place of assembly of the Pasargadae,
+the chief town, which bore the name of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span>
+tribe. Supported by this tribe, Ach&aelig;menes succeeded
+in uniting the people; on it and the neighbouring
+Marapheans and Maspians depended the importance
+of the Ach&aelig;menids. Strabo calls Pasargadae the
+ancient seat, and with Persepolis the patriarchal
+abode of the Persian kings,<a name="FNanchor_527_527" id="FNanchor_527_527"></a><a href="#Footnote_527_527" class="fnanchor">[527]</a> and here, on ascending
+the throne, they were consecrated. Here Cyrus deposited
+his treasures; here he found his last resting-place.
+We must look for this place in "Hollow
+Persia," as the Greeks call it, in the plain of Merdasht,
+to the east of the later Istakhr, the city of the Sassanids,
+below the confluence of the Medus and Cyrus
+(<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the Pulwar and Kum-i-Firuz) in the land of
+the Bendemir.<a name="FNanchor_528_528" id="FNanchor_528_528"></a><a href="#Footnote_528_528" class="fnanchor">[528]</a></p>
+
+<p>When Ach&aelig;menes had united the tribes of the
+Persians by means of the new hereditary chieftainships,
+and got into his hands the supreme power with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span>
+the co-operation of the six princes in council and
+jurisdiction, he joined the king of the Medes, who
+had also united the tribes of his people, soon after the
+year 645 <small>B.C.</small>, as we were compelled to assume, for
+common defence against Assyria. Being weaker than
+the Median king, he ranged himself under his leadership
+and power, agreed to follow him in war, and
+accepted the position of his general and vassal. The
+relation must have been similar to that which Firdusi
+represents as existing between his kings and the
+princes of Sejestan (p. 252). In this combination the
+Persians shared the dangers of the war against king
+Assurbanipal, and the defeat of Phraortes, no less
+than the defeat of Cyaxares by the Scythians; on the
+other hand, they were the comrades of Cyaxares in his
+struggles against the Lydians, and in his victory over
+Assyria, while they took an active part in the annihilation
+of Nineveh. At the same time we may assume
+that this dependent position became more strongly
+marked as the power of Media increased, and we may
+believe Herodotus that their soldiers joined in subjugating
+the other tribes of the table-land of Iran, and
+marched with the armies of the Medes to the wars
+which Cyaxares carried on in the East. The episode
+of Parsondes exhibits a Persian at the court, in the
+council, and in the army of the Median king; and
+the position of the Persians under the successors of
+Ach&aelig;menes, Teispes, and Cambyses, must have closely
+resembled the position of the other nations subject
+to the Median power. Cyaxares and his successor
+Astyages would have regarded Teispes and Cambyses
+merely as their viceroys over Persia, though they did
+not disturb the succession in the tribe of Ach&aelig;menes.
+If Darius still calls all his ancestors kings, and extends
+this title to his father, grandfather, and great-grand<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span>father,
+who were not viceroys, that is merely the
+custom and view of the East; even under the great
+king, the King of kings, a vassal is still a king. The
+hereditary viceroys of Persia under the Arsacids, one
+and all, put the title "king" on their coins. When
+Papek, and Ardeshir after him, had taken their place,
+they call themselves kings; Ardeshir, the founder of
+the dominion of the Sassanids, designates himself as
+"king," "king of the divine stock," even before he
+has overthrown his own king, Artabanus, the Arsacid.
+As the youth of Ach&aelig;menes is ennobled in the
+older tradition, so later legends surrounded the life of
+the progenitor of the Sassanids with premonitory
+indications.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_505_505" id="Footnote_505_505"></a><a href="#FNanchor_505_505"><span class="label">[505]</span></a> Burnouf, "Commentaire sur le Ya&ccedil;na," p. 251.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_506_506" id="Footnote_506_506"></a><a href="#FNanchor_506_506"><span class="label">[506]</span></a> Arrian, "Ind." 38-40; Strabo, p. 727, 728, 738; Plin. "H.
+N." 6, 26; cf. Ptol. 6, 4, 1.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_507_507" id="Footnote_507_507"></a><a href="#FNanchor_507_507"><span class="label">[507]</span></a> "Bacch." 14-16.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_508_508" id="Footnote_508_508"></a><a href="#FNanchor_508_508"><span class="label">[508]</span></a> Arrian, "Ind." 40.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_509_509" id="Footnote_509_509"></a><a href="#FNanchor_509_509"><span class="label">[509]</span></a> Spiegel, "Eran," 2, 260.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_510_510" id="Footnote_510_510"></a><a href="#FNanchor_510_510"><span class="label">[510]</span></a> Herod. 9, 122, 1, 171; Nicol. Damasc. fragm. 66, ed. M&uuml;ller;
+Xenophon, "Cyri instit." 6, 2, 22; 8, 8, 5-12; Plato, "Legg." p.
+695; Strabo, p. 734.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_511_511" id="Footnote_511_511"></a><a href="#FNanchor_511_511"><span class="label">[511]</span></a> Herod. 1, 125.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_512_512" id="Footnote_512_512"></a><a href="#FNanchor_512_512"><span class="label">[512]</span></a> Strabo, p. 727.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_513_513" id="Footnote_513_513"></a><a href="#FNanchor_513_513"><span class="label">[513]</span></a> Above, p. 270. Strabo, p. 728, 730; Ptol. 6, 4.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_514_514" id="Footnote_514_514"></a><a href="#FNanchor_514_514"><span class="label">[514]</span></a> Arrian, "Ind." 40; Strabo, p. 727.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_515_515" id="Footnote_515_515"></a><a href="#FNanchor_515_515"><span class="label">[515]</span></a> Aeschylus speaks of a Maraphis among the kings of the Persians,
+"Pers." 778.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_516_516" id="Footnote_516_516"></a><a href="#FNanchor_516_516"><span class="label">[516]</span></a> Above, p. 282.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_517_517" id="Footnote_517_517"></a><a href="#FNanchor_517_517"><span class="label">[517]</span></a> The place has the same name as the tribe; Pasargadae cannot
+in any case mean "Persian camp," as Anaximenes maintains in
+Stephanus. Oppert believes that he has discovered in the Pisiyauvada
+of the inscription of Behistun the original form of the name Pasargadae,
+which is the Greek form of the Persian word. Pisiyauvada
+(<i>paisi gauvuda</i>) means "valley of springs;" "Peuple des Medes," p.
+110.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_518_518" id="Footnote_518_518"></a><a href="#FNanchor_518_518"><span class="label">[518]</span></a> So Rawlinson and Spiegel. E. Schrader translates III. of the
+Babylonian version: "From old from the fathers we were kings."
+<i>Abutav</i> appears as a fact to leave no doubt about this sense. Oppert
+now translates <i>duvitataranam</i> (IV. of the Persian text) by twice,
+<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> in two epochs we were kings: "Rec. of the Past," 7, 88; but his
+previous translation, "in two tribes" (<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> in the older and younger
+line), we were kings, exactly corresponds to the facts.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_519_519" id="Footnote_519_519"></a><a href="#FNanchor_519_519"><span class="label">[519]</span></a> The list of the Ach&aelig;menids, which we obtain from a comparison
+of Herodotus (6, 11), and the inscription of Behistun 1, 3-8, is as
+follows:</p>
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Ach&aelig;menes (Hakhamanis).</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><b>|</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Teispes (Khaispis).</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><b>|</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><b>|</b></td><td align='center'><b>|</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>(Kambujiya) Cambyses.</td><td align='center'>Ariamnes (Ariyaramna).</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><b>|</b></td><td align='center'><b>|</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>(Kurus) Cyrus.</td><td align='center'>Arsames (Arsama).</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><b>|</b></td><td align='center'><b>|</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>(Kambujiya) Cambyses.</td><td align='center'>Hystaspes (Vista&ccedil;pa).</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'></td><td align='center'><b>|</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'></td><td align='center'>Darius (Darayavus).</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_520_520" id="Footnote_520_520"></a><a href="#FNanchor_520_520"><span class="label">[520]</span></a> If Darius calls himself the ninth Ach&aelig;menid, Xerxes also in
+Herodotus enumerates nine Ach&aelig;menids as his predecessors, in which
+enumeration, it is true, Cambyses occurs but once, while Teispes is
+twice mentioned, once as the ancestor of the older line, and then as
+the ancestor of the younger. On a broken cylinder which has just
+been brought from Babylon by Rassam, the genealogy of Cyrus is said
+to be given thus: Ach&aelig;menes, Teispes, Cyrus, Cambyses, Cyrus,&mdash;so
+the journals tell us. In this the older line has one member more as
+against the younger. Till the cylinder is published we must keep to
+the inscription of Behistun and Herodotus.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_521_521" id="Footnote_521_521"></a><a href="#FNanchor_521_521"><span class="label">[521]</span></a> Aelian, "Hist. Anim." 12, 21.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_522_522" id="Footnote_522_522"></a><a href="#FNanchor_522_522"><span class="label">[522]</span></a> Cyrus is said to have been forty years old in 558 <small>B.C.</small>, so that he
+must have been born in 598 <small>B.C.</small>, from which it follows that his father
+Cambyses was born in 620 at the latest. Astyages was married in 610,
+and must therefore have been born about 630 <small>B.C.</small></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_523_523" id="Footnote_523_523"></a><a href="#FNanchor_523_523"><span class="label">[523]</span></a> "Persae," 956-960.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_524_524" id="Footnote_524_524"></a><a href="#FNanchor_524_524"><span class="label">[524]</span></a> Joseph. "Antiq." 11, 2; Herod. 3, 77; Plat. "Legg." p. 695.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_525_525" id="Footnote_525_525"></a><a href="#FNanchor_525_525"><span class="label">[525]</span></a> Herod. 3, 84.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_526_526" id="Footnote_526_526"></a><a href="#FNanchor_526_526"><span class="label">[526]</span></a> This highest rank of nobility is called <i>waspur</i> in Pehlevi, and <i>bar
+bithan</i> is Aramaic. The book of Esther mentions the seven princes of
+the Persians and Medes, "who may behold the countenance of the
+king and have the first place in the kingdom," i. 14. The names of the
+six who aided Darius in slaying Gaumata, as given in Herodotus, agree
+with the inscription of Behistun, with the exception of one name.
+Herodotus gives Aspathines for the Ardumanis of Darius. The list of
+Ctesias is wholly different. If we examine them more closely we find
+that Ctesias has given the names of the sons of the comrades of Darius
+for the comrades themselves. Instead of Gobryas he puts Mardonius
+the son of Gobryas, instead of Otanes Anaphes (so we must read the
+name Onophes); Anaphes, according to Herod. 7, 62, is the son of
+Otanes. The name Hydarnes agrees with the inscription and with
+Herodotus, but the son of Hydarnes had the same name as his father
+(Herod. 7, 83, 211). The Barisses of Ctesias must be the eldest son of
+Intaphernes whom Darius allowed to live; he was called after his
+grandfather, Vaya&ccedil;para, as was often the case with the Persians. The
+Ariarathes, who afterwards governed Cappadocia, claimed to have
+sprung from Anaphes, whom Darius made satrap or king of Cappadocia.
+Anaphes was succeeded by a son of the same name; after him
+came Datames, Ariamnes, Ariarathes I., who governed Cappadocia at
+the time of Artaxerxes Ochus; his son Ariathes II. crucified Perdiccas
+in the year 322 <small>B.C.</small> when he had conquered him, though an old man
+of 82 years; Droysen, "Hellenismus," 2<sup>2</sup>, 95. The Norondobates in
+Ctesias I cannot explain, unless we ought to read Rhodobates. Mithridates,
+who in Xenophon's time had been governor of Lycaonia from
+about 420 <small>B.C.</small>, is called a son of Rhodobates (Diog. Laert. 3, 25), and
+his father and grandfather are said to have been viceroys of Pontus.
+The ancestor would be one of the seven, to whom the kingdom of
+Pontus was given for his services; Polyb. 5, 43. Mithridates Eupator
+calls himself the sixteenth after Darius; Appian, "Bell. Mith." c.
+112; cf. Justin, 38, 7. These quotations will be sufficient to show
+that the rank of the six tribal princes of the Persians, like that of the
+chief princes, was originally hereditary, as the governorships left to
+their descendants outside Persia must have remained in their families.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_527_527" id="Footnote_527_527"></a><a href="#FNanchor_527_527"><span class="label">[527]</span></a> p. 728, 729.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_528_528" id="Footnote_528_528"></a><a href="#FNanchor_528_528"><span class="label">[528]</span></a> Strabo, p. 729, puts Pasargadae on the Cyrus. Stephanus
+(&#928;&#945;&#963;&#963;&#945;&#961;&#947;&#940;&#948;&#945;&#953;)
+following Anaximenes of Lampsacus, represents Pasargadae as
+first built by Cyrus; so Curt. 5, 11: Cyrus Pasargadum urbem condiderat.
+It cannot be doubted that Cyrus built there, and Alexander,
+according to Arrian (3, 18), found there the treasures of Cyrus. Strabo
+also tells us that Cyrus built the city and citadel, p. 730. From the
+accounts of the march of Alexander from Persepolis to Pasargadae,
+and from his return from the Indus to Pasargadae and Persepolis, it
+is clear that Pasargadae lay to the east or south-east of Persepolis. If
+Pasargadae is placed at Murghab, the only reason is the statement
+that the grave of Cyrus was at Pasargadae, and this grave has been
+identified with the pyramid of Murghab, in the immediate proximity
+of which a relief exhibits the picture of Cyrus. But the portrait of
+Cyrus there is very different from the portrait of Darius and his
+successors on the tombs at Rachmed, and Naksh-i-Rustem; and the
+building at Murghab may have served another purpose. According to
+Pliny ("H. N." 6, 26, 29) we ought to look for Pasargadae to the
+south of Lake Bakhtegan, near Fasa, or Darabgerd; flumen Sitioganus,
+quo Pasargadas septimo die navigatur. Sitioganus is the
+modern Sitaragan. Ptolemy puts Pasargadae in the neighbourhood of
+Caramania, and Oppert therefore identifies it with the ruins of Tell-i-Zohak
+near Fasa, and looks for the mountain Paraga of the inscriptions
+in the modern Forg: "Journal Asiat." 1872, p. 549.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE FALL OF THE MEDIAN KINGDOM.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Cyaxares was succeeded by his son Astyages on
+the throne of the Medes"&mdash;such is the narrative of
+Herodotus&mdash;"and the latter had a daughter named
+Mandane. Once he saw his daughter in a dream, and
+water came from her in such quantities that all Asia
+was inundated. This vision Astyages laid before the
+interpreters of dreams, among the Magians, and their
+interpretation alarmed him. To guard against the
+event portended, he gave his daughter, who was
+already of marriageable age, to none of the Medes
+of suitable rank, but to a Persian of the name of
+Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, who was of a good
+family, but quiet in disposition; he regarded him as
+of less account than a Mede of the middle class.
+Mandane had not been married a year when Astyages
+had a second vision; from his daughter's womb there
+grew up a vine-tree which overshadowed all Asia.
+This dream also he laid before the interpreters, and
+caused his daughter, who was with child, to be brought
+from the land of the Persians and be kept under
+watch; his intention was to kill the child, which, as
+the Magians said, was destined to reign in his place.
+When Mandane bore a son, Astyages sent for Harpagus,
+a man akin to the royal household,<a name="FNanchor_529_529" id="FNanchor_529_529"></a><a href="#Footnote_529_529" class="fnanchor">[529]</a> the most faithful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span>
+of his servants, in whose care he trusted on all occasions,
+and bade him take Mandane's child to his house
+and there kill it, and bury it, in whatever way he
+chose. When the boy was given to him, dressed as if
+for a funeral, Harpagus went in tears to his house,
+told his wife the orders of Astyages, and declared that
+he would not be the perpetrator of this murder even
+though Astyages should lose his reason more utterly
+than at present, and fall into worse madness: 'the
+child is akin to me; Astyages is old and without male
+heirs, if the throne passes to the daughter, whose
+child he is now putting to death by my hands,
+I shall find myself in the greatest danger. Inasmuch
+as my present safety demands it the child must
+die. But the murder must be done by one of the
+people of Astyages, not by any one of mine.' Without
+delay he sent a messenger to one of the cowherds
+of the king, Mithradates by name, whose pastures
+lay on mountains to the north of Ecbatana, where
+wild beasts are numerous. When the herdman came
+he found the whole house of Harpagus filled with
+lamentation, and saw a struggling and screaming
+child adorned with gold and variegated robes, and
+Harpagus said to him: 'Astyages commands you
+to expose this child on the most desolate mountains,
+in order that it may die as quickly as possible.'
+The herdman believed that the child belonged
+to one of the household of Harpagus, and took it, but
+from the servant who accompanied him out of the
+city he ascertained that it was the child of Mandane
+and Cambyses. Returning to his hut, he found that
+his wife Spako (the Medes call a dog Spako) had just
+brought forth a dead child, and when she saw the well-grown
+and beautiful child which her husband showed
+her, she clasped his knees in tears, and entreated him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span>
+not to expose it, but to take away her dead child in
+its place, and bring it up as her own son:<a name="FNanchor_530_530" id="FNanchor_530_530"></a><a href="#Footnote_530_530" class="fnanchor">[530]</a> Thus doing
+you will not be guilty of wrong towards your master;
+the dead child will receive a splendid funeral, and the
+other will not lose his life. The herdman took his
+wife's advice, and did as she bade him. He placed his
+own dead child in the basket, put on him all the
+ornaments of the other, and placed him on the wildest
+mountain. Three days after he told Harpagus that
+he was ready to show him the corpse of the child.
+Harpagus sent the most trustworthy of his bodyguard,
+and buried the herdman's child. But the herdman's
+wife brought up the other child, and gave him some
+other name than Cyrus, by which he was afterwards
+called. When he was ten years old an incident
+happened which caused him to be known. He was
+playing with his comrades, in the village in which the
+herdman lived, in the street, and his playfellows had
+chosen him whom they considered the herdman's son
+to be king. He assigned to every one his work, and
+bade one build houses, and another to be a lance-bearer;
+one he made 'the king's eye,' and another
+'the bearer of his messages.' Among the boys who
+were playing with him was the son of Artembares, a
+man of high rank in Media. This boy failed to do
+what Cyrus ordered; and Cyrus bade the others take
+him, and whipped him severely. The boy hastened to
+the city and complained to his father of the treatment
+he had received from the son of the cowherd. His
+father took him to the king and showed his son's
+shoulders, and said: 'This insult we have received
+from thy servant, the son of the cowherd.' Astyages
+summoned Mithradates and his son. When Astyages<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span>
+asked the latter how he dared so to insult the son of
+a man in such high favour with the king as Artembares,
+the lad maintained that he was right in acting
+as he did, but if he was to blame he was ready to
+bear the penalty.  Astyages was surprised by the
+likeness of the boy to his own family, and the freedom
+of his reply. After applying the torture to Mithradates,
+he soon discovered the truth. He was more
+enraged at Harpagus than at Mithradates, but concealed
+his resentment. When Harpagus at his request
+had acknowledged what he had done, Astyages said:
+'The boy was alive, and all that had been done was
+well. Let Harpagus send his own son to join the
+new-comer, and also come himself to the banquet.' As
+soon as the son of Harpagus, a boy of thirteen years,
+was in the palace, Astyages caused him to be slain,
+and the dismembered limbs were boiled and roasted,
+while the head, hands, and feet, were put in a covered
+basket. At the banquet Harpagus was served with
+the flesh of his own son, while the other guests ate
+the flesh of sheep.  When Harpagus had eaten,
+Astyages inquired whether he had enjoyed the meal,
+and when he replied that he had enjoyed it greatly,
+the servants of the king brought him the basket, bade
+him uncover it and take what he would. Harpagus
+controlled himself, and said that whatever the king
+did was best. Then Astyages took counsel with the
+Magians who had interpreted the dreams: they were
+to consider everything, and give him the advice best
+for himself and his house. The Magians declared that
+they had it much at heart that the dominion of Astyages
+should continue; for if the throne passed to the
+boy who was a Persian, the Medes would be governed
+by others, 'but if thou remainest king we are rulers in
+our degree, and have great honour from thee.' But as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span>
+the boy had already been king in the game, the dream
+was fulfilled; the king might send him back to Persia
+to his parents. Astyages did so. When Cyrus came
+to the house of Cambyses, his parents received him
+with great joy, when they found who he was, since
+they believed that he was already dead, and desired
+to know how he had been preserved. He told them
+that he had been supposed to be the son of the
+cowherd, but on the way he had ascertained everything
+from the convoy which Astyages had sent with
+him. He related how the wife of the herdman had
+brought him up, and praised her much, and Spako
+(the dog) was always on his lips. His parents seized
+on the name in order that the preservation of the
+boy might appear to be the work of the gods, and
+laid the foundation for the legend that a dog had
+suckled Cyrus when exposed."</p>
+
+<p>"When Cyrus came to manhood and was the
+bravest and best-beloved of his comrades, Harpagus
+sought to win him by presents with a view to vengeance
+on Astyages, for he regarded the injury done to
+Cyrus as no less than that done to himself. He
+had already prepared his revenge. As Astyages was
+severe towards the Medes, he had secretly persuaded
+the chief men among them, one by one, that an end
+must be put to the rule of Astyages, and that Cyrus
+must be raised to the throne. When this was done
+and all was ready, he wished to discover his views to
+Cyrus, who was then in Persia. As the roads were
+guarded, he invented the following stratagem: he
+prepared a hare by cutting open the belly without
+further injury to the skin, inserted a letter, and then
+again closed the opening. This hare he gave with
+some nets to the most faithful of his slaves, and sent
+him, as though he were a hunter, to Persia, with a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span>
+command to take the hare to Cyrus, and at the same
+time to tell him that he must open it himself and
+let no one be present at the time. Cyrus opened the
+hare, and found written: 'Son of Cambyses, the gods
+regard thee with favour, or thou hadst not attained to
+such good fortune. Avenge thy death on Astyages,
+for dead thou art in his intention; it is through the
+gods and me that thou livest. Long ago thou hast
+learnt all that befell thee, and what I have suffered at
+the hands of the king because I did not slay thee, but
+gave thee to the cowherd. If thou wilt follow my
+counsel, thou shalt rule over all the land over which
+Astyages was ruler. Persuade the Persians to revolt,
+and march against Media, and if I or any other chief
+man among the Medes is appointed by Astyages to
+lead the army against thee, all will be as thou wilt.
+They will revolt from the king, and by passing over
+to thee attempt to dethrone him. All is ready here;
+act therefore, and act quickly.'</p>
+
+<p>"Cyrus considered in what way he could best
+persuade the Persians to revolt, and when he discovered
+what he believed to be the best plan, he
+wrote down his intentions in a letter and summoned
+an assembly of the Persians. In their presence he
+opened the letter, and read out, that Astyages had
+appointed him general of the Persians; then he
+added: 'I command that every one of you appear with
+a sickle.' And when they were all assembled, furnished
+with sickles, Cyrus bade them clear a bushy tract of
+land about twenty stades in length and breadth, and
+make it fit for cultivation in a single day. When
+they had done this, he bade them assemble on the
+next day; every one was to come bathed. Then he
+caused all the goats, sheep, and oxen of his father to
+be got together, slaughtered and dressed, and prepared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span>
+in addition wine and other excellent food, and entertained
+the whole of the Persians in a meadow; after
+the meal he asked them which they preferred, the
+entertainment of that day, or the work of the day
+before? They replied that the difference was great:
+yesterday they had nothing that was good, to-day
+nothing that was bad. Cyrus took up this reply, and
+discovered his aims, saying: 'O Persians, thus it is
+with you. If ye will follow me, ye shall have these
+blessings and many others, without any service; if
+ye will not, ye will have troubles without number
+like those of yesterday. Follow me, and ye will be
+free. I believe that I was born by the favour of
+heaven to take this work in hand, and I do not count
+you as less than the Medes, in war or any other
+service. Since this is so, revolt at once from Astyages.'
+The Persians were quite ready to liberate themselves;
+they only required a leader, and had long borne the
+yoke of the Medes with dissatisfaction."</p>
+
+<p>"When Astyages found what Cyrus had done, he
+summoned him into his presence by a messenger.
+Cyrus bade the messenger reply that he would come
+before Astyages wished. Then the king armed all the
+Medes, and, as though blinded by the gods, he named
+Harpagus as general, entirely forgetting the injury he
+had done to him. When the Medes and Persians
+met, some of the Medes, who were not in the conspiracy
+fought, but the greater part made no resistance
+and fled. Thus the Median army was shamefully
+put to rout. But Astyages threatened Cyrus and
+said, that even so he should not accomplish his
+purpose. The interpreters of dreams among the
+magicians who had advised him to let Cyrus go he
+impaled, and then armed all who had remained in the
+city, young and old, and led them out. He was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span>
+defeated, lost those whom he commanded, and was
+himself taken captive. Harpagus spoke harsh words
+to him, and asked how he liked slavery instead of
+monarchy with reference to that banquet. Astyages
+replied by asking, whether the insurrection was his
+own work or that of Cyrus. Harpagus answered that
+he had written the letter, and the insurrection was
+therefore his doing. Then Astyages said that he was
+the most foolish and unjust of men; the most foolish
+because when he might have been king, if what had
+been done had been his doing, he had given up his
+power to another; the most unjust because in revenge
+for that banquet he had brought the Medes into
+slavery; if the throne must pass to another it would
+be more just that it should go to a Mede than a
+Persian, but now the innocent Medes were slaves
+instead of masters, and the Persians, who had previously
+been the servants of the Medes, were their
+masters. Thus Astyages lost the throne, after a reign
+of thirty-five years, and in consequence of his cruelty
+the Medes became subject to the Persians. Cyrus
+did no injury to Astyages, but kept him with him till
+his death."</p>
+
+<p>In the Persian history of Ctesias the narrative of
+the fall of Astyages occupied more than one book.
+But we only know that it contradicted the story of
+Herodotus, that the daughter of Astyages was not
+called Mandane but Amytis, that she was married to
+the Median Spitamas, not to the Persian Cambyses,
+and that it was not the Median Harpagus but the
+Persian Oebares who was Cyrus' counsellor.<a name="FNanchor_531_531" id="FNanchor_531_531"></a><a href="#Footnote_531_531" class="fnanchor">[531]</a> The
+loss of these books of Ctesias is compensated by a
+fragment of Nicolaus of Damascus, which seems to
+give the narrative in a compressed form. It is only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span>
+in a few unimportant points at the close that the
+fragment differs from the excerpt of Ctesias which has
+come down to us.</p>
+
+<p>"Astyages," so we are told in Nicolaus, "was the
+noblest king of the Medes after Arbaces. In his reign
+occurred the great revolution by which the dominion
+passed from the Medes to the Persians; and the cause
+was as follows:&mdash;It was a law among the Medes that
+a poor man who went to a rich man to gain a livelihood,
+and gave himself up to him, should be fed and
+clothed and kept as a slave; if the rich man did not
+do his duty in this respect, the poor man might go on
+to another. In this way a boy named Cyrus, a Mardian
+by birth, came to the servant of the king who was
+placed over the sweepers of the palace. He was the
+son of Atradates, whose poverty forced him to live by
+plunder, and Argoste his mother lived by keeping
+goats. He gave himself up to the servant for bread,
+and assisted in cleaning the palace, and as he was
+industrious the overseer gave him better clothing, and
+brought him from among those who swept outside to
+those who cleaned the interior, and put him under their
+overseer. This man was severe, and often whipped
+Cyrus. Cyrus left him, and went to the lighter of the
+lamps, who showed him kindness, and brought him
+nearer to the king by placing him among those who
+bore the lights. As Cyrus distinguished himself there
+also, he came to Artembares, the chief butler, who
+gave the king his wine. He gladly received Cyrus,
+and allowed him to wait on those who ate at the
+king's table. Ere long Astyages remarked how deftly
+Cyrus waited, and with what a stately air he handed
+the goblets, and asked Artembares whence the youth
+came who waited so well. 'O king,' he replied, 'he
+is thy slave, a Persian by race, of the tribe of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span>
+Mardians, who has given himself over to me in order to
+gain a livelihood.' Artembares was old, and once,
+when suffering from a fever, he entreated the king to
+be allowed to remain at home till he was cured; 'in
+my place the youth, whom thou didst praise, will
+hand the wine, and if he find favour in thy eyes as
+cupbearer, then will I, a eunuch, adopt him as my
+son.' Astyages consented, and Artembares gave much
+advice to Cyrus, as if to his own son. Cyrus now
+stood at the side of the king, and served him by
+day and by night, and showed much good sense and
+skill. And Astyages allowed him as the son of
+Artembares to receive his income, and gave him many
+gifts in addition, and Cyrus became great, and his
+name was heard everywhere."</p>
+
+<p>"Astyages had a very noble and beautiful daughter,
+whom he gave to Spitamas the Mede, adding the
+whole of Media as a dowry. Then Cyrus caused his
+father and mother to come from the land of the
+Medians, and they rejoiced at the greatness of their
+son, and his mother told him the dream which she
+had while he was yet an unborn child. She had
+fallen asleep in the sanctuary when tending her goats,
+and in her dream water flowed from her in such
+quantities that it became a great stream, and inundated
+all Asia, and flowed down to the sea. When
+the father heard this, he ordered the dream to be laid
+before the Chald&aelig;ans in Babylon. Cyrus sent for the
+most skilful of them and laid the dream before him.
+He declared that the dream portended great good
+fortune for Cyrus, and the highest place in Asia;
+Astyages was to know nothing of it, 'otherwise he
+will put you to death in some shameful manner, and
+me also,' the Babylonian said. They mutually swore
+to impart to no one this great and unparalleled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span>
+vision. Cyrus afterwards came to yet greater honours,
+and made his father satrap of Persia, and his
+mother one of the first among the women in Persia
+in wealth and position."</p>
+
+<p>"The Cadusians were at enmity with Astyages.
+Their leader was Onaphernes, who was a traitor to his
+people in the interests of Astyages, and he despatched
+a messenger saying, that he must send a trusty person
+with whom to confer about the surrender. Astyages
+sent Cyrus to arrange everything with Onaphernes,
+bidding him be back again in Ecbatana on the fortieth
+day. The interpreter of dreams urged Cyrus to go to
+the Cadusians, and filled him with confidence. Cyrus,
+who was of a noble and ambitious nature, intended,
+with the help of heaven, to bring the Persians to
+revolt, to attempt the overthrow of Astyages, and
+place confidence in the Babylonian, who was better
+acquainted than others with the will of heaven. They
+consulted with each other; the Babylonian told
+Cyrus that it was destined that he should overthrow
+Astyages and his dominion, he knew this for certain;
+and Cyrus promised the Babylonian that if this turned
+out to be true and he became king, he would make him
+a great reward. Cyrus remembered how Arbaces had
+previously overthrown Sardanapalus, and obtained his
+dominion, and yet the Medes, by whom he was supported,
+were not stronger than the Persians. Arbaces
+was not stronger than himself, and to him, as to
+the other, his fortune had been foretold. With such
+thoughts Cyrus passed the boundaries of the land of
+the Cadusians. Here he was met by a man who had
+been whipped, and carried dung in a basket. Cyrus
+took this for a sign, and inquired of the Babylonian,
+who told him to ask the man who he was and whence
+he came. The man replied that he was a Persian of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span>
+the name of Oebares. Then Cyrus was greatly
+pleased; for Oebares signifies one who brings good
+news. And the Babylonian told Cyrus that the other
+signs were most favourable&mdash;both that he was a
+countryman of Cyrus, and that he was carrying horse-dung,
+which portended dominion and power. Cyrus
+without delay took the man with him."</p>
+
+<p>"Then he came to Onaphernes, and when the
+treachery had been arranged by mutual concessions,
+he set out on the way back to Persia. He had given
+Oebares a horse and Persian clothing, and being convinced
+of his friendly disposition he often conversed
+with him. Once he said: 'How hard it is to see the
+Persians ill-treated by the Medes, and yet they are as
+good as they!' 'O Cyrus,' replied the other, 'there
+is no great-hearted, high-minded man, to put an
+end to the dominion of the Medes over better men
+than themselves.' 'Why should there not be such
+a man?' asked Cyrus. 'Perhaps there is such an
+one,' Oebares replied, 'but want of courage does not
+allow him to do it, though he could.' Cyrus pushed
+his questions further: 'If such a venturesome man
+should appear, how might he accomplish his aim?'
+'The first step,' Oebares answered, 'would be to unite
+with the Cadusians, who would be willing to join him,
+for they love the Persians, and hate the Medes; then
+he must rouse the Persians, who are about 40,000 in
+number, and arm them; their treatment by the Medes
+will prepare them for this. Their land also is most
+suitable, being full of mountains and rocks, and even
+if the Medes should invade it, they will be driven
+back with loss.' Then Cyrus asked: 'Suppose that
+this man should appear, would you join in the danger
+with him?' Oebares replied: 'Most readily, if you
+were the man to take the matter in hand; your father<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span>
+is the ruler of Persia, so that you have the best place
+of refuge, and are the strongest. If not you, who is
+it to be?' As Cyrus saw from this that Oebares was
+a cautious and brave man, who placed all his hopes in
+him, he revealed his plan and consulted him. Oebares
+encouraged him, and gave him good counsel to guide
+him. He urged Cyrus to send to his father Atradates
+and entreat him to arm the Persians, apparently to aid
+the king against the Cadusians, but in truth to revolt
+against Astyages; then he must ask Astyages for
+permission to visit Persia for some days, in order to
+offer the sacrifice which he had vowed for the safety
+of the king, and at the same time for his father
+who was sick. If he obtained his request he must set
+manfully to work; when a man ventures in a great
+enterprise it is no hardship to venture his life, and if
+need be to lose it, for this happens even to those who
+do nothing. Cyrus was pleased at the man's resolute
+frame of mind, and now told him his mother's dream
+and the interpretation of the Babylonian. Oebares
+then inflamed his spirit yet more, but cunning as he
+was, he bade him take care that the Babylonian did
+not tell the dream to the king&mdash;'if you will not
+permit his death, which would be the safest thing.'
+'That be far from me,' said Cyrus. Filled with alarm
+that the Babylonian would betray the dream to
+Astyages, Oebares gave out that according to ancestral
+custom he would offer sacrifice to the goddess of the
+moon at night, and obtained of Cyrus all that he
+required for the purpose&mdash;incense, wine, and pillows&mdash;and
+arranged that Cyrus should take no part in the
+sacrifice. In his tent he dug a deep trench, put thick
+pillows over it, and invited the Babylonian to a
+banquet, and made him intoxicated. When he sank
+down on the pillows, he threw him into the trench,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span>
+and his servants with him. In the morning, Oebares
+went quietly on with Cyrus, who soon inquired for
+the Babylonian. Oebares acknowledged what he had
+done; he could find no other way of escape for Cyrus
+and his children. Cyrus was deeply distressed, and
+even more angry, and would not see Oebares any more,
+but at length he again placed his confidence in him."</p>
+
+<p>"When Cyrus was again with Astyages, Oebares
+reminded him of his advice. Cyrus followed it, sent
+to Persia, and when he found that all was ready, asked
+Astyages, under the pretext that Oebares had suggested,
+for permission to go to Persia. The king would
+not let him go. Then Cyrus betook himself to the
+most trusty of the eunuchs; when a favourable
+moment came, he was to obtain permission for the
+journey to Persia. One day when Cyrus found the
+king in the best of humours and cheered with wine,
+he gave the eunuch a sign, and the latter said to the
+king: 'Cyrus asks to perform the sacrifice, which
+he has vowed for thee in Persia, that thou mightest
+continue gracious to him, and for permission to visit
+his sick father.' The king called for Cyrus, and with
+a smile, gave him permission of absence for five
+months; in the sixth month he was to return. Cyrus
+bowed in gratitude before the king, appointed Tiridates
+as butler to the king during his absence, and
+early on the next morning he set out to Persia."</p>
+
+<p>"In vain had the wife of the slain Babylonian
+waited for his return to Ecbatana; Oebares told her
+that robbers had killed him. Then she became the
+wife of the brother of her husband, and when she
+heard that Cyrus had gone to Persia, she remembered
+that her first husband had once confided to her the
+dream of the mother of Cyrus, and its interpretation.
+She related this to her husband, who at once<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span>
+went to Astyages, told him all, and added that Cyrus
+had obviously gone to Persia with a view of preparing
+for the execution of that which the dream had
+portended. The king was seized with great anxiety,
+and the Babylonian advised him to put Cyrus to death
+as soon as he returned. Towards evening Astyages
+caused his concubines to dance and play before him
+while drinking wine. One of the players sang: 'The
+lion has let the boar which he had in his power go
+forth to the pasture. There he will become strong and
+give great trouble to the lion, and at length he, the
+weaker, will overcome the stronger.' Astyages applied
+this song to himself and Cyrus, and on the spot sent
+300 horsemen to bring him back; if he would not
+obey they were to cut off his head and bring that.
+When the horsemen brought to Cyrus the commands
+of Astyages, he answered cunningly, perhaps on the
+advice of Oebares: 'Why should I not return as my
+lord summons me? To-day we will feast; to-morrow
+morning we will set out.' This met with their
+approval. After the manner of the Persians, Cyrus
+caused many oxen and other animals to be slain in
+sacrifice, feasted the horsemen, and made them intoxicated;
+at the same time he sent a message to his
+father to send at once 1000 cavalry and 5000 foot-soldiers
+to the city of Hyrba which lay on the way,
+and to arm the rest of the Persians as quickly as
+possible in such a way that it should seem to be done
+by command of the king. His true aims he did
+not communicate to him. In the night he and
+Oebares took horse, just as they were, hastened to
+Hyrba, armed the inhabitants, and drew out those
+whom Atradates had sent in order for battle. When
+the horsemen of Astyages had slept off their debauch
+on the following morning, and found that Cyrus had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span>
+disappeared, they pursued him and came to Hyrba.
+Here Cyrus first displayed his bravery, for with his
+Persians he slew 250 of the horse of Astyages. The
+remainder escaped, and brought the news to Astyages.
+'Woe is me!' cried the king striking his thigh, 'that
+I, well knowing that we should not do good to the
+evil, have allowed myself to be carried away by clever
+speeches, and have raised up this Mardian to be such
+a mischief to me. Still, he shall not succeed.' He
+called his generals and bade them assemble the army,
+and led out against the Persians nearly 1,000,000
+foot-soldiers, 200,000 horse, and 3000 chariots."</p>
+
+<p>"Meanwhile the army under Atradates, who was
+now fully instructed, was collected: 300,000 infantry,
+50,000 horse, and 100 chariots. Cyrus encouraged
+the Persians, and Oebares seized the passes of the
+mountain and the heights, built lines, and brought
+the people from the open cities into such as were
+well fortified. Astyages burned down the abandoned
+cities, summoned Atradates and Cyrus to submission,
+and taunted them with their former beggary. Cyrus
+replied that Astyages did not recognise the power of
+the gods, which forced them, goat-herds as they were,
+to accomplish what was destined to be done. As he
+had done them kindness, they bade him lead back the
+Medes, and give their freedom to the Persians who
+were better than the Medes. Thus it came to a battle.
+Astyages, surrounded by 20,000 of his body-guard,
+looked on: among the Persians Atradates had the
+right, and Oebares the left, wing; Cyrus, surrounded
+by the bravest warriors, was in the centre. The Persians
+defended themselves bravely, and slew many of
+the Medes, so that Astyages cried out on his throne:
+'How bravely these "terebinth-eaters" fight!' But at
+length the Persians were overpowered by numbers, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span>
+driven into the city before which they fought. Cyrus
+and Oebares advised to send the women and children
+to Pasargadae, which is the loftiest mountain, and renew
+the battle on the next day: 'If we are defeated
+we must all die, and if that must be so it is better to
+fall in victory and for the freedom of our country.'
+Then all were filled with hatred and anger against the
+Medes, and when the morning came and the gates were
+opened, all marched out; Atradates alone remained
+with the old men in the city to defend the walls. But
+while Cyrus and Oebares were fighting in the field,
+Astyages caused 100,000 men to go round and attack
+the Persian army in the rear. The attack succeeded.
+Atradates fell covered with wounds into the hands of
+the Medes.  Astyages said to him: 'An excellent
+satrap are you; is it thus that you thank me, you and
+your son, for what I have done for you?' Atradates,
+almost at the last gasp, replied: 'I know not, O king,
+what deity has roused this frenzy in my son; put me
+not to the torture, I shall soon die.' Astyages had
+compassion on him and said: 'I will not put you to
+the torture; I know that if your son had followed
+your advice, he would not have done such things.'
+Atradates died, and Astyages gave him an honourable
+burial.  Meanwhile Cyrus and Oebares after a brave
+struggle had been compelled to retire to Pasargadae.
+The mountain was very high and with steep sides, and
+the way to it led through narrow passes, which were
+here and there overtopped by high walls of rock.
+Oebares defended the passes with 10,000 heavy-armed
+men. As it was impossible to force a way through,
+Astyages gave command that 100,000 men should go
+round the mountain, and seek for a pass there and
+climb the mountain. This movement compelled Cyrus
+and Oebares to seek shelter during the night on a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span>
+lower hill for the army, together with the women and
+children. Astyages followed quickly, and his army
+was already between the two mountains, and bravely
+attacked that held by the Persians, the approach to
+which, lying through deep gorges, thick oak forests,
+and wild olive trees, was very difficult. The Persians
+fought still more bravely; in one place Cyrus dashed
+forward, and in another Oebares, who urged them not
+to let their wives, mothers, and old men be massacred
+and tortured by the Medes. So they rushed down
+with a cry, and when their javelins failed, they threw
+down stones in great numbers. The Medes were
+driven back, and Cyrus chanced to come to the house
+in which he once lived with his father as a boy, when
+he pastured goats. He kindled a fire of cypress and
+laurel-wood, and offered the sacrifice of the man who
+is distressed and in desperate circumstances. Then
+followed thunder and lightning, and when Cyrus sank
+down in prayer, birds of good omen settled on the
+roof, as a sign that he would again reach Pasargadae.
+So the Persians remained for the night on the
+mountain, and when on the following morning the
+Medes renewed the attack, they fought yet more
+bravely, relying on the happy omens. But Astyages
+placed 50,000 men at the foot of the mountain behind
+those who were attacking, and bade them slay all who
+came down. Thus pressed, the Medes fought more
+zealously than on the previous day, and the Persians
+retired to the top of the mountain on which were
+their women and children. These ran to meet the
+fugitives, and cried out to them, 'Cowards, whither
+would ye fly, will ye creep back into the bosoms that
+bore you?' Seized with shame, the Persians turned,
+and in one onslaught drove the Medes down the
+mountain, and slew sixty thousand of them."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But Astyages did not retire from the siege of the
+mountain. Cyrus had still need of much cunning and
+bravery before he succeeded in defeating Astyages
+and taking the camp of the Medes. On that day,
+Cyrus went into the tent of Astyages, seated himself
+on his throne, and took the sceptre amid the acclamations
+of the Persians; and Oebares put the king's
+kidaris on his head with the words: 'Thou art more
+worthy to bear it; the gods give it to thee for thy
+virtue, and grant the Persians to rule over the Medes.'
+The treasures of Astyages, which the Persians found in
+the camp of the Medes, were brought to Pasargadae
+under the care of Oebares; but even those which
+they found in the tents of the other Medes were
+enormous. It was not long before the intelligence of
+the defeat and flight of Astyages spread abroad, and
+nations as well as individuals deserted him. First of
+all Artasyras, the chief of the Hyrcanians, came, with
+50,000 men, and recognised Cyrus as king; afterwards
+came the chiefs of the Parthians, Sac&aelig;, Bactrians, and
+other nations, each seeking to arrive before the other.
+Only a few faithful men remained with Astyages, and
+when Cyrus marched against him he was easily overcome.
+Then Cyrus gained possession of Ecbatana.
+There the daughter of Astyages and her husband
+Spitamas were taken captive with their two sons.
+But Astyages could not be found; Amytis and
+Spitamas had hidden him in the palace in the woodwork
+of the roof. Then Cyrus commanded that
+Amytis, her husband, and her children should be
+tortured that they might confess where Astyages was,
+but he came forward of his own will to prevent the
+torture. Spitamas was beheaded, because he had lied,
+and said that he did not know the hiding-place of
+Astyages; Amytis Cyrus took for his wife. He loosed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span>
+from Astyages the heavy chains which Oebares had
+put upon him, honoured him as a father, and made
+him satrap of the Barcanians."<a name="FNanchor_532_532" id="FNanchor_532_532"></a><a href="#Footnote_532_532" class="fnanchor">[532]</a></p>
+
+<p>According to Deinon, who wrote in the first half of
+the fourth century <small>B.C.</small>, Cyrus was first governor of
+the staff-bearers of Astyages, and then of his body-guard.
+In a dream he had thrice seen the sun at
+his feet, and thrice stretched out his arms to grasp it,
+and the magicians had interpreted this dream to the
+effect that he would reign for thrice ten years. When
+Astyages had given Cyrus leave to go to Persia, and
+he had availed himself of it, the king sent for Angares,
+the most famous of the Median minstrels, in order to
+sing before him and his company at the banquet.
+After reciting the usual songs, Angares at last said:
+"The great beast of prey, more mighty than a wild
+boar, is let loose in the swamps; when he is master
+of his land, he will with ease fight against many."
+And when Astyages asked, "What wild beast is
+this?" Angares answered: "Cyrus the Persian."
+Then Astyages, regarding the suspicion as well-founded,
+sent to fetch Cyrus back, but failed to
+recover him.<a name="FNanchor_533_533" id="FNanchor_533_533"></a><a href="#Footnote_533_533" class="fnanchor">[533]</a></p>
+
+<p>The narrative of Pompeius Trogus has been preserved
+in excerpts only. Astyages had a daughter,
+but no male heirs. From her bosom, he saw, in a
+dream, a vine growing, of which the branches overshadowed
+all Asia. The interpreters of dreams declared
+that this vision portended the greatness of
+the grandson whom his daughter would bring forth,
+but it also involved the loss of the empire to him.
+To be rid of this fear, Astyages had not given his
+daughter to any eminent man, nor even to a Mede<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span>&mdash;that
+there might not be rank on the father's side
+as well as on the mother's, to excite the ambition of
+his grandson&mdash;but to Cambyses, a man of middle
+station, in the then unknown nation of the Persians.
+Even this did not remove the alarm of Astyages;
+when his daughter was pregnant he sent for her in
+order to have her child put to death before his
+eyes. When a boy was born he gave him to Harpagus,
+his trusted friend, to be put to death. But
+Harpagus, fearing that the daughter of Astyages if
+she should come to the throne would avenge on him
+the death of her son, gave the child to the herdman
+of the king, and bade him expose it. The herdman
+obeyed, but when his wife heard of the matter, she
+urged her husband to fetch the child and show it to
+her. Wearied by her entreaties, the herdman went
+back into the forest, and there found a dog beside the
+child, suckling it, and defending it from the beasts of
+prey. He took it up and carried it to his fold, while
+the dog followed in much distress. When the herdman's
+wife took it in her arms, the child smiled on
+her as though it had known her, and it was so full
+of life and sweet smiles that the woman induced her
+husband to expose her own child in place of the
+grandson of the king. After this the excerpt goes
+on to relate, like Herodotus, the game of the boys,
+the answer of Cyrus, the revenge of Astyages on
+Harpagus, the letter in the hare's belly, in which
+Harpagus imparts to Cyrus his plan for the desertion
+of the Medes to the Persians. When Cyrus had
+received and read this letter in Persepolis, a dream
+also urged the enterprise upon him, but at the same
+time bade him take as his associate the man whom
+he met first on the following day. Next day, before
+dawn, Cyrus went on a journey, and met a slave of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span>
+the name of Oebares, belonging to the house of a
+Mede. When Cyrus found that he was a Persian by
+birth, he took his chains off and turned back with him
+to Persepolis. Cyrus then assembled the Persians.
+On the first day he made them cut down a wood on
+the way, and on the second he entertained them.
+Astyages sends Harpagus against them, and he
+passes over to their side with the army entrusted to
+him. Astyages now marches out in person, after summoning
+all his forces, against Persia. The struggle
+was severe. Astyages placed a portion of his army
+in the rear of his forces, and told the latter that they
+must try whether they could not break through the
+ranks of the enemy in battle more easily than through
+the ranks behind them in flight. The Medes attacked
+with great spirit; the Persians were forced back to
+their wives and children, by whom they were again
+driven into the battle with the cry: Would they fly
+for refuge into the bosoms of their mothers and wives?
+They put the Medes to flight. Here the excerpt of
+Justin breaks off, though he represents Astyages as
+having been taken prisoner in this battle after the
+rout. Cyrus merely took the government from him;
+he treated him as his grandfather, and made him
+satrap of the Hyrcanians; Oebares he made ruler of
+Persia, and gave him his sister in marriage.<a name="FNanchor_534_534" id="FNanchor_534_534"></a><a href="#Footnote_534_534" class="fnanchor">[534]</a></p>
+
+<p>Polyaenus repeats the narrative of Herodotus about
+the manner in which Cyrus induced the Persians to
+revolt. Then followed a war between the Medes and
+Persians, and Cyrus was three times defeated. As the
+women and children of the Persians were at Pasargadae,
+Cyrus was compelled to risk another battle in the
+neighbourhood of this place. The Persians were again
+put to flight; Oebares was retreating when the women<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span>
+met the fugitives, with the cry already quoted. The
+Persians halted; and as the Medes were pursuing
+without order, the Persians gained such a victory that
+no further battle was needed to decide the question of
+the throne.<a name="FNanchor_535_535" id="FNanchor_535_535"></a><a href="#Footnote_535_535" class="fnanchor">[535]</a> Anaximenes of Lampsacus also relates
+that Cyrus had built Pasargadae at the place where
+he had overcome Astyages in battle. Strabo tells us:
+"Cyrus held Pasargadae in honour, for it was there
+that he conquered Astyages in the final battle, and
+became ruler of all Asia in his place, and he built
+a city and a palace in remembrance of the victory."<a name="FNanchor_536_536" id="FNanchor_536_536"></a><a href="#Footnote_536_536" class="fnanchor">[536]</a>
+Plutarch tells us: When Cyrus revolted from Astyages
+and the Medes he was three times conquered in battle,
+and when the Persians fled into the city, the enemy
+had almost succeeded in forcing an entrance with them,
+when the women came out to meet them. The cry of
+the women brought about a change in the battle, and
+for this reason Cyrus made a law that as often as the
+king came into the city of Pasargadae, every woman
+should receive a piece of gold. Ochus marched past
+the city to evade the law; but Alexander twice
+entered Pasargadae, and gave double to all the women
+that were with child.<a name="FNanchor_537_537" id="FNanchor_537_537"></a><a href="#Footnote_537_537" class="fnanchor">[537]</a> In all these narratives the
+land of the Persians is the scene of the decisive
+conflict.</p>
+
+<p>Only a few short fragments remain of the account<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span>
+given by Diodorus of the overthrow of Astyages. With
+him Cyrus is the son of Mandane, the daughter of
+Astyages, and Cambyses. His father brought him
+up as a king, and inflamed him with a desire for
+the mightiest achievements. As a young man he displayed
+a capacity in advance of his years, and clearly
+showed that he would undertake the most important
+enterprises. He was the first man of his time in
+bravery, wisdom, and all other virtues. Another fragment
+obviously comes after the defeat, which, according
+to Nicolaus, Astyages suffered in the final battle
+at Pasargadae. When defeated, Astyages, though he
+had himself disgracefully turned and fled, showed
+ferocious anger against his army. He deposed all the
+commanders and elected others in their place. Those
+who were to blame for the flight, he executed one
+and all, thinking that he should thus compel the
+others to show themselves brave men in danger.
+"For he was cruel and harsh in character. But he
+did not terrify the multitude by this severity; on the
+other hand, by the exasperation which such violence
+and caprice excited in every one, he roused them to a
+desire for revolution and deposition. The troops met
+in their divisions; treasonable speeches were uttered,
+and the majority urged each other to vengeance."<a name="FNanchor_538_538" id="FNanchor_538_538"></a><a href="#Footnote_538_538" class="fnanchor">[538]</a></p>
+
+<p>Xenophon, it is true, has not written a history of
+Cyrus, but has given a description of his life from
+his knowledge of the Persian life and character,
+and the conclusions he deduced therefrom, as to the
+possible origin of the empire, in order to explain and
+realise to the Greeks the difficulty which they found
+it so hard to solve&mdash;the manner in which great
+nations could form one community and be governed
+by one person.  With him Cyrus is the son of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span>
+Cambyses, who is the king of the Persians, and
+Mandane the daughter of Astyages of Media, whom
+Xenophon represents as reigning before Cyaxares.
+When Cyrus was twelve years of age, his mother went
+with him to Media, in order to show him to his grandfather,
+whom the boy astonished by his apt answers.
+At the age of sixteen, Cyrus performs his first deeds
+of arms. When Astyages died, he was succeeded on
+the throne by his son Cyaxares, the brother of Mandane.
+He entreats Cambyses to aid him against the
+Assyrians; Cambyses sends Cyrus, by whose services
+the Medes are defeated. After this he conquered
+the Lydians, who had come to aid the Assyrians
+against the Medes, and took Babylon; and his uncle
+Cyaxares, whom Xenophon does not describe as a
+pattern ruler, gives him his daughter in marriage,
+and Media as a dowry, for he was without male
+children. Cambyses and Mandane assented to this
+arrangement. After the death of Cambyses, Cyrus
+became king of Persia, and on the death of Cyaxares,
+Media also became his.</p>
+
+<p>The Armenians also narrate the fall of Astyages.
+Moses of Chorene (I. 513) tells us that he only related
+the stories of the Persians to please his patron
+Sahak (Isaac) Bagratuni, and gave them a meaning
+which they did not possess. Biurasp Asdahag lived
+at the time of Nimrod, and the person whom the
+Persians in their stories call the child of Satan,
+served him; and with regard to the dragon, or the
+changing of Asdahag into a dragon, the truth was
+that he sacrificed men in infinite numbers to the
+dragon, till the multitude grew weary, overpowered
+him, and threw him into a trench filled with bitumen.
+Moses further tells us: The ninth descendant of
+Baroir of Armenia (I. 515), King Tigran, was the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span>
+mightiest of all the princes of Armenia, and helped
+Cyrus to overthrow the kingdom of the Medes.
+Tigran was pledged by treaties to Asdahag (Astyages)
+the king of the Medians, and when he united with
+Cyrus, Astyages had an evil dream. He saw a high
+mountain surrounded by snow and ice, as in the land
+of the son of Haikhs (I. 513). On the summit of the
+mountain, a woman in purple, covered with a sky-blue
+veil, brought forth three heroes at once: one, carried
+on a lion, dashed toward the west; the second, on a
+leopard, to the north; the third, on a monstrous
+dragon, to Media. With this Asdahag fought in the
+dream: they shed a sea of blood, and pierced each
+other with their lances.  Asdahag explained this
+dream to mean that he had to expect an attack from
+Tigran, the king of Armenia.  To prevent this, and
+secretly to destroy Tigran, Asdahag sought Tigran's
+sister, Tigranuhi, in marriage, obtained her, and held
+her in great honour. Then he asked for a meeting with
+Tigran. But Tigranuhi had perceived the duplicity of
+Asdahag, and warned her brother. He collected the
+best warriors of great and little Armenia, and marched
+against the Medes. The war continued for four
+months, till Tigran in a hand-to-hand conflict pierced
+the iron armour of Asdahag with his lance. The death
+of Asdahag put an end to the battle and the war,
+and Tigran led his sister back to Armenia, where she
+became the ancestress of the race of Osdan. Anuish
+(Aryanis), the first wife of Astyages, and a number of
+young princesses and boys, more than 10,000 in all,
+Tigranes brought to Armenia, and settled there to
+the east of the great mountain, towards the land of
+Koghten, in the plain of Ajtnayan, as far as Nakhjevan.
+In the songs of the people of Koghten, the
+descendants of Astyages are spoken of in an alle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span>gorical
+manner, as the descendants of the dragon;
+for Astyages (Asdahag) in our language means the
+dragon.<a name="FNanchor_539_539" id="FNanchor_539_539"></a><a href="#Footnote_539_539" class="fnanchor">[539]</a> As has been shown, the Armenians were
+closely allied to the people of Iran in language, character,
+and religious worship. It cannot therefore
+astonish us that the legends of Iran are known to
+them. What Moses tells us of Biurasp Asdahag and
+his serpents rests on the myth in the Avesta of the
+serpent Azhi dahaka, the Zohak of the later form
+of Iranian legend (p. 250). The epithet which Moses
+gives to Asdahag, Biurasp, is also of Iranian origin;
+Baevara&ccedil;pa means the lord of 10,000 horses. That
+the descendants of Astyages are spoken of in the
+national legend of Armenia as the descendants of
+the dragon, shows that the Armenians had confounded
+Astyages of Media with Azhi dahaka or
+Zohak. The Armenians can only claim as their own
+the legend of King Tigran, who overcomes and slays
+Asdahag of Media. They ascribe to their princes the
+overthrow of the Medes. As already remarked, the
+Armenian legend of Tigran must come down from
+an early date. Xenophon makes Tigran the son
+of the king of Armenia, the most faithful helper and
+associate of Cyrus.<a name="FNanchor_540_540" id="FNanchor_540_540"></a><a href="#Footnote_540_540" class="fnanchor">[540]</a></p>
+
+<p>Leaving out of sight the romance of Xenophon,
+and the Armenian tradition, which involve special
+hypotheses, the accounts in the West of the fall of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span>
+Astyages go back to two distinct versions, one of which
+we have in the narrative of Herodotus, the other in
+the narrative of Ctesias-Nicolaus, which is presupposed
+in Deinon and Polyaenus. In Trogus we have a third
+version, which combines the two. So far as Justin's
+excerpt allows us to form an opinion, this version, and
+the fragments of Diodorus, are based upon the Persian
+history of Deinon. The introduction is distinguished
+from the account of Herodotus by the fact that only
+one dream of Astyages is mentioned; that Cyrus is
+already exposed, and a dog is suckling him before
+the herdsman's wife, whose name was "dog," brings
+him up; then follows the story of Herodotus, including
+the letter, which Harpagus sends to Cyrus in
+the hare's belly. At this point Trogus passes into the
+account of Nicolaus; he represents Cyrus as receiving
+in a dream the exhortation to rise against Astyages,
+and to take the first man he meets as his associate.
+Cyrus meets Oebares, though not, it is true, on the
+borders of the Cadusians. The place of the horsemen,
+who in Nicolaus are first sent by Astyages, is
+taken in Trogus by the march of Harpagus, and his
+desertion to Cyrus; then follows the narrative of the
+war, which in the most essential traits agrees with the
+version of Ctesias-Nicolaus. From Deinon's fragments
+we shall add to the excerpt from Trogus, that
+Cyrus before his rebellion had served at the court
+of Astyages as overseer of the staff-bearers, and then
+of the body-guard; that Astyages was warned by
+Angares; and, finally, the defection of the Medes after
+the battle of Pasargadae, as given in the fragments
+of Diodorus.</p>
+
+<p>The detail and liveliness of the traits in the accounts
+of Herodotus and Ctesias-Nicolaus, in the fragment
+of Deinon, and the narrative of Trogus&mdash;the warnings<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span>
+and portents&mdash;the dialogues and speeches of the
+action&mdash;the letter:&mdash;all these point to poetical sources.
+We found that the accounts of Ctesias of the foundation,
+rise, and fall of Assyria, and of the rise of
+Media, were based upon poems, and here also, beyond
+doubt, poetic traditions form the groundwork. Herodotus,
+at the beginning of his narrative, tells us: "I
+write these matters from the accounts given by some
+of the Persians, who do not exaggerate the life of
+Cyrus, but wish to narrate the order of events; I am
+aware that three other different accounts of the life of
+Cyrus are in existence."<a name="FNanchor_541_541" id="FNanchor_541_541"></a><a href="#Footnote_541_541" class="fnanchor">[541]</a> Xenophon tells us that
+Cyrus "is even now the theme of song among the
+barbarians."<a name="FNanchor_542_542" id="FNanchor_542_542"></a><a href="#Footnote_542_542" class="fnanchor">[542]</a> In Deinon's fragment it is Angares, the
+most famous of the Median minstrels, who, while
+singing at the table of Astyages, warns him in a
+poetical figure against Cyrus (p. 354); in the account
+of Nicolaus it is one of the singing women, from whom,
+at the same time and in a similar figure, this warning
+comes. At the court of the Sassanids there were
+singing women who sang to the kings the achievements
+of old days. Ibn-al-Hareth brought women of
+this kind from the court of Chosru Nushirvan to the
+Koreishites, and they sang the deeds of Rustem.<a name="FNanchor_543_543" id="FNanchor_543_543"></a><a href="#Footnote_543_543" class="fnanchor">[543]</a>
+According to these statements and indications we
+may regard it as certain that the elevation of Cyrus
+and the fall of Astyages was celebrated in song
+among the Persians and Medes. In spite of the differences
+between the three narratives, certain traits are
+common to all.  In all dreams announce the future
+greatness of Cyrus; in Herodotus these appear to
+Astyages; in Nicolaus, to the mother of Cyrus; in
+Deinon and Trogus, to Cyrus also. In Herodotus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span>
+Cambyses is rich in flocks, in Nicolaus the mother of
+Cyrus tends goats; in Herodotus Cambyses is of a
+quiet disposition, in Nicolaus he is driven by his son
+to revolt, and finally disowns the enterprise. All three
+narratives lay stress on the warnings given to Astyages
+against Cyrus, though in different ways; all mark
+strongly the early personal valour of Cyrus, which
+Xenophon also celebrates. Artembares the Mede is
+found both in Herodotus and Nicolaus, though in a
+different relation to Cyrus. In all three accounts a
+counsellor&mdash;Harpagus in the one case, Oebares in the
+other&mdash;exercises the greatest influence on the resolutions
+of Cyrus. Herodotus and Nicolaus mark the cunning
+of Cyrus as opposed to Astyages; in both Cyrus gives
+out that he is carrying out the king's orders in arming
+the Persians. In Herodotus Cyrus tells the Persians
+that he does not consider them worse men than the
+Medes, and they revolt "because they have now got a
+leader in Cyrus." In Nicolaus Cyrus asks whether
+there is not a leader who can put an end to the rule
+of the Medes over better men than themselves. In
+both the dominion of the Medes has long been hated
+by the Persians. In both before the beginning of
+the struggle Astyages commands Cyrus to appear
+before him.  In Herodotus Astyages says, when
+Harpagus has passed over to Cyrus and the Median
+army has broken up, that "he shall not succeed;"
+and in Nicolaus he uses the same words after the
+first defeat of his horsemen. In Herodotus it is the
+cruelty of Astyages to Harpagus, and his severity
+towards the Medes, which cost him his throne; in
+Diodorus the army revolts, even after brave fighting,
+from Astyages because he cruelly revenges upon
+them the defeat at Pasargadae. In all three accounts
+Cyrus does no harm to Astyages after his victory.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Let us set aside the poetical colours in the account
+of Herodotus in order to test its coherence. What
+alarm could Astyages, who was without male heirs,
+feel at the announcement that his daughter's son
+would one day rule over all Asia, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> would still
+further extend the dominion of the Medes? In the
+second dream, which portends no more than the first,
+a reason is given for the alarm; the interpreters
+declare that the dream signifies that Astyages will
+lose his throne. If Astyages had reason to fear the
+yet unborn child of his daughter, the obvious remedy
+was not to allow her to marry. Nevertheless she is
+married, not to a Mede, but to a man of the subject
+races, a Persian of a good family, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> of noble
+descent, wealthy, but "quiet in his disposition."
+This was equivalent to taking the Persian into the
+royal family, giving up to him or his son the right
+of succession, bringing the crown of Media into the
+possession of a stranger, and allowing the kingdom to
+pass from the Medes to the Persians. Even if such
+perversity could occur to Astyages the Medes were
+not likely to permit it, when the Magians tell Astyages,
+in Herodotus, how anxious they are that the dominion
+should not fall into the hands of a Persian. It is
+true that Herodotus represents Harpagus some twenty
+or thirty years later as persuading the chief Medes,
+and persuading them singly, that Astyages must be
+overthrown, and the Persian made king, but this is
+simply incredible. After this marvellous marriage of
+the heiress to the throne with a Persian, Cambyses is
+not brought to Ecbatana to the court, but remains
+in Persia, and no harm is done to the dreaded son of
+the marriage, even when his real origin has been
+discovered. Nay, more, the boy who at an early age
+discovers high aims, and a resolute will, is not even<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span>
+brought to the court to be under the eye of Astyages,
+but is sent back to Persia to his father, and by his
+means Harpagus is able to bring Persia to revolt.
+The letter hidden in the hare's belly obviously arose
+from an anticipation of the supervision of the great
+roads which was introduced at a later time by the
+Ach&aelig;menids. But what reason had Cyrus to cause
+the Persians to revolt? According to Herodotus
+Cambyses is the son-in-law, and hence the heir, of
+Astyages. Cyrus will succeed his father as heir to
+the Median throne, why then should he rebel against
+his aged grandfather?&mdash;why should he seek by hazard,
+danger, and bloodshed, a crown which by inheritance
+must soon come to Cambyses or Cyrus?<a name="FNanchor_544_544" id="FNanchor_544_544"></a><a href="#Footnote_544_544" class="fnanchor">[544]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the narrative of Herodotus Cyrus is no more
+than an instrument in the hands of Harpagus. The
+crime of Astyages against Harpagus; the well-merited
+punishment of this crime by his own imprisonment
+and loss of empire, form the hinge of the narrative,
+which at the same time brings into prominence the
+doctrine that no one, even though warned, can escape
+his doom. It is not probable that there were songs
+among the Persians or Medes, which illustrated Herodotus'
+view of the unavoidable <i>Nemesis</i> which governs
+the actions and fortunes of men; or that Persian
+poems would represent Cyrus as the son of a Median
+mother. In them the Persians merely glorified the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span>
+founder of their freedom and supremacy, of whom, as
+we know, they cherished the most grateful memories.
+But the Medes might possess poems in which the
+change of empire was treated from their point of
+view; they might attempt to make the loss of empire
+appear less painful, the dishonour of defeat by the
+Persians less degrading. To be overthrown by a man
+belonging to the subject race was bitter. Hence the
+Medes could avail themselves of a change frequent in
+the East, and represent Cyrus as a scion of their
+own royal house. The Egyptians maintained that
+Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, who reduced them to
+subjection, was the son of Cyrus and the daughter of
+their own Pharaoh Hophra.<a name="FNanchor_545_545" id="FNanchor_545_545"></a><a href="#Footnote_545_545" class="fnanchor">[545]</a> This was mere invention;
+and the Medes must have found their version
+the more easy to maintain, because Cyrus spared
+Astyages after the defeat, and took his daughter into
+his harem. And if it was not the arms of the Persians,
+but rather the treachery of a distinguished
+Mede, the discontent of the chiefs of Media with a
+cruel king, that decided the struggle between the
+Persians and Medes, the submission became thus less
+intolerable to the pride of the Medes. If a distinguished
+Mede had been at variance with Astyages, and
+in the last moment of the battle had gone over to
+Cyrus,&mdash;much could be made of the desertion in
+Median poems. If after his victory Cyrus reposed
+great confidence in an eminent Mede, this might be
+made a ground for previous treachery to Astyages.
+A few years after his victory Cyrus entrusted to the
+Mede Harpagus, the leadership of the army, the
+subjugation and maintenance of far distant regions.
+If the legend of the Persians represented Ach&aelig;menes,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span>
+the ancestor of their princely race, as being fed by
+an eagle (p. 327), their poems would speak of the
+founder of their dominion as distinguished by divine
+honours, and surround his birth and youth with
+happy omens of the future. These traits the Medes
+could use for their own purposes as warnings vouchsafed
+to Astyages. If the Persians represented Cyrus
+as suckled by a dog, the favoured creature of Auramazda,
+the Medes carried the subject further, and
+spoke of the exposing of Cyrus, which was then
+brought into combination with the enmity of Harpagus
+to Astyages; the origin of this was the refusal
+of Harpagus to put the Persian boy to death,
+which Astyages punished by the Thyestean banquet.
+Thus owing to the crime of Astyages, Harpagus
+their own countryman became filled with desire for
+vengeance; he is the counsellor of Cyrus, the author
+and leader of the revolt.</p>
+
+<p>Median poetry of this kind has been followed by
+Herodotus. He has told us already that he would
+narrate the life of Cyrus as it was given by the
+Persians, who had no desire to exaggerate their
+account, but these Persians are undoubtedly the
+Medes. The Median origin of his story is placed
+beyond doubt by the words which the captive Astyages
+addresses to Harpagus, and by the fact that
+with him it is a Mede who is the decisive counsellor
+and guide of Cyrus, while in the other version it is a
+Persian. Beside the reason given by Herodotus himself
+for choosing this version, others no doubt had
+influence. The Delphian oracle bade Cr&#339;sus take to
+flight "whenever a mule should govern the Medes."
+According to the Medes Cyrus was the son of a
+Persian father and Median mother. The sufferings
+and acts of Harpagus formed the centre of the Median<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span>
+version, and he was only too well known to the
+Greeks on the west coast of Asia Minor. With the
+warning portents, and the exposure of Cyrus, the
+Median version brought Herodotus on the familiar
+ground of Greek legend, in which similar oracles,
+futile exposing of children, and deceptive explanations
+were common. Finally, the vengeance which overtook
+Astyages suits the ethical feeling of Herodotus.
+We may assume therefore that his narrative faithfully
+represents the contents of Median poems. These
+could already have changed the dog which was
+said to have suckled Cyrus into the herdman's wife,
+who was called by the name of "dog." But inasmuch
+as Herodotus does not "intend to exaggerate,"
+as he observes that "the dog was everything in
+the mouth of Cyrus," and "his parents caught this
+up in order to represent the preservation of Cyrus
+as a work of the gods,"&mdash;as he further remarks "that
+Cyrus owing to his origin was regarded as more than
+human,"<a name="FNanchor_546_546" id="FNanchor_546_546"></a><a href="#Footnote_546_546" class="fnanchor">[546]</a>&mdash;this rationalising turn may have proceeded
+from the historian himself. In the Persian tradition
+Cyrus was certainly suckled and guarded by the dog,
+and this trait is retained in the account of Deinon-Trogus,
+though united with the story of the exposure.
+But Deinon has at the same time proved the
+exposure impossible, for he states that Cyrus came
+to the throne in his fortieth year, and lived till his
+seventieth.<a name="FNanchor_547_547" id="FNanchor_547_547"></a><a href="#Footnote_547_547" class="fnanchor">[547]</a> If this were true, the exposure and the
+command of Astyages respecting it would fall to the
+ground, for Cyrus would have seen the light in the
+year 599 <small>B.C.</small>, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> some years before the accession of
+Astyages, even if we allow the latter the longer reign
+which Eusebius assigns to him.</p>
+
+<p>If the story of Herodotus is governed by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span>
+conception of the unavoidable punishment of crime,
+the connecting clue in the story of Nicolaus is the
+rise of a beggar-boy of the lowest origin by skill and
+industry, by cunning and bravery, by endurance in the
+greatest danger, and final victory in the most severe
+struggles. Cyrus is the son of humble parents; his
+father is driven by want to robbery, his mother tends
+goats; they belong to the lowest tribe of the Persians,
+the marauding Mardians whom we have found in the
+mountains of south-western Persia (p. 323). Hunger
+drives the boy from the goat-pasture to Ecbatana.
+Beginning as a sweeper of the palace, he works his
+way step by step upwards by address and industry to
+the highest offices at the court, so that he can make
+his father satrap of Persia and his mother the most
+distinguished lady in Persia. Then the dream of his
+mother, and the interpretation given of it by the
+Babylonian, plant ambition in his soul, which is
+strengthened by the happy portent, vouchsafed to
+him on his mission to the chief of the Cadusians, and
+the advice of Oebares. He succeeds in persuading
+Astyages to grant him permission to visit his parents
+in Persia; when too late, Astyages is warned by the
+wife of the Babylonian, and the words of the singing-woman
+(Angares in Deinon). A fierce war breaks
+out. The father of Cyrus is taken captive, and in
+his last moments disavows the attempt of his son.
+Defeated again and again, the Persians in their last
+refuge at Pasargadae are reduced to the greatest
+distress. Then fortune turns; the Medes are driven
+back and defeated in numerous engagements, and
+Oebares can at length place the crown on the head of
+Cyrus in the tent of Astyages.</p>
+
+<p>If Xenophon in his book on Cyrus sought to make
+it clear to the Greeks, by what personal and material<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span>
+means Cyrus was able to conquer Asia, Ctesias or
+Nicolaus will show pragmatically how a beggar-boy
+rose step by step to be lord of the continent. He says
+nothing of the relationship of Astyages and Cyrus, or
+of the princely origin of Cyrus, or of his exposure, or
+of the dog: Cyrus owes his successes to himself and
+the gods. However impossible it may be that this
+introduction and the whole tendency of the narrative
+can be borrowed from the tradition of the Persians;
+however certain that Cyrus the beggar-boy is an
+invention of the Greeks, to point the contrast between
+beginning and end, and make the subject more interesting;
+yet if only we give another turn to the
+introduction, we have the Persian account before us in
+the narrative of Nicolaus, as we have the Median in
+the account of Herodotus&mdash;and a mixture of the two
+in the excerpt from Trogus. The Persian version is
+from the first marked in Ctesias and Nicolaus by the
+fact that they do not represent Cyrus as the descendant
+of Astyages. Moreover, the parallel between the
+fall of the Assyrians and the fall of the Median empire
+cannot be mistaken. "We must narrate the great
+change brought about by the transition of the dominion
+to the Persians"&mdash;such is the beginning of the
+account of Nicolaus. This parallel can only have
+arisen from Persian minstrels. They had to show
+that the task of Cyrus was great, and more difficult
+than that of Arbaces. They had to lay the greatest
+stress on the personal excellence of Cyrus in order
+to raise him above the level of Arbaces. The latter,
+guided by the advice of the viceroy of Babylon and
+aided by the Babylonians, had proved the conqueror.
+The arts of the Chald&aelig;ans were certainly respected
+and used in Iran; they must have been sought after
+and employed as a poetic motive. It was to carry<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span>
+out the parallel that the Persian songs gave Cyrus
+a Babylonian adviser; yet they represent the counsel
+and influence of this Babylonian as entirely removed
+by a Persian of far greater importance, and utterly
+thrown into the shade.  The emphasis which the
+Persian songs laid on the personal virtue of Cyrus
+misled the Greeks into making an attempt at the
+biography of the beggar-boy, and so rendered this
+change easier. Atradates, the name given by Nicolaus
+to the father of Cyrus, is no doubt taken from an
+epithet of Cyrus himself. Strabo tells us that Cyrus
+was originally called Atradates; the word is the
+old Persian <i>atriyadata</i>, old Bactrian, <i>ataredata</i>; the
+Avesta recommends the name as good and saving.
+The parents of Cyrus are said to belong to the tribe of
+the Mardians, but later on Nicolaus himself shows
+that Cyrus' ancestral home is at Pasargadae (p. 352).
+In contempt the Medes might unite the whole Persian
+nation under the name of their poorest tribes.
+"Why have I raised up these Mardians for such
+mischief?" Astyages asks in Nicolaus. The goat-tending
+of the mother of Cyrus is due to the same
+cause. In the account of Herodotus Cambyses is
+said to be rich in herds; among the Persians the
+care of flocks occupied a large place, and at a later
+time the tending and protection of the flocks was one
+of the means employed for strengthening and hardening
+the Persian youth. Cyrus himself, in the narrative
+of Nicolaus, calls himself and his father goat-herds.
+When Arsaces of Armenia visited the court
+of the Sassanid Shapur II. one of the first officers
+at the court of Shapur insolently said: "Will the
+king of the goats pasture on our slopes?"<a name="FNanchor_548_548" id="FNanchor_548_548"></a><a href="#Footnote_548_548" class="fnanchor">[548]</a> Such
+traits as these in the Persian poems, connected with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span>
+the poverty and simplicity of the life of the "terebinth-eating"
+Persians (which Nicolaus also, following the
+tradition, brings into such prominence), supplied the
+Greek revision with the necessary support for changing
+Cyrus into a Mardian goat-herd and beggar-boy.
+Yet the true position of the parents of Cyrus breaks
+through in the statement that the father of Cyrus was
+satrap of Persia, and his mother the first lady in the
+land, a position which also appears in the statement
+in Herodotus of the noble descent and wealth of
+Cambyses, and is even more plainly marked in other
+passages in which the taunt is hurled at Cyrus: that
+the son of Cambyses ought not to give way to a
+woman,&mdash;and traces the lineage of Cyrus back to
+Ach&aelig;menes, though in the account of the rebellion of
+Cyrus he calls his grandfather also Cyrus.</p>
+
+<p>The rise of Cyrus at the court of Astyages was
+borrowed from another trait in the Persian poems.
+The custom of the East, that the sons of distinguished
+princes and nobles should perform certain courtly and
+honourable services at the gate of the king, must have
+been current in Media also. The Persian poems must
+have proudly declared how Cyrus distinguished himself
+there in his youth in the duties of the court or of
+arms. This description was changed into the series of
+stages by which the beggar-boy rose to the highest
+office at the court of the king. The Persian account
+is obviously preserved here in Deinon's narrative&mdash;like
+the suckling and protection of Cyrus by the dog&mdash;in
+which Cyrus before the rebellion is chief of the
+staff-bearers and the body-guard of the king. When
+Cyrus had won the favour of Astyages, Nicolaus is
+obviously more true to the Persian account. In old
+days the chaff of horses announced his elevation to
+Arbaces, and to Cyrus it is announced by horse-dung,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span>
+which is carried to him by a Persian, the slave of a
+Mede, who has been recently whipped; and as to
+Arbaces, so to Cyrus, a Babylonian announces that
+the throne is destined for him. As Arbaces is instigated
+and encouraged by Belesys, so is Cyrus by
+the interpreter of dreams from Babylon, and Cyrus
+promises him great rewards if he reaches the throne,
+as Arbaces had promised Belesys. The conversations
+of Arbaces with Belesys correspond exactly to the
+conversations of Cyrus with the Babylonian and
+Oebares. In Nicolaus Cyrus says, that Arbaces who
+overthrew Sardanapalus was not wiser than himself,
+nor were the Medes better warriors than the Persians.
+But if the Median empire was founded with the help
+of the Babylonian, the Persian must rise without such
+assistance. Arbaces had to concede to Belesys and
+his successors the hereditary dominion over Babylonia;
+on this occasion Oebares takes care that in the
+future empire of the Persians, Babylonia shall not be
+in the way as an hereditary monarchy given in reward
+of services; he removes the Babylonian against the
+wishes of Cyrus. If the Medes had formerly been
+able to conquer Assyria with the aid of the Babylonians,
+the Persians now defeat the Medes unaided,
+and if Sardanapalus was effeminate, Astyages, according
+to Nicolaus, is the bravest king of the Medes after
+Arbaces. To treat the struggle so briefly as Herodotus
+does was impossible for Nicolaus, as the object of his
+narrative was to bring out the valour of Cyrus. So
+we may assume that the Persian songs gave similar
+prominence to the contests before Nineveh and Pasargad&aelig;.
+Arbaces is thrice defeated before Nineveh, and
+inclined to retire. Astyages leads against Cyrus the
+whole forces of his kingdom&mdash;more than a million
+soldiers. In spite of the excellent arrangements of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span>
+Oebares and the utmost bravery, Cyrus is three times
+defeated:&mdash;he is already reduced to extremities in the
+fourth conflict, when the cry of the women restores
+the fight. At length Oebares is able to place the
+Median crown on the head of Cyrus in the tent of
+Astyages. With such servants the throne and kingdom
+of the Persians is more firmly established than
+that of the Medes.</p>
+
+<p>This inquiry enables us to reconstruct in its main
+outlines the tradition of the Persians. Cambyses, the
+descendant of Ach&aelig;menes, was the chief of the Persians.
+Before the birth of Cyrus his wife had a
+dream that so much water came from her "that it
+was like a great river which inundated all Asia, and
+flowed into the sea." We know what reverence the
+Avesta pays to the dog, and the importance it ascribes
+to its glance (p. 207). The suckling of the boy
+Cyrus by a dog is the sign of the most bounteous
+favour and most secure protection on the part of the
+gods. Herodotus told us above that owing to his
+origin Cyrus counted himself as more than a man,
+and Xenophon represents him as begotten by gods,
+springing from a line of kings, and practised from his
+youth up in bravery and virtue.<a name="FNanchor_549_549" id="FNanchor_549_549"></a><a href="#Footnote_549_549" class="fnanchor">[549]</a> In accordance
+with the custom of the Persians the son of the prince
+grows up among the flocks. Mithradates, which Herodotus
+gives as the name of the herdsman with whom
+the boy is brought up, means "given by Mithra;"
+the favourite of the god, who increases the flocks of
+the farms where men worship him, and gives victory
+in battles, is the protector of Cyrus. In the game of
+the boys he shows by cleverness and unbroken resolution
+the great destiny to which he was called. Then
+he goes into service at the court of the Median king;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span>
+where the Persian poems have already shown us
+Parsondes at the time of Cyaxares, who subsequently
+made the Cadusians enemies of the Medes.<a name="FNanchor_550_550" id="FNanchor_550_550"></a><a href="#Footnote_550_550" class="fnanchor">[550]</a> Eminent
+in every position, Cyrus wins the confidence of Astyages,
+and becomes the chief of his bodyguard. Then
+according to Deinon's fragments he sees the sun in a
+dream thrice inclining towards him. It was the
+brilliance or majesty of the king which Cyrus is
+represented as beholding. In the Avesta Thraetaona
+and Kere&ccedil;a&ccedil;pa seize the majesty when it departs
+from Yima, and the Turanian Franghra&ccedil;yan seeks
+thrice to grasp the glance of the majesty.<a name="FNanchor_551_551" id="FNanchor_551_551"></a><a href="#Footnote_551_551" class="fnanchor">[551]</a> Then a
+Persian, the slave of a Mede, brings a new sign of
+good fortune to Cyrus when far from his fatherland
+on the borders of the Cadusians. Oebares (Hubara,
+the good bearer) is the first Persian whom Cyrus
+liberates from the service of the Medes; and thus he
+has gained his most faithful helper. Angares the
+Mede, who warns Astyages, calls Cyrus "more mighty
+than a wild boar." The singing girl also calls Cyrus
+a "boar." We saw above that the victorious god
+Verethraghna appears in the form of a boar, and in
+that shape accompanies the chariot of Mithra.<a name="FNanchor_552_552" id="FNanchor_552_552"></a><a href="#Footnote_552_552" class="fnanchor">[552]</a> The
+battle in the mountains of Persia, as described by
+Nicolaus, belongs in all essential traits to the Persian
+legend. It is precisely at Pasargadae, at the house
+of Cyrus, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> of Ach&aelig;menes, that the fortune of arms
+changes. The proclamation of Cyrus in the tent of
+Astyages, and his coronation by the Persians, which
+first made him a free man instead of a Median slave,
+is throughout in accordance with the meaning and
+tendency of the Persian legend. The gentleness of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span>
+Cyrus towards Astyages is the counterpart of the
+generosity which the Median king who conquered
+Nineveh once displayed towards Belesys. Oebares
+undoubtedly belongs to the Persian Epos; he is the
+faithful servant who upholds the interest of the
+kingdom even against the will of the king, and
+sacrifices himself for it. The Persians of the best
+time held it a duty to sacrifice themselves for the
+king.</p>
+
+<p>The overthrow of the Parthian empire is explained
+in the same way as the overthrow of the Medes.
+Papak, the prince of Fars, sees in a dream the sun
+illuminating the world from the head of his herdman
+Sassan. His daughter brings forth Ardeshir to
+Sassan; Ardeshir serves at the court of the Parthian
+king Artaban, and shoots wild asses better than anyone
+else. On an announcement of the interpreters
+of stars, Ardeshir flies from the court and arms the
+Persians. Artaban abuses him as an impudent Kurd,
+and sends the prince of Susiana to fetch him, but
+this prince, and then Artaban himself, are overcome.
+Shapur, the son of Ardeshir, is restored to life
+against his command, and his grandson Auharmazdi
+is brought up secretly, and recognised by his conduct
+in the play of the boys. In both, dreams and letters
+and the inborn majesty of the royal children play
+their part.<a name="FNanchor_553_553" id="FNanchor_553_553"></a><a href="#Footnote_553_553" class="fnanchor">[553]</a></p>
+
+<p>Astyages, who ascended the throne in the year 593
+<small>B.C.</small>, ruled over the Median empire for more than 30
+years; he had already reached a great age when the
+Persians rebelled against him. Aristotle remarks that
+his effeminate life and the carelessness of his government
+inspired Cyrus with courage.<a name="FNanchor_554_554" id="FNanchor_554_554"></a><a href="#Footnote_554_554" class="fnanchor">[554]</a> The daughter of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span>
+Alyattes of Lydia, whom he had married in his youth,
+had brought him no son; both the Median version
+of Herodotus, and the Persian in Trogus and Ctesias,
+allow Astyages a daughter only&mdash;Mandane in the
+one case, in the other Amytis, the name of the sister
+of Astyages, whom Nebuchadnezzar married. This
+daughter, according to Ctesias and Nicolaus, Astyages
+marries to Spitamas, the Mede (&Ccedil;pitama, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> the
+excellent) and at the same time gives him "all Media
+as a dowry." Marriage with the heiress to the throne
+gave her husband the claim and right to succession.
+The daughter of the king bore two sons to
+Spitamas: Spitaces and Magabernes.<a name="FNanchor_555_555" id="FNanchor_555_555"></a><a href="#Footnote_555_555" class="fnanchor">[555]</a> About the
+origin of Cyrus there is no doubt. He was the son
+of Cambyses, the grandson of Teispes, the great-grandson
+of Achaemenes, who united the Persian tribes
+under his leadership, and recognised the sovereignty
+of Phraortes the Median king. As Cyaxares and
+Astyages followed Phraortes on the throne of Media,
+so did Teispes and Cambyses follow Achaemenes as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span>
+his viceroys or vassal kings over Persia. It may have
+been the case that, as already remarked, after the
+consolidation of the Median empire, the sovereignty
+became more oppressive for the Persians, and the links
+of their dependence were drawn closer. According to
+the previous custom, the viceroyalty of Persia would
+descend, at the death of Cambyses, to his son Cyrus.
+If the custom which subsequently prevailed in the
+Persian kingdom was current among the Medes, and
+the sons of the satraps or princes of the subject lands
+had to wait at the king's gate, and perform courtly
+or martial service as hostages for the fidelity of
+their fathers, and at the same time to learn obedience
+and submission in order to find favour with the
+king when in his immediate presence and covered by
+the splendour of his power&mdash;Cyrus must also have
+served at the court of Astyages, and may have filled
+the office of the staff-bearer, body-guard, or of butler,
+an honourable position at the court of the Medes and
+Persians.  In Ecbatana he had no doubt an opportunity
+of comparing the simple manners, the capacity
+and vigour of his Persians, with the splendour of the
+court, and the luxurious life of the Median chiefs.
+Moreover, the great advantage which Spitamas had
+gained by marriage with the daughter of the king
+must have excited the jealousy and ambition of other
+Medes who considered themselves to have a better
+claim, or even raised their eyes to the throne. In the
+account of Herodotus, Harpagus is said to be akin to
+the family of Astyages.  It is possible that Cyrus
+contemplated a breach between Persia and Media
+on the death of Astyages, when he would find his
+opportunity in a contested and previously disputed
+succession. It may be a fact that Astyages had his
+suspicions, that he summoned Cyrus who had already<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span>
+left the court before him, and Cyrus was thus compelled
+to break with him sooner than he intended.
+It seems more certain that Cambyses was still alive,
+than that the Persians took up arms against Astyages
+at the instigation of Cyrus, who was, as we have
+remarked, at that time in his fortieth year.<a name="FNanchor_556_556" id="FNanchor_556_556"></a><a href="#Footnote_556_556" class="fnanchor">[556]</a></p>
+
+<p>It follows from the position of affairs that the
+Persians awaited the attack of the Medes in their own
+country. It was only in the defence of the passes
+of their mountains that they could hope to make
+a stand against the overwhelming power of their
+enemies. In this we may put confidence in the
+Persian tradition, as well as in all that it has to say
+of a character unfavourable to the Persians; above all,
+in the fact that the war was long and severe. As a
+fact the Medes appear to have twice penetrated into
+the heart of the Persian land. Not only Nicolaus,
+Pompeius Trogus, and Polyaenus tell us that the
+struggle took place at first in Persia, and that the
+battle which saved the country was fought at Pasargadae,
+but also an authority of importance, Anaximenes
+of Lampsacus, the contemporary of Aristotle and
+Strabo (p. 357). "In reward for the services which
+the women rendered in that battle," says Nicolaus,
+"the women of Persia each received, when the king
+came to Pasargadae, a gold coin of the value of twenty
+Attic drachmas." Plutarch, as has been observed,<a name="FNanchor_557_557" id="FNanchor_557_557"></a><a href="#Footnote_557_557" class="fnanchor">[557]</a>
+confirms this statement, on the ground of the accounts
+of the companions of Alexander, in a very definite way.
+We must assume, therefore, that Cyrus maintained
+the independence of Persia in a very severe struggle.
+When success had been obtained, he went on to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span>
+attack Media, whether it was that he did not consider
+the freedom of Persia secure without the overthrow
+of that country, or that he at once formed
+the most ambitious designs. After a battle in Media
+had given Cyrus the victory in this new war, the
+chiefs of the nations subject to the Medes, the Hyrcanians,
+Parthians, Sac&aelig;, and Bactrians, and finally
+a part of the Medes, must have abandoned Astyages,
+who, after a second defeat, fell into the hands of
+Cyrus either in the encounter itself or at the capture
+of Ecbatana. The walls of Ecbatana and the seven
+rings round the citadel could not avert his fate
+(558 <small>B.C.</small>).<a name="FNanchor_558_558" id="FNanchor_558_558"></a><a href="#Footnote_558_558" class="fnanchor">[558]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_529_529" id="Footnote_529_529"></a><a href="#FNanchor_529_529"><span class="label">[529]</span></a> Herod. 1, 98, 99.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_530_530" id="Footnote_530_530"></a><a href="#FNanchor_530_530"><span class="label">[530]</span></a> Herod. 1, 112,
+&#960;&#953;&#963;&#964;&#959;&#964;&#940;&#964;&#959;&#965;&#962; &#964;&#8182;&#957; &#948;&#959;&#961;&#965;&#966;&#972;&#961;&#969;&#957;,
+while in the recapitulation, 1, 117, we have
+&#960;&#953;&#963;&#964;&#959;&#964;&#940;&#964;&#959;&#965;&#962; &#964;&#8182;&#957; &#949;&#8016;&#957;&#959;&#973;&#967;&#969;&#957;.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_531_531" id="Footnote_531_531"></a><a href="#FNanchor_531_531"><span class="label">[531]</span></a> Ctesias, "Fragm. Pers." 2, 5.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_532_532" id="Footnote_532_532"></a><a href="#FNanchor_532_532"><span class="label">[532]</span></a> Nicol. Damasc. fragm. 66; Ctes. "Fragm. Pers." 2, 5; Tzetz.
+"Chil." 1, 1, 82 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_533_533" id="Footnote_533_533"></a><a href="#FNanchor_533_533"><span class="label">[533]</span></a> Athen. p. 633; Cic. "de Divin." 1, 23.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_534_534" id="Footnote_534_534"></a><a href="#FNanchor_534_534"><span class="label">[534]</span></a> Justin, 1, 4-7; cf. 44, 4.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_535_535" id="Footnote_535_535"></a><a href="#FNanchor_535_535"><span class="label">[535]</span></a> Poly&aelig;n. "Strat." 7, 6; 7, 45. But he also explains the change of
+fortune at Pasargadae in another way. When Cyrus fled to that place
+after his retreat, and many Persians deserted to the Medes, he spread
+abroad a report that on the following day 100,000 enemies of the
+Medes (Cadusians?) would come to his assistance; every man was to
+prepare a bundle of faggots for the allies. The deserter told this to
+the Medes, and when Cyrus in the night caused all the bundles to be
+lighted, the Medes, thinking that the Persians had received substantial
+assistance, deserted.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_536_536" id="Footnote_536_536"></a><a href="#FNanchor_536_536"><span class="label">[536]</span></a> Strabo, p. 727, 730. Steph. Byzant.
+&#928;&#945;&#963;&#963;&#945;&#961;&#947;&#940;&#948;&#945;&#953;.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_537_537" id="Footnote_537_537"></a><a href="#FNanchor_537_537"><span class="label">[537]</span></a> "De mulier. virtute," 5.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_538_538" id="Footnote_538_538"></a><a href="#FNanchor_538_538"><span class="label">[538]</span></a> Diod. "Ex. de virt. et vit." p. 552, 553 (= 9, 24); cf. 4, 30.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_539_539" id="Footnote_539_539"></a><a href="#FNanchor_539_539"><span class="label">[539]</span></a> Moses Choren. 1, 24-30, and appendix to the first book, according
+to Le Vaillant's translation.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_540_540" id="Footnote_540_540"></a><a href="#FNanchor_540_540"><span class="label">[540]</span></a> The form and explanation of the legend of Asdahag in Moses, as
+well as the mention of Rustem Sakjig, who has the strength of ten
+elephants (2, 8), <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> of Rustem of Sejestan, prove that the East-Iranian
+legend, as we find it in Firdusi, must have been current in
+Western Iran in the fourth century at the latest, if it came into
+Armenia in the fifth century. I do not think it probable that Moses
+took the legend of Tigran from Xenophon's narrative. The vision in
+a dream and the duel point to Armenian tradition.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_541_541" id="Footnote_541_541"></a><a href="#FNanchor_541_541"><span class="label">[541]</span></a> 1, 95.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_542_542" id="Footnote_542_542"></a><a href="#FNanchor_542_542"><span class="label">[542]</span></a> "Cyri Instit." 1, 2, 1.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_543_543" id="Footnote_543_543"></a><a href="#FNanchor_543_543"><span class="label">[543]</span></a> J. Mohl, "Livre des rois," Introd. p. 29.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_544_544" id="Footnote_544_544"></a><a href="#FNanchor_544_544"><span class="label">[544]</span></a> It has been objected to this analysis that the marriage with the
+heiress may not have conveyed the throne <i>ipso facto</i> to the husband;
+it may have been open to the chieftains to elect a king out of the
+members of the royal family. This may be correct for the election of
+the Afghan chiefs at the present day by the heads of the families.
+How the succession to the throne was arranged among the Medes we
+do not know in any detail, or whether their chiefs had any importance
+at all; but we do see that the crown went from father to son from
+Deioces downwards. In any case, even under that hypothesis, the
+husband of the heiress had a nearer claim.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_545_545" id="Footnote_545_545"></a><a href="#FNanchor_545_545"><span class="label">[545]</span></a> Herod. 3, 2. So Deinon and Lyceas of Naucratis in Athenaeus,
+p. 560.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_546_546" id="Footnote_546_546"></a><a href="#FNanchor_546_546"><span class="label">[546]</span></a> Herod. 1, 207; 3, 75; 7, 11.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_547_547" id="Footnote_547_547"></a><a href="#FNanchor_547_547"><span class="label">[547]</span></a> Cicero, "de Divin." 1, 23.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_548_548" id="Footnote_548_548"></a><a href="#FNanchor_548_548"><span class="label">[548]</span></a> St. Martin on Lebeau, "Bas Empire," 2, 221.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_549_549" id="Footnote_549_549"></a><a href="#FNanchor_549_549"><span class="label">[549]</span></a> "Cyri instit." 7, 3, 24.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_550_550" id="Footnote_550_550"></a><a href="#FNanchor_550_550"><span class="label">[550]</span></a> Above, p. 299 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_551_551" id="Footnote_551_551"></a><a href="#FNanchor_551_551"><span class="label">[551]</span></a> Above, p. 34, 35, 36, 256.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_552_552" id="Footnote_552_552"></a><a href="#FNanchor_552_552"><span class="label">[552]</span></a> Above, p. 110. Cf. Windischmann, "Zoroastrische Studien," s.
+277.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_553_553" id="Footnote_553_553"></a><a href="#FNanchor_553_553"><span class="label">[553]</span></a> N&ouml;ldeke, "Tabari," p. 12; Karnamak, s. 68.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_554_554" id="Footnote_554_554"></a><a href="#FNanchor_554_554"><span class="label">[554]</span></a> "Politic." 5, 10, 24.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_555_555" id="Footnote_555_555"></a><a href="#FNanchor_555_555"><span class="label">[555]</span></a> If Astyages was married to the daughter of Alyattes in the year
+610 <small>B.C.</small> he must have been 18 or 20 years old at that time; between
+610 and 558 the year of his fall there are 52 years. Moreover, according
+to Ctesias, Astyages outlived his fall at least ten years ("Fragm.
+Pers." 5). If this were the case, and Astyages did not die till 548, he
+cannot well have been born before 630 <small>B.C.</small> In Herodotus and Pompeius
+Trogus it is expressly said that Astyages had no son, and this is
+the motive which induces Harpagus not to put Cyrus to death, as he
+would in that case expose himself to the vengeance of the mother, the
+heiress to the throne. In Nicolaus also the daughter comes distinctly
+forward, and in Ctesias she is also the heiress (<i>e.&nbsp;g.</i> "Pers." 2); in the
+history of the overthrow and the death of Astyages, we hear of her
+constantly. At the death of Cyrus, her sons by the first marriage
+receive satrapies. In Ctesias, it is true, a brother of Amytis is incidentally
+mentioned, on the occasion of a later war of Cyrus ("Pers."
+3). But as Ctesias is here following a Median version, and after the
+death of Astyages the husband of Amytis and not her supposed
+brother is removed out of the way, no importance can be attached to
+this.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_556_556" id="Footnote_556_556"></a><a href="#FNanchor_556_556"><span class="label">[556]</span></a> Above, p. 369.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_557_557" id="Footnote_557_557"></a><a href="#FNanchor_557_557"><span class="label">[557]</span></a> Above, p. 357. Nicol. Dam. Fragm. 66; Plut "Alex." c. 69;
+Plut. "De Mul. virt." 5.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_558_558" id="Footnote_558_558"></a><a href="#FNanchor_558_558"><span class="label">[558]</span></a> According to the canon of Ptolemy, Cyrus dies 529 <small>B.C.</small> We arrive
+at the same year if we reckon back from the death of Darius. This
+took place five years after the battle of Marathon (Herod. 7, 1-4),
+<i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> 485 <small>B.C.</small> Darius reigned 36 years according to Herodotus and the
+canon of Ptolemy. An Egyptian pillar gives the year 34, a demotic
+contract the year 35 of his reign: he ascended the throne therefore in
+521 <small>B.C.</small> Before him the Magian reigned for seven months, Cambyses
+for seven years and five months (Herod. 3, 66, 67). The canon of
+Ptolemy omits the Magian and gives Cambyses eight years, because it
+reckons by complete years; hence Cambyses ascended the throne in
+529. As Cyrus, according to Herodotus, reigned 29 years after his
+accession (1, 214), the beginning of his reign over Media must be
+placed in 558. If Ctesias gives Cyrus a reign of 30 years ("Pers." 8),
+like Deinon (p. 369), and Justin (1, 8), and Eusebius a reign of 31
+years, these statements may be reconciled by the fact that Cyrus may
+have taken up arms against Media 30 or 31 years before his death, and
+reigned 29 years after the overthrow of Astyages. Diodorus puts the
+beginning of Cyrus: Olymp. 55, 1 = 560 <small>B.C.</small> Africanus in Euseb.
+"Pr&aelig;p. Evang." 10, p. 488.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE RISE OF THE PERSIAN KINGDOM.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The Median empire was not of long duration. Little
+more than a century had passed since Phraortes succeeded
+Deioces in the government of the land of
+Ecbatana, little more than eighty since Phraortes had
+united the tribes of the Medes under his leadership,
+about sixty since Cyaxares had expelled the Scythians,
+and not quite fifty since Nineveh had succumbed to
+the arms of the Medes and Babylonians.</p>
+
+<p>In the overthrow of so mighty a power, Cyrus had
+achieved a great, and, so far as we can tell, an unexpected,
+success. Scanty as our information is, we can
+still perceive that he used the victory with circumspection
+and moderation. Herodotus told us that he
+did no injury to the captive Astyages, and kept him
+with him till his death. Ctesias relates that at the
+command of Cyrus, the heavy chains, which Oebares
+had put on Astyages, were quickly taken off; that he
+honoured him as a father; and entrusted him with the
+government of the Barcanians. According to the statement
+of Pompeius Trogus, Cyrus allowed him to be
+viceroy of the Hyrcanians. The same nation may be
+meant by these two names; in the inscriptions of Darius
+Hyrcania is called Varkana, in the Avesta Vehrkana.<a name="FNanchor_559_559" id="FNanchor_559_559"></a><a href="#Footnote_559_559" class="fnanchor">[559]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span>
+Ctesias further tells us that Cyrus put to death the
+Mede Spitamas, whom Astyages had married to his
+daughter Amytis, and then made his successor, and
+that after treating Amytis for some time as his mother
+he subsequently made her his wife. No harm was
+done to Megabernes and Spitaces, the sons of her
+marriage with Spitamas; on the contrary, the first
+was placed by the wish of Cyrus in the satrapy of
+the Barcanians, the second in the satrapy of the
+Derbiccians.</p>
+
+<p>Cyrus must have made it his object to reconcile the
+Medes to their defeat and loss of empire. If he could
+make the house of Astyages his own, and take his
+daughter to wife, the edge of the change was softened,
+and the more apparent it was that this marriage had
+the consent of Astyages, the more legitimate would
+his rule be in the eyes of the Medes, the less could
+they regard it as the dominion of a stranger. It was
+of importance to gain the assent of the Medes to the
+new kingdom, and support this if possible on the
+united power of Medes and Persians. Moreover, the
+relations of alliance in which Astyages stood to the
+princely houses of Lydia and Babylonia made it
+advisable to deal carefully with Astyages and his
+kindred. Astyages was still alive in 549 <small>B.C.</small>,<a name="FNanchor_560_560" id="FNanchor_560_560"></a><a href="#Footnote_560_560" class="fnanchor">[560]</a> according
+to Herodotus and Ctesias. Whatever may be
+the case as to the connection of Cyrus with Amytis,
+his legitimate wife was Cassandane, the daughter of
+the Persian Pharnaspes, who according to Herodotus
+was an Ach&aelig;menid, and was in fact one of the
+six tribal princes. Cassandane bore Cyrus two sons,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span>
+Cambyses and Bardiya, whom Herodotus calls Smerdis;
+Ctesias, Tanyoxarkes; and Xenophon, Tanaoxares.
+The death of Cassandane was a great grief to Cyrus;
+he caused the whole kingdom to go into mourning
+for her.<a name="FNanchor_561_561" id="FNanchor_561_561"></a><a href="#Footnote_561_561" class="fnanchor">[561]</a></p>
+
+<p>With respect to the position which Cyrus took up
+in regard to the royal family of Media, and Amytis
+more especially, Ctesias has preserved a somewhat
+incredible story. This narrative, which again is
+obviously taken from a poetical source, ascribes the
+death of Astyages to Oebares, to whom, according to
+Trogus, Cyrus had given the government of Persia
+and his sister in marriage, as a reward for his
+services, who in the beginning of his reign had been
+his associate in all his dangers, and whom, according
+to Ctesias, he had afterwards to thank for the capture
+of Sardis. The motive of this act, according to the
+drift of these poems, can only have been anxiety on
+the part of Oebares lest the influence of Astyages and
+his friends should endanger the succession of the house
+of Cyrus in the Persian kingdom and the dominion of
+the Persians. Oebares had previously murdered the
+Babylonian who possessed the secret which controlled
+the future of Persia, against the wishes and without
+the knowledge of Cyrus (p. 347), and he now acts in a
+similar manner towards Astyages. Cyrus, so we are
+told in our excerpt,<a name="FNanchor_562_562" id="FNanchor_562_562"></a><a href="#Footnote_562_562" class="fnanchor">[562]</a> after the Lydian war sent the
+eunuch Petesaces to bring Astyages from the Barcanians,
+as both he and Amytis wished to see him.
+Oebares advised Petesaces to abandon Astyages on
+the way in some desert place, to perish by starvation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span>
+This was done. The crime was revealed by dreams,
+and Cyrus, on the repeated entreaty of Amytis, gave
+Petesaces up to her for punishment. She caused
+him to be blinded, flayed, and crucified. Oebares,
+fearing that a similar lot was in store for him,
+though Cyrus assured him that he should not permit
+anything of the kind, refused all nourishment for ten
+days, and so put an end to his life. The corpse
+of Astyages received a splendid burial. Lions had
+guarded it in the desert place in which it had been
+abandoned, until Petesaces returned and carried it
+away. In the poem in which the singing woman
+warns Astyages against Cyrus he is compared to a
+lion (p. 349). Whether the lions performed this
+service to the corpse of Astyages in the source from
+which Ctesias copied&mdash;it could scarcely by such an
+incident exhibit him as a man favoured by heaven&mdash;or
+whether the lions dealt with the corpse in a
+manner more in accordance with the views of Eastern
+Iran, we must leave out of the question. What is
+more certain is, that the most zealous Persian could
+have no real reason for putting Astyages to death, for
+after the Lydian war he would be in his eightieth
+year. The importance ascribed to Amytis points to
+a Median version; the death of Oebares is accounted
+for in a manner suitable to his life and his fidelity.</p>
+
+<p>In Herodotus the Persians, on the instigation of
+Artembares, one of their tribesmen, say to Cyrus:
+"Since Zeus gives the sovereignty to the Persians,
+and above all to thee, Cyrus, who hast overthrown
+Astyages, so let it be thy care that we leave our land
+and obtain a better, for our country is small and wild.
+Many better regions are close at hand, many at a
+distance, and if we gain one of them, we shall be
+more admired in the eyes of men.  To do this is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span>
+proper for men who possess the dominion, and when
+can it be done better than now, when we have so
+many men, and rule over all Asia?" When Cyrus
+heard this he expressed no astonishment, but said
+simply: they might do so, but they must be prepared
+to be rulers no longer, but subjects; the same land
+could not produce the noblest fruits and warlike men.
+The Persians saw that Cyrus' view was the better,
+and chose to inhabit and rule over a scanty land,
+rather than be the slaves of others.<a name="FNanchor_563_563" id="FNanchor_563_563"></a><a href="#Footnote_563_563" class="fnanchor">[563]</a> The distinct
+opposition of Cyrus and Artembares seems to carry
+us back to Persian poems, otherwise the narrative is
+less likely to belong to the tradition of Persia than
+to arise out of the necessity which the Greeks felt
+for explaining how the Persians succeeded in founding
+so mighty an empire from a mountain country so
+moderate in extent.</p>
+
+<p>In any case the Persians, after the overthrow of
+Media, were far from possessing the dominion over
+Asia. In Nicolaus, it is true, when the news is spread
+abroad that Astyages has retired from Persia and
+has fled before Cyrus in the first battle in Media,
+the chief of the Hyrcanians comes with 50,000 men,
+to pay homage to Cyrus as king; he is followed by
+the chiefs of the Parthians, Sac&aelig;, and Bactrians, and
+then by the remaining nations. But as a fact the
+course of things seems to have been different. If the
+princes and natives who were subject to the Medes
+were ready to throw off their dominion as soon as
+they were defeated by the Persians, they were hardly
+inclined to recognise Cyrus as sovereign in the room
+of Astyages. Herodotus tells us that Cyrus subjugated
+the Bactrians and Sac&aelig;, and Upper Asia, one
+nation after the other, and puts these conquests after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span>
+the Lydian war.<a name="FNanchor_564_564" id="FNanchor_564_564"></a><a href="#Footnote_564_564" class="fnanchor">[564]</a> Xenophon represents the Hyrcanians
+as joining Cyrus at an early date, and the Cadusians
+follow their example, which harmonises with the view
+taken in the Persian poems of the hatred of the
+Cadusians to the Medes. In Xenophon and Ctesias
+the Sac&aelig; are the allies of Cyrus as early as 549 <small>B.C.</small><a name="FNanchor_565_565" id="FNanchor_565_565"></a><a href="#Footnote_565_565" class="fnanchor">[565]</a>
+If Astyages receives the satrapy of the Hyrcanians
+in Justin, this nation and the Parthians, who were
+still nearer neighbours of Media, must have been
+among those who were subject to Cyrus.</p>
+
+<p>In Ctesias, Cyrus after the conquest of Astyages
+marches against the Bactrians; the battle was undecided.
+But when they found that Astyages was
+the father and Amytis the wife of Cyrus, the Bactrians
+voluntarily submitted to Amytis and Cyrus.
+Then Cyrus conquered the Sac&aelig;, and took their king
+Amorges captive. We remember that, according to
+Herodotus' statement, the proper name of the Sac&aelig; was
+Amyrgians, and in the inscriptions of Darius we found
+the &Ccedil;aka Humavarka. The name Amorges seems to
+be borrowed from the Amyrgians. When Amorges
+had been defeated and taken captive by Cyrus, his
+wife Sparethra, as she is called in Ctesias, collected
+the Sac&aelig; and took the field with them. Zarinaea,
+a princess of the Sac&aelig;, had previously fought with
+great bravery against the Medes, but her achievements
+are far surpassed by those of Sparethra. With
+300,000 men and 200,000 armed women, she went
+against the Persians, and defeated Cyrus, taking many
+captives, among whom were Medes of distinction. As
+a ransom for these Amorges was restored to Sparethra,
+and there was friendship between Cyrus and the king
+of the Sac&aelig;, and the latter marched with him to the
+war against the Lydians. Strabo also speaks of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span>
+battle in which Cyrus was defeated by the Sac&aelig;.
+Being hard pressed on his retreat he abandoned his
+camp with large stores of every kind, especially of
+wine. When the Sac&aelig; had enjoyed their spoil,
+Cyrus fell upon them and massacred nearly all.<a name="FNanchor_566_566" id="FNanchor_566_566"></a><a href="#Footnote_566_566" class="fnanchor">[566]</a></p>
+
+<p>Trogus following Deinon tells us that the nations
+who were subject to the Medes did not submit to
+Cyrus. Hence arose many wars. The greater part of
+these nations he had already overpowered, before he
+marched against the Lydians, <i>i.&nbsp;e.</i> in the first eight
+years after the overthrow of Astyages. We may assume
+that Cyrus, immediately after the dethronement of
+Astyages, was occupied with bringing the neighbours
+of Media on the east, north, and west into obedience
+to the new kingdom. So long as the Parthians,
+Hyrcanians, Armenians, were independent or in arms
+against Cyrus, the Medes must be strongly tempted
+to recover their lost dominion. The Cadusians in
+Ghilan were subjects of Cyrus; at any rate the name
+of the city Cyropolis on the Caspian Sea, on the
+coast of the Cadusians, is a proof that Cyrus placed a
+fortress there, in order to keep them or their neighbours
+in check; and under the successors of Cyrus
+the Cadusians are always mentioned as subjects.<a name="FNanchor_567_567" id="FNanchor_567_567"></a><a href="#Footnote_567_567" class="fnanchor">[567]</a>
+Then he took the same line towards the west, on
+which Cyaxares of Media had advanced sixty years
+previously after driving out the Scythians; he gained
+Armenia and Cappadocia, and made the Halys the
+border of his kingdom towards Lydia. In his narrative
+of the events of the year 549 <small>B.C.</small>, Herodotus
+remarks that the Cappadocians were subject to Cyrus,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span>
+having previously been subjects of the Medes. It is
+clear from repeated statements that at this time the
+Halys was the western border of the empire of Cyrus.<a name="FNanchor_568_568" id="FNanchor_568_568"></a><a href="#Footnote_568_568" class="fnanchor">[568]</a>
+Xenophon reckons the subjugation of the Armenians,
+who had been subjects of the Medes, among the
+earliest achievements of Cyrus; he tells the story
+in his own manner, and places after this the subjection
+of the neighbours on the south, the Chald&aelig;ans
+(Gordy&aelig;ans) who dwelt in the mountains
+which separate the table-land of Armenia from the
+hilly country of Assyria. The legends of the Cappadocians
+conceal their subjugation to Cyrus under
+supposed links of alliance; Cambyses, the father of
+Cyrus, had given his own sister Atossa in marriage to
+Pharnaces, the king of the Cappadocians.<a name="FNanchor_569_569" id="FNanchor_569_569"></a><a href="#Footnote_569_569" class="fnanchor">[569]</a> The extension
+of the Persian dominion to the east over
+Parthia and Hyrcania, the subjugation of the Drangians,
+Gedrosians, and Arachoti, must, in consideration
+of the observation of Herodotus, that in 548 <small>B.C.</small>
+Cyrus was intent on military preparations against
+the Bactrians and Sac&aelig;, and the urgent difficulties
+which at that time summoned him to the east, be
+placed in the later years of his reign; in fact, they
+cannot come earlier than the second decade; which
+does not, however, make it impossible that Cyrus
+should have fought against the Bactrians and Sac&aelig;
+in the first decade.<a name="FNanchor_570_570" id="FNanchor_570_570"></a><a href="#Footnote_570_570" class="fnanchor">[570]</a></p>
+
+<p>Cyrus must have arranged his court and state after
+the pattern of Media, which in its turn was a copy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span>
+of the court of the kings of Asshur and Babylon.
+Ctesias asserts that Petesaces, the eunuch, and after
+his death Bagapates, another eunuch, had great influence
+with Cyrus.<a name="FNanchor_571_571" id="FNanchor_571_571"></a><a href="#Footnote_571_571" class="fnanchor">[571]</a> The abode of Ach&aelig;menes,
+Teispes, and Carabyses, the ancient place of assembly
+and metropolis of the tribe of the Pasargad&aelig;, was
+changed by Cyrus into a city and fortress; there he
+built his palace, in which he deposited the spoil of
+his wars, and collected his treasures.<a name="FNanchor_572_572" id="FNanchor_572_572"></a><a href="#Footnote_572_572" class="fnanchor">[572]</a> The new
+kingdom rested on the power of the Persians; they
+alone had to pay no tribute to the king; they formed
+the nucleus of the army; the leaders and satraps
+were mainly chosen from them. But Cyrus was
+obviously anxious to reconcile the Medes, next to
+the Persians, with the change in affairs, and win
+their aid. This design lay at the base of his treatment
+of Astyages and the marriage with his daughter, and
+scarcely ten years after the fall of the Median kingdom,
+we find Medes at the head of the army of
+Cyrus. The clemency of Cyrus towards the other
+subject nations is also extolled. Herodotus vouches
+for the fact that he laid no fixed tribute upon them,
+but left it to themselves to fix the amount of their
+yearly contributions. Of all men, Xenophon says,
+Cyrus made the largest presents, and exhibited the
+greatest liberality towards those who had done him
+good service, and in this the subsequent kings of
+Persia followed his example.</p>
+
+<p>According to Xenophon's description, Cyrus was
+of a kindly disposition, eager to instruct himself, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span>
+so ambitious that he shrank from no effort and no
+danger.<a name="FNanchor_573_573" id="FNanchor_573_573"></a><a href="#Footnote_573_573" class="fnanchor">[573]</a> With the Greeks he passes not only for
+the founder of the dominion of the Persians, but
+for the author of excellent arrangements in the kingdom.
+From this point of view Xenophon wrote his
+treatise on Cyrus. By his example he wished to
+prove to the Greeks how the empire over nations
+could be gained, how a great kingdom could be
+founded and maintained, how a ruler could command
+obedience even among those who had never seen
+him and were separated by great distances. It is
+a historical romance which he has written on Cyrus;
+but he knew the Persian empire, and could not
+advance anything absolutely in contradiction to the
+current opinion of the Greeks about Cyrus. According
+to him the relation of Cyrus to the Persians
+rested on a kind of compact. When his son had
+subjugated the nations far and wide, Cambyses collected
+the elders of the Persians and the officers
+who held the highest places, and told them the
+Persians had elected Cyrus to be their general, and
+given him the army; Cyrus had extended their
+power over Asia, and gained glory among all men;
+he had made the bravest men in the army rich, and
+found pay and food for all the soldiers. If this
+relation were maintained it would be for the advantage
+of both parties; if, on the other hand, Cyrus
+sought to rule over the Persians with the same caprice
+as over other nations, or the Persians should attempt
+to take the command from him, each would do the
+greatest harm to the other. Let Cyrus, therefore,
+undertake to protect Persia and uphold the Persian
+laws, and the Persians to render Cyrus any service
+that he needed against rebellion and enemies. "After<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span>
+me," Cambyses concludes, "Cyrus will be king, and
+whenever he comes to Persia he will offer for you
+the sacrifice which I am offering now. If he is
+in a foreign land, it will be best for the noblest
+of our family to offer sacrifices to the gods." "What
+Cambyses proposed was approved by Cyrus and the
+Persians with invocations to the gods, and the arrangement
+is still observed on both sides."<a name="FNanchor_574_574" id="FNanchor_574_574"></a><a href="#Footnote_574_574" class="fnanchor">[574]</a> Plato
+even puts Cyrus on the same level as Lycurgus,
+the founder of the constitution of Sparta. He gives
+Dion the choice of rivalling the ancient Lycurgus or
+Cyrus, or any one else who may be distinguished
+by moral excellence and political wisdom.<a name="FNanchor_575_575" id="FNanchor_575_575"></a><a href="#Footnote_575_575" class="fnanchor">[575]</a> According
+to the Laws, Cyrus, brought up from his youth
+in the camp and surrounded by danger, became a
+skilful general, and as a ruler kept before his eyes
+the prosperity of the state. In the same book we
+are told that the monarchical form of government
+attained its most complete state among the Persians,
+and the democratic among the Athenians. But as
+the Persian state pursued absolute dominion, and
+the Attic uncontrolled freedom, neither discovered
+the correct limit; though in ancient times they had
+observed due moderation. At the time of Cyrus the
+Persians were midway between slavery and freedom.
+At first they were free, then they became the lords
+of others.  But while ruling they had given the
+subjects a share in freedom, and treated them on
+an equal footing. For this reason the warriors were
+devoted to their general and ready to plunge into
+danger. And if an intelligent man appeared, who
+could give wise counsel, Cyrus gave him liberty to
+speak; and as he honoured those who knew how<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span>
+to give advise, every opinion was made use of for
+the common good, and the Persians of that day
+succeeded in everything by freedom, concord, and
+common deliberation.<a name="FNanchor_576_576" id="FNanchor_576_576"></a><a href="#Footnote_576_576" class="fnanchor">[576]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_559_559" id="Footnote_559_559"></a><a href="#FNanchor_559_559"><span class="label">[559]</span></a> Ctes. "Pers. Ecl." 5; Tzetz. "Chil." 1, 1, 83; Justin, 1, 6. Yet
+Diodorus mentions the Barcanians together with the Hyrcanians (2,
+2); Curtius (3, 2) represents the Barcanians as providing 12,000 men
+for the last Darius; Stephanus of Byzantium (&#914;&#945;&#961;&#954;&#940;&#957;&#953;&#959;&#953;) puts them
+beside the Hyrcanians. Yet all these statements may rest on the
+same misconception.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_560_560" id="Footnote_560_560"></a><a href="#FNanchor_560_560"><span class="label">[560]</span></a> Herod. 1, 73; above, p. 378, <i>note</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_561_561" id="Footnote_561_561"></a><a href="#FNanchor_561_561"><span class="label">[561]</span></a> Herod. 2, 1; 3, 2; 7, 11.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_562_562" id="Footnote_562_562"></a><a href="#FNanchor_562_562"><span class="label">[562]</span></a> Ctesias, "Pers." 8. The narrative of the death of Astyages
+follows the narrative of the wars against the Bactrians and Sac&aelig;, and
+against Cr&#339;sus, and precedes the wars against the Derbiccians.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_563_563" id="Footnote_563_563"></a><a href="#FNanchor_563_563"><span class="label">[563]</span></a> Herod. 9, 122.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_564_564" id="Footnote_564_564"></a><a href="#FNanchor_564_564"><span class="label">[564]</span></a> Herod. 1, 177.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_565_565" id="Footnote_565_565"></a><a href="#FNanchor_565_565"><span class="label">[565]</span></a> "Cyri instit." 5, 3, 22.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_566_566" id="Footnote_566_566"></a><a href="#FNanchor_566_566"><span class="label">[566]</span></a> Strabo, p. 512.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_567_567" id="Footnote_567_567"></a><a href="#FNanchor_567_567"><span class="label">[567]</span></a> Ptolem. 6, 2; Ammian, 23, 6. The rebellion of the Cadusians at
+a later time was mentioned by Xenoph. "Hellen." 2, 1, 13; Plut.
+"Artaxerx." 24; Diod. 15, 8; Justin, 10, 3. They fought with the
+last Darius at Arbela; Arrian, "Anab." 3, 11.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_568_568" id="Footnote_568_568"></a><a href="#FNanchor_568_568"><span class="label">[568]</span></a> Cr&#339;sus, when he has crossed the Halys, is at once in Persian
+territory; Herod. 1, 72, 73.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_569_569" id="Footnote_569_569"></a><a href="#FNanchor_569_569"><span class="label">[569]</span></a> Xenoph. "Cyri instit." 3, 1; 3, 2, 1, 2; 7, 2, 5; Diod. 31, 19.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_570_570" id="Footnote_570_570"></a><a href="#FNanchor_570_570"><span class="label">[570]</span></a> The serious difficulty of Cyrus is shown by his rapid march back
+from Sardis with much the larger part of his army before the Greek
+cities, the Lycians and Carians were reduced. Cp. Vol. VI. chapters
+8 and 9.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_571_571" id="Footnote_571_571"></a><a href="#FNanchor_571_571"><span class="label">[571]</span></a> "Persic." 9.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_572_572" id="Footnote_572_572"></a><a href="#FNanchor_572_572"><span class="label">[572]</span></a> Strabo, p. 730; Curt. 5, 6, 10; Arrian, "Anab." 3, 16, 18. The
+observation in Xenophon ("Cyri instit." 5, 2, 1), that Cyrus whenever
+he trod the soil of Persia gave a piece of gold to each Persian man and
+woman, may have arisen from the presents to the women of Pasargad&aelig;.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_573_573" id="Footnote_573_573"></a><a href="#FNanchor_573_573"><span class="label">[573]</span></a> "Cyri instit." 1, 2, 1.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_574_574" id="Footnote_574_574"></a><a href="#FNanchor_574_574"><span class="label">[574]</span></a> "Cyri instit." 8, 5, 21 ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_575_575" id="Footnote_575_575"></a><a href="#FNanchor_575_575"><span class="label">[575]</span></a> Plato, "Epp." 4, p. 320. Cf. "Menexen." p. 239.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_576_576" id="Footnote_576_576"></a><a href="#FNanchor_576_576"><span class="label">[576]</span></a> "Legg." p. 693, 694. Cicero, ("de Republ." 1, 27, 28), calls Cyrus
+the most just, wise, and amiable of rulers.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<div class="bbt">
+<h4>END OF VOL. V.</h4>
+</div>
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span></p>
+<h5>BUNGAY: CLAY AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS.</h5>
+<p style="text-align: right;"><i>J. D. &amp; Co.</i></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of Antiquity, by Max Duncker
+
+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: The History of Antiquity
+       Vol. V.
+
+Author: Max Duncker
+
+Translator: Evelyn Abbott
+
+Release Date: December 4, 2011 [EBook #38209]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF ANTIQUITY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Adrian Mastronardi and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  THE
+  HISTORY OF ANTIQUITY.
+
+  FROM THE GERMAN
+  OF
+  PROFESSOR MAX DUNCKER,
+
+
+  BY
+  EVELYN ABBOTT, M.A., LL.D.,
+  _FELLOW AND TUTOR OF BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD._
+
+
+  VOL. V.
+
+
+  LONDON:
+  RICHARD BENTLEY & SON, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,
+  Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen.
+  1881.
+
+
+
+  Bungay:
+  CLAY AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+BOOK VII.
+
+_THE ARIANS OF EASTERN IRAN._
+
+  CHAPTER I.                                                      PAGE
+  THE LAND AND THE TRIBES                                            3
+
+  CHAPTER II.
+  THE KINGDOM OF THE BACTRIANS                                      19
+
+  CHAPTER III.
+  THE SCRIPTURES OF IRAN                                            49
+
+  CHAPTER IV.
+  ZARATHRUSTRA AND THE DATE OF THE COMPOSITION OF THE AVESTA        68
+
+  CHAPTER V.
+  THE GODS OF THE ARIANS IN IRAN                                   106
+
+  CHAPTER VI.
+  THE REFORM OF THE FAITH                                          129
+
+  CHAPTER VII.
+  THE DOCTRINE OF THE AVESTA                                       149
+
+  CHAPTER VIII.
+  THE PRIESTHOOD OF IRAN                                           184
+
+  CHAPTER IX.
+  THE LAW OF THE PRIESTS                                           201
+
+  CHAPTER X.
+  THE LATER DEVELOPMENT OF EASTERN IRAN                            239
+
+
+BOOK VIII.
+
+_THE EMPIRE OF THE MEDES AND PERSIANS._
+
+  CHAPTER I.
+  THE FOUNDATION OF THE MEDIAN KINGDOM                             267
+
+  CHAPTER II.
+  THE EMPIRE OF THE MEDES                                          292
+
+  CHAPTER III.
+  THE TRIBES OF THE PERSIANS                                       319
+
+  CHAPTER IV.
+  THE FALL OF THE MEDIAN KINGDOM                                   335
+
+  CHAPTER V.
+  THE RISE OF THE PERSIAN KINGDOM                                  382
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VII.
+
+THE ARIANS OF EASTERN IRAN.
+
+
+
+
+EASTERN IRAN.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE LAND AND THE TRIBES.
+
+
+Between the valley of the Indus and the land of the Euphrates and
+Tigris, bounded on the south by the ocean and the Persian Gulf, on the
+north by the broad steppes which the Oxus and Jaxartes vainly attempt
+to fertilise, by the Caspian Sea and the valley of the Aras, lies the
+table-land of Iran. Rising to an average height of 4000 feet above the
+level of the sea, it forms an oblong, the length of which from east to
+west is something more than 1500 miles. The breadth in the east is about
+1000 miles, but at the narrowest point, from the Caspian Sea to the
+Persian Gulf, it is not much more than 500 miles; while the western
+edge, reaching from the Persian Gulf to the mountains of Aderbeijan,
+again extends over a distance of about 750 miles.
+
+In this seclusion, neither penetrated by bays of the sea nor traversed
+by mighty rivers, the region exhibits a certain similarity to the
+highlands of Arabia. The centre of the Iranian land, like that of
+Arabia, is occupied by a great desert where only nomadic life is
+possible. But the soil of Iran is more diversified in regard to
+elevation and depression. The northern half of the land is higher than
+the southern, the centre is hollowed out in the form of a trough, so
+that in the east, at any rate, the waters from the inner slopes of the
+mountainous rim fall into the depression, and collect in fructifying
+lakes. The oases and fertile valleys are more numerous and extensive
+than in Arabia, and though the rivers of the inner table-land, like the
+streams of the northern edge, which flow to the north, are lost in the
+sand or end in unimportant lakes, they nevertheless render agriculture
+possible over wide tracts of country.
+
+The northern side is more diversified and superior in formation to
+the south. The southern edge, which sinks down to the ocean, closely
+resembles Arabia in the climate and the nature of the country; the
+mountains of the north, on the other hand, exhibit green pastures and
+splendid forests where Arabia has nothing but bare peaks: in the Hindu
+Kush, and Elburz on the Caspian Sea, as well as in Aderbeijan, they rise
+into vast Alpine districts. The eastern edge, extending over a distance
+of 900 miles, rises like a steep wall out of the valley of the Indus; a
+few long and difficult passes lead from the Indus to the high ground,
+which on the north commences with cold bare flats, and on the south with
+slopes still more desolate and barren, and at the same time intolerably
+hot. Only the terraces of the valley of the Cabul, which flows down into
+the Indus, allow a convenient exit towards the north, and present a soil
+to a great extent so fertile that three harvests can be reaped in the
+year. The western edge of Iran, on the other hand, is formed by parallel
+ridges running from the north-west to the south-east, between which,
+beside extensive mountain pastures, lie narrow and well-watered valleys.
+In the north-west the low-lying regions are rich in meadows and forest;
+while those between the abutting ridges of the western and southern edge
+are warm, and even hot, in climate, rich and luxuriant in vegetation.
+
+On this table-land the heat is softened, though not entirely, by the
+elevation of the soil. After violent storms in the spring, no cloud
+darkens the sky from May to September; the atmosphere is peculiarly dry
+and clear, and through the fine air can be seen, bright and sharp, the
+outlines of the mountains and the whole country, while at night the
+star-lit sky almost replaces the light of day. The changes in
+temperature are sudden and severe. From cold, snow-covered terraces,
+8000 feet in height, we suddenly descend to the glowing heat of the
+plains, lying barely 2000 feet above the sea. In the north-east
+oppressive heat alternates with great cold; the north suffers from a
+severe winter, with heavy falls of snow and icy storms, blowing over the
+Caspian Sea and the broad steppes; in the south the air is filled with
+the dust of the desert, here extraordinarily fine, and the hot winds
+give the heaps of sand the appearance of changing waves, and roll masses
+of it to the sky.[1]
+
+As far back as our information extends, we find the table-land of Iran
+occupied by a group of nations closely related to each other, and
+speaking dialects of the same language. On the edges of that great
+desert, which occupies the centre of the land, are tracts of pasture,
+and further inland, treeless steppes, which, however, are watered here
+and there by brackish pools, and produce a salt vegetation barely
+sufficient to provide buffaloes and camels with sustenance, until the
+soil becomes entirely barren. In the western part of these steppes
+wandered a pastoral people, whom Herodotus calls Sagartians. They were
+horsemen, but, according to the historian's statement, carried no
+weapons of attack beyond a dagger and a rope of twisted straps, at one
+end of which was a loop. In this they placed their confidence in battle;
+they threw it over men and horses, and so dragged them down and
+strangled them. In the inscriptions of the Achaemenids this nation is
+called _Acagarta_.[2]
+
+Close to the Indus, and beyond the bare, hot, treeless shores of the
+ocean, the southern part of the plain consists of sandy flats, in which
+nothing grows but prickly herbs and a few palms. The springs are a day's
+journey from each other, and often more. This region was possessed by a
+people whom Herodotus calls Sattagydae, and the companions of Alexander
+of Macedonia, Gedrosians.[3] Among the nations of the East who were
+subject to them, the inscriptions of the Achaemenids mention the
+"_Thataghus_," which the Greeks understood as Sattagush and Gadrush.
+Neighbours of the Gandarians, who, as we know, dwelt on the right bank
+of the Indus down to the Cabul, the Gedrosians led a wandering,
+predatory life; under the Persian kings they were united into one
+satrapy with the Gandarians.[4] To the south of the Gedrosians, on the
+coast, there dwelt, according to the Greeks, a miserable race, eaters of
+fish and tortoises, who built their houses of the bones of whales
+thrown up by the sea. They wove their nets from the bark of palms, and
+their weapons were javelins hardened in the fire.[5] The edge on the
+south allows no streams of any size to flow to the sea, so that even to
+this day this coast presents only a few small fertile spots. About
+equally distant from the northern and southern edge of the table-land,
+to the east of the desert of the interior, lies a considerable lake, now
+called Hamun, but known to the Greeks as Areios. It forms the centre of
+a cultivated district, though the storms from the west often drive the
+sand of the desert to its shores. This basin is formed by and receives
+important streams flowing from the inner slopes of the northern and
+eastern edge. From the southern spurs of the Hindu Kush comes the
+Hilmend, the Haetumat of the Avesta, _i.e._ rich in bridges, the
+Etymandros of the Greeks, which has a course of about 400 miles, and
+before falling into the lake is joined by the Arghandab. The Lora, which
+flows from the east, but further to the south, does not now reach the
+lake. From the north flow the Harut and Chashrud. Round this lake, and
+on the banks of the Hilmend, the Arghandab, and the Lora, lies a
+fruitful region; higher up the walls of the valleys are covered with
+forests, until towards the east the upper course of the rivers is
+enclosed by bare cliffs. On the shores of the Hamun, and in the valley
+of the Hilmend, dwelt a people whom the inscriptions of the Achaemenids
+call _Zaraka_, i.e. dwellers on the lake. A lake in Old Persian is
+_Daraya_; in the ancient language of the East, _Zarayanh_; in modern
+Persian, _Zareh_. Hence we understand why Herodotus calls this nation
+Sarangians, the later Greeks, Zarangians and Drangians. According to the
+Greeks the Zarakas were a warlike nation, armed with Median bows and
+spears, unsurpassed in battle on horseback; and a tribe of them which
+lived under good and equitable laws bore the name of Ariacpians.[6] The
+ruins of cities and works of irrigation testify to the former prosperity
+of this region. East of the Zarakas, up the valley of the Arghandab,
+dwelt the Arachoti. In the inscriptions of the Achaemenids they are
+called _Harauvati_; in the Avesta, _Harahvaiti_, i.e. the rich in
+water. These names the Arachoti received from the river on which they
+were settled, the older name of which was Arachotus (_Sarasvati_).[7]
+Herodotus does not designate the Arachoti by this name derived from the
+river of their land, but by the tribal name of Pactyes; he tells us that
+they wore peculiar bows, daggers, and skins.[8] The Afghans, who in
+ancient times occupied the region from the Suleiman mountains on the
+east as far as the Arghandab on the west, Shorawak on the south, the
+Cabul and the range of the Sefid-Kuh on the north, and in the middle
+ages forced their way to Cabul and Peshawur, still call themselves
+Pashtun and Pakhtun, or Rohilo, _i.e._ mountaineers. They still speak
+their old rough mountain language, which is closely connected with the
+dialects of the Arian tribes on the Indus.[9]
+
+Eastward of Elburz, the point where the northern edge of Iran again
+rises into a lofty range to the west (Demavend is more than 18,000 feet
+in height), and then sinks down to the Caspian Sea, lay the Hyrcanians.
+In the inscriptions of the Achaemenids their land is known as _Varkana_;
+the modern name is Jorjan. Here, according to the Greeks, the mountains
+were covered with forests of oaks, where swarms of wild bees had their
+hives; in the valleys vines and fig-trees flourished, and the soil down
+to the sea was so luxuriant that corn grew from the fallen grains
+without any special sowing.[10] The description is hardly exaggerated.
+The waters pouring from the heights and snow-fields of Elburz water the
+soil of the coast so thoroughly, that a tropical growth flourishes in
+Jorjan, Taberistan, and Ghilan, the luxuriance of which is assisted by
+the volcanic heat of the earth. The lagunes of the coast are succeeded
+by marsh forests; higher up are fields of rice and plantations of
+sugarcane, and beyond these fertile meadows, above which splendid
+forests of oaks, planes, and elms clothe the heights of Elburz. There is
+abundance of water fruits, figs and mulberries, olives and oranges, and
+the vigorous creepers of the vines run even to the summits of the
+trees.[11] Nevertheless, these favoured regions have a darker side.
+Frequent earthquakes disturb the soil; in the winter furious north winds
+blowing over the Caspian rage along the walls of Elburz, and even on the
+outlying spurs the snow falls to the depth of several fathoms; the
+rain-clouds, hemmed in by the mountain ranges, often burst in
+water-spouts, which lay the land far and wide under water, and roll as
+torrents down the gorges; the marsh air blanches the inhabitants, while
+in the summer the hot and moist climate breeds deadly fever.
+
+Further to the east, where the Caspian Sea ends and the mountains of
+Iran descend towards the desolate, pathless steppes of the Oxus, is a
+wild, hilly country. In the depressions, and there only, the region of
+the Parthians (_Parthava_ in the inscriptions of the Achaemenids[12])
+exhibits fruitful lands, and, further eastward still, agriculture is
+favoured by the long, narrow valley of the Areios (Herirud). Springing
+from the southern slope of the Hindu Kush, the river flows towards the
+west along the inner edge of the table-land, till it bursts through the
+northern barrier in order to lose itself in the sand of the steppes. In
+this valley the district of the modern Herat, lay the Areians, who are
+called _Haraiva_ in the inscriptions of the Persian kings. The name
+points to the possession of water. To the north of the Areians, in the
+valley of the Margos (now Murghab), which rises in the northern edge of
+the table-land, and flows to the north-west, where it also ends in the
+sands of the desert, in Margiana (Old Persian, Marghush; Bactrian,
+Mouru; modern Merv), lay the Margiani, in a well-cultivated region, rich
+in vineyards, with numerous cities and a large population. But the
+fertility only extends so far as the soil can be watered from the Margos
+and the neighbouring streams.
+
+At the foot of the mountain barrier, towards the northern steppes, and
+on the edge of the steppes of the Oxus, to the north of the Hyrcanians,
+Parthians, and Margiani, in a land which only partially admits of
+agriculture, lay the Chorasmians, a people partly stationary and partly
+migratory--the _Uvarazmiya_ of the Achaemenids, the _Hvairizem_ of the
+Avesta. Further to the east, where the edge rises to the lofty Hindu
+Kush, there lies on its northern slope a favoured district in the region
+of the Upper Oxus. That river flows from the table-land of Pamire, which
+lies more than 15,000 feet above the sea, exactly at the point where the
+Hindu Kush abuts on the Belurdagh, the western edge of the central
+table-land. On the banks of the river, which flows in a north-westerly
+direction, extend broad mountain pastures, where support is found in the
+fresh mountain air for numerous herds of horses and sheep, and beneath
+the wooded hills are blooming valleys. On these slopes of the Hindu
+Kush, the middle stage between the table-land and the deep plain of the
+Caspian Sea, lay the Bactrians--the _Bakhtri_ of the Achaemenids, the
+_Bakhdhi_ of the Avesta. Curtius, following the accounts of the
+companions of Alexander, tells us of the land of the Bactrians that it
+was much diversified in character; in one part were pastures, another
+was rich in beautiful fruit-trees and vines, and frequent springs
+watered the rich soil, on which corn was cultivated. These districts
+supported a large number of oxen and horses. Under the range of
+Paropanisos (_i.e._ on the slope of the Hindu Kush) lay the city of
+Bactra, on the river of the same name, which washed its walls. But a
+great part of the country was covered with waste tracts of sand. If the
+winds blew from the Caspian Sea, they swept the sand into high hills,
+under which not only did every trace of the road disappear, but
+travellers were at times overwhelmed; and, as if voyaging by sea, it was
+necessary to guide the course by the stars.[13] Strabo remarks, after
+Apollodorus of Artemita, that Bactria was the best part of East Iran
+(Ariana). In ancient times the Bactrians were hardly distinguished from
+nomads; but their land was extensive, and produced fruits of all kinds,
+with the exception of the vine. The fertility of the land enabled the
+Hellenic princes to make great conquests. Their cities were Bactra,
+traversed by the river of the same name, Darapsa, Aornus (_avarana_,
+_i.e._ protection), Kariata, and many others, and besides these cities,
+the Bactrians had citadels on lofty rocks.[14] According to Strabo,
+Bactra was also called Zariaspa, and Pliny asserts that at any rate in
+earlier times it was called by that name. In Arrian Zariaspa is the
+largest city of Bactria, while Ptolemy places Zariaspa to the north of
+Bactra, on the bank of the Oxus. Zariaspa means golden horse. A river
+might possibly be known by such a name, but hardly a city, unless it
+belonged to a tribe of the name of Zariaspians, and was inhabited by
+them. In fact Ptolemy places the tribe of the Zariaspians in his
+Zariaspa.[15]
+
+The air on these north-western terraces of the Hindu Kush is warm, and
+the soil sufficiently vigorous, under irrigation, to produce rice and
+southern fruits. Eight leagues below the snow-fields of the mountains,
+which resist even the hottest months of the year, two good leagues to
+the north of the place where the Dehas, after forcing a passage through
+the last heights, reaches the plains, lies the city of Balkh, on the
+banks of that river. At this day it is a town only partially inhabited;
+but the ruins of the ancient city are said to cover a circuit of several
+leagues. The adjacent soil is now well cultivated; the fields are
+thickly planted with trees, and beside old water-courses, now dried up,
+and extensive ruins of yet older aqueducts, eighteen channels still
+convey their rills to fields under active cultivation.[16]
+
+North of the Bactrians, beyond the Oxus, on the western slope of
+Belurdagh, in the valley of the Polytimetus (Zarefshan, _i.e._ strewing
+gold), which flows towards the Oxus from the east, but, instead of
+joining it, ends in Lake Dengiz, lay the Sogdiani of the Greeks, the
+_Suguda_ of the Old Persian inscriptions, and _Cughdha_ of the Avesta,
+in the region of the modern Sogd. As the Oxus in its upper course
+separates the Bactrians from the Sogdiani, the Jaxartes, further to the
+north, separates the latter from the Scyths. According to Strabo, the
+manners of the Bactrians and Sogdiani were similar, but the Bactrians
+were less rude.[17] Maracanda (Samarcand), the chief city of the
+Sogdiani, on the Polytimetus, is said to have had a circuit of 70
+stades in the fourth century B.C. The soil is not without fertility, but
+the climate varies between great heat and severe cold.
+
+Herodotus observes that the Bactrians, who carried bows of reed and
+short lances, closely resembled the northern Indians in armour,
+clothing, and mode of life, and then informs us that the Areians,
+Parthians, Sogdiani, and Chorasmians resembled the Bactrians. All these
+tribes of the east, according to the account of Herodotus, carried the
+Indian bow of reed; the Areians alone used the Median bow, which
+Herodotus states to have been in vogue not only among the Medes, but
+also among all the nations of Western Iran. He adds that in ancient
+times the Medes were called Areians by all men. Strabo uses the name
+Ariana for the land of all the nations of Iran, except that of the Medes
+and Persians, _i.e._ for the whole eastern half of Iran.[18] In
+Diodorus also the nations of Eastern Iran are Arians.[19] The Avesta,
+which, as we shall show, belongs to the east of Iran, calls its native
+land _Airyao Dahvyu_, i.e. abode of the Airyas; or _Airyao Danhavo_,
+_i.e._ land of the Airyas, in contrast to the _Anairyao Danhavo_, i.e.
+the non-Arian lands.[20] In his inscriptions king Darius styles himself
+"a Persian, son of a Persian, an Arian (_ariya_) of an Arian tribe,"[21]
+and therefore the name must have held good of the west of Iran also, and
+have included all the nations of Iran, though afterwards it continued in
+use more especially for the tribes of the east. The inhabitants of the
+modern Persian kingdom call their kingdom by the general name of Iran.
+Iran is only the regular new Persian form of the old name, which in the
+west was pronounced Ariyana, and in the east Airyana.
+
+We remember that the ruling nation of India called themselves Arya, and
+this name compared with Airya and Ariya shows us that the nations of
+Iran assumed the same title with very little difference. Among the
+Greeks Ariya and Airya became Areioi and Arioi, and the name of the
+land, Ariyana and Airyana, became Ariana. We have learnt the meaning of
+the names Aryas, Ariyas, Airyas; they signify "the noble or ruling
+people" (IV. 8). Much the same is the sense of the name Artaeans,[22]
+which, according to the assertion of Herodotus, was the title by which
+the Persians called themselves; it signifies "the exalted," or "mighty."
+The Persians may have assumed it after they became the ruling people in
+Iran and Hither Asia.
+
+These distinctions show us that the Aryas whom we found on the Indus and
+in the Panjab, and who forced their way from thence to the conquest and
+colonisation of the valley of the Ganges, and then extended their
+dominion over the Deccan, and imported their religion and their
+civilisation into those wide regions, were closely connected with the
+group of nations which occupied the table-land of Iran. It is obvious
+that this relationship was most strictly maintained and most strongly
+marked where the intercourse between the neighbouring nations was most
+lively, _i.e._ among the nations of Eastern Iran. The conclusion drawn
+from the common title of the two nations on the west and east of the
+Indus, and from the statements of Herodotus about the manners of the
+eastern and the name of the western nations of Iran, is confirmed by the
+examination of the existing remnants of the ancient languages of Iran,
+whether spoken in the east or the west. This evidence derived from the
+names and the language is confirmed yet further by the coincidence in
+certain traits of religion and worship.
+
+We are not in a position to fix the place from which and the time when
+the Arian tribes entered the table-land of Iran and peopled it. That
+Iran was not their native country is clear from the divergence of the
+Arian stock from the common stem of the Indo-Europeans (IV. 4). Still
+less can we decide whether the Arians found an older population already
+settled in Iran. So far as the ancient monuments of east and west allow
+us to form an opinion, there exist no elements of an alien language from
+which we could deduce the existence of an earlier population, which the
+Arians conquered. Yet we cannot deny that tribes of an alien origin and
+character were settled on the western spurs of the mountain wall of
+Iran, in the north no less than in the south.[23] The foreign elements
+which the later forms of the language of Iran have adopted are due to
+the influence which the Semitic neighbours of the Arians on the west,
+and the dominion of the Arabs, exercised on Iran. As to the direction in
+which the Arians entered Iran, we can only conclude, from their close
+relationship to the Arians of India, that they peopled the east of Iran
+before the west. If the Arians of India came into the Panjab, as we
+assumed, soon after 2000 B.C., the Arians of Iran entered the eastern
+part of that country at a date certainly not later. According to the
+list of dynasties furnished by Berosus, the Arians about 2500 B.C. were
+not only settled in Iran, but already possessed the western part of the
+country. He represents the Medes as conquering Babylonia in 2458 B.C.,
+and from this date down to 2224 B.C. mentions eight Median kings as
+ruling over Babylon (I. 241, 247).
+
+In spite of their cruel treatment, the nucleus of the ancient Arian
+population of Iran has not succumbed to the alien dynasties, the
+Seleucids, Arabs, and Mongols who have invaded the land since the fall
+of the Achaemenids; and the ancient territory has been maintained, with
+some losses, even against the incursions and immigrations of the Sacae,
+Yuechis, and Turkish hordes. As in the vast regions of the Indus and the
+Ganges, so in Iran the ancient language still lives on the lips of the
+modern population. Yet the changes have been great. Under the Arsacids
+the Old Persian passed into Middle Persian, which at a later time was
+known by the name of the Parthians, the tribe at that time supreme in
+Persia. Pahlav and Pehlevi mean Parthian, and, as applied to language,
+the language of the Parthians, _i.e._ of the Parthian era.[24] In the
+west this older Middle Persian grew up out of the Old Persian, in the
+east out of the Old Bactrian. In the latest period of the dominion of
+the Sassanids, the recent Middle Persian or Parsee took the place of
+Pehlevi. When the kingdom of the Sassanids succumbed to the Arabs, and
+Arabic became the language of the ruling people in Iran, the reaction
+which took place in the eastern districts of the country against the
+dominion of the Abbasids brought about the formation of the new Persian,
+which was finally completed when the national reaction broke out in the
+beginning of the eleventh century of our era. Beginning from Merv,
+Balkh, and Sejestan (the ancient Haetumat), that rising found its
+strongest point in Ghasna and Cabul. It did not preserve the religion,
+but it saved the language, nationality, and independence of Iran. The
+change from the Middle Persian to the modern began with the
+north-eastern dialects; in the south-east the Afghans and Beluchees
+still speak in ancient forms, closely akin to the dialects of the
+peasants of the Panjab. To this day the greater part of the entire
+population of Iran consists of the descendants of the Arians, in spite
+of all the distress and ruin which the land has suffered,[25] though the
+residuum of foreign elements is larger here than beyond the Indus,
+especially in the north-west, in Aderbeijan, and above all in Bactria
+and Sogdiana, in the north-east. The descendants of the Arians are still
+recognised by the formation of their bodies, which appeared so striking
+to Western nations in antiquity--the slender growth, the semicircular,
+united eyebrows, and the yellow skin, which becomes browner towards the
+east. The Persians and Afghans still possess a sound judgment, a keen
+intelligence, and lively sense of poetry--characteristics which, as we
+saw, belonged in a pre-eminent degree to the Arians of India.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Ritter, "Erdkunde," 7, 234-240; 8, 721.
+
+[2] Herod. 1, 125; 7, 85; Lassen, "Z. D. M. G." 6, 55. Herodotus reckons
+the Paretaceni among the tribes of the Medes (1, 101); the Sagartians,
+whom he represents as armed partly like Persians, partly like Pactyans,
+with the Carmanians, he places among the Persians. Yet the nomad
+Sagartians seem rather to have had relations with the Medes than the
+Persians; for, according to the inscription of Behistun, a rebel obtains
+a following among the Sagartians by giving himself out to be a
+descendant of Cyaxares, the Median king. Ptolemy places the Sagartians
+in Media; cf. Plin. "Hist. Nat." 6, 29.
+
+[3] Arrian, "Anab." 6, 22 ff.; "Ind." 25, 26; Curtius, 9, 10, 5.
+
+[4] Behistun, 1, 6; Persep. 1, 17; Herod. 3, 91.
+
+[5] Strabo, p. 711; Arrian, "Ind." 25, 26; "Anab." 6, 23.
+
+[6] Arrian, "Anab." 3, 27; Diod. 17, 81; Strabo, p. 724.
+
+[7] Vol. IV. p. 33.
+
+[8] The city of Kapisakani, which Darius, according to the inscription
+of Behistun (3, 9, 1), conquered in the land of the Arachoti, is no
+doubt the Capissa of Pliny, in the district of Capissene; "Hist. Nat."
+6, 25. Pliny speaks of the city and river of Cabul as belonging to the
+Arachoti. The inhabitants of the southern slope of the Hindu Kush are
+known to the Greeks as Paropanisadae. The explanation of the name by
+Paropanisos (Paropamisus), Paropanishadha, given by Lassen, is quoted in
+Vol. IV. p. 21, _n._ 2. In the Babylonian text of the inscription of
+Behistun, the Gandaras of the Persian text are called Parupanisana. In
+the narrower sense the name denotes the south-western part of the range
+of the Hindu Kush, the group which forms the cradle of the Herirud and
+Hilmend, the modern Ghuristan, to the west of the plateau of Ghasna.
+
+[9] Lassen, "Indische Alterthumskunde," 1, 428. Fr. Mueller ("Ueber die
+Sprache der Afghanen") is of the opinion that the Afghan does not come
+between Indian and Persian, but belongs to the Iranian stem, and the
+Afghan has preserved the old Bactrian relations of sound more faithfully
+than the Persian, and thus shows itself to be a direct descendant of the
+old eastern dialect of Iran. Trump proves that Afghan is an ancient
+independent language of strong Indian type. "Z. D. M. G." 21, 10 ff.
+
+[10] Strabo, pp. 508, 514, 724; Plin. "Hist. Nat." 6, 29; Diod. 17, 75.
+
+[11] Ritter, "Erdkunde," 8, 425 ff.
+
+[12] Isid. "Charac. Mans. Parth." 10-14. The Parthians rose with the
+Hyrcanians against Darius; Parthians and Hyrcanians formed one satrapy.
+The Parthians are the Pahlav of Moses of Khorene, the Pehlew of later
+writers. The mention of them in the inscriptions of Darius proves that
+they are not a later immigrant Scythian, _i.e._ non-Arian, nation, as
+Justin, Strabo, and others maintain. The cities which the inscription of
+Behistun mentions in Parthia (2, 95; 3, 4), Vicpauzatis and Patigrabana,
+we cannot fix more definitely; Ammian (23, 6) mentions Patigran in
+Media. Parthunisa, with the graves of the Parthian kings, mentioned in
+Isidorus, "which the Greeks call Nisaea," is Parthava-Nicaya, and must be
+sought for near the modern Nishapur. It must be the Nica which the
+Vendidad places between Mouru and Bakhdhi. Justi, "Beitrage," 2, 6
+compares Isidorus' [Greek: Batzigraban, ho esti telonion].
+
+[13] Curt. 7, 4.
+
+[14] Strabo, pp. 118, 516, 682; Arrian, "Anab." 3, 29. On Aornus, cf.
+Vol. IV. p. 395.
+
+[15] Ptolem. 6, 11; 8, 7; Strabo, pp. 514, 516; Arrian, "Anab." 3, 29;
+4, 1, 16, 22; Plin. "Hist. Nat." 6, 17, 18; Steph. Byz. _sub voc._
+Firdusi mentions a hero Zarasp.
+
+[16] Elphinstone, "Kabul," 2, 213, 214.
+
+[17] Strabo, _loc. cit._
+
+[18] Herod. 7, 62; Strabo (pp. 516, 517, 724) includes in Ariana,
+Gedrosia, Arachosia, Drangiana, Paropanisus, Aria, Parthia, and
+Caramania. Cf. Pausan. 2, 3, 8.
+
+[19] Diod. 1, 94. Damascius ("De Primis Principiis," p. 384) speaks of
+the [Greek: Magoi de kai pan to arion genos].
+
+[20] "Vendid." 19, 132; "Mihr Yasht," 4, 13; "Tistar Yasht," 9, 56, 60.
+
+[21] Naksh-i-Rustem, a., 14.
+
+[22] Herod. 7, 61. Cf. Steph. Byz. [Greek: Artaia].
+
+[23] On the tribe of the Brahuis in the south-east, on this side of the
+Indus, cf. Vol. IV. p. 10.
+
+[24] Haug, "The book of Arda Viraf," p. xxv. Mordtmann has shown on the
+coins of the Arsacids and Sassanids the stages between the older forms
+and the language of Firdusi; "Z. D. M. G." 4, 84 ff., 8, 9 ff. On the
+forms of the Old Bactrian on the coins of the Graeco-Bactrian and
+Indo-Scythian princes: Lassen, "Indische Alterthum." 2^2, 834 ff.
+Spiegel, "Parsigrammatik," s. 116 ff.
+
+[25] It has been recently proved that the inhabitants of the mountain
+country between Cabul and Herat, the Aimaks and Hazares, speak Persian.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE KINGDOM OF THE BACTRIANS.
+
+
+Among the ruins of the residence of the kings of Asshur at Chalah, on
+the confluence of the Greater Zab and the Tigris, was discovered the
+obelisk which Shalmanesar II., who reigned from 859 to 823 B.C. over
+Assyria, erected in memory of his successes. In the tribute offered to
+him we find the rhinoceros, the elephant, the humped ox, and the camel
+with two humps (II. 320). This species of camel and the yak are found
+in Bactria, on the southern edge of the Caspian Sea, and in Tartary,
+and we afterwards find elephants in the possession of the rulers of
+Bactria.[26] Hence, in order to obtain these animals for tribute, the
+armies of Shalmanesar must have advanced as far as the eastern tribes
+of the Iranian table-land. From the inscriptions of Tiglath Pilesar II.,
+it is clear that he advanced along the same table-land as far as the
+Hilmend and the Arachoti, if not as far as Bactria. Among the lands
+subjugated in 745 B.C., he enumerates Nisaa, Zikruti, and Arakuttu. In
+Nisaa we cannot mistake Nisaea in the east of Media (p. 31). The Zikruti
+were no doubt the Sagartians of Herodotus, the Acagarta of the old
+Persian inscriptions.[27] Arakuttu represents in a Semitic form the
+name of the Arachoti, the Harauvati of the Achaemenids (p. 8). So far as
+we can at present judge from inscriptions, the successors of Tiglath
+Pilesar did not carry their campaigns further to the east of Iran, and
+we can assert with certainty of both the sovereigns who raised the power
+of Assyria to its summit, Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal (681-626 B.C.),
+that they made no conquests in this direction.
+
+If the inscriptions of the Assyrians leave us in almost total darkness
+about Bactria, the Medo-Persian epic poetry can give us full information
+about the country. When Ninus, king of Assyria, had subjugated all the
+nations of Asia as far as the Nile and the Tanais, he made an attempt
+upon Bactria, but without success. The entrance into the land was
+difficult, the number of warriors great, and they knew how to fight
+bravely. Then Ninus collected an army of two millions of soldiers, which
+was opposed by Oxyartes, the king of the Bactrians, with 400,000 men.
+When the Assyrian army came in detachments out of the passes, Oxyartes
+attacked and drove them back into the mountains with the loss of 100,000
+men. The army of Ninus then combined, outnumbered and overcame the
+Bactrians, and scattered them into their cities, which Ninus took with
+little trouble. But Bactra, where was the palace of the kings, was large
+and well supplied, and had a very strong citadel in a high position,
+while the city extended over the plain. It resisted for a long time,
+till Semiramis ascended the citadel, and Ninus was enabled to take
+possession of the treasures of gold and silver which were in Bactra. At
+a later time Semiramis collected her vast army for the invasion of India
+in Bactria, and returned to Bactra after she had been defeated on the
+Indus, and had lost two-thirds of her army (II. 10). Such are the
+descriptions given by the epic poetry of the Medes and Persians, in the
+account of the rise of Assyria and subjugation of Bactria. The Bactrians
+are again brought forward in the narrative of the overthrow of Assyria,
+which was the proper theme of these poems. When Sardanapalus has already
+thrice defeated the Medes and Babylonians, a strong force comes to his
+assistance from Bactria. The leader of the Medes determines to attack
+this first, if it would not join in the contest for freedom against
+Assyria. The Bactrians joined the Medes, the power of Assyria was
+broken, and Nineveh destroyed (III. 253).
+
+From these poems it follows that in the first half of the sixth century
+B.C., in which the Medo-Persian epic attained its original form, the
+tradition, or at any rate the opinion, existed among the minstrels of
+Media that a powerful kingdom and large metropolis once existed in
+Bactria, the situation of which is correctly described. This kingdom
+possessed a strong citadel and abundant treasures, and could put in the
+field a large army of brave warriors. Without such a conception they
+could not represent the first attack of the Assyrians on Bactria as a
+failure, the second as successful only after considerable time and
+trouble had been spent, and the conquest as the last and greatest
+achievement of Ninus, the mightiest sovereign of Assyria, which he only
+performed with the aid of Semiramis.
+
+The inscriptions of the Assyrians have already informed us that no
+dominion of Assyria over Eastern Iran existed in the earliest period of
+the kingdom; on the contrary, even when her power was at the highest
+Assyria could only carry on temporary excursions into that region. The
+western part of the country was first trodden by the armies of
+Shalmanesar II.; his inscriptions mention tribute of the Medes, and
+from the inscriptions of his successors it is distinctly clear that only
+the nations of Western Iran were tributary dependants of the kings of
+Asshur from the period of Tiglath Pilesar, _i.e._ from the middle of
+the eighth century B.C., till the period of Phraortes and Cyaxares of
+Media, _i.e._ till the middle of the seventh century B.C.[28]
+
+The conquests of Cyrus, who overthrew the power of the Medes, founded
+the Persian empire, and extended it to the east, would give us more
+accurate information about Eastern Iran if connected accounts of these
+were in existence. Herodotus contents himself with stating that Cyrus,
+after subjugating the Lydians, determined to march against the Bactrians
+and Sacae. He conquered all the nations of Upper Asia, one after the
+other, without omitting any.[29] Ctesias relates that the Bactrians
+after a doubtful battle submitted voluntarily to Cyrus. According to the
+account of Xenophon, the Hyrcanians, Cadusians, and Sacae joined Cyrus,
+and in the fragments of Nicolaus also the Hyrcanians, Parthians, and
+"the other nations" passed over to Cyrus immediately after the conquest
+of the Medes. However this may be, there is no doubt that the east of
+Iran was subject to Cyrus. He marched through the land of the Arachoti,
+entered into relations with the Ariacpas (p. 8), and subjugated the
+Gandarians on the south of the Cabul. He is also said to have imposed
+tribute on the Acvakas to the north of the river (IV. 384). The
+Sogdiani, in any case, were his vassals. On a stream which flows into
+the Jaxartes he built a fortress called by his own name, known to the
+Greeks as Cyresbata (_ultima Cyra_, or with others Cyropolis), _i.e._
+the furthest Cyrus. The walls and citadels were strong and spacious, and
+in the neighbourhood were six other citadels.[30] The value placed by
+Cyrus on the regions of Eastern Iran is not only clear from these
+fortresses, but may be deduced from the statement that his second son
+Bardya, whom the Greeks call Smerdis, was intrusted with the government
+of Bactria, if indeed the statement is genuine.[31]
+
+The nations and condition of Eastern Iran can be ascertained more
+clearly from the inscriptions of Darius. According to his inscription at
+Behistun, his empire in that direction comprised the Parthians,
+Sarangians, Areians, Chorasmians, Bactrians, Sogdiani, Gandarii,
+Sattagydae, Arachoti, and Sacae; and to these the Idhus, _i.e._ the
+Indians on the right bank of the upper course of the Indus, are added in
+the inscriptions of Persepolis and Naksh-i-Rustem.[32] Further
+information is preserved by Herodotus with respect to the tribute
+imposed by Darius on these nations. As these statements are undoubtedly
+derived from Persian tribute lists, they serve to throw a side light on
+the state of civilisation existing in the east of Iran at the division
+of the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. The Sarangians, who, as we have
+seen (p. 7), inhabited the fertile land round Lake Areios (Hamun),
+together with the Sagartians and some neighbouring nations on the south,
+paid yearly 600 Babylonian talents into the treasury of the king. The
+Areians (Haraivas), Parthians, Sogdiani, and Chorasmians, who formed the
+sixteenth satrapy of the Persian empire, had to pay 300 talents; the
+Gedrosians and Gandarians together paid 170 talents; the Caspiani
+(_i.e._ no doubt, the Tapurians and other tribes on the southern shore
+of the Caspian Sea) and the Sacae, who traversed the steppes of the Oxus,
+_i.e._ the fifteenth satrapy, paid 250 talents; and the Bactrians, the
+twelfth satrapy of the empire, paid 360 talents.[33] These sums, which
+do not include the whole of the burdens of the provinces, but are only
+the land taxes which they had to pay,--in addition, tolls were levied
+and contributions in kind to the court of the king and the satraps, as
+well as for the maintenance of the army,--show that at the time of
+Darius agriculture and wealth had proceeded far beyond the earliest
+stages in the eastern districts of Iran. The Babylonian silver talent
+amounts to more than 2000 thalers (6000 shillings).[34] If a sum of more
+than 1,200,000 thalers (L180,000) could be raised every year in land tax
+from the districts round Lake Hamun, extensive though they were, and
+720,000 thalers (L108,000) in a similar manner from the land of the
+Bactrians, the gardens, fields, and pastures of these regions must have
+been considerable in breadth, and of great fertility.
+
+Beyond this indication of the state of the civilisation in these
+districts, we learn but little of their fortunes under the dominion of
+the Persians. Darius (521-485 B.C.) informs us, at the beginning of his
+reign, that his father Hystaspes (Vistacpa), his viceroy in Persia, the
+native land of the kingdom, and with him Vivana the Persian, the satrap
+of Arachosia, and Dadarshis the Persian, the satrap of Bactria, had
+quelled the rebellions of the Parthians, Hyrcanians, and Margiani; that
+the Mede Takhmacpada had conquered the rebellious Sagartians, and
+captured their leader, Chitratakhma, whom he, Darius, had crucified at
+Arbela. The army of the second Pseudo-Smerdis, which attempted to gain
+possession of Arachosia, Vivana had defeated at the fortress of
+Kapisakani, in Arachosia, and the leaders, with their chief associates,
+had been captured in the fortress of Arsada and put to death. Hystaspes
+had slain 6560 men of the Parthians and Hyrcanians, and taken 4182 of
+them captives. Dadarshis had subjugated the Mardians by slaying 4203 of
+them in battle, and taking 6562 of them captive.[35] Xerxes, the
+successor of Darius, successively intrusted two of his brothers,
+Masistes and then Hystaspes, with the government of Bactria.[36] In the
+great campaign against Hellas, the Bactrians, like all the other nations
+of the kingdom, had to furnish their contingent; and when Mardonius had
+to select the best troops in the army in Hellas, in order to winter with
+them in Thessaly, he retained, besides the Persians and Medes, the
+infantry and cavalry of the Bactrians, Sacae, and Indians.[37] The
+Bactrians, under their viceroy Hystaspes, revolted against Artaxerxes,
+the brother of Hystaspes. The first battle was not decisive; in the
+second Artaxerxes conquered, "because the wind blew in the face of the
+Bactrians," and subjugated the land.[38] To the army of Darius III. with
+which he met the Macedonians in Assyria, the Bactrians contributed
+30,000 cavalry; and in the battle of Arbela they fought with the
+Arachoti on the left wing. Accompanied by Bactrian horsemen, Darius
+escaped from the field of battle to Media, and sought afterwards to
+maintain his position in their country. The Caspian gates, the pass of
+Damaghan, were gained, when the satrap of Bactria got possession of the
+king, and put him to death before he reached Bactria. The satrap hoped
+to establish an independent power there,[39] but without success. Though
+Alexander at first overcame the Bactrians, who were astonished at his
+rapid approach, he soon found a stubborn resistance in Sogdiana and
+Bactria, which occupied him for two years.[40] Not till then could he
+make his preparations in Bactria for the invasion of India, and collect
+at Bactra the army intended for the subjugation of that country, in
+order to pass over the Hindu Kush into the valley of the Cabul.
+
+In the contests which the successors of Alexander carried on for the
+supremacy after his death, the valley of the Euphrates and Tigris, and
+the table-land of Iran, finally fell to the lot of Seleucus. But in the
+middle of the third century (256 B.C.), Arsaces in Parthia and the
+satrap Diodotus in Bactria rebelled against the second successor,
+Antiochus Theos. The descendants of Arsaces not only succeeded in
+maintaining their independence against the Seleucids, in spite of severe
+reverses, but Mithridates I., the sixth Arsacid (174-136 B.C.), united
+all Iran under his dominion. The Greeks lost their supremacy, and Iran
+again became subject to native princes.
+
+Meanwhile Diodotus had founded an independent supremacy in Bactria. His
+son, of the same name, was succeeded by Euthydemus, against whom,
+towards the year 200 B.C., Antiochus III. marched, in order to force
+Bactria to submission. Euthydemus was defeated at the river Areios (p.
+10), and fled to Zariaspa. By the surrender of his elephants he obtained
+an established recognition from Antiochus. Demetrius and Eucratides, the
+successors of Euthydemus (after 180 B.C.), extended the sphere of their
+dominion to the east over the land on the Cabul to the Indus. The
+kingdom of Chandragupta, Vindusara, and Acoka, which, as we know,
+included the east of Iran, and has left us inscriptions at Peshawur
+(IV. 525), fell to pieces under Acoka's grandsons. Apollodorus of
+Artemita told us above that the fertility of the Bactrian soil enabled
+the Greek rulers to make important conquests (p. 12); he informs us that
+Eucratides founded the city of Eucratideia in Bactria, and subjugated a
+thousand cities in India. We may assume that Bactria under these princes
+was not merely powerful, but prosperous. According to the statement of
+Justin, a thousand cities were at that time enumerated in Bactria,[41]
+and we possess satisfactory evidence that these rulers and their courts,
+and the Greek settlements which Alexander founded in the distant East,
+were able permanently to establish the style and art of Hellas. The
+coins of these princes, who are designated in Greek as "kings," "great,"
+"invincible," rival the best work which proceeded from Greek mints. The
+faces present the heads of the princes, in characteristic and individual
+portraits; the reverses exhibit Heracles, Athena, Apollo with a crown of
+rays, the Dioscuri on horseback, lance in hand. But by degrees the
+national types of the East are again employed on these coins. The
+reverse presents the galloping horse, the animal of Bactria, the
+elephant, and the humped ox.[42] The head of Demetrius, who first
+conquered territory in India, and that of some of his descendants, is
+covered by a helmet adorned with the tusks and trunk of an elephant.
+Besides the round, numbers of rectangular coins have also been found,
+from which we can discover the native traditional form of the Bactrian
+coinage. After the reign of Eucratides these rectangular coins present
+on one side Greek inscriptions, which are repeated in other characters
+on the reverse. To the inscriptions of king Acoka at Kapur-i-Giri, and
+to these coins, together with those of the Graeco-Indian kings, and some
+later coins belonging to the Arsacids and the Indo-Scythian princes, we
+owe the information that the east of Iran possessed a peculiar alphabet
+and mode of writing, while the Medes and Persians of the west borrowed
+their earliest letters from the Assyrio-Babylonian cuneiform writing,
+and afterwards, from about the fourth century B.C., adopted the cursive
+character of the Aramaeans.
+
+Although, as we may conclude from these indications, the Greek
+sovereigns of Bactria resolved to pay a certain respect to the
+civilisation of their subjects, their kingdom was short-lived. The
+nations of the steppes of the Oxus, themselves under pressure, began to
+advance to the south (after 160 B.C.); in the west the Parthians rose
+into power. Mithridates I. of Parthia incorporated Bactria in his
+kingdom about 140 B.C., and Bactria subsequently became a part of the
+Parthian empire. Heliocles, the son of Eucratides, was thus limited to
+the land of the Cabul and Indus, but on the borders of India the power
+and influence of the Greeks remained unbroken. Greek captains--Menander,
+and after him Apollodotus, who had previously no doubt been subject to
+the Bactrians--issued from the southern slope of the Hindu Kush in the
+last decades of the second century B.C., and conquered the land of the
+Indus as far as the mouth of the river, and the Panjab. They advanced to
+the Yamuna, and reduced Surashtra (Guzerat) and Cashmere to dependence.
+Even at the end of the first century B.C. coins of these princes were
+current on the coast of Surashtra, and they are still found on the
+banks of the Yamuna.[43]
+
+On the western coast of India, from the Gulf of Cambay to Bombay, we
+find from one hundred to one hundred and fifty thousand families whose
+ancestors migrated thither from Iran. The tradition among them is, that
+at the time when the Arabs, after conquering Iran and becoming
+sovereigns there, persecuted and eradicated the old religion, faithful
+adherents of the creed fled to the mountains of Kerman. Driven from
+these by the Arabs (in Kerman and Yezd a few hundred families are still
+found who maintain the ancient faith[44]), they retired to the island of
+Hormuz (a small island close by the southern coast, at the entrance to
+the Persian Gulf). From hence they migrated to Din (on the coast of
+Guzerat), and then passed over to the opposite shore. In the
+neighbourhood of Bombay and in the south of India inscriptions have been
+found which prove that these settlers reached the coast in the tenth
+century of our era.[45] At the present time their descendants form a
+considerable part of the population of Surat, Bombay, and Ahmadabad;
+they call themselves, after their ancient home, Parsees, and speak the
+later Middle Persian (the Parsee, p. 17). Their worship and life they
+regulate by the rules given in certain scriptures which they brought
+with them from their ancient home. These are fragments of a much larger
+whole, part of a book of law, and a collection of sacrificial songs and
+prayers. The Parsees no longer speak or understand the language of these
+scriptures (the Avesta), and even the priests, who use them every day,
+ascertain the meaning through an accompanying translation into the later
+language.
+
+That these scriptures arose in the east of Iran is clear from the
+language of the Avesta. It exhibits a close relationship with the forms
+of the Veda and Sanskrit, the ancient language of the Arians in India.
+If, on the other hand, we compare the language of the Avesta with the
+ancient language of Western Iran as we possess it in the inscriptions of
+the Achaemenids, we find that both are merely different dialects of one
+language, but they differ in such a manner that the language of the
+inscriptions of Darius and Xerxes is less closely connected with
+Sanskrit than the language of the Avesta. This language then we may
+regard as the ancient speech of Eastern Iran, and this assumption is
+raised into evidence by the contents of the Avesta. These prove that the
+Avesta arose in the east of Iran, with even greater certainty than the
+songs of the Rigveda prove that that collection arose in the land of the
+Indus and the Panjab. The Avesta entirely ignores the west of Iran. No
+mention is made of Ecbatana and Pasargadae, the abode of the Median and
+the Persian kings, though they reigned over the whole of Iran and Hither
+Asia; nor even of the nations of the west, the Medes and Persians. It
+speaks of the land of the seven streams, _i.e._ India (IV. 12), and
+the heat which prevails in that land;[46] it mentions the beautiful
+Harahvaiti (Arachosia) and Haetumat (afterwards Sejestan[47]): the
+latter is extolled as a beaming, glowing, brilliant country.[48] The
+knowledge of the Avesta is most accurate in the north-east. Here we
+find Airyana Vaeja, _i.e._ home or canton of the Airyas,[49] Cughdha
+(Sogdiana), Bakhdhi (Baktra), Mouru (Margiana, Merv[50]), Nica, between
+Bakhdhi and Mouru, Haraeva (Haraiva in the inscriptions; Herat, the land
+of the Areians), and Vehrkana, _i.e._ land of wolves (Hyrcania).[51]
+The furthest point known to the west is Ragha in Media, which,
+according to the Avesta, consists of three citadels or tribes.[52] These
+statements carry us very distinctly to the east of Iran, the region
+from Ragha to the Indus. Mouru is "the high," "the holy," and Bakhdhi's
+"high banner" is extolled. In this way this city was no doubt marked out
+as the seat of an important dominion, the centre of a kingdom.
+
+If we might assume that in these fragments of the sacred books of the
+Parsees we have not only the ancient language, but also the ancient
+religion of Eastern Iran before us, we might also hope that we should
+meet in them with remnants of the tradition, with native accounts of the
+fortunes of the country, enabling us to supplement the scanty
+information which we could glean from the inscriptions of the Assyrians
+and Darius, and the accounts of Western writers. Leaving out of sight
+for the present the question, At what period did these writings come
+into existence? we may collect what we can find in them on the early
+history of Iran.
+
+In the Avesta the god Haoma says, Vivanghana was the first who crushed
+out the juice of the Haoma. As a reward there was born to him the
+brilliant Yima, the lord of the nations, the most famous of all who
+have seen the sun. While Yima Kshaeta (Yima the king) reigned there was
+neither cold nor excessive heat, neither age nor death, nor envy, caused
+by the evil spirits: fathers and sons equally had the vigour of men
+of fifty years. Yima caused the means of support for mankind to be
+inexhaustible; he liberated the waters and trees from drought, and the
+herds from death.[53] In an invocation to the goddess Ardvicura, the
+giver of water, to whom Yima sacrifices a hundred horses, a thousand
+oxen, and ten thousand head of small cattle on Hukairya, the summit of
+the divine mountain, he prays, "Grant to me, Saviour Ardvicura, that I
+may be the sovereign of all lands, that I may carry away from the Daevas
+(the evil spirits) increase and health, fodder and herds, joy and
+glory." To the goddess Ashi vanguhi, Yima also offers a prayer "that he
+may bring food and flocks to the creatures of Mazda, and immortality,
+and may remove hunger and thirst, age and death, the hot wind and the
+cold from the creatures of Mazda for a thousand years." And the morning
+wind, Vayu, is entreated that "Yima may be the most merciful of all
+creatures, and that under his dominion he may make cattle and mankind
+immortal, that the waters and trees may never dry up and wither." In the
+fragments of the book of the law in the Avesta, Zarathrustra inquires of
+Auramazda to whom he (the god) had first revealed the true doctrine.
+Auramazda answers, "I spoke first with Yima, the excellent one. I said
+to him, Yima, thou beautiful son of Vivanghana, be thou the preacher and
+bearer of my doctrine. But Yima answered, I am not fitted to be the
+preacher of the doctrine. Then I, Auramazda, spoke and said, If thou
+wilt not obey me, Yima, to be the bearer of my law, yet make my world
+fruitful; be the keeper of my earthly creatures, their protector and
+lord. And Yima, the excellent one, answered, I will cause thy creatures
+to prosper and increase; I will be the keeper, protector, and lord of
+them. Therefore I, Auramazda, gave to him two instruments, a golden
+staff and an ox goad adorned with gold, and three hundred years passed
+by. And the land was full of herds and beasts of draught, of men, and
+dogs, and birds, and red flaming fires. And there was no more any room
+for the flocks, and men, and beasts of draught. Then I warned Yima: O
+Yima, excellent one, son of Vivanghana, there is no more any room for
+the herds, and beasts of draught, and men. And Yima went forth to meet
+the stars and the path of the sun (_i.e._ towards the east). He struck
+with the golden staff upon the earth, and smote it with the goad, and
+said, Cpenta Armaiti (O holy earth), arise, part thyself asunder, thou
+bearer of animals and of men. And Yima pushed the earth asunder so that
+it was a third part greater than before. Then the flocks found a home,
+the beasts of draught, and men, according to their wish and desire."
+Again three hundred years passed, and there was no more any room for
+herds, beasts, and men; and at Auramazda's command Yima again caused the
+earth to stretch asunder, and it became two-thirds greater than before;
+and after another three hundred years Yima caused the earth to become as
+large again as before.[54] Then a thousand years passed, and Auramazda
+said to Yima, "Bitter cold and sharp frost will fall upon the earth, and
+the snow will lie deep on the summits of the mountains and in the clefts
+of the valleys. Make an enclosure (_vara_) of the length of a horse's
+course on each of the four sides. Bring into it a stock of herds and
+beasts of draught, of men and dogs, and birds and red flaming fires, and
+make the enclosure to be a dwelling for men and a stall for the cattle.
+Carry water thither, and build houses and tombs, and a fortification and
+palisade round about, and drive them with the golden staff into the
+citadel, and shut to the door. And Yima made a citadel of the length of
+a horse's course. Thither he brought a stock of all men and women who
+were the tallest, best, and most beautiful of earth, and a brood of all
+animals which were largest, best, and most beautiful, and the seeds of
+all fruits and growths which were best and most beautiful. And he
+provided that a pair were ever together. There was no evil speaking
+there, nor strife, nor injury, nor deception, nor meanness; nothing
+crooked, no mal-formation of teeth, no crippled form, nor any other of
+the signs which are the signs of Angromainyu. In this enclosure which
+Yima made men lived the happiest life. A year was a day, and every forty
+years two children, a male and a female, were born from each pair of
+human creatures, and so also of each kind of animal."[55]
+
+In an invocation in the Avesta we are told that the bright gleaming
+majesty in the form of the bird Varaghna had passed from Yima when he
+began to love lying speech. Yima fell terrified to earth, and Mithra,
+the lord of wide pastures, seized the majesty. When it passed a second
+time from Yima, Thraetaona seized it, and when it passed a third time,
+Kerecacpa seized it.
+
+The second who crushed the juice of the Haoma was Athwya. Hence there
+was born to him a son, Thraetaona, in the land of Varena. The evil
+spirit Angromainyu had created a wicked being, "with three heads, three
+throats, six eyes, and a thousand strengths"--the Azhi dahaka, _i.e._
+the biting serpent, which swallowed horses and men, and threatened to
+desolate the world. But Thraetaona sacrificed a hundred horses to
+Ardvicura, a thousand oxen, and ten thousand head of small cattle, and
+called on the goddess, and with bound bundle of rods, on Vayu on his
+golden throne, with golden footstool and golden canopy, to grant that he
+might smite the strong Druj, which Angromainyu had created as the
+strongest to bring death upon the pure world; and he overcame the
+monster, because Verethraghna was with him, the most victorious of
+mortals.[56] And Thraetaona obtained the splendour of the dominion when
+it departed a second time from Yima. In the prayers of the Avesta,
+Thraetaona, who has slain the great serpent, is invoked as helper
+against the "pain which is caused by the serpent," against fever and
+sickness.[57]
+
+The third who crushed the juice of the Haoma for the sacrifice was
+Thrita, of the race of Cama. Thrita was the first who by skill in
+medicine kept back sickness and death from the bodies of men. He wished
+for means to withstand the pains, the sickness, the death, the hot and
+cold fever which Angromainyu had created for the bodies of men. "Then I,
+Auramazda, caused healing plants to grow by hundreds, by thousands, by
+tens of thousands around the one Gaokerena." And in reward for his
+offering of Haoma two sons were born to Thrita--Urvakshaya, who put in
+order the law, and Kerecacpa (_i.e._ having slim horses), the youth of
+beautiful form, the bearer of the weapon Gaecu.[58] Kerecacpa smote the
+poisonous green serpent Cruvara, on which flowed poison to the thickness
+of a thumb, and it swallowed men and horses. Afterwards, after he had
+sacrificed to Ardvicura on the shore of Lake Picano (_i.e._, no doubt,
+in the valley of Pishin in Sejestan), he smote the giant Gandarewa, who
+dwelt in Lake Vourukasha, and the descendants of the nine robbers, and
+Cnavidhaka, who had attempted to overcome Auramazda and Angromainyu. And
+when his brother Urvakshaya had been slain by Hitacpa, Kerecacpa
+besought the wind, who works on high, to grant to him to slay Hitacpa in
+revenge for the death of his brother. And he conquered him, and yoked
+him to his chariot. When for the third time the majesty departed from
+Yima, Kerecacpa seized it, the strongest of men after Zarathrustra. In
+the prayers of the Avesta, Kerecacpa's help is invoked against robbers
+and hostile hosts.[59]
+
+Yima, Thraetaona, Kerecacpa, and the forms which are genealogically
+connected with them, Vivanghana, Athwya, Cama, Thrita, and Urvakshaya,
+are collected by the Avesta under the name _Paradhata_, i.e. those who
+first exercised dominion.[60] Indications in our fragments show that
+other names were also included in them. Thraetaona's son was Airyu, and
+Airyu's son was Manuschithra.[61] These most ancient sovereigns were
+followed by a second group, whose distinguishing mark is the surname
+_Kava_. The first of these Kavas, whom the Avesta mentions merely as the
+wearer of the divine majesty, is Kava Kavata.[62] He is succeeded by the
+agile, brilliant Kava Uca, who sacrifices to Ardvicura on Mount Erezifya
+in order to obtain the dominion over all lands, over Daevas and men,
+wizards and Pairikas, and this favour the goddess granted him. After Uca
+the royal majesty united itself, to use the phrase in the Avesta, with
+the beautiful pure body of Kava Cyavarshana. He died by a violent
+death.[63] His son was Kava Hucrava, "the brave uniter of the Arian
+lands into one kingdom," as the Avesta tells us, which then goes on to
+relate that he was without sickness or death. He had to contend against
+the destructive Franghracianas, the Turanians (_tura_, _tuirya_). He
+besought Ardvicura that it "might be granted to him to put an end to the
+long dimness, and bind the Franghracianas in their abundance and pride."
+This prayer the goddess granted. Haoma himself desired "to bind the
+destructive, murderous Franghraciana and carry him away as a captive of
+the king Hucrava, and that Kava Hucrava should slay him behind the lake
+Chaechacta, the deep lake with broad waters."[64] Kava Hucrava was
+followed by king Aurvatacpa, the son of Naotara, the son of
+Manuschithra, the son of Airyu; and Aurvatacpa was succeeded by his son
+the strong and warlike Vistacpa.[65] Of the twenty-nine sons of this
+king, the Avesta mentions the strong Cpentodata, and informs us that
+Frashaostra and his brother Jamacpa, of the race of Hvova, were men of
+importance with the king. Like Hucrava, Vistacpa had to contend with a
+Turanian, Arejatacpa, _i.e._ the winner of horses, who sacrificed to
+Ardvicura in order to obtain the victory over Kava Vistacpa and the
+warrior on horseback, Zarivairi (the brother of Vistacpa). The goddess
+heard him not, but heard Vistacpa when he sacrificed to her behind the
+water of Frazdana, in order to overcome the hostile Arejatacpa, born of
+darkness, skilled in evil, who sought to smite the lands of the
+Arians.[66] But Zarathrustra, the son of Pourushacpa, of the race of
+Haechatacpa, sacrificed to Ardvicura that he might unite with the mighty
+Vistacpa, the son of Aurvatacpa, and to Drvacpa, "that he might unite
+with Hutaoca, and she might impress on his memory the good law."[67]
+Zarathrustra proclaimed a new law, the law of Auramazda. The heroes and
+kings before him were known in the Avesta by the name _Paoiryotkaesha_,
+i.e. the men of the earliest custom, the earliest law.
+
+These are all the traits and pictures of the antiquity of East Iran, of
+any importance, which can be gathered from the remaining fragments of
+the Avesta. Of the antiquity and genuineness of the narrative there is
+no doubt. The close relationship and coincidence which they exhibit with
+the form and views of the Veda are proved on both sides. As we saw, the
+Veda distinguishes the sacrificers and sages of the ancient time, the
+earlier time, and the present (IV. 29.) The god Haoma is the well-known
+god Soma of the Arians in India, the variation in the name being due to
+the change of sounds which distinguishes the Old Bactrian from the
+language of the Veda. Here, as there, he is the sacrificial libation,
+and at the same time the god who pours the libation, and is its power.
+The great heroes Yima, Thraetaona, Kerecacpa and Zarathrustra were born
+to their fathers as a reward for offering the libation of Soma. King
+Yima (Yima Kshaeta) in the Avesta is no other than the Yama (Yama Rajan)
+of the Veda. Yama is the son of Vivasvat, the brilliant, the shining,
+the giver of light; and in the Avesta Yima is the son of Vivanghana. In
+the Veda he is the assembler of the people, the first king, the first
+mortal who shows to men the way which leads from the depths to the
+height of heaven; who first experiences death, but returns into heaven
+as the son of the god of light, where he gathers round him the brave and
+pious for new life in imperishable joy (IV. 61). Yima is also the
+assembler of men, the first king; he rules with the golden staff; he
+founds the religious worship, a merit which in the Veda belongs to Manu.
+Under Yima the earth is filled with red-glowing fires; he worships Vayu
+and Ardvicura. He is the representative of the golden age; in his reign
+there is neither heat nor cold, age nor death, hate nor strife; and his
+dominion continues a thousand years. It was the first happy period of
+the world, which men passed under the dominion of the son of the god of
+light. At what an elevation Yima must have been placed in the oldest
+form of the mythus of East Iran is clear from the fact that creative
+acts and the triple extension of the earth are ascribed to him. After
+the close of this golden period, winter comes upon the earth, heat and
+cold, strife, sickness, and death. The happy life of the golden age
+only continues within certain limits, in the enclosure of Yima, where he
+carries on the blessed and immortal life with selected men, trees,
+animals, and food. Here Yima is to live till the end of all things, when
+his companions will again people the earth. As in this garden of Yima
+the sun, moon, and stars shine together,[68] it must be sought in the
+sky, or at any rate on the bright, divine mountain Hukairya, where there
+is neither night nor gloom, and which is at the same time described as
+Yima's place of sacrifice.
+
+If the Indians have placed the old Arian legend of a golden age on earth
+in the days of Yima's reign, they have also, after their manner,
+depicted his heavenly kingdom with brighter colours, while among the
+Iranians this part of the legend is combined with the heavenly garden
+into which Yima receives the men he has selected as the best.
+Nevertheless, a reminiscence of Yima's garden has remained beyond the
+Indus in the story of the Uttara Kurus, who dwell beyond the holy
+mountains to the north.[69]
+
+The most striking variation from the common Arian myth in the Avesta is
+the statement that Yima is subordinate to a deity, Auramazda, of whom
+the Arians of India knew nothing. The old legend is thus brought within
+the sphere of new views, which must have exercised still further
+influence upon it. It is Auramazda who places in the hand of Yima the
+control, superintendence, and protection of animals and men. It is not
+through Yima's own desire, as was certainly the case in the old legend,
+but at Auramazda's bidding, that the enclosure is made, and the selected
+men, animals, and trees brought into it. The main reason for this change
+was the necessity of giving an answer to the question, Why did not the
+golden age continue? and if, long after Yima, Zarathrustra proclaimed a
+new and better law, why had not Auramazda revealed this law to the
+favoured Yima? In order to answer this riddle, the Avesta represents
+Auramazda as asking Yima to become "the preacher and bearer of his
+doctrine," and Yima refuses to accept this mission. Hence Yima becomes
+guilty of a fault, and a reason is given why the golden age, the
+thousand years of the reign of Yima, came to an end. Without the good
+doctrine, the invasion of evil spirits, and with them of heat and cold,
+sickness and death, strife and blight, could not be kept back from the
+earth. This trait of the guilt of Yima, which is entirely unknown to the
+earlier legend, is carried out still further. According to the prayer in
+the Avesta (p. 34) blessing and immortality continued in the kingdom of
+Yima, "till he began to love lying speech." When he had rejected
+Auramazda's law he cannot himself resist the seduction of evil spirits.
+The first offence brings on the second, and this causes the triple loss
+of majesty, which at length ends in the fall and violent death of Yima,
+an incident already indicated in the Avesta.[70] How this form of the
+legend allowed the garden of Yima to be placed on the divine mountain,
+and whether the contradiction was removed or not, our fragments do not
+enable us to decide.
+
+In the Veda it was Indra who had to contend against Vritra and Ahi,
+_i.e._ the serpents, and the black spirits, which desired to drink up
+the water of the sky and veil its light. In Iran, as we shall see, this
+office is transferred to other spirits, and also to Thraetaona. The Azhi
+dahaka of the Avesta is the Ahi of the Veda. Ahi and Azhi are the same
+word, with the same meaning; the addition _dahaka_ refers to the
+destructive power of this demon. Verethraghna, _i.e._ the slayer of
+Vritra, stands in the Avesta at the side of Thraetaona in his struggle
+with Azhi (p. 35), and the morning wind supports him just as in the Veda
+the winds assist Indra against Ahi and Vritra. Among the Indians,
+Traitana is a spirit of the air, who dwells in the remotest regions of
+the sky, who hews off the head of a giant from his shoulders, and in the
+Veda, Trita, the son of Aptya, drinks the draught of Soma, in order to
+win strength for the slaying of Vritra; he slays the snake with three
+heads and seven tails; with his iron club he splits the hollows in the
+rock in which the demons have hidden the cows of the heaven (the rain
+clouds).[71] In the Veda, Aptya is the father of Trita; in the Avesta,
+Athwya is the father of Thraetaona. Of Trita, whom it represents as
+sprung from Cama, the Avesta declares that he was the first physician;
+in the Veda we are told of Trita he knew how to heal sickness as the
+gods had taken his sickness from him; that he bestowed long life.[72]
+The two figures of Trita and Traitana gradually unite in the Veda; in
+the Avesta, Thrita and Thraetaona remain separate persons. The Kerecacpa
+of the Avesta seems to correspond to the Kricacva of the Indians, whom
+we first find in the Epos, where he is celebrated as a warlike
+Rishi.[73]
+
+If the Paradhatas, Yima, Athwya, Thraetaona, Thrita, and Kerecacpa in
+the original conception are spirits of the sky, if the monsters with
+which Thraetaona and Kerecacpa struggle are not to be sought on earth
+but in the heavens, if in these dragons we find once more the
+cloud-serpents, against which Indra and his company have to contend--we
+do not at once set foot upon earth, when we come to the Kavanians.
+According to the later tradition of Iran, Kava Kavata was fetched from
+the divine mountain in order to reign over the country; two white
+falcons bring him a golden crown. The Rigveda mentions Kavya Ucanas,
+_i.e._ Ucanas, the son of Kavi, who brings the cows of the sky, _i.e._
+the clouds, to the pasture.[74] In the Avesta, Kava Uca sacrifices not
+only to rule over the whole earth but also over the spirits. According
+to a later tradition this sovereign--now called Kai Kaus--causes
+beautiful castles to be built on the divine mountain by the demons, and
+is then carried by four eagles into heaven. Kava Hucrava, for whom in
+the Avesta the god Haoma contends, is without sickness and death
+(p. 37). In the later tradition, in which he is known as Kai Chosru, he
+begins a pilgrimage to heaven after conquering and slaying his opponent
+the Turanian Franghaciana, like the sons of Pandu in the Mahabharata
+after their victory over the Kurus and their happy reign. Like them
+also, Kai Chosru climbs the mountains and disappears from his companions
+at a well. Against his command they seek him in the mountains, and are
+all buried in a great snow-storm. From the name Manuschithra (p. 37),
+_i.e._ scion of Manu, we may conclude that the twin brother of Yama,
+"father Manu," was not unknown to the Arians of Iran. But the genealogy
+in which the Avesta has preserved these names has no greater claims to
+historical value than the figures which have passed in review before us.
+Airyu is the son of Thraetaona; _i.e._ from the mightiest hero, the
+slayer of the great dragon, are sprung the sovereigns and the nation of
+the Airyas; the son of Airyu is Manuschithra; from whose son, Naotara,
+are derived the two last Kavas, Aurvatacpa and Vistacpa.
+
+If the coincidence of the forms from Yima to Kava Hucrava with the Veda
+is a proof of the antiquity and genuineness of the tradition of the
+Avesta, the gain for history becomes less instead of greater. No one
+would take mythical persons for historical. Yet the style and form in
+which we find these traditional statements in the fragments of the
+Avesta supply certain guides for the lost history of Eastern Iran. The
+splendour of the royal majesty is so often and so distinctly brought
+into prominence, that the conclusion forces itself upon us, that the
+regions in which the Avesta arose, _i.e._ the north-east of Iran, must
+have been acquainted with a powerful and highly-respected monarchy. The
+ancient spirits of the sky are changed in the Avesta into mighty
+warriors and far-ruling kings, a circumstance in favour of the
+supposition that an empire once existed here, the image of which is
+reflected on prehistoric times. It is in Epic poems that the spirits of
+the first sky become heroes, and Epic poetry only arises in and follows
+on periods of war and conflict. The fact that the forms of the spirits
+thus changed into heroes by Epic song are turned into the forefathers of
+the kings and progenitors of the nation, further establishes the
+conclusion that a military monarchy must have been in existence here;
+only warlike princes could appear as the heirs of heroes. Moreover, the
+Avesta extols the high banner of Bakhdhi and speaks of the neighbouring
+regions as favoured; the later tradition of Iran marks out Bactria very
+clearly as the abode of Aurvatacpa and Vistacpa; in the third century
+B.C. Bactria supplied its princes with means not merely to achieve their
+own independence, but to maintain it against the great kingdom of the
+Seleucids and to subjugate the land of the Indus (p. 25 ff.); and if, in
+addition to these facts, we bear in mind the conceptions found in the
+Median poems of the great power of the kings of the Bactrians, their
+treasures in gold and silver, their fortified city, the conquest of
+which was the greatest achievement of Ninus--we may venture to assume
+that before the days of the Medes, _i.e._ before the year 650 B.C.,
+there must have existed an important monarchy in the north-east of Iran.
+
+With the assistance of the Avesta we may go a step further. We saw that
+Kava Hucrava no less than Vistacpa is represented as fighting against
+the Turas or Tuiryas. Who were these enemies? In Old-Bactrian the word
+means the enemy, the oppressor. Strabo speaks of a region of Turuia in
+the north of Parthia, towards the steppes of the Oxus.[75] In the later
+tradition of Iran the Turanians are the constant and most dangerous
+enemies of the kings of Bactria. The steppes of the Oxus and Jaxartes
+were inhabited by nations to whom the Persians gave the collective name
+of Sacae, while the Greeks called them Scythians. They found but scanty
+pasture on the steppes, and it was natural that they should look with
+longing eyes on the more fertile regions of Bactria and Sogdiana. It has
+already been mentioned how careful Cyrus was to protect these countries,
+when he had conquered them, against the nations of the steppes. At a
+later time, from the middle of the second century B.C. downwards (p.
+28), we have definite information of the pressure of these nations on
+Parthia, Margiana, and Bactria. When freed from the attacks of the
+Seleucids on the west, the Arsacids had to defend the east of the
+kingdom. Phraates II. and Artabanus II. fell in battle against the
+nomads; Mithridates II. succeeded in protecting Parthia, but about the
+year 100 B.C. the Sacae were able to force a way through Bactria. They
+possessed themselves of the best land in the east of Iran, the valleys
+of the Hilmend (p. 7), bequeathed their name to the country (Sikashtan,
+Sejestan), and from the valley of the Cabul extended their dominion
+beyond the Indus. The white Huns, or Yuechis, followed the Sacae; and
+they also reached the Indus. Is there any reason to doubt the Avesta
+that even before the Medes and Cyrus the princes of Bactria and Sogdiana
+were occupied with beating back the tribes of the steppes?
+
+In ancient times, as Strabo tells us, the Bactrians and Sogdiani were
+little removed from wandering shepherds. The Avesta exhibits them in
+close connection with horses. The names compounded with _acpa_ (horse)
+are common; Kerecacpa, Aurvatacpa, Vistacpa, Haechatacpa, Jamacpa,
+Pourushacpa. Of Zariacpa and the Zariacpians we have already spoken. The
+most important source of wealth must have consisted in horses, for which
+the mountains supplied ample pasture. The horse-sacrifice is the chief
+sacrifice of the Avesta. One hundred horses were equal to 1000 oxen,
+and 10,000 head of small cattle. We found that Bactria could furnish the
+last Darius with 30,000 cavalry, and the horse was the symbol of Bactria
+on the coins of the Greek princes of the land (p. 27).
+
+From all these indications we may assume that when the Arians had
+settled in Margiana, Bactria, and Sogdiana, and agriculture became of
+importance beside the breeding of cattle, the necessity of protection
+against the migratory tribes of the endless plains stretching to the
+north, created among the Arians a warlike nobility who took upon
+themselves the duty of defence. The valley of the Zarefshan (Sogdiana),
+the terrace of Bactria, the region of Merv, became in the hands of the
+Arians advanced posts of civilisation in the desert. If Western Iran was
+protected in the north by the Alps of Aderbeijan and the Caspian Sea
+against attacks from that quarter, Eastern Iran lay open to the nomads
+of the steppes, and had nothing but arms to defend its cultivated lands.
+We have already seen that Bactria even in the sixth century had passed
+beyond the earliest stages of civilisation (p. 24). But even a less
+degree of prosperity was sufficient to excite the sons of the desert to
+invasion. Hence we may assume that the incursions and raids of the
+nomads of the steppes began with the increase of the flocks and the
+prosperity of agriculture in the valleys of Merv, Bactria, and Sogdiana.
+The increasing severity of these attacks compelled the Bactrian soldiery
+to collect their forces for more successful resistance, and to place the
+best warriors at the head of the community. Thus it was not by
+spontaneous development, but rather by the opposition to the nations of
+the steppes, that the north-east of Iran first outgrew the tribal life,
+and became transformed into a larger state. Of this kingdom Aurvatacpa
+and Vistacpa became the rulers; in the Avesta they are distinguished
+from the Paradhatas and from Kava Kavata, Kava Uca, and Kava Hucrava, by
+a new addition to the name and other peculiar traits, and form a third
+group. The progress of our investigation will show that the formation of
+this Bactrian kingdom cannot be placed later than 1100 B.C.; the date of
+Vistacpa must be put about 1000 B.C., and it was the successors of
+Vistacpa who sent to Shalmanesar II. the tribute of camels with two
+humps, and yaks (about 850 B.C.), who found themselves menaced once more
+by the advances of Tiglath Pilesar II. to Arachosia in the year 745
+B.C., and at length succumbed to Cyrus. We shall find that this kingdom
+was not without its warlike races and priestly families, that Zariacpa
+and Bactria were the centres of it, and that the sovereigns attained
+despotic power. Yet the old warlike families must have preserved a
+certain importance under the monarchy, unless they regained it when lost
+under the viceroys of the Achaemenids. It was the chieftains of the
+Bactrians whom Alexander summoned to Zariacpa, and who with the Sogdiani
+at their side took the lead in resistance. The most powerful of them
+stubbornly defended their rocky citadels against the Macedonians.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[26] Polyb. fragm. 34 f.; below, p. 26.
+
+[27] Above, p. 6; Vol. III. p. 3, "Zikruti in rugged Media I added to
+the land of Assyria;" _ib._ p. 4.
+
+[28] Vol. III. p. 77.
+
+[29] Herod. 1, 153, 177, 201, 204.
+
+[30] Strabo, p. 517; Arrian, "Anab." 4, 23; Plin. "H. N." 6, 18; Ptolem.
+6, 12.
+
+[31] Ctes. fragm. Pers. c. 12.
+
+[32] Behist. 1, 6; Persep. 25; Naksh-i-Rustem, 12-14.
+
+[33] Herod. 3, 91, 92.
+
+[34] Vol. I. p. 285. The amount is about 2096 thalers.
+
+[35] Behist. 2, 14-16; 3, 10-12.
+
+[36] Herod. 7, 64, 82; 9, 113.
+
+[37] Herod. 8, 93.
+
+[38] Diod. 11, 69; Ctes. Pers. ecl. 31.
+
+[39] Arrian, "Anab." 3, 21.
+
+[40] Arrian, _loc. cit._ 3, 29.
+
+[41] Justin. 41, 4.
+
+[42] As was shown in Vol. IV. p. 278, the Vishnu Purana represents the
+sacrificial horse of Pushpamitra, who sat on the throne of Magadha
+between 178 and 142 B.C. (Vol. IV. p. 550), to have been carried off by
+an army of Yavanas on the right bank of the Indus, and then restored.
+The dominion of the Graeco-Bactrian princes in the East existed from 200
+to 150 B.C.
+
+[43] Strabo, p. 516. I need not prove that [Greek: Iomanes] must be
+read here for [Greek: Isamos], or that [Greek: Saraostou paralia] is
+Surashtra; cf. Wilson, "Ariana antiq." p. 281. Apollodotus, Apaladata
+on the Arian legends of his coins, is no doubt the Bhagadatta of the
+Mahabharata, just as the Dattamitra there mentioned is Demetrius; Vol.
+IV. p. 80, _n_. Among the Indians Menander appears in the form Milinda.
+
+[44] In the year 1843 there were about 1000 Guebre families in Yezd, and
+a hundred in Kerman. Westergaard, "Avesta," 1, 21: the persecution of
+1848 considerably reduced their numbers.
+
+[45] Haug, "Pahlavi-Pazand Glossary," pp. 80, 81.
+
+[46] "Vendid." 1, 73-76.
+
+[47] "Vendid." 1, 46.
+
+[48] "Vendid." 19, 130; 1, 50.
+
+[49] Burnouf, "Jour. Asiat." 1845, pp. 287, 288. It seems to me doubtful
+whether we should look for Airyana Vaeja on the sources of the Oxus.
+The statement in the Bundehesh that Airyana Vaeja was situated beside
+Atropatene is, however, of very little weight against the fact that the
+Arians of East Iran are nearest to the Arians of India. I shall return
+to this point below. The remark in Stephanus, "[Greek: Ariania], a
+nation among the Cadusians," would be of some importance if it were
+taken from Apollodorus of Artemita, and not from the grammarian of that
+name. The district of Arran on the Kur may possibly be meant.
+
+[50] "Vendid." 1, 14-18.
+
+[51] "Vendid." 1, 30, 42.
+
+[52] "Vendid." 1, 60.
+
+[53] "Yacna," 9, 4.
+
+[54] "Vendid." 2, 1-21, after Karl Geldner's translation. [Cf.
+Darmesteter's translation in M. Mueller's 'Sacred Books of the East,'
+Vol. IV.]
+
+[55] "Vendid." 2, 21-43.
+
+[56] "Aban Yasht," 9; "Farvardin Yasht," 131; "Bahram Yasht," 40; "Ram
+Yasht," 23.
+
+[57] "Farvardin Yasht," 131 ff.
+
+[58] "Yacna," 9, 30; "Vendid." 20, 11 ff.
+
+[59] "Vendid." 20; "Yacna," 9, 32, 39; "Ram Yasht," 7, 28; "Farvardin
+Yasht," 136; "Zamyad Yasht," 41 ff. According to the "Mainyo-i-Khard,"
+Kerecacpa, besides slaying the serpent Cruvar, slew the wolf Kapod, the
+water demon Gandarsi, the bird Kamak, and kept back much oppression from
+the world. West, "Mainyo-i-Khard," c. 27.
+
+[60] Justi, "Handbuch," _s. voc._
+
+[61] "Farvardin Yasht," 131.
+
+[62] "Farvardin Yasht," 132; "Zamyad Yasht," 71.
+
+[63] "Gosh Yasht," 18; "Ashi Yasht," 38.
+
+[64] "Aban Yasht," 49; "Gosh Yasht," 18; "Ashi Yasht," 38; "Afrin
+Zartusht," 7; "Zamyad Yasht," 77; "Ram Yasht," 32.
+
+[65] "Aban Yasht," 76, 98; "Ashi Yasht," 46; "Farvardin Yasht," 102;
+"Ram Yasht," 36.
+
+[66] "Aban Yasht," 109, 117; "Farvardin Yasht," 38; "Gosh Yasht," 29,
+30; "Ashi Yasht," 50, 81; "Zamyad Yasht," 87.
+
+[67] "Aban Yasht," 104-106; "Farvardin Yasht," 142; "Gosh Yasht," 26;
+"Ram Yasht," 36.
+
+[68] "Vendid." 2, 39, 40.
+
+[69] Vol. IV. 21 _n._ Spiegel, "Avesta," 3, Einl. s. 58. The favourite
+comparison of the enclosure of Yima with the deluge of the Hebrews
+appears to me anything but apposite. Iran, and still more Bactria, is
+unsuited to give rise to the legend of a flood. Nor is there any
+question of the destruction of evil men (if there had been, Yima would
+have been the most guilty and the least deserving of pardon), but of the
+end of the golden age, as is shown in the Vendidad, the Yacna, and the
+Yashts: the earth becomes more thickly peopled, men and animals do not
+grow old or die. If we must bring together things which have really no
+relation to each other, it would be more apposite to compare the
+paradise of the Hebrews. The reason for the end of the golden age is the
+guilt of Yima. [Cf. Kuenen, "Religion of Israel," 3, c. 9, E. T.]
+
+[70] "Zamyad Yasht," 46.
+
+[71] "Rigveda," 1, 158; 10, 8, 5.
+
+[72] Westergaard in Weber's "Ind. Studien," 3, 413 ff., 426 ff. Kuhn
+combines Trita with Triton and Tritogeneia; Hofer's "Zeitschrift," 1,
+276, 289.
+
+[73] Haug, "Essays," pp. 235, 236.
+
+[74] Kuhn, "Beitraege," 4, 44; Haug, "Essays," pp. 235, 236.
+
+[75] Strabo, p. 517. [[Greek: Toriouan] is a _v. l._ for
+[Greek: Tapurian].]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE SCRIPTURES OF IRAN.[76]
+
+
+The statements of the Avesta concerning the ancient rulers of Eastern
+Iran were proved to be without historical value, yet we found in them an
+ancient and genuine tradition, the form of which allowed us to draw
+certain conclusions about the political condition of that region in a
+period for which we have no other records except the poetry of Western
+Iran. But what the Avesta tells us of the rulers of ancient days is of
+secondary importance for the book, which comprises the doctrines and
+ordinances of the faith proclaimed by Zarathrustra, and the rules of
+life which he is said to have laid down. May we assume that we possess
+these in a genuine and unaltered form in the Avesta, though they have
+only come down to us in fragments?
+
+A book of the Parsees of India, which tells the story of their flight
+from their ancient home, relates that Iskander (Alexander of Macedon)
+burned the revealed scriptures, and the faithful were persecuted for 300
+years. When Ardeshir (the first Sassanid) ascended the throne, the true
+faith was restored, under the superintendence of Arda Viraf. After this
+the true religion was again suspended till king Shapur (Shapur II.) rose
+and once more made the faith famous, and Aderbat Mahresfant girded his
+loins in the good cause. The same account is given in the Book of Arda
+Viraf, also a book of the Parsees of India. From this we learn that the
+religion received by the pious Zarathrustra lasted for 300 years in
+purity. Then the evil one stirred up Iskander Rumi, so that he spread
+war and devastation over Iran, and slew the rulers of the land. The
+Avesta which was preserved at Stakhar Papakan (Persepolis), written on
+cow-skins with golden ink, he burned, and put to death many priests and
+judges, pillars of the faith, and spread hatred, strife, and confusion
+among the people of Iran. They had now no lord, guide, and high priest,
+who knew their religion; they were full of doubts and had different
+modes of belief and worship of various kinds, and different laws
+prevailed in the world till the time when Ardeshir came to the throne
+and listened to the words of the holy Arda Viraf and believed him. But
+after Ardeshir's death a schism broke out, and more than 40,000 souls
+fell away from the true faith, till the day when the holy Aderbat
+Mahresfant arose.[77] An older writing of the Parsees, the Dinkart
+(composed under the Sassanids), tells us, apparently on the ground of a
+proclamation of the Sassanid Chosru Parvez (590-627 A.D.) that king
+Vistacpa of Bactria had commanded that all books which were written in
+the language of the Magians should be collected, in order that the faith
+of the worshippers of Auramazda might have some support, and all men
+were to go to Frashaostra (whom the Avesta mentions as a companion of
+Zarathrustra) to be instructed in the faith. And Darai, the son of Darai
+(Darius Hystaspis is meant), commanded that two copies of the entire
+Avesta, precisely as Zarathrustra had received it from Auramazda, should
+be preserved, the one in the treasury at Shapikan, and the other in the
+city of scriptures. Then Valkosh (Vologeses), the descendant of Ashkan
+(Arsaces), gave orders that so much of the Avesta as had escaped
+destruction and the ravages of Iskander and the warriors of Rum, and
+existed in fragments or in oral tradition, should be sought out and
+brought from every city. And king Artakshatr (Ardeshir) summoned the
+Herbedh (_i.e._ the priest)[78] Tosar with the holy scriptures, which
+were scattered, to his residence, and when Tosar came he gave command to
+the other priests that everything, which differed from that which was
+now considered to be knowledge and wisdom, should be suppressed. The son
+of Artakshatr, Shapuhar (241-272 A.D.), the king of kings, gave command
+that all writings on medicine or astronomy or other subjects in
+Hindostan, Rum, and other lands, should be collected, and again united
+with the Avesta, and that an exact copy should be deposited in the
+treasury of Shapikan. Lastly Atropat (Aderbat) in the reign of Shapuhar
+(Shapur II, 309-379 A.D.), the son of Auharmazdi, purified the sayings
+of Zarathrustra and enumerated the Nosks (chapters) of the sacred
+scriptures.[79]
+
+In the rivayats of the Parsees in India, _i.e._ in the collections of
+the sayings of the priests on their doctrine, we find an enumeration of
+these sections of the scriptures. At each book this list notes how many
+chapters were re-discovered "after Alexander." According to this
+enumeration the scriptures of Iran consisted of twenty-one books.[80]
+The first book contained the songs of praise to the supreme spirits in
+33 chapters; the second (22 chapters) treated of good works; the third
+(22 chapters) of the sacred word; the fourth (21 chapters) of the gods;
+the fifth (22 chapters) of the earth, of water, of trees, of wild
+animals; the sixth (35 chapters) of the heavens and the stars; the
+seventh (22 chapters) of pure and impure kinds of food, and of the
+celebration of the great festivals; the eighth (50 chapters) of the
+kings and priests, of pure and impure animals; the ninth (60 chapters)
+of the laws according to which the kings and judges were to give
+sentence; the tenth (60 chapters) of virtue and wisdom; the eleventh (60
+chapters) of the reign and conversion of king Vistacpa; the twelfth
+taught agriculture in 22 chapters, the planting of trees, the duty of
+the priests and laity, and treated of the orders; the thirteenth (60
+chapters) was occupied with the sacred sciences, the teachers and
+pupils, and the miracles which Zarathrustra worked; the fourteenth book
+(22 chapters) spoke of the life of men from birth to death; the
+fifteenth (17 chapters) contained songs of praise; the sixteenth (54
+chapters) laid down rules for what was permitted and what was not; the
+seventeenth (64 chapters) contained the doctrines of medicine and
+astronomy; the eighteenth (65 chapters) the doctrine respecting animals
+and their treatment; the nineteenth (52 chapters) contained the civil
+and criminal law; the twentieth (22 chapters) the rubrics for the
+removal of impurity; the twenty-first gave in 30 chapters the history of
+creation.[81]
+
+According to this list the scriptures of Iran must have been of very
+considerable extent. The Arabian author Masudi, who lived about the
+middle of the tenth century A.D., also puts the number of books at
+twenty-one. "Zartusht," he says, "gave the Parsees the book which is
+called the Avesta. It consisted of twenty-one sections, of which each
+amounted to 200 pages. This book was written in the character which
+Zartusht invented and which the Magians call the religious character, on
+12,000 cow-hides, and these were kept together by bands of gold. It was
+composed in the old Persian language, which no one now understands."[82]
+From the list of the books and chapters it is clear that these writings
+comprised not only the religious doctrine and law, together with the
+rules for correct conversation, but also the rubrics for the liturgy and
+ritual. They were at the same time the code of criminal and civic law,
+and in them was deposited what was known of medicine and agriculture,
+and the sum total of the science of their authors.
+
+Can we assume that writings of this importance, nature, and extent
+existed in Iran before Alexander of Macedon overthrew the kingdom of the
+Achaemenids? Herodotus tells us that the Magians or priests of the
+Persians recited the theogony, _i.e._ long poems, at their sacrifices.
+The disciples of the sophist Prodicus are said to have asserted that
+they were in possession of writings of Zoroaster, who taught the
+Persians their religion.[83] Hermippus of Smyrna, who wrote in the
+second half of the third century B.C., and devoted especial attention to
+the religions of the east, stated that the Magians maintained two
+principles, a good and an evil deity; the one they called Zeus and
+Oromasdes, the other Hades and Areimanius.[84] Zoroaster, who founded
+the doctrine of the Magians, had composed twenty books, each of 100,000
+lines, and Hermippus gave the contents of the various books and quoted
+regulations from them. Pliny tells us: "The doctrine of the Magians
+prevails to this day among a great part of the nations, and in the East
+is supreme over the king of kings" (_i.e._ the Arsacids); and vouches
+for Hermippus that he had written with great care about the Magians,[85]
+from whose work no doubt he quotes some particulars of the doctrine of
+Zoroaster. According to Zoroaster's rule the sowing of the fields should
+take place when the moon is in the sign of Taurus; and it was forbidden
+to expose the person before the sun or moon, or to defile a man's
+shadow. Pliny also mentions the precious stones, of which Zoroaster had
+extolled the brilliance; the herbs, used by the Magians; and enumerates
+a number of remedies, which they applied. Finally, he speaks of the
+Nyktegertos, a herb growing in Gedrosia, which the Magians used when
+making vows.[86] Philo of Byblus quotes a passage, apparently from "the
+sacred collection of Zoroaster," on the nature of the deity, and assures
+us that the Persian Osthanes maintained the same in the Octateuch.[87]
+Plutarch gives us a short but accurate account of the system of
+Zoroaster; his contemporary Dio Chrysostom asserts that Zoroaster and
+the sons of the Magians had sung of the balance of Zeus and the
+constellation of the day in strains more sublime than those of Homer or
+Hesiod;[88] and Pausanias relates that at the kindling of the
+sacrificial fire the invocation was sung by the Magians from a book in a
+barbarous language wholly unintelligible to the Greeks.[89]
+
+This evidence from the West confirms the existence of sacred writings
+in Iran after the time of Alexander, and also indicates that they
+existed previously to that date; it contradicts the story of their
+destruction by the Macedonians. The books must have been in existence
+when Hermippus could speak of their extent, and quote rules from them;
+and writings of the kind must have been known when, in the days of
+Pausanias, the Magians could sing their invocations from a book. From
+other sources we are sufficiently informed that Alexander's efforts were
+not directed towards destroying the national character and traditional
+religion of the Persians. Arrian tells us that Magians no less than
+Greek soothsayers took part in their festivals.[90] Nor were the
+Seleucids more desirous than Alexander to effect the destruction of the
+Iranian nationality; just as the Ptolemies never attempted to set aside
+the Egyptian religion and life. Even if they had cherished such views,
+they were far from being strong enough to carry them out, for the Greek
+empire over Iran lasted in its integrity only eighty years. The Arsacids
+also, who recovered Iran from the Seleucids, were not averse to the
+Greek nation. They called themselves friends of the Hellenes, and not
+only was Greek spoken, but even the tragedies of Euripides were acted at
+their courts. The scanty remains of the monuments present us with echoes
+of Greek;[91] their coins, with few exceptions, bear Greek legends like
+those of the Bactrian princes whom they overcame. But though the
+influence of the Hellenic character continued under the Arsacids, and at
+the same time the Aramaean language and manners obtained even greater
+recognition than Hellenism during their dominion, the reign of the
+Arsacids was a restoration and revivification of the Iranian
+nationality. According to the evidence of western writers the Magians
+together with the members of the royal race formed the council of the
+Arsacids.[92] Pliny has already told us that these princes obeyed the
+rules of the Magians, and we also find that they invoked Mithra as the
+Achaemenids had done, and "saluted the sun."[93] Like the Achaemenids,
+too, they would not permit their armies to fight by night, and we are
+told that in their time the greatest weight was given to the love of
+truth and fidelity, _i.e._ to the virtues which, according to Herodotus,
+the Persians of his time considered the most important, and on which the
+Avesta insists above all others.[94] We also learn from western writers
+that the founder of the kingdom (Arsaces I.) was a descendant of
+Phriapites (Friyapaiti), and with his brother Tiridates and five others
+he slew the satrap of Antiochus Theos, and drove out the
+Macedonians;[95] just as Darius with the six Persian princes overthrew
+the dominion of Gaumata; and the Arabs relate that the Arsacids trace
+back their stock to Cyavarshana, the son of Kava Uca, a story which
+cannot have been invented in Arabia.[96] In the list of the Arsacids we
+also find the name Chosru (108-130 A.D.), the Kava Hucrava of the old
+legend (p. 37); on the coins we find a Vologeses and a Phraates before
+the fire-altar, the characteristic symbol of the ancient worship of
+Iran. Just as the old Arian character appears beside the Greek on the
+coins of the Greek princes of Bactria, the Greek character on the coins
+of the Arsacids gradually degenerates until at length it gives way to a
+new Iranian character and language. The tradition sketched in the
+Dinkart, as we have seen, represents the Arsacid Vologeses (which of the
+four princes of the name is meant is not clear)[97] as collecting what
+fragments remained of the holy scriptures in the memory of the priests.
+The burning of the scriptures by Alexander, as related in the books of
+the Parsees on their exodus and the Arda Viraf, is merely a transference
+to him of the conduct of the Moslems on their conquest of Iran. Of the
+continuance of the ancient religion of Iran under the Arsacids there can
+be no doubt, though it is true that along with it, in the Greek cities
+which Alexander and the Seleucids founded, and which were independent
+within their walls even under the Parthians, Hellenic rites were
+practised. In these cities Syrian modes of worship were also permitted,
+and the Aramaic language and culture found entrance into Iran.[98]
+
+In the land of Persia, among the Persians whom Mithridates I. subjugated
+to the dominion of the Arsacids, reminiscences of the ancient time, of
+the splendour and glory of the Achaemenids, were naturally more lively
+than in Parthia, which was formerly subject to the Persians, and now
+under the Arasacids stood at the head of Iran. In Persia, Artakshatr
+(Ardeshir), the son of Papaki, the grandson of Sassan, rebelled against
+king Artabanus IV. In three great battles the Persians contended with
+the Parthians; the latter were conquered, and Artabanus fell, and with
+him the kingdom of the Arsacids after a continuance of 476 years (225
+A.D.). With the reign of Ardeshir began a more energetic restoration of
+Iran. He and his successors after him revered the memory of the
+Achaemenids, and strove to continue their achievements[99]. We again hear
+of seven houses, and seven princes who had the right to wear diadems
+beside the king, like the seven tribal princes of the old Persian
+kingdom;[100] we find the fire-altar before the tent of the Sassanids as
+well as the Achaemenids; and in the army of the Sassanids, no less than
+in that of Darius and Xerxes, was a troop of "immortals." Ardeshir, like
+the founder of the Persian empire, caused a portrait of himself on
+horseback to be cut in a rock-wall to the north-west of Persepolis
+(Naksh-i-Rustem) in remembrance of the achievements which established
+his kingdom--the rock on which 700 years before Darius had marked his
+tomb by a portrait and inscription. The inscription under this portrait
+(in the Pehlevi of East and West Iran, with a Greek translation) runs
+thus: "Portrait of the worshipper of Mazda, the god Artakshatr
+(Artaxares in the Greek), the king of kings of the Arians (of the kings
+of Airan, in the Pehlevi texts), the scion of the sky (_minu chitri_),
+the son of the god Papaki, the king."[101] Ardeshir's son, Shapur I.
+(241-272 A.D.), caused his victory over Valerian and his capture of the
+emperor to be recorded on the same rock; we see Shapur on horseback, and
+Valerian kneeling before him, a representation which recurs at the old
+Persian city of Darabgerd. At Naksh-i-Rejeb, between the rock-wall of
+Naksh-i-Rustem and Mount Nachmed, on which abutted Persepolis, the proud
+citadel of the Achaemenids, and in the grotto of Haiyabad, we find in the
+one case a portrait of Shapur, and in the other inscriptions which
+mention this ruler and king Varahran. At Kermanshah, on the western side
+of Mount Behistun, on the eastern side of which mountain Darius
+inscribed the proudest memorial of his achievements, we see king
+Ardeshir, and beneath him the corpse of Artabanus; behind the king is
+Mithra with the club which gave him victory, and before him Auramazda
+who presents the ring of empire to Ardeshir. Not far from this portrait
+Shapur II. (309-379 A.D.) caused a grotto to be excavated in the rock.
+In the sculpture of this cave we see the goddess Anahita, who presents
+to the king the ring of empire; at some distance are the hunting
+expeditions of the king; a second grotto close to this exhibits the
+pictures of king Auharmazdi II., the father of Shapur II., and of Shapur
+III. his second successor.[102]
+
+Though the Sassanids sought to restore the kingdom of the Achaemenids,
+and immortalise their own achievements beside those of the early kings,
+the religious revival which they undertook was far more thorough than
+the political. In this direction they went further than the Achaemenids;
+they caused the forms which the old faith of Iran had retained and
+forced on the East, to be current throughout the whole kingdom. Agathias
+assures us that Ardeshir was eagerly devoted to the study of the
+doctrine of the Magians, who since his accession had gained an
+importance such as they never enjoyed before. The business of the State
+was decided upon their advice and predictions; they assisted individual
+persons in their private matters and suits at law, and the Persians did
+not regard anything as legal and right which was not confirmed by a
+Magian.[103] At the head of the Magians, we are told in another account
+coming from a western source, a Grand Magian was placed under the
+Sassanids,[104] and as a fact the Magians now received a thorough
+organisation. At the head of their caste was the High Magian (_Magupat_,
+Mobedh); and over all the High Magians was the Grand Magian (_Magupatan
+magupat_); to the Magians belonged the judicial power; and the Grand
+Magian performed the coronation of the king. The Sassanids erected
+fire-temples in Persia no less than in Aderbeijan; their coins always
+exhibit the fire-altar, and as a rule two priests before it. They
+carried their genealogy beyond Sassan through Cpentodata (p. 38) to
+Vistacpa of Bactria, who is now said to have established the seven
+princes; they call themselves by the names of the ancient heroes who met
+us in the Avesta; Kavadh (Kava Kavata) and Chosru (Kava Hucrava). While
+styling themselves the worshippers of Mazda (Auramazda) like the
+founders of their empire, they went so far as to assume the names of the
+gods of the Avesta; some even called themselves after Verethraghna
+(Varahran, Bahram), others Auharmazdi after Auramazda himself. The
+numerous Christians on the Euphrates and Tigris as well as in Armenia
+had to undergo severe persecutions; especially under Shapur II.,
+Varahran V., and Yezdegerd II. (438-457 A.D.), whose viceroy declared to
+the Armenian Christians that the Daevas (Dews) of Ahriman had deceived
+them; it was not the good God who had created evil and death but the
+wicked spirit. Defection from the faith of Auramazda was punished with
+death. In the treaties of the years 422, 533, and 563 A.D. Theodosius
+II. and Justinian obtained the concession that the Christians in the
+kingdom of the Sassanids should not be compelled to conform to the rules
+of the Magians; they were to be at liberty to bury their dead,[105]
+whereas the doctrine of Zarathrustra required that the corpses should be
+exposed.
+
+As such was the attitude of the house of the Sassanids, we may believe
+the books of the Parsees that Ardeshir eagerly took in hand the revival
+of the true faith, and that he was assisted in this by competent
+Magians; by Arda Viraf, according to the book of the Exodus and of Arda
+Viraf (p. 50); according to the Dinkart, by the Herbedh Tosar. The book
+of Arda Viraf relates at length how he fell asleep in the assembly of
+priests before Ardeshir, and his soul was carried by the god Craosha
+through heaven and hell. And when the Dinkart represents a standard of
+true religion as being set up under Ardeshir, there is no reason to
+doubt the statement. After the reign of Ardeshir, we are told in the
+Book of the Exodus, the true religion was again suspended, or, as the
+Book of Arda Viraf tells us, a schism arose. The cause of this division
+is sufficiently known from other sources. In the reign of Shapur I.
+(241-272 A.D.) a native of Ctesiphon, of the name of Mani, came forward
+with a new doctrine which attempted to mingle Chaldaean, Jewish, and
+Christian elements in the faith of Iran, and to resolve it into
+abstractions. He found numerous adherents.[106] Varahran II. (276-293
+A.D.) allowed him to dispute with the Magians, and then put him to
+death. Under Shapur II., who succeeded his father Auharmazdi II. as a
+posthumous child (309-379 A.D.), in order to check Manicheism and the
+advance of Christianity, it was necessary to go back to the principles
+of the old faith, and to invigorate these by the collection and
+establishment of the sacred scriptures. We may therefore have the
+fullest confidence in accepting from these three books of the Parsees
+the facts that Shapur "made the sacred faith to be famous;" that
+Aderbat, whose work under Shapur is confirmed by Hamza of Isfahan,
+collected the scriptures, purified the sayings of Zarathrustra, and
+enumerated the chapters. It is on this redaction of the canon by Aderbat
+Mahresfant under Shapur II. that the list of the books and chapters
+rests, distinguishing what were originally in existence and what were
+then preserved. What was not discovered "after Alexander" means what was
+not discovered or not accepted at this redaction. Instead of the 815
+chapters which the Avesta is said to have previously contained, the new
+canon amounted to only 348 chapters. That Aderbat was the founder of
+this canon is clear not only from the epithet which the books of the
+Parsees give him (Mahresfant, Old Bactrian Manthracpenta, meaning "the
+sacred word,") but also from the confession of faith still in use among
+the Parsees: "I abide in the law which Zarathrustra taught to Vistacpa,
+to Frashaostra, to Jamacpa, and Cpentodata, which came in the succession
+of generations to Aderbat, who duly corrected and purified it."[107] It
+was shown above that the language of the sacred books thus again
+collected was that of Eastern Iran (p. 30). When Aderbat revised the
+canon it had long ceased to be spoken. But there were already
+translations of the sacred books into the later forms which the language
+of Iran had received in the time of the Parthians, or at any rate such
+translations were made after the revision of the canon.[108] Masudi
+informed us that the Avesta was composed in the old Persian language,
+which at that time (tenth century A.D.) was no longer understood. Ibn
+Haukal, who travelled in Persia in the same century, tells us: "In Fars
+three languages are in use; the Farsi, in which the inhabitants converse
+with each other; the Pehlevi, which was the language of the ancient
+Persians, and in which the Magians wrote their historical books, but
+which in our time is no longer understood by the inhabitants of Fars
+without a translation; and the Arabian.[109]" When Aderbat revised the
+Avesta in the middle of the fourth century B.C., the Parsi (Farsi),
+_i.e._ the later Middle Persian, was still in formation; the older
+Middle Persian or Pehlevi was still intelligible, but translations of
+the Avesta into this language did not make clear to every one the
+meaning of the ancient language in which the scriptures were composed.
+In the time of the Parthian empire the old mode of writing was given up
+in the West as well as in the East of Iran, and exchanged for new
+methods. In the West a cuneiform character derived from the writing of
+Babylon and Assyria had been adopted; the East used the Arian alphabet.
+Under the Arsacids the Pehlevi became common. Like the old Persian
+cuneiform this is borrowed from a Semitic pattern. The chief city of the
+Parthians lay on the Tigris in the midst of a Semitic population. The
+cursive character of the Aramaeans, as we find it on the coins of the
+satraps of the Achaemenids of the fourth century B.C., with a few
+modifications, forms the base of the Pehlevi; and the earlier shapes of
+this character are seen in the coins of the Arsacids of the first
+century A.D. But it is not the character which forms the peculiar mark
+of Pehlevi. Along with the Aramaic letters the Parthians took the
+Aramaic vocabulary; they wrote the Aramaic word instead of the Persian,
+and to this they attached the termination or case-ending of the
+corresponding Persian word; the reader must understand Aramaic and
+substitute the Persian word for the Aramaic when reading.[110] Hence
+Pehlevi was in reality a secret mode of writing, intended exclusively
+for the learned, _i.e._ for the priests. It is a proof of the close
+connection between the priests of the East and West that this character,
+which arose in the West out of the contact with the Aramaic population
+on the Euphrates and Tigris, spread to the East also and was adopted by
+the scholars there. Nor was this all. The variations in the Eastern
+dialect brought about certain modifications in the forms of the letters,
+and thus there arose an Eastern alphabet of Pehlevi beside the Western
+alphabet. When Ardeshir destroyed the empire of the Parthians in the
+year 226 A.D. these two alphabets were in existence. The Eastern
+alphabet finally triumphed over the Western. It became the royal mode of
+writing, and as such was used on the coins. The letters in the
+manuscripts of the Pehlevi translation of the Avesta in the possession
+of the Parsees agree throughout with the characters on the legends of
+the coins of the Sassanids about the year 600 A.D.[111] The characters
+also, in which the text of the Avesta is written in the manuscripts of
+the Parsees, belong to the later East-Pehlevi alphabet, which, owing to
+the greater wealth of the old Bactrian alphabet in sounds, especially in
+vowels, possesses a greater number of letters.[112] The coincidence of
+the letters in the manuscripts of the Parsees with those on the coins of
+the later Sassanids, proves beyond contradiction that although the
+oldest existing manuscripts belong to the fourteenth century of our
+era,[113] they are nevertheless true copies of the characters in which
+the Avesta was written in the last century of the empire of the
+Sassanids.
+
+All that the Parsees of India now possess are some not very extensive
+remains of the revision of the sacred scriptures made in the reign of
+Shapur II. The existing part of the laws corresponds in the title, the
+divisions and their arrangements, with the twentieth book of the text
+(p. 52). It contains the rubrics for purification, for repelling and
+removing the evil spirits. The title is the Vendidad, or, in the older
+form, the Vidaevodata, _i.e._ "given against the Daevas," or evil
+spirits. Obviously this book was regarded as the most important and
+valuable part of the law, and to this circumstance it owes its
+preservation. Besides this we have invocations and prayers, chiefly
+belonging to the liturgy. They form a considerable collection, known by
+the title of Yacna, _i.e._ worship. The remainder of the 348 chapters
+was lost in the invasion of the Arabs into Iran, owing to their
+fanatical zeal for conversion.[114]
+
+Though we were able to establish the fact that these fragments belonged
+in their language, their contents, and their written character to
+Eastern Iran, and the evidence of Western writers proved to us that at
+the time when Alexander of Macedon overthrew the kingdom of the
+Achaemenids, there were sacred scriptures of considerable extent in
+Iran--this does not enable us to decide the date of the origin of these
+scriptures. We have to inquire whether these writings were known in the
+West of Iran also, before the date of the Sassanids; whether the new
+collection and revision about the year 350 of our era was satisfied with
+faithfully representing the old condition of the scriptures, so far as
+it could be discovered, or whether it altered their contents; whether
+the influence exercised by Hellenic and Aramaic elements in the time of
+the Seleucids and Parthians--so obvious in the one case and so searching
+in the other--affected the contents of the Avesta.[115] This question
+cannot be set aside, because even under the Sassanids, in spite of their
+zeal for the Avesta and for Iran, these elements were not unknown. We
+are aware that Greek and Jewish schools flourished in Syria and
+Mesopotamia at the date of the Sassanids, that Chosru Nushirvan (531-578
+A.D.) gave his protection to Damascius and the Platonists in his
+kingdom, and caused Greek works to be translated. However much other
+virtues, required in the Avesta, were extolled in this ruler, such as
+the foundation of fire-temples, and appointment of sacristans for them,
+the promotion of agriculture (no temple was to be without cultivated
+lands) and of marriages--nevertheless sects sprung up within the true
+religion. Even in official documents of the fifth century we find a
+certain deviation from the doctrine of the Avesta; under king Kavadh
+(488-453 A.D.), Mazdak, who proclaimed the community of goods and women,
+found adherents, and the Arabs speak of sects in Iran which opposed the
+teaching of the Magians.[116] They mention the Zarvanites, the
+Gayomarthians, and others, of whom the Zarvanites sought to derive the
+good and evil deity from some higher abstraction,[117] while the
+Gayomarthians represented the evil deity as proceeding from the thought
+of the good deity. Had conceptions of this kind, and other later views
+which we find in their doctrines, influence on the restoration of the
+canon? The fact that the sacred writings were composed in a language no
+longer current, when the canon was restored, is not a complete safeguard
+against changes and interpolations, for the priests at that time may
+have understood the language, and therefore may possibly have been able
+to compose in it.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[76] [Cf. Darmesteter, "Zend-Avesta," Introduction, c. iii.]
+
+[77] Haug, "The Book of Arda Viraf," p. 142 ff.
+
+[78] Herbedh is the old Bactrian _athrapaiti_.
+
+[79] Haug, "Pahlavi-Pazand Glossary," p. 144, 146.
+
+[80] It is found in the so-called "Great Rivayat."
+
+[81] Vullers, "Fragmente ueber die Religion Zoroasters," s. 15-42; Haug,
+"Essays," p. 125.
+
+[82] Quatremere, "Journ. des Savants," 1840, p. 413.
+
+[83] Clemens Alex. "Strom." p. 598.
+
+[84] Diogen. Laert. prooem. The corrupt passage in Athenaeus (p. 478) is
+not a sufficient reason for refusing to accept Hermippus of Smyrna as
+the author of the treatise on the Magians. Pliny could not quote the
+Berytian Hermippus.
+
+[85] Plin. "H. N." 30, 2.
+
+[86] "H. N." 37, 49, 55, 58; 26, 9; 27, 35; 28, 19, 27; 29, 38; 21, 36.
+
+[87] Philon. Bybl. fragm. 9, ed. Mueller.
+
+[88] Dio Chrysost, ed. Dind. 2, 60.
+
+[89] Pausan. 5, 27, 3.
+
+[90] "Anab." 7, 11, 8.
+
+[91] _E.g._ the bas-relief on Mount Behistun in the winged victory,
+which refers to the battle between Vardanes and Gotarzes, between 40 and
+50 A.D. [Cf. Rawlinson, "Sixth Monarchy," p. 389, where a sketch of the
+relief is given.]
+
+[92] Poseidonius in Strabo, p. 515; Justin, 42,1.
+
+[93] Herodian, 4, 30.
+
+[94] Plut. "Crassus," c. 29; "Anton." c. 47; Joseph. "Antiq." 18, 9, 3;
+Justin (12, 3), and Horace ("Ep." 1,2, 112), are of another opinion in
+regard to the latter point.
+
+[95] Above, p. 26. Arrian, "Parth." 2, ed. Mueller; Eunap. p. 222.
+
+[96] Al Biruni in Droyson, "Hellenismus," 3^2, 372.
+
+[97] Vologeses I. reigned 50-80 A.D.; Vologeses II. 130-149 A.D.;
+Vologeses III. and IV. 149-208 A.D.; the son of the fourth, also
+Vologeses, reigned beside Artabanus IV.
+
+[98] Joseph. "Ant." 18, 9, 1; "Bell. Jud." Prooem. 1, 2; Ammian.
+Marcell. 23, 6.
+
+[99] Ammian. Marcell. 17, 5.
+
+[100] Noeldeke, "Tabari." s. 437.
+
+[101] De Sacy, "Memoires de l'institut Cl. Hist." 2, 162-242.
+[Rawlinson, "Seventh Monarchy," p. 70, 606.]
+
+[102] Rawlinson, _loc. cit._ p. 602, 607, 92 ff.
+
+[103] Agathias, 2, 26.
+
+[104] Sozomen, "H. Eccl." 2, 10, 12.
+
+[105] Menandri Protect. fragm. 11, ed. Mueller.
+
+[106] [Cf. Rawlinson, "Seventh Monarchy," p. 96 ff.]
+
+[107] Spiegel, Avesta, 3, 214, 218, 219, 227.
+
+[108] Above, p. 17. On the date of these translations, Haug,
+"Pahlavi-Pazand Glossary," p. 147.
+
+[109] Quatreinere, "Journal des Savants," 1840, p. 412.
+
+[110] Haug, "Pahlavi-Pazand Glossary," p. 120 ff.; 128 ff. West,
+"Pahlavi Texts," part 1. Introd. Sec. 2.
+
+[111] Lepsius, "Zendalphabet, Abh. B. Akad." 1862, s. 338; Lenormant,
+"Sur l'alphabet Pehlevi Journ. Asiat. 1^{er}." 6, 6, 180 ff.; Levy,
+"Beitraege Z. D. M. G.", 21, 459 ff. From Ardeshir down to Narses, _i.e._
+from 226 to 302 A.D., the writing on the coins agrees with the West
+Pehlevi of the monuments of the Sassanids. From 302 to 600 A.D. the
+character on the coins is different. From 600 the writing on the coins
+agrees with the MSS. of the Parsees; Mordtmann, "Z. D. M. G." 8, 12 ff.
+
+[112] Lepsius, _loc. cit._ s. 306.
+
+[113] Westergaard, "Avesta," 1, 4 ff.
+
+[114] That the author or authors of the Bundehesh,--for the work
+consists of a collection of fragments of various character,--had before
+them larger remains of the Avesta, or a commentary which included more
+than our fragments, may be conceded. The composition of the work cannot
+be placed before the time of the Arabs, for the whole period of the
+Sassanid empire is given, and even on an extended scale (p. 82), mention
+is made of the empire of the Arabs, and Arabian words occur. Cf. Justi,
+"Bundehesh," p. ix. ff; cf. below, p. 73. [West, "Pahlavi Texts," 1,
+Introd. p. xci. ff].
+
+[115] On the Aramean sketch of the dialectic of Aristotle which was
+written for Ohoeru, cf. Renan, "Journ. Asiat." 1852, p. 311.
+
+[116] [Cf. Rawlinson, _loc. cit._ 448 ff.; 342 ff.]
+
+[117] "Sharastani," by Haarbruecker, 2, 284. The son of Mihr Narses is
+called Zarvandadh.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+ZARATHRUSTRA AND THE DATE OF THE COMPOSITION OF THE AVESTA.[118]
+
+
+The examination of the difficult questions, whether, from what period,
+and to what extent, the Avesta was known in Western Iran before the time
+of Alexander, when the book came into existence, whether its contents
+have come down uninjured from an ancient period, or whether it underwent
+alterations in the time of the Parthians and the Sassanids, will be best
+opened by collecting and testing the accounts which have been preserved
+in the West about Zarathrustra and his work. Herodotus does not mention
+him, but Xanthus the Lydian is said to have spoken of him, before the
+date of Herodotus. Plato describes Zoroaster as the founder of the
+doctrine of the Magians, and calls him a son of Oromazes.[119] With
+Hermodorus, a pupil of Plato, Zoroaster is a Persian, the first
+Magian.[120] Deinon concludes from the name that he was a worshipper of
+the stars. Hermippus of Smyrna speaks of him as a Bactrian, and is said
+to have described him as a pupil of Azonakes (or Agonakes).[121]
+Diodorus informs us that Zoroaster gave out among the Arians that the
+good spirit had revealed to him the laws which he published.[122] Trogus
+Pompeius relates that Ninus finally carried on war with Zoroaster the
+king of the Bactrians, who discovered the art of the Magians, and
+inquired accurately into the primal forces of the world, and the
+movements of the stars; he was slain by Ninus.[123] Pliny observes that
+Zoroaster, the founder of the doctrine of the Magians, smiled on the day
+of his birth, and beat his head vigorously as a symbol of his wisdom;
+for thirty years he lived in the desert on cheese. Plutarch's account is
+that Zoroaster took no other food or drink all his life but milk, and
+like Lycurgus and Numa, he associated with the Divine Being.[124] Dio
+Chrysostom tells us that Zoroaster from his love for wisdom and justice
+lived remote from men in solitude on a mountain, which had been kindled
+by fire from above, and burned continuously, and when the king
+approached the mountain with his leading men to offer prayer to the god,
+Zoroaster came unharmed out of the fire, and bade them offer sacrifice
+for the god had visited the place. After this Zoroaster did not
+associate with all men, but only with those who were most adapted to
+receive the truth and converse with the god, whom the Persians called
+Magians, _i.e._ those who have skill to serve the Divine Being.[125]
+Kephalion asserted that Zoroaster the Magian, the king of the Bactrians,
+fought with Semiramis and was vanquished by her.[126] Theon of
+Alexandria also speaks of the conflict between Semiramis and the
+Bactrian Zoroaster. Arnobius is aware of the battle of Ninus with
+Zoroaster and the Bactrians,[127] and in Eusebius Zoroaster, the Magian,
+the king of the Bactrians, fights against Ninus.[128] According to the
+treatise of Eubulus of Athens on Mithras, Porphyrius related that
+Zoroaster had consecrated a natural cave, in which were flowers and
+springs, in the neighbouring mountains of Persia, in honour of Mithra,
+the creator and father of all, and since that time the favour of the god
+had been sought in a cave.[129] Ammianus Marcellinus calls Zoroaster a
+Bactrian, and tells us that Hystaspes, the father of Darius, spread
+abroad the doctrine of the Magians.[130] Agathias remarks that the
+Persians of his time asserted that Zoroaster, or Zaradus, as they called
+him, who gave them their religious doctrine and law, the son of
+Oromasdes, lived at the time of Hystaspes; but they made the assertion
+in such a manner that no man knew whether this Hystaspes was the father
+of Darius or some other of the name. But whatever the date of his life,
+he changed the earlier forms of worship, and was the discoverer of the
+doctrine of the Magians.[131] Suidas distinguishes between the
+Perso-Mede Zoroaster, the chief of the Magians, and the astronomer of
+the same name, an Assyrian, who lived at the time of Ninus.[132] In
+Syncellus, Zoroaster is the first of the eight Median kings, who,
+according to the statement of Berosus, reigned over Babylonia from 2458
+to 2224 B.C.[133]
+
+These statements do not amount to much. Yet we find the tradition
+maintained from the pupils of Plato down to Agathias, that Zoroaster
+founded the doctrine of the Magians; Diodorus, Plutarch, and Dio mention
+the intercourse of Zoroaster with the good spirit or the deity.
+Diodorus calls him an Arian, _i.e._ an inhabitant of Eastern Iran.
+Hermippus, Trogus Pompeius, Kephalion, Theon, Arnobius, and Eusebius
+speak of him as a Bactrian, and the king of the Bactrians, and represent
+him as fighting with Ninus or Semiramis, which is also asserted by Moses
+of Khorene.[134] Hence in the last two centuries B.C. it must have been
+known in the West that Zoroaster belonged to the East of Iran, and thus
+he was brought into connection with the most prominent fact known in the
+history of Bactria, the contest of the Bactrians against Ninus and
+Semiramis. This story, as we said, comes from the Medo-Persian Epos, and
+moreover the Epos did not authorise this connection of Ninus and
+Zoroaster. The opponent of Ninus, who reigned over Bactria, was,
+according to Diodorus, Oxyartes or Exaortes (p. 20). The fact that
+Zoroaster was the most important name in the antiquity of Iran among
+western nations obviously induced Syncellus to put him at the head of
+the supposed ancient Median dynasty. If Zoroaster, as Pliny and Plutarch
+think, lived only on milk and cheese, and passed thirty years in the
+wilderness, these are merely traits taken from the lives of the Brahman
+ascetics. The story in Dio Chrysostom, that Zoroaster came unharmed from
+the fire, and the opposite statements of the Chronicle of Alexandria and
+of Suidas, that he brought down fire from heaven and was consumed by it,
+or struck by lightning, contain traits which have obviously sprung from
+the importance which the doctrine of Zoroaster and the Magians ascribe
+to the worship of fire, and from the division between the fire of
+lightning and earthly fire, of which we shall speak below. The narrative
+of Eubulus is founded on the mysteries of Mithra, which came into the
+West in the first century B.C.[135] These mysteries are due to the
+confusion of the Mithra of the Iranians with the sun-god of the Syrians;
+the mystae were consecrated in caves, or in places called caves, and
+there underwent their probation. As the god of light and the soul Mithra
+slays in the cave, that is in the world of gloom and matter, the bull
+which is the symbol of matter, as opposed to light, in its creative
+power, and conveys the soul, the side of man akin to light, out of the
+gloom of matter through the heaven of the fixed stars, and then through
+the heaven of the planets, to the light.[136] Ammianus Marcellinus and
+Agathias have better information about Zoroaster. They are aware that he
+stands in some relation to Hystaspes. Ammianus, though he expressly
+describes Zoroaster as a Bactrian, puts Hystaspes the well-known father
+of Darius, as the supporter of the doctrine of the Magians, in the place
+of the Vistacpa of the Avesta, who opens a wide path for the teaching of
+Zoroaster; Agathias, on the other hand, expresses himself with greater
+circumspectness; he cannot decide whether the father of Darius or some
+other Hystaspes is meant.
+
+The result is this: Before the time of Alexander of Macedon, at the
+latest in the first half of the fourth century B.C., the Greeks were
+aware that Zoroaster had founded the doctrine of the Magians; in the
+last centuries B.C. and onwards it was known that he belonged to Bactria
+and Eastern Iran; but it was not till the fourth century A.D. that he
+was known to have lived under king Hystaspes; at any rate we have no
+older evidence on this point.
+
+Much more recent in date, and of far less value, is the information
+derived from the East, with the exception of the Avesta, on
+Zarathrustra. It does not go back beyond the period of the Arabian
+empire over Iran. The Bundehesh, written in this period (p. 65, _n._ 3),
+contains a genealogy, which carries Zarathrustra's origin beyond
+Pourushacpa and Haechatacpa, from whom, according to the Avesta, he was
+sprung (p. 38), through twelve generations to Manuschithra (Minocher).
+In the Avesta, the soul of the pure Manuschithra, the son of Airyu, is
+invoked;[137] it has been observed above that the national genealogy in
+Iran placed Thraetaona, and not Manu, at the head; Airyu, the son of
+Thraetaona, was the proper progenitor of the Airyas. With the name
+Manuschithra, _i.e._ scion of Manu, who is now the son of Airyu, this
+table passed back into the old Arian conception of the father Manu (p.
+44). In the Avesta, Zarathrustra is connected by his father, the fourth
+sacrificer of the Haoma, with the old sacrificers; and by deriving his
+family from Manuschithra the Bundehesh places him in the closest
+relation to the progenitors of the Airyas. For the rest this book has
+little to say about the life of Zoroaster. It informs us that the house
+of Pourushacpa lay on a hill on the river Daraja, a river which we
+cannot identify;[138] the Bundehesh places it in Airyana Vaeja
+(Airanvij), in a district which we must place in the high region of the
+Hindu Kush, on the sources of the Oxus (p. 31, _n_. 2), though the
+Bundehesh informs us that "it lay by the side of Atropatene." According
+to another passage in the book, Airyana Vaeja lay near the garden of
+Yima and Cashmere. In a third passage the garden of Yima, which we are
+compelled by unmistakable indications in the Avesta, to seek on the
+divine mountain, lies in the centre of Iran, under Mount Damkan.[139]
+Atropatene, as a name for the Alpine land in the north-west of Iran (now
+Aderbeijan), came into use in the time of the Greek empire; at any rate
+we cannot trace it earlier.[140] _Athrapaiti_ means "lord of fire";
+_athrapata_, "one protected by fire"; in the remote mountains of this
+district the old fire-worship was preserved with peculiar zeal under the
+Seleucids; from the time of Ardeshir the Sassanids venerated the
+fire-temple Adar Gucasp (near Takht-i-Soliman), which lay in this
+region, above all others, and this was the reason why in the time of the
+Arabs it was thought that Airyana Vaeja must be sought there.[141] In
+any case it is impossible, out of regard to the Bundehesh and even later
+statements of the Moslem period, to place Zarathrustra in the north-west
+of Iran in order to represent him as a foreigner, reforming the religion
+of the north-east, when the Avesta, which distinctly places him in the
+east and puts him among the sacrificers and heroes of the east and
+rulers of Bactria, together with the older and more important evidence
+of the West, is on the opposite side.
+
+The "Book of Zartusht," one of the most recent books of the Parsees (it
+dates from the thirteenth century of our era), can only tell us of the
+marvellous preservation of Zarathrustra and the miracles which he
+wrought. The first miracle recorded in it is the fact that Zoroaster
+smiled at his birth. But the wicked king Duransarun sought to murder the
+newly-born child in his cradle. His arm is paralysed, and he cannot
+strike the blow home. Then the evil spirits steal the child, kindle a
+great fire in the desert, and throw him into it. But he sleeps
+peacefully in the fire, and his mother recovers him without injury. A
+herd of cattle are about to trample him on a narrow path, when the
+largest one stands over and protects him, till the herd have passed by.
+In a similar manner he is preserved when a pair of wild horses are
+driven over him. Even the wolves will not eat him. When he has reached
+his thirtieth year these trials are over, and Zarathrustra emigrates
+with his followers. On reaching Iran the good spirit Vohu mano appeared
+and conducted him to Auramazda. He had to pass over a fiery mountain,
+but the fire did not singe a hair; molten metal was poured on his
+breast, and he felt it not; his entrails were removed and then replaced
+without injury to him. Auramazda gave him the Avesta and commanded him
+to go to king Vistacpa (now Kai Gushtacp) to Balkh, and proclaim it to
+him. In Balkh Zoroaster overcame the sages of the king in argument, but
+they maligned him before their master as a wizard, and he was put in
+prison. Then the feet of the king's horse were drawn up into its belly,
+and the king bade Zarathrustra heal his horse. He required the king to
+believe in him and his doctrine; and when the king had acknowledged the
+new faith, one of the horse's feet was restored to it. Zarathrustra
+further demanded that Vistacpa's son Cpentodata (Isfendyar) should
+consecrate himself to the defence of the new faith, that the king's
+consort should adopt the law, and those who maligned him should be
+punished. When these three requests had been complied with, the horse
+recovered all its four feet. After this Vistacpa did nothing without the
+advice of Zarathrustra, and built fire-altars and fire-temples. And
+Zarathrustra showed the king the place he would one day occupy in
+heaven, and made Cpentodata invulnerable.[142]
+
+Hence from the Bundehesh we obtain no more than the genealogical tree of
+Zarathrustra, which though characteristic for the place allotted to him,
+is without historical value; and from the Zartusht Nameh, Sharastani,
+and Mirkhond, which repeat some miracles more or less similar to those
+quoted, we gather nothing beyond certain traits: the smiling at birth,
+the fiery mountain, the preservation of Zarathrustra in the fire, which
+Pliny and Dio Chrysostom had already made known to us, and which belong
+to the ancient tradition of Iran. In the miracles which take place by
+means of oxen and horses, we can merely recognise the ancient and close
+relation of the Arians in Iran to these animals, a relation which has
+already been remarked (p. 46). We might perhaps add that Firdusi
+represents Zarathrustra, whom he puts beside Vistacpa, as having been
+killed at a fire in Balkh when the city was captured by Turanians. The
+intercourse of Zarathrustra with Auramazda was known to Western writers,
+as we saw, at a far earlier date.
+
+If we can hardly glean anything worth notice from these accounts about
+Zarathrustra's life and work, we may perhaps gain some information about
+his date. The evidence of Ammianus Marcellinus and Agathias, when they
+represent him as a contemporary of Hystaspes, in whom we recognise
+Vistacpa of Bactria, carries us no further than the Avesta, which places
+him in the closest relation to this prince (p. 38), because his date is
+equally uncertain. Trogus Pompeius, Kephalion, Theon, and Eusebius make
+Zarathrustra an opponent and therefore a contemporary of Ninus and
+Semiramis. But as neither Semiramis nor Ninus ruled over Asshur, and
+they are to be regarded as the personification of the rise of the power
+and dominion of that country (II. 23), we must substitute for this king
+and queen the ruler or rulers of Asshur of whom it is certain that their
+campaigns reached the east of Iran. We found that so far as we can at
+present judge from the monuments it was only Shalmanesar II. who
+received tribute from the Eastern lands, and that the armies of Tiglath
+Pilesar II. trod the soil of Arachosia (p. 19). If we could assume that
+the contests of Ninus and Semiramis have taken the place of the
+achievements of these rulers in the East of Iran, the date of Vistacpa
+and Zarathrustra would have to be placed between 860 and 740 B.C. But
+this supposition is really without any basis.
+
+The more ancient statements of the Greeks carry us much further back
+than the reasoning of Trogus Pompeius and his successors. If we set
+Pliny aside, who asserts "that the kind of Magism established by
+Zoroaster was many years older than that taught by Moses," Hermippus of
+Smyrna puts Zoroaster 5000 years before the Trojan war. Even before
+Hermippus, Theopompus of Chios, and Hermodorus, the pupil of Plato, had
+ascribed the same date to him. Eudoxus of Cnidus, the contemporary of
+Plato, placed him still higher; he thought that Zoroaster lived 6000
+years before the death of Plato. According to Pliny, Aristotle ascribed
+to him the same antiquity, and, as we learn from Diogenes Laertius,
+maintained that the Magians were older than the Egyptians. And even in
+the fifth century B.C., Xanthus the Lydian is said to have written that
+from the time when Zoroaster lived to the march of Xerxes against Hellas
+a period of 6000 years had elapsed.[143]
+
+Through these statements there runs, beyond all doubt, a system, the
+knowledge of which began in the fifth century B.C. among the Greeks and
+continued beyond the time of Alexander. Whether we take 5000 years
+before the Trojan war, or 6000 years before Plato's death, we are
+equally brought back into the seventh millennium B.C. If the later
+statements of the West, which make Zoroaster a contemporary of Ninus and
+Semiramis, are the results of combining the most prominent name in
+Bactria with the conquest of Bactria by the founder of the Assyrian
+power, as related in the Medo-Persian Epos, the fixing of Zoroaster's
+date so many thousand years previously must have been taken by the
+Greeks from the Persians. In these dates we seem to be dealing with
+certain cyclic periods. We learn from Theopompus of Chios, that
+according to the doctrine of the Magians, one of the two gods Oromazdes
+and Areimanius would reign and the other be subject for 3000 years; for
+another 3000 years they would be in conflict, and one destroy the works
+of the other, until at length Areimanius would succumb and men become
+happy.[144] From this we may with certainty conclude that periods of
+3000 years were in use among the priests of Iran to denote certain
+spaces of time, and that these cycles form the base of the statements of
+the older Greeks, if we can prove the use of such periods in the Avesta
+or in the books of the Parsees.
+
+In the fragments of the Avesta which have come down to us we find
+invocations addressed to the "time without beginning," "the time that
+rules the long periods."[145] But the fact that Yima's reign is fixed
+at 1000 years shows that the priests of Iran reckoned by long periods,
+and other expressions in the Avesta (p. 33) prove that triple
+multiplications were in use,[146] which agrees with the periods given by
+Theopompus. If, therefore, the Greeks of the fifth and fourth century
+B.C. relate that Zarathrustra lived about 6000 years before their time,
+a system must by that time have been current among the priests of Iran
+in which two cycles of 3000 years were supposed to have elapsed since
+the time of the prophet, and the third cycle had commenced. A book of
+the Parsees, the Mainyo-i-Khard, which appears to have been written
+towards the close of the empire of the Sassanids,[147] tells us that
+Angromainyu made a compact with Auramazda for 9000 winters, and when
+these winters were past, Angromainyu would be destroyed, and the
+creation and all creatures would be as Auramazda had made them.[148] The
+Bundehesh also speaks of a similar compact, but divides the years in a
+different manner. All time consists of 12,000 years. In the first 3000
+Auramazda reigned alone with the creatures which he had created in an
+invisible manner; for the first 3000 of the next 9000 everything went
+according to the will of Auramazda; for the second 3000 the will of
+Auramazda was crossed by that of Angromainyu, but for the last 3000
+Angromainyu will be powerless. The Bundehesh goes into yet further
+detail in these matters: in the first 3000 years the heavenly creation
+was secure from attack; in the next 3000 Gayo maretan and the ox,
+_i.e._ the first man and the first bull, came into existence. After
+these 6000 years the enemy arose and slew the first man and the first
+bull. The reign of Yima is placed by the Bundehesh in the first
+millennium of the new period, but this reign extends only to 716 years,
+the first 284 years of the thousand being filled with creatures prior to
+Yima. The second millennium of the period is occupied with the reign of
+Thraetaona, Manuschithra, Kava Kavata, Uca, Hucrava, and Aurvatacpa, and
+the early part of the reign of Kava Vistacpa, whose thirtieth year
+coincides with the end of the second millennium.[149] At the beginning
+of the third millennium, _i.e._ a thousand years after the death of
+Yima, Zarathrustra appears; and the period of more successful opposition
+to the evil spirits begins. According to the more ancient conception,
+which may still be plainly traced in the Avesta, the world began with
+the happy age of Yima; it is owing to later views formed within priestly
+circles that earlier creatures such as the first man and first bull are
+placed before this period; but it will be shown below that these views
+existed when the Avesta was written down. A later book of the Parsees,
+the Sad-der-Bundehesh, puts the period of the conflict between the good
+and evil deity at 6000 years, and places Zarathrustra exactly in the
+middle of it; he was created 3000 years after the period of Gayo
+maretan, and 3000 years before his own resurrection.[150] Hence it is
+clear that the formation of these cycles rose among the priests of Iran
+from the necessity of limiting the period of the old and new law, and of
+conflict between the good and evil spirits, and the desire to fix the
+date of the more successful repulse of evil which came in with
+Zarathrustra. The abbreviation of the period of Yima shows us that the
+cycles in the Bundehesh do not throughout agree with those of the
+Avesta. But it is sufficient to establish the fact that periods of 3000
+years were in use, and that Zarathrustra appeared at the beginning of a
+new millennium, in order to understand that the Persians could speak to
+the Greeks of millenniums in this sense, and of one or two cycles which
+had elapsed since Zarathrustra's time.
+
+The idea and tendency of such a scheme for the history of the world are
+easily understood: these periods of 3000 years, which can be increased
+or diminished without alteration of the sense, have only a dogmatic
+value. We cannot obtain from them any chronological date for the
+appearance of Zarathrustra, nor can we obtain such a date by the attempt
+to go back from the chronological statements in recent Parsee works to
+the older periods. We may leave unnoticed the assertion in the book of
+Arda Viraf that the true faith had existed in purity for 300 years down
+to the time that Alexander came into Iran (p. 50), which would thus
+bring Zarathrustra into the seventh century B.C. The Bundehesh allows
+460 years for the reigns of the Sassanids, 246 for the Askanids, _i.e._
+the Arsacids, 16 for Alexander, before whom come Darai the son of Darai
+with 14 years, Darai Chirazatan with 12, Huma (a queen) with 30,
+Vohumano with 112, and Vistacpa with 90,--all subsequent to the
+appearance of Zarathrustra.[151] According to this, 996 years elapsed
+between Zarathrustra and the fall of the Sassanids, and he would thus,
+if we reckon from the battle of Nahavend (640 A.D.), be placed in the
+year 356 B.C., in the reign of Artaxerxes Ochus. But even if we alter
+the incorrect items in the text of the Bundehesh in accordance with our
+better knowledge, we do not arrive at any result which is even
+apparently certain. The dominion of the Sassanids, down to the date of
+the battle, did not last 460 but only 414 years; on the other hand, the
+Arsacids reigned for 476 years, not for 264.[152] The empire of
+Alexander, if we add the reigns of the Seleucidae to his own, occupied 80
+years instead of 14, and if in the place of the 26 years of the two
+Darais of the Bundehesh, who represent the kingdom of the ancient
+Achaemenids, we put the old Persian kingdom with 229 years, and add to
+these items the numbers given in the Bundehesh for Huma, Vohumano, and
+Vistacpa, after the appearance of Zarathrustra, which amount to 232
+years, Zarathrustra would have commenced his work 1431 years before the
+battle of Nahavend, _i.e._ in the year 791 B.C. But who can guarantee
+that Cyrus, the Persian, overthrew the empire of the Medes in the year
+when Huma, the supposed daughter of Vohumano, died; or that Huma reigned
+for 30 years? How could Vohumano, the grandson of Vistacpa, and son of
+Cpentodata (p. 38), have reigned 112 years, and Vistacpa himself 90
+years after the appearance of Zarathrustra? Huma is not merely a
+doubtful person, she is altogether fictitious. She is said to have been
+the mother of Darai Chirazatan, _i.e._ Darius I., and to have been
+called Shamirain, _i.e._ Semiramis, but her brother was the first
+Sassan, the ancestor of the Sassanids. As the later Arabs and Persians,
+including Firdousi, are no better informed,[153] we see clearly that the
+remembrance of the Achaemenids had almost entirely died out at the time
+when these writings were composed; only the name of Darius remained,
+and an attempt was made to connect this name with Vistacpa by two
+fictitious names, Vohumano, _i.e._ the good spirit, and Huma. Besides
+Vistacpa's son Cpentodata (Isfendyar) and Hutaoca, the wife of Vistacpa,
+the Avesta mentions a woman, "the pure Huma,"[154] out of whom this
+queen must have been formed. It is clear that the tradition of the East,
+like the Avesta, broke off in the generation after Vistacpa, and that in
+the Arabian period only the names Darai and Iskander could be placed
+between Vistacpa and the Arsacids.
+
+We must attempt to reach the goal by another path. I have already shown
+what was the condition of the sacred scriptures in Iran at the date of
+Alexander and the Seleucids (p. 55). Even before Hermippus of Smyrna,
+Aristotle had taught that the Magians considered that to be the best in
+the first instance which was first created, and maintained two
+principles, a good and evil deity, Oromazdes and Areimanius.[155]
+Theopompus mentioned both these deities and the strife between them, and
+when he adds that there would one day be a time when the dead would rise
+again, and men would be immortal and able to withstand everything by
+their prayers--that after the victory of Oromazdes men would be happy
+and need no longer any sustenance, and would cast no shadow[156]--it
+will be seen below how definitely and exactly the doctrine of the Avesta
+is here reproduced. Hermodorus mentions a series of teachers, who
+succeeded the first teacher of the Magians, the "Persian Zoroaster,"
+down to the campaign of Alexander of Macedon.[157] With Eudoxus of
+Cnidus Zoroaster was the founder of the most beneficent wisdom; the
+pupils of Prodicus claimed to be acquainted with the writings of
+Zoroaster (p. 53). Plato calls him the son of Oromazdes, and adds that
+the heir to the throne was instructed in Magism as well as in the duty
+of being true during the whole of his life.[158] The importance which
+the Avesta ascribes to truthfulness will become clear hereafter. If the
+Greeks of the fourth century could speak of Zoroaster as the teacher of
+the Persians, and put him in the closest relation with Auramazda, if
+they could reproduce correctly the names of the good and evil spirits
+and the main doctrines of the Avesta, it is an inevitable conclusion
+that the religion of Zarathrustra must have prevailed in the kingdom of
+the Achaemenids.
+
+This result is confirmed by all the further information which we obtain
+from the Greeks. In Plutarch the last Darius calls on an eunuch, "to
+tell the truth in reverence for the great light of Mithra"; the eunuch
+replies that the king has no reason to accuse the evil spirit, and
+entreats "Lord Oromazdes," "that he may cause the light of the king to
+shine again."[159] Artaxerxes II. was informed by his mother Parysatis
+that the Persians had received the law which distinguished good and evil
+from god. He swears "by Mithra," and Plutarch tells us how some related
+that when Darius, the eldest son of Artaxerxes, who sought his life, was
+slain, Artaxerxes went into the court of the palace and cried aloud to
+the Persians: "Rejoice, ye Persians, and tell it to others, that the
+great Oromazdes has executed judgment on those who imagined crime and
+wickedness."[160] In Plutarch, Artaxerxes I. says to Themistocles: "May
+Areimanius ever implant such a disposition in my enemies that they may
+drive from themselves their best and bravest men."[161] According to
+Deinon the Magians prophesied with branches in their hands, sacrificed
+under the open sky, and looked on fire and water as the only symbols of
+the divinity.[162] Xenophon represents Cyrus as praising the gods and
+sacrificing to them every morning according to the instructions of the
+Magians.[163] Though Herodotus does not mention either the name of
+Zarathrustra or of Auramazda, what he says of the rites of the Medes and
+Persians agrees exactly with the rules given in the Avesta. "Temples,
+images, and altars," he says, "are not erected by the Persians, because,
+as it seems to me, they do not believe like the Hellenes that the gods
+have the form and nature of men. They call the whole circle of heaven
+Zeus, and offer sacrifice to him after ascending the summits of
+mountains. Besides Zeus they have from ancient days sacrificed to the
+sun, the moon, the earth, water, winds, and fire, which among the
+Persians is a deity:[164] the winds they also charm by songs. When
+offering sacrifice they build no altar and kindle no fire, nor pour
+libations, nor make any use of flutes, or cakes, or barley meal. If any
+one wishes to offer sacrifice he brings the victim to an open space, and
+calls on the god, after crowning his tiara with branches of myrtle.
+After cutting the animal in pieces, and cooking the flesh, he spreads
+out the most delicate grass, chiefly trefoil, and lays the flesh upon
+it. The Magian who stands by sings the theogony over it, for such,
+according to the Persians, is the nature of the prayer. After some time,
+the person who has made the sacrifice carries the flesh away and uses it
+for a feast. The Magians, in whose control is the worship by sacrifice,
+make it a great object to kill ants, serpents, and other creeping winged
+things: dogs and men only do they spare. No Persian may pollute a river,
+nor even wash in it, nor will they allow any one else to do so, for they
+have a great reverence for rivers. The bodies of the dead may not be
+burned; it is said indeed that the corpse of a Persian cannot be buried
+till it has been torn by a dog or a bird, and among the Magians this is
+an acknowledged practice. It is a meritorious act among the Persians to
+have many children, and he who can show the most receives gifts each
+year from the king. Each man celebrates the day on which he was born
+above all other days. What may not be done, may not be spoken of amongst
+the Persians: the most shameful action is lying, and the next to this is
+borrowing, for the reason that a man who has debts is generally
+compelled to lie. Any one afflicted by the itch or the leprosy may not
+come into the cities or mix with other Persians; and it is believed that
+such persons have sinned against the sun-god. Lepers from foreign lands
+are driven out of the country." When Xerxes came to the Hellespont, and
+was about to cross the bridge, Herodotus represents him as praying to
+the sun-god, pouring libations from a golden cup, and throwing it with a
+golden goblet and a Persian sword into the sea.[165] We shall see
+hereafter to what a degree the killing of noxious animals, the reverence
+for rivers, the expulsion of lepers, the delight in life and the
+increase of life, the exposing of dead bodies, and singing of the
+theogony at sacrifices, correspond to the rules and doctrines of the
+Avesta. In one point only is Herodotus mistaken: he states that the
+Persians worshipped a female deity called Mithra.
+
+From this array of witnesses belonging to the West it follows that the
+doctrines of the Avesta, and the religion of Zarathrustra, were current
+among the Persians and in Western Iran at any rate after the beginning
+of the fifth century B.C., and they must therefore have been in
+existence in Eastern Iran at a still earlier date. The inscriptions of
+the Achaemenids prove that the doctrine of the Avesta was maintained
+among the Persians with even greater clearness and for a period more
+ancient. Artaxerxes Ochus prays to Auramazda, Anahita, and Mithra for
+their protection, and in like manner Artaxerxes Mnemon prays to
+Auramazda and Mithra. In the inscriptions on Mount Behistun, Darius I.,
+the son of Hystaspes, styles Auramazda "the greatest of the gods"
+(_mathista baganam_). Besides Auramazda, "the rest of the gods" are
+repeatedly mentioned, and denoted by the name Baga. Of Auramazda, Darius
+and Xerxes say in their inscriptions: "A great god is Auramazda; he has
+created the heaven and the earth; he has created man and all that is
+good for men." After crushing in the beginning of his reign the
+rebellion of nearly all the lands which Cyrus had reduced, Darius
+repeatedly records his thanks: "that Auramazda had granted him
+assistance; that his army had been victorious by the grace of
+Auramazda." He and his successors acknowledge that they have received
+their throne and their kingdom from Auramazda; by his grace they are
+kings.[166] The reason why Auramazda has assisted him Darius finds in
+the fact that he has not been a "liar," and has committed no sin. He
+entreats Auramazda to protect the land against the invasion of hostile
+armies, against blight, and "the lie" (_drauga_). He asserts that "the
+lie" caused the provinces which had revolted to be rebellious, and
+declares that the land of Persia, which Auramazda has granted to him,
+which is beautiful, rich in horses, and well populated, has no fear of
+enemies owing to Auramazda's grace, and his own. He commends his
+inscription at Behistun to the protection of his successors, with the
+words: "If thou destroyest not this tablet then may Auramazda be thy
+friend; may thy descendants be numerous, and thy life be long, and
+whatsoever thou undertakest, may Auramazda cause it to succeed. But if
+thou destroyest it, may Auramazda smite thee, and thy house perish; and
+whatever thou doest, may Auramazda render it of no effect."[167] On his
+tomb Darius says: "What I have done I have done by the grace of
+Auramazda. O man, this is the prayer of Auramazda; think no evil, leave
+not the right way, sin not." The inscriptions of Xerxes regularly end
+with the invocation: "May Auramazda protect me, with all the gods; me,
+my kingdom, and my work."
+
+As we shall see, the fundamental principle of the religion of
+Zarathrustra is that a supreme god stands over all gods, and to him is
+ascribed the work of creation. In entire belief in the power of this
+supreme deity, whom the Achaemenids invoke by the name which is given to
+him in the Avesta, "who has created heaven and earth and all that is
+good for men," Darius ascribes to Auramazda victory in battles, the
+power of granting or refusing success to the king's undertakings, of
+protecting the land against hostile invasions, blight, and lies. To
+those who live according to his commands he grants long life and
+numerous descendants. The rebellion of the provinces is with Darius the
+work of the lie, the lie of him who had given himself out to be the son
+of Cyrus, and the lie of those who had claimed to be the descendants of
+Nebuchadnezzar and Cyaxares. We have already observed what "the lie"
+meant in the Avesta. In the same spirit--the spirit of the principal
+rules of the Avesta--Darius adjures his Persians to think no evil, and
+not to leave the right path.
+
+Nicolaus of Damascus assures us that the Persians were acquainted with
+the sayings of Zoroaster. He and others relate that Cyrus or his father
+was called Atradates, _i.e._ given by fire,[168] and that he had given
+to the Areians (p. 11), who provided his famished army with sustenance,
+the honourable title of Orosangians, i.e. _Huverezanha_ (benefactors).
+It is in harmony with the doctrine of the Avesta that Cyrus should be
+represented by such a descent or name as the gift and nursling of fire,
+and we shall see with what emphasis the Avesta marks and distinguishes
+good thoughts, words, and actions. From these facts and the inscriptions
+of Darius there can be no doubt that Zarathrustra's doctrine was current
+among the Persians at the time of Cyrus. But if it was in force in the
+West of Iran in the sixth century B.C. the fact that Herodotus, in his
+account of the period during which the Medes obtained the dominion, down
+to the time of Cyrus, speaks of no change in religion, either among the
+Persians or the Medes, is evidence that this religion existed at any
+rate before the time of Phraortes. The statement found in Herodotus that
+Deioces had forbidden any one to spit in his presence, reminds us of the
+rules of the Avesta, by which no one was allowed to approach the sacred
+fire and gods with uncovered mouth, and on the sculptures of Persepolis
+the bearer of the fan stands with covered mouth beside Darius. The
+seven walls which Herodotus represents Deioces as building round
+Ecbatana, the seven tribes of the Persians, remind us of the seven
+girdles of the earth in the Avesta; the king of the Persians surrounded
+by the six tribal princes is the symbol of Auramazda and the six gods
+who are about him.
+
+Hence we may assume that the doctrine of Zarathrustra had reached the
+West of Iran at the time when Phraortes united the tribes of the Medes
+(about 650 B.C.), and was known among the Medes when they were still
+living under their tribal chiefs and paid tribute to Asshur, or, in case
+of refusal, were attacked by the Assyrian armies, which, as we
+ascertained from the inscriptions of the kings of Asshur, was the case
+from the time of Tiglath Pilesar II. to the time of Assurbanipal, _i.e._
+from the middle of the eighth to the middle of the seventh century B.C.
+A statement in Herodotus seems to lead us still further back. He calls
+the Magians a race or tribe of the Medes. According to his narrative
+this tribe was in existence in the time of Deioces, _i.e._ about the
+year 700 B.C. Herodotus could only speak of the Magians as a tribe or
+family when they had become an hereditary order. At that time,
+therefore, there must have been among the Medes a priesthood who
+perpetuated in their families their worship by sacrifice, their doctrine
+and wisdom, as well as their social importance. Like all Greeks,
+Herodotus ascribes the discharge of the religious functions among the
+Persians and Medes to the Magians, and we find that what Herodotus
+quotes of their rites agrees with the rules of the Avesta. The rise and
+separation of a peculiar order of priests, their more or less sharply
+marked distinction from the remaining orders, can never be the work of a
+short space of time, and such separation can only take place when the
+worship of the gods requires a knowledge which is not easily accessible
+or obtainable, when doctrine has obtained a place by the side of belief,
+when ritual has become developed, and particular duties and rules are
+prescribed for the life of the priests. When the worship of the gods
+requires the use of long and definite prayers, the knowledge of
+complicated usages, on which depends the effect of the sacrifices, and
+the observation of numerous rules of purification,--such knowledge is
+only perpetuated in families of hierophants or priests, or in schools
+which take the place of such families. The formation of a distinct
+hereditary order on such grounds can hardly have occupied less than a
+century from the time when the doctrine, on which it is formed, was
+introduced. Hence we may assume that the doctrine known as
+Zarathrustra's reached the Medes before the year 750 B.C., _i.e._ before
+the date of Tiglath Pilesar II. of Assyria.
+
+Let us hold firmly to the facts that the worship of Auramazda was
+current among the Persians about the middle of the sixth century B.C.,
+that the same worship was in force among the Medes at least a century
+earlier, about 650 B.C., and that if an hereditary priesthood was in
+existence about this time among the Medes who performed and conducted
+the worship, the doctrine which this priesthood represented must have
+been adopted before the year 750 B.C. In this way we obtain a proof that
+the doctrine of Zarathrustra was not only in existence in the East of
+Iran about the year 800 B.C., but was the dominant creed there, and had
+force enough to penetrate to the West, and win over the neighbouring
+tribes of the Medes and Persians.
+
+We cannot explain more exactly how the doctrine of Zarathrustra reached
+the nations of the West of Iran. Pliny, it is true, exclaims: "Who knows
+the Medes, who were taught by Zoroaster, Apusorus, and Zaratus, even by
+hearsay, for no memorials of them are left?"[169] According to this the
+religion of Zoroaster spread even in the West by the influence of
+eminent men among the Medes. But the date of the persons mentioned
+cannot be fixed, though Porphyry represents Pythagoras as going to the
+Chaldaeans and Zabratus, by whom he was purified from the evil of his
+former life, and instructed as to the things from which the disciple
+should restrain himself, and about the nature and beginning of all
+things,[170] and this Zaratus or Zabratus may be intended for
+Zarathrustra himself. Hermodorus tells us that Zarathrustra had been
+followed by many Magians as teachers, one after the other, down to the
+time when Alexander marched against Persia: these teachers were
+Osthanes, Astrampsychus, Gobryas, and Pazates.[171] Others also assert
+that Zoroaster was followed "by Osthanes and Astrampsychus."[172] Pliny
+observes that so far as he could discover, Osthanes who accompanied
+Xerxes in the war against the Hellenes, was the first who had written on
+the doctrine of the Magians. The second Osthanes, whom Alexander had
+received among his followers, had caused this religion to be of great
+importance. From the work of one of these two persons, Philo of Byblus
+quotes a passage--the work he calls the Octateuch--and Pliny notes down
+apparently some of the doctrines of the first Osthanes. If then there
+were men under the Achaemenids in the West of Iran who could write on the
+doctrine of Zarathrustra from the beginning of the fifth century B.C.,
+we can without hesitation believe the statement that long before this
+time there were prophets and teachers of the doctrine among the Medes
+and the Persians.
+
+Can we go beyond the result thus gained by our investigation?--that the
+doctrine of Zoroaster flourished in Eastern Iran about 800 B.C., and
+advanced towards the West from this period; may we assume that at this
+date it was already in possession of written monuments, and even that
+the fragments of the Avesta which still remain were in existence then?
+We must first answer the question whether the use of writing in Iran,
+especially in the East, goes back so far.
+
+According to the statements of Herodotus, the West of Iran was not only
+in possession of the art of writing by the year 700 B.C., but made
+considerable use of it. He tells us that Deioces required complaints to
+be sent in to him in writing, and gave out his decisions also in
+writing. If processes at law were conducted in writing in Media about
+the year 700 B.C., it cannot be surprising that Herodotus should also
+inform us that letters passed between Media and Persia about the year
+560 B.C.[173] We learn from the Hebrew Scriptures that when Cyrus
+allowed the Jews, whom Nebuchadnezzar had removed to Babylon, to return
+to their homes, he gave his permission for the restoration of the temple
+in writing. This document was afterwards discovered in the archives of
+Ecbatana.[174] We know it for a fact that Darius I. gave his orders to
+the satraps in writing, and we are acquainted with the seal of Darius by
+which they were authenticated. The oldest inscriptions which have come
+down to us from the Achaemenids, not to mention a seal of Cyrus from
+Senkereh, belong, if not to Cyrus himself, to Darius, and begin about
+the last quarter of the sixth century B.C. It is the cuneiform writing
+of Assyria and Babylon which forms the basis of the writing in these
+inscriptions, but with considerable alterations. The highly complicated
+syllabarium of the Eastern Semites is reduced to a phonetic system; we
+might almost say to an alphabet of about 40 letters. A change of this
+kind can hardly have been made at one stroke. If it was after they
+entered into closer combination with Assyria, _i.e._ after their
+dependence on the king of Asshur, which began with the accession of
+Tiglath Pilesar II. (745 B.C.), that the Medes became acquainted with
+the Assyrian system of writing, this must have been completely mastered
+before it could be abbreviated and altered, as it was altered by the
+Medes, whose changes were adopted by the Persians. The cuneiform writing
+of Western Iran, as we find it in the inscriptions of Darius, can
+therefore hardly have been established before the year 600 B.C. However
+this may be, the facts mentioned prove that the writing of the Assyrians
+in the seventh century B.C. was not unknown in the West of Iran. This
+would therefore have passed into the East of Iran in its original or
+simplified form, either at some earlier period, or when the East came
+under the dominion of the Achaemenids. But it did not, and this is a
+plain proof that the East, when the cuneiform writing of the West came
+in that direction, was already in possession of another kind of writing.
+This Eastern mode of writing, the Arian, which rests on an entirely
+different basis from the cuneiform, is first known to us from coins and
+inscriptions of the third century B.C.; but it certainly would not have
+maintained its ground under the Achaemenids against the writing of the
+West, and of the rulers, magistrates, and dominant nation, unless it had
+been in vigorous use before, this period. We must therefore assume that
+the Arian character was in use in the East of Iran a considerable time
+before the date of Cyrus, and hence we have no reason to deny the
+existence of it in that region in the eighth century B.C., since we must
+allow the neighbouring Arians of India to have been in possession of
+their written characters from the year 800 B.C. at the least (IV. 155).
+
+If we may assume that the Arian character was in use in the East of Iran
+about the year 800 B.C., the prayers and sayings of Zarathrustra might
+have been written down about this date, and the doctrine might have
+passed on to the West supported by written documents. But the fact that
+the prayers might have been written down is in no way a proof that they
+were so written.
+
+It is true that at first sight it seems that the part of the law which
+has come down to us (the Vendidad) leads to the conclusion that it was
+written down long before the Persians gained the dominion over Iran, and
+Media became a powerful state under Cyaxares. The book does not mention
+the name of the Persians or the Medes, of Ecbatana or Persepolis, while
+Bactria is spoken of as the seat of the empire; the most westerly
+district mentioned in the Vendidad is Ragha in Eastern Media.[175] If we
+add that the book reproaches certain districts in the East, the land of
+the Arachoti and others, with deviations from the doctrine of
+Zarathrustra, and that Ragha is indeed Zoroastrian but wavering in its
+fidelity, we may easily conclude that the Vendidad was written when the
+doctrine of Zarathrustra had not as yet thoroughly penetrated the East,
+and was still unknown in the West, when it had just reached, but had not
+yet completely conquered, the district of Ragha. The Medes were still
+dependent on Asshur, living separately according to their tribes,
+Ecbatana was not yet the centre and metropolis of Media, and the kingdom
+of Bactra was still in existence in the East. This points to a date
+about 750 B.C. as the time when this doctrine must have spread widely
+over Media; at any rate to a date before the rise of the Median power,
+_i.e._ before 650 B.C. This conclusion is not, however, absolutely
+certain. The silence of the Vendidad and of the Avesta generally on
+Ecbatana and Persepolis, the Medes and the Persians, can be explained in
+another though a more artificial manner. The nations and chief cities of
+the West were unknown to the tradition of Eastern Iran, and the royal
+abodes of the Medes and Persians were not consecrated by the action of
+Zarathrustra. In the accounts given by the Greeks of the worship of
+these nations, in spite of much agreement, points are found at variance
+with the rules of the Avesta, and as a fact certain distinctions did
+prevail. The doctrine had arisen in the East, and the priesthood there
+was in possession of the purer and more orthodox dogma. If Persia and
+Media did not follow this in all respects, it was convenient to be
+silent about the differences in the time of the Achaemenids, or if any
+one desired to brand them, to mark out the Median Ragha as the seat of
+heresy, rather than Pasargadae or Persepolis. This explanation it is true
+is somewhat far fetched. The result that the religion known by the name
+of Zarathrustra had reached the Medes and Persians by the middle of the
+eighth century B.C. is in no way weakened by it, though the assumption
+that at this period written documents of this doctrine were in
+existence, and that the book of the law of which we have fragments arose
+in the first half of the eighth century B.C., is rendered more doubtful
+if such a mode of interpretation is admitted.
+
+The forms of language preserved in the Avesta have not survived with
+sufficient distinctness to assist us in fixing the time at which it was
+written down. As was shown above (p. 65), the manuscripts date from the
+later period of the Sassanids; they are written in the later
+East-Pehlevi character, and at a time when the old forms must have
+undergone changes owing to the language which had come into use in the
+mean time, and can in fact be proved to have undergone them. The old
+sounds are obviously modified and confounded,[176] so that the language
+of the Avesta, when compared with that of the inscriptions of the
+Achaemenids, exhibits forms less ancient and fixed, and indeed in some
+cases it is more recent than the language of the legends of the
+Graeco-Bactrian coins (p. 27). Nor can any certain conclusions be drawn
+from the condition of political and social life shown in the Avesta. It
+is only the splendour of regal power in general, the old sacrificers,
+heroes, and kings that are extolled in it; a sacrificial prayer to
+Mithra speaks of the abode of the Arians, where "horse-guiding rulers
+govern noble troops;" for the rest we hear only of lords of villages, of
+tribes or cantons, and provinces, and of three orders into which the
+people are divided. The Vendidad, it is true, reckons by winters and
+nights, not by years and days; the amount of fines and punishments is
+computed in animals, goats, sheep, oxen, horses, or camels; and these
+facts point to an ancient period, but they may have been handed down by
+tradition. We also hear of the value of these animals and of money
+(_shaeta_).[177] This is the less surprising as the Vendidad speaks of
+palaces and pillars and various works of art, and mentions
+smelting-ovens and even ovens for making glass. We found that the Greek
+princes of Bactria struck square coins, which they would not have done
+if this had not been the traditional form in Bactria (p. 28). The
+Achaemenids did not strike coins of this kind, and this shape must
+therefore have come down from a period anterior to them. The frequent
+mention of the physician, on the other hand, ought not to be regarded as
+a proof of later composition, for we hear of the physician and his
+remedies in ancient poems of the Veda (IV. 35).
+
+In regard to the antiquity of the Avesta, then, we can only build upon
+the simple facts that it cannot have been written down for the first
+time when the Buddhists found adherents in Bactria (IV. 542), or when
+the kingdom of the Greek princes arose in Bactria, or when the Seleucidae
+and Alexander, before them, reigned over Iran. It has been proved that
+the Avesta was in existence before Alexander overthrew the kingdom of
+the Achaemenids. The series of the successors of Zarathrustra, which
+western writers could trace backwards from this point--Osthanes II.,
+Pazates, Gobryas, Osthanes I., Astrampsychus, Apusodorus--plainly shows
+that even under the Achaemenids the West was seriously occupied with
+religious questions. As Osthanes I. had written on the doctrine of
+Zoroaster about the time of Xerxes (p. 92), it is at least more probable
+than not that the Avesta was already in existence at that time. If in
+the West there was a series, and as the Greeks point out, a continuous
+series, of priestly teachers, round whom naturally pupils and schools
+grew up, and after the beginning of the fifth century a theological
+literature, similar teachers and schools must have existed long before
+in the East, and this greatly strengthens the conclusion drawn from the
+contents of the Vendidad, that it must have been written down before the
+rise of the Medes. But for any more precise determination of the date of
+the Avesta between the two limits obtained--the year 750 B.C., _i.e._
+the beginning of the formation of a priesthood in the West and the
+contemporary use of writing in the East, and the year 350 B.C.--we are
+confined wholly to internal evidence.
+
+Scriptures of such extent as the Avesta is shown to have been, by the
+accounts of the Greeks and Arabs, and the list of contents (p. 51), and
+the existing fragments, could not have been written down at once or
+within a brief space of time. We saw (p. 33) that it set up a religious
+canon, which not only regulated the doctrine and the worship, the duties
+of priests and laity, but also comprised the law, and in a word all the
+relations of life. A codification of this kind is only possible when
+belief and doctrine, culture and ritual, have arrived at fixed and
+complete formulae, have been arranged in a system and developed, and the
+consequences bearing on life, morality, and law have been drawn from
+them by an active and influential priesthood. Hence before the Avesta
+was written down and collected there must have been a priestly order in
+the East, in the circles of which the doctrine and practice went through
+this developing, revising, and fixing process. Various sketches, lists
+of prayers for certain offerings, collections of rules belonging to this
+or that priesthood or school, must have been in existence, and
+combinations of the traditional material must have been made, before a
+canon comprising the whole wisdom of the priests, and far exceeding in
+extent the law of Manu, could have been compiled.
+
+Among the existing invocations of the Avesta we find sacrificial
+prayers of a primitive character; but the greater part of the prayers
+and thanksgivings are without religious feeling or poetical power, and
+very far removed from the richness and abundance, the beauty and
+freshness of conception, which streams through the majority of the hymns
+of the Veda. There are not wanting _naive_ and poetical pieces which
+have obviously been handed down and preserved by their use at
+sacrifices, but these are frequently spoiled by later interpolations,
+and the form of the whole is generally dry and prosaic. We find but
+scanty relics of any vigorous conception of the gods, of a living
+mythology; on the whole the mythical element is faded, and the sacrifice
+of animals thrown into the background. The greater part of the prayers
+receive their value from a certain system and completeness; the object
+is to bring forward all the characteristics of the deity to which they
+are addressed, and to invoke him by all his names. Thus laudations and
+epithets are repeated without end. A good many of the prayers are mere
+nomenclatures, and repeat the same forms in varying order. Besides this
+tendency, which is far removed from the original simplicity of religious
+meditation, a value is ascribed to the repetition of certain prayers.
+Some are to be said a hundred, or a thousand times. In the same way the
+liturgies are long and full of detail, and sometimes take the form of
+responses between the celebrant and the ministering priest; they are
+extremely careful to neglect none of the heavenly spirits or genii, or
+to injure them by omission, or treat them with less respect than others.
+
+Beside the faded colours of the mythology, the decreasing importance of
+animal sacrifice, and the formalism of the prayers, we observe in the
+five Gathas, the invocations which alone have preserved the
+verse-measure, and present older forms of language than the rest, a
+tendency to speculation. Not only are the good and evil spirits combined
+under one head, as is always the case in the Avesta, but the Gathas
+attempt to resolve the contrast of the beneficial and harmful sides of
+nature, of the good and evil spirits, into the reciprocal play of two
+fundamental forces; they identify the prosperity and destruction of
+nature with moral good and evil, and combine the one with truth, the
+other with falsehood. The good spirits are the truth, the evil are the
+lie. The life of appearance and of falsehood is distinguished from the
+true life, and the service of truth promises life not in this world only
+but in the next. It is in harmony with these tendencies to abstraction
+that, according to other passages of the Avesta, heaven is filled with a
+multitude of the most lifeless personifications of ideas and realities.
+Could the doctrine of a new religion in an early period come forward
+with such a spiritualised system, with such elevated moral demands, such
+abstract conceptions? Could prayers of such a kind have been composed or
+written down in a primitive age?
+
+The existing fragment of the book of the law is composed in the form of
+a dialogue, and is for the most part filled with conversations which
+Zarathrustra carries on with Auramazda. Zarathrustra inquires what is to
+be done in certain cases against the evil spirits, the Daevas, on the
+commission of certain sins and impurities. What must be done when a
+woman is in labour, etc., or when any one has made himself impure by
+touching a corpse, or has slain a water-dog (otter)? Is the rain impure
+which has fallen on a corpse and then runs off from it, etc.? These
+questions Auramazda answers very precisely, and when it is a matter for
+expiation and purification, he fixes the number of stripes with the
+horse-whip or the whip of the sacred Craosha (Craosha-charana) which the
+penitent is to receive. It is a theory and practice of purity, on a
+level with the analogous rules in the laws of Manu, and in some points
+even more subtle and casuistical. The offences have already been brought
+under definite categories, and in like manner the purifications and
+punishments fall into a number of distinct classes. Not only are
+expiations required for all sins and prescribed down to the minutest
+details, but the offences must also be repented of; certain formulae of
+confession and repentance are prescribed.
+
+We need not stop to prove that a book of laws in this form could not
+have been written down _a priori_. The rules for punishment and
+purification must have grown up in long practice, before they could be
+put in the mouth of the deity; difficulties and doubts must have been
+weighed before solutions could be proposed. The book contains the
+dialogues and inquiries which were held in the schools of the priests on
+questions of this kind, the practice which prevailed in the schools and
+the catechisation of the pupils. The answer is naturally placed in the
+mouth of Auramazda, for it was the answer which he once gave to the
+question when asked by Zarathrustra. The fragments of the Vendidad are a
+catechism, the result of the labour of the priestly schools, a system of
+rules and regulations which marks and postulates the same stage of
+development for Iran as was reached for the Indians on the Ganges by the
+law of Manu. Many periods in the religious life must have been passed
+through before the religious consciousness was no longer shocked by the
+fact that the supreme deity in person answered petty questions of
+ritual, and dictated in the most exact gradation and with regard to
+every possible variety of circumstance, the number of stripes required
+for the criminals.
+
+This faded mythology and formalised worship, these speculative attempts
+and casuistry of law, are accompanied by a completely-arranged scheme of
+certain abstract categories already established. Throughout the whole
+Avesta runs the division between this world and the next, between the
+corporeal and incorporeal world, truth and falsehood, and the triple
+distinction of thinking, speaking, and acting, of thought, word, and
+deed. And when we further consider that rewards are attached to the
+reading of sections of the Avesta, that the "long study" of the
+"thoughts of the pure man," "the excellent knowledge, thought, and
+conception" are praised and invoked as divine powers, no one will be
+inclined to see in the Avesta the product of _naive_ religious feeling,
+or the deposit of a priestly civilisation which is as yet in its early
+stages.
+
+Still, if we wish to avoid making any false steps in the conclusions to
+be drawn from the nature of the Avesta about the time of its
+composition, we must bear in mind that it contains some conceptions
+which are the exact opposite of the characteristics just noticed. The
+myth of Yima, the form of Mithra, the descent of plants, prove older
+traits in the Avesta than we find in the Veda; the old gods still occupy
+a large space beside Auramazda and the abstract forms of heaven, and
+strict unity of system is not yet attained. We must remember also at
+what an early date the neighbours of Eastern Iran, the Arians of India,
+arrived at meditation and abstraction; how quickly and entirely they
+allowed animal sacrifice to pass into the background; with what breadth
+and detail they developed the rules for purification; how numerous were
+the daily prayers and repetitions, before the religious feeling became
+weakened. In the Avesta the time without limit is frequently invoked;
+among the Indians the gods of light are even in the oldest hymns of the
+Veda the sons of Aditi, _i.e._ of the Eternal or the Infinite. And if
+the attitude of the Avesta is for the most part by far more flat and
+prosaic than that of the Veda, the Arians of Iran were of a more logical
+nature, and the glow of imagination which the land of the Ganges kindled
+in their kindred tribes did not exist in Iran. For this reason the
+consideration of the character of the Avesta can only lead us to the
+result that a period of several centuries must have elapsed between the
+rise of the religion named after Zarathrustra and the writing down of
+the Avesta; that lists of prayers and rubrics must have been in
+existence about the year 800 B.C.; that the extensive books which then
+formed the Avesta may have been written in the first half of the period,
+which we ascribed to them, extending from 750 to 350 B.C. In any case we
+can maintain that the Gathas were composed, and that the Avesta existed
+in its essential parts in the East of Iran, before Cyrus put the empire
+of the Persians in the place of the empire of the Medes, and all the
+various parts were collected together before the "Enlightened" began to
+preach on the Ganges, _i.e._ about the year 600 B.C.
+
+We have already remarked the importance which the Achaemenids ascribed to
+the possession of Bactria (p. 23); and we were able at any rate to guess
+at the civilisation of that district about the year 500 B.C., from the
+amount of the tribute imposed upon it by Darius. That the economic
+civilisation was not behind the material was shown by indications in the
+Avesta. The kingdom which grew up there, as we saw (p. 47), long before
+the days of the Medes, and in which about the year 800 B.C. the
+doctrine of Zarathrustra was current, succumbed to Cyrus, the great
+founder of the Persian empire. If we place the beginning of the doctrine
+of Zarathrustra, which first made its appearance there, before the
+middle of the ninth century B.C., at which time the armies of
+Shalmanesar II. reached the East of Iran, and assume that it came
+forward about 1000 B.C., we shall hardly place its rise too high. We
+remember that about this time occurred the great change in the religious
+conceptions of the Arians in India, the repression and degradation of
+the old gods by Brahman. It was an analogous development when the good
+and evil spirits of Bactria were combined into unities, and placed under
+leaders, when the chief of the deities of light was made the creator of
+the heaven and the earth, and surrounded with abstract forms, which
+contest the traditional place and honour of the old god. It is the same
+religious impulse, the desire to grasp the unity of the divine nature,
+the same line of combination that we observed in its beginning and
+progress in India, which comes to the surface in the doctrine of
+Zarathrustra. We have no reason to contest with the Avesta the fact that
+Vistacpa ruled over Bactria when this change took place, or that
+Zarathrustra, a man of the race of Haechatacpa, gave the impulse to the
+reform, and that the leading idea in it belongs to him. If Vistacpa
+ruled over Bactria about the year 1000 B.C. the growth of the Bactrian
+monarchy must be placed at least a century before this time, _i.e._
+about the year 1100 B.C.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[118] [Cf. Darmesteter, "Zend-Avesta," Introduct., c. iv. Sec. 40, and c.
+iii.]
+
+[119] Plato. "Alcib. I." p. 122.
+
+[120] Diog. Laert. prooem.
+
+[121] Plin. "H. N." 80, 2.
+
+[122] 1, 94.
+
+[123] Justin, 1, 1.
+
+[124] "Numa," c. 4; "Quaest. Sympos." 4, 1. [The reading [Greek:
+Zoroastren] is doubtful; cf. Wyttenbach.]
+
+[125] Dio Chrys. 2, 60, ed. Dind.
+
+[126] Euseb. "Chron." ed. Auch. p. 43; cf. Georg. Syncell. p. 167.
+[Greek: Batou] after Zoroaster should here be changed into [Greek:
+Baktrou] rather than [Greek: Magou].
+
+[127] Arnob. "Adv. Gent." 1, 5.
+
+[128] Euseb. _loc. cit._ p. 35.
+
+[129] Porphyr. "De antro nymph." c. 6.
+
+[130] Ammian. Marcell. 23, 6.
+
+[131] Agathias, 2, 24.
+
+[132] Suidas, [Greek: Magoi, Zoroastres].
+
+[133] Above, p. 17. Georg. Sync. p. 78, 79. Vol. I. p. 241, 247.
+
+[134] Yet with Moses Zoroaster is a Mede, I. p. 87.
+
+[135] Plut. "Pomp." c. 24.
+
+[136] Cf. Von Gutschmid, "Die Sage vom heiligen Georg;" Saechsische
+Gesellschaft d. W., 1861, s. 175.
+
+[137] "Farvardin Yasht," 131.
+
+[138] C. 20 in Justi, [c. 20; Sec. 32 West]; cf. "Vend." 19, 15.
+
+[139] C. 30, cf. above, p. 40. [C. 29, Sec. 14, West.]
+
+[140] Strabo, p. 515, derives it from Atropates, whom Alexander made
+satrap there.
+
+[141] Still less important than the Bundehesh is the gloss on "Vend." 1,
+60. "Many say that Zartusht was from Rak in Atropatan." Ragha is not in
+Atropatene.
+
+[142] Spiegel, "Eran," 1, 684 ff.
+
+[143] Plin. "H. N." 30, 2. Diogen. Laert. prooem. The different readings
+of 500 years in Suidas and 600 in Diogenes, as compared with 5000 and
+6000 in the other MSS., can hardly be maintained against the uniform
+evidence of other witnesses.
+
+[144] Plut. "De Isid." c. 47.
+
+[145] "Vend." 19, 33; Spiegel, "Avesta," 3, 9, 201, 206.
+
+[146] "Ashi Yasht," 17; "Vend." 2, 20 ff.
+
+[147] West, "Mainyo-i-Khard," p. x.
+
+[148] West, _loc. cit._ c. 8.
+
+[149] Justi, "Bundehesh," c. 1, 3, 34. [Cf. West's commentary on c. 34.]
+
+[150] Spiegel, "Eran," 1, 507.
+
+[151] Justi, "Bundehesh," c. 34.
+
+[152] If the rise of Arsaces is put in the year 250 B.C. It makes no
+difference in the total if we choose the year 248 B.C. for the beginning
+of the Arsacids.
+
+[153] Blau, "Z. D. M. G." 18, 686. Von Gutschmid, _ibid._
+
+[154] "Farvardin Yasht," 139.
+
+[155] Aristot. "Metaph." 13, 4. Diogen. Laert. prooem.
+
+[156] Theopom. Fragm. 71, 72, ed. Mueller.
+
+[157] Diogen. Laert. prooem., cf. Suidas, [Greek: Magoi].
+
+[158] "Alcib. I." p. 121.
+
+[159] Plut. "Alex." c. 30.
+
+[160] Plut. "Artax." c. 4, 23, 29.
+
+[161] "Themistocl." c. 28.
+
+[162] Dinon, Fragm. 9, ed. Mueller.
+
+[163] "Cyri Instit." 8, 1, 21.
+
+[164] Herod. 3, 16.
+
+[165] Herod. 1, 101, 131-140; 7, 40, 43, 113, 191; 3, 84.
+
+[166] Inscription of Darius at Elvend in Spiegel, "Keilinscriften," s.
+45, 47.
+
+[167] Behistun, 4, 73-80; 56-61; Persop.
+
+[168] Strabo, p. 719; Nicol. Damasc. fragm. 66, ed. Mueller.
+
+[169] Plin. "H. N." 30, 2; 28, 19.
+
+[170] "Vita Pythag." 12.
+
+[171] Diogen. Laert prooem.
+
+[172] Suidas, [Greek: Magoi].
+
+[173] Herod. 1, 100, 124, 125.
+
+[174] Ezra, c. v., vi.
+
+[175] The Nica of the Vendidad is the Eastern Nica, Parthorum Nisaea, not
+very far from Merv; above, p. 10, _n._ 1.
+
+[176] Lepsius, "Ueber das ursprungliche Zendalphabet," Abh. B. Akad.
+1862, s. 298, 306, 381.
+
+[177] "Vendid." 4, 120; Astad Yasht, 1.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE GODS OF THE ARIANS IN IRAN.
+
+
+The examination of the traditions of the East and West has simply led to
+the confirmation of the result, which we gain from the Avesta--that the
+name and the doctrine of Zarathrustra belong to Bactria. With regard to
+the antiquity of the doctrine, the inscriptions of Darius and the
+statements of the Greeks allowed us to draw the conclusion that it
+became current and dominant in Bactria about the year 800 B.C.; and from
+the analogy of the development of the Arians on both sides of the Ganges
+we assumed that it was possible to place the date of Zarathrustra
+himself about two centuries earlier. That the Arians of Iran were not
+without gods and religious worship before Zarathrustra, if the fact
+needed proof, might be shown from the statements in the Avesta regarding
+the time previous to Zarathrustra. The examination of the legends of
+this time established kindred forms and traits in the Avesta and the
+Veda, and if, following this path further, we find in the Avesta views
+of the nature and character of the gods corresponding to those of the
+Veda, we might be confident in regarding them as the traditional
+possession of the Arians, and their earliest forms of religion. If, in
+fine, the coincidence of the Avesta with the Veda, on the one hand, and
+with the accounts of the Greeks on the other, extended to all the
+essential points in the doctrine and the law, the question stated
+above--whether in the restoration of the canon of the sacred writings in
+the midst of the fourth century of our era, under king Shapur II., the
+Avesta underwent material alterations, would have to be answered in the
+negative.
+
+The poems of the Veda showed us in what directions the religious feeling
+of the Indians in the Panjab moved. Drought, gloom, and night were
+numbered among the injurious forces; the clear sky, the light, and
+fertilising water were beneficent. The high spirits of light, which gave
+new courage to the heart each morning, and exhibited the world in fresh
+brilliance, were praised with thanksgivings; the spirits of the highest
+heaven, Mitra and Varuna, the guardians of the world, the protectors of
+purity and justice, were invoked earnestly, but less frequently than the
+warlike victorious god who gave water, the god of storm and tempest, who
+defeated the demons which obscured the sky and wished to carry away the
+water (IV. 48). His comrades in the fight were the morning wind which
+drove away the clouds of night, the winds which shattered the gloomy
+clouds, and swept them from the sky. The spirit of fire, who by his
+brilliant glow in the darkness of night kept off the beasts of prey and
+fiends, who gathered men round the hearth, and summoned the gods to the
+sacrifice, and carried up to them the food of the sacrifice, received
+zealous worship in the hymns of the Veda.
+
+We can call to mind the invocations of the Rigveda to Ushas, the goddess
+of the dawn, who drives forth on the sky with red cows; to Surya and
+Savitar, the spirits of the sun (IV. 45, 46). In the Avesta, prayers are
+addressed to Ushahina and Hvare Kshaeta, the bright sun-god. Ushahina
+is here the pure spirit of the celestial dawn, "who is possessed of
+bright horses." Of the sun-god we are told: "Mount, bright sun, with thy
+swift horses, and shine for all creatures on the way which Auramazda has
+created in the air, the way rich in water which the gods have
+created;"[178] just as in the Veda the sun is invoked to approach on his
+ancient firm paths in the air, which are free from dust (IV. 46).
+Sacrifice is offered to the sun, according to the Avesta, when he rises
+above Hara berezaiti (the divine mountain).[179] The prayer to Mithra is
+as follows: "To the mighty Yazata (_i.e._ the worthy of prayer), the
+strong one, who brings good, will I offer sacrifice with libations; I
+will encompass him with songs of thanksgiving. With libations we offer
+sacrifice to Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, who speaketh true
+things, the wise one, comely in shape, of a thousand ears and ten
+thousand eyes, standing on a broad tower, strong, sleepless, and
+watchful, who mounts above Hara berezaiti before the immortal sun, the
+guider of horses--he who first in a form of gold ascends the beautiful
+summits. For him the creator Auramazda has prepared a dwelling above
+Hara berezaiti, where is neither night, nor darkness, nor winds chilling
+nor scorching, nor the corruption of the slain; no filth created of
+demons nor vapours ascend Hara berezaiti. From thence the giver of good
+beholds the abode of the Arians, whose horse-guiding lords govern
+splendid hosts, whose high mountains, rich in water and in pastures,
+supply nourishment for the ox, where are deep lakes with broad streams,
+and wide navigable rivers burst forth in tumult, on Iskata and
+Pourata,[180] on Mouru (Merv), Haraeva (p. 11), and Gao, Cughdha
+(Sogdiana), and Hvairiza (Choaresm). Where first they sacrifice to him,
+there Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, descends with the victorious
+wind. From anguish and pain, O Mithra, carry us, undeceived. Come to us
+for our protection; come to us with joy; come to us with mercy; come to
+us with healing; come to us with purification, the mighty, the strong,
+the all-knowing, the tamer of dragons, the undeceived. Never lulled to
+sleep, Mithra protects with his weapon the creatures of Auramazda. On
+him the lord of the land, of the canton, the village, the house, calls
+for help with uplifted hands, whose voice of woe, whether his voice be
+loud or soft, reaches up to the stars and down to the earth. He to whom
+Mithra is favourable, to him he cometh with aid; but with whomsoever he
+is angry he destroys his house and village and canton and land, and the
+glory of the land. Mithra gives swift horses to those who do not deceive
+him; to the habitation in which he is satisfied he gives troops of
+cattle and men. The fire of Auramazda gives the straightest path to
+those who do not deceive Mithra. But if the lord of the house, the
+village, the canton, the land deceives him, then Mithra in anger
+destroys house and village, canton and land. Not all evil deeds, not all
+deception, are seen by Mithra, saith the wicked man. But Mithra sees all
+that is between heaven and earth. With ten thousand eyes he beholds the
+man who hates and deceives him. His long arms with the might of Mithra
+grasp what is in Eastern India (Hendu), and what is in Western, and what
+is in the midst of this earth. The swiftest deceivers of Mithra do not
+reach the goal; they do not escape on horseback, nor reach the goal in
+chariots.
+
+"Mithra, the lord of lands, whose countenance beams like the star
+Tistrya, travels forth to the right end of the earth from the brilliant
+Garonmana (the abode of the gods), equipped with golden helmet, and
+silver coat of mail, with sharp long-shafted lance and swinging arrow,
+on a beautiful chariot with a golden wheel and silver spokes, which four
+white horses draw, their fore-hoofs shod with gold, their hinder hoofs
+with silver, harnessed in the yoke which is bent over them. In his hand
+is a club with a hundred studs, and a hundred blades, heavy at the end,
+making havoc of men; bound with brass on the handle, mighty and golden,
+the strongest and most victorious of weapons. Before him goes
+Verethraghna in the form of a boar, sharp of tusk, fat, enraged,
+striking at once with feet, claws, tail, and back of brass.[181] Next to
+him goes the kindled fire, the strong, royal grace. As a protection of
+the chariot are a thousand bows of bone, whose strings are made of the
+sinews of oxen, a thousand arrows plumed with feathers of the Kahrkaca,
+with golden points and wooden shafts, and flakes of bone and iron, a
+thousand lances with sharp points, a thousand missiles of copper, a
+thousand two-edged swords. Strong as spirits they travel onward, strong
+as spirits they fall on the skulls of the Daevas.
+
+"Before him of a truth, Angromainyu (the evil spirit) trembles, the
+deadly one; before him trembles Aeshma, the wicked-minded, and
+body-destroying; before him trembles Bushyancta, the long of hand, and
+all invisible Daevas and the sinners from Varena. When the evil one, who
+works wickedness, runs forth with swift step, Mithra, the lord of wide
+pastures, swiftly harnesses his chariot, and Craosha, the pure and
+strong, and Nairyocangha, the herald, beats him and his ranks. When
+Mithra comes where the lands are against him (_i.e._ do not honour him)
+he brings down his club on horse and rider. Against them he brings
+mighty destruction and terror; he bears away the heads of the men who
+deceive Mithra. Their arrows, swift-feathered, sent swiftly forth by the
+string from the well-stretched bow, strike the air only; the lances,
+sharp and running out with long shafts from the arm, strike the air
+only; the missiles from the strings strike the air only; the
+well-directed swords and well-slung clubs beat the air only; meanwhile,
+angry, enraged, and not propitiated, Mithra approaches, the lord of wide
+pastures. Thou, O Mithra, angry and mighty, takest the force from their
+arms; thou takest the force from their arms, and the sight from their
+eyes, and the hearing from their ears. The wind carries away the lances
+which the opponents of Mithra throw; even though he throws well and hits
+the body he inflicts no wound. Standing on the field of battle Mithra
+annihilates the ranks; the wings quake, and he makes the centre to
+tremble. They say: Our war-horses were led away by Mithra; by him were
+our strong arms and swords annihilated. Mithra scares men before and
+behind; Craosha, the pure, assists in slaying on all sides. Mithra
+sweeps them away, slaying them by fifties and by hundreds; by hundreds
+and by thousands; by thousands and tens of thousands, and without
+number. We cannot sustain the weight of the angry lord who with the
+force of a thousand meets the foe; who dashes on in his rage, and rests
+not from the slaughter; who destroys all at a blow. May not the
+mightiest, the swiftest, the most victorious of the Yazatas fall upon
+us. Come to our help, O Mithra, high lord, when the arrow hisses aloud
+and the horse neighs in his nostrils, and the missiles whizz, and the
+strings speed forth the sharp, bony arrows. Whomsoever Mithra protects,
+him the well-sharpened lance cannot reach, nor the arrow flying past
+him.
+
+"In his might Mithra approaches; in power he goes forth to dominion, and
+beholding from afar directs his glance with his eyes. Thou protectest
+the lands which seek after the beneficence of Mithra, lord of wide
+pastures; thou destroyest the lands which are wicked. O Mithra, lord of
+wide pastures, master of the house, of the villages, the land!--let us
+be protectors of thy fields, not the destroyers of them. As the sun
+arises above Hara berezaiti so may I obtain my desires over the evil
+Angromainyu. With uplifted arms, Mithra, the lord of wide pastures,
+conveys us to immortality. With sacrifice named by name, with becoming
+speech, O strong Mithra, will I make offerings to thee with libations.
+Listen, O Mithra, to our sacrifice. Come to our sacrifice; come to our
+libations. Carry them away to the place of meeting (_chinvat_); deposit
+them in Garonmana. Thou, O Mithra, art the saviour and helper of lands
+and men. Thou makest the dwellings, from which impurity is removed,
+famous for women and chariots. Thou hast power over the peace and the
+disquiet of lands; prosperous art thou in the battle, and strong. Give
+us the gifts for which we entreat thee; abundance and power, prosperity
+and purity, renown and bravery, and victory given by Ahura, the
+overwhelming power of the highest purity (_asha vahista_), and
+instruction in the sacred word, that so we may slay all enemies and
+haters, and annihilate the hate of men and Daevas, of magicians and
+Pairikas, of the violent, blind, and deaf. Stretch out thy widely
+grasping hand, O Mithra; thou art the protector of the dwelling, and of
+them that deceive not. Protect us in both worlds, the corporeal and
+incorporeal, from the evil death, the evil Aeshma, the evil hosts, who
+seek to raise their cruel banners, from the attacks which Aeshma may
+make with Vidhatu the Daeva-created."[182]
+
+The modern traits which have been introduced into this poem are easily
+distinguished and removed. The relation in which Mithra is placed to
+Auramazda, the chief of the good spirits, to the corporeal and
+incorporeal world and the maintenance of the law, to Rashnu, the spirit
+of justice, and other spirits of an abstract nature, and to the
+instruction in the sacred word, are like the "Western and Eastern
+India," obviously of the later origin. Setting them aside, the old form
+of the god of light of the Arians in Iran meets us in vigorous and
+powerful outlines. Indeed we have here more original conceptions of
+Mithra than in the Veda, and find that idea of the god which formed part
+of the yet undivided stock of the Arians in Iran and on the Indus (IV.
+51). In the Avesta Mithra is still in direct conflict with the evil
+spirits, from which in the Veda he is displaced by the storm-god, who
+first came into prominence in the Panjab. That Mithra was once the
+supreme deity of the Arians of Iran, is clear, not only from his
+position as the most victorious opponent of the demons, but also from
+the difficulty--which the Avesta betrays in more than one passage--of
+subordinating him to Auramazda, who subsequently became supreme, and
+establishing the precedence of the latter. In Mithra's habitation it is
+never night. Highest of the spirits of light, he goes before the sun,
+and first plants himself on the summits of the mountains. He is the
+mightiest warrior against night and the spirits of night who tremble
+before him. His light overpowers and destroys them. Thus he is able to
+give victory in the battle to the army which worships him in truth; the
+host with which he fights he fills with courage and power; that with
+which he is angry he fills with terror, and causes their arrows to fly
+forth in vain. In brilliant armour he travels onward, his club in his
+hand; before him is victory, and beside him is fire. Mithra's club is
+called Vazra, Indra's club is Vajra; the word is the same, the
+distinction is due to the change of sound which separates the old
+Bactrian from the language of the Veda and Sanskrit.[183] Lord of the
+lands and nations, he looks down on the abode of the Arians; most
+brilliant of deities, he sees all that is between heaven and earth. He
+cannot be deceived and beguiled; the most secret wickedness is not
+hidden from him; the swiftest criminal does not escape from him, and the
+strongest succumbs to his anger. God of purity and truth, he watches
+over purity and truth among men, punishes falsehood, rewards justice and
+fidelity; he blesses the nations and houses which worship him with
+goodly increase in men and flocks.
+
+We saw what importance the Veda ascribed to the conquest over Vritra,
+the cloud serpent, the black demon. The Arians in Iran also are
+acquainted with the slaying of Vritra. The prayer to Mithra represents
+Verethraghna as going before Mithra's victorious car (p. 110).
+Verethraghna means slayer of Verethra, or Vritra, and is the same word
+as Vritrahan. Hence the attribute of Indra, which denotes the most
+important achievement among his actions, is among the Iranians an
+independent spirit. As the club of Indra belongs in the Avesta to
+Mithra, so is Verethraghna his companion. No doubt at one time Mithra
+had himself the surname Verethraghna in Iran, the attribute signifying
+the conqueror of the worst and strongest of the evil spirits. But just
+as in the Panjab, owing to the tropical storms of that region, the form
+of Vritra came into prominence, and with it the form of Indra, so in the
+Avesta did Verethraghna fade away when separated from Mithra. Here
+Verethraghna is only the victorious strength, the conquest and slaughter
+of the enemy,--victory itself. Verethraghna is the best armed of the
+heavenly spirits, the strongest in might, the most victorious. Yet even
+in the Avesta the Soma is offered to Verethraghna before the battle, as
+in the Veda it is offered to Indra. Auramazda says to Zarathrustra:
+"When the armies meet in battle, the orderly ranks are not defeated in
+which sacrifice is liberally offered to Verethraghna, whom Ahura
+created. The Arian lands should offer him sacrifice, and strew
+sacrificial branches for him. They should offer beasts to him, bright
+and gold-coloured." "To him the pure Zarathrustra offered sacrifice, and
+Verethraghna came to him in the form of a strong wind, in the form of a
+beautiful bull with golden ears and golden hoofs, in the form of a
+shining horse, of a large, biting, and fierce camel, in the form of a
+boar with strong tusks (as also in the prayer to Mithra), in the form of
+a youth, in the form of a man carrying a sword with a golden handle, in
+the form of the swiftest and largest of birds, in the form of a ram, and
+a fighting goat. And Verethraghna gave Zarathrustra strength of arms,
+health and vigour of body, and power of vision, like that of the horse
+which sees in the night, and the gold-coloured vulture." In the battle
+Verethraghna hastens through the ranks and inquires with Mithra and
+Rashnu: "Who lies against Mithra? to whom shall I give death and
+destruction, for I have the power?" "Verethraghna, the created of
+Ahura, the bearer of splendour, I will praise"--such is a prayer in the
+Avesta--"with audible praise, with offering. To Verethraghna will I
+sacrifice. I will bring Haoma in order that I may conquer this army,
+which comes up behind me. Verethraghna holds back the hands of the ranks
+of the men who lie against Mithra; he veils their sight, and dulls their
+ears, and suffers not their feet to advance. Verethraghna brings the
+ranks together in battle; he destroys the ranks, and annihilates
+them."[184]
+
+In the Veda, the winds, the swift and strong Maruts, aided Indra against
+the demons; Vayu, _i.e._ the blowing, the morning wind which chases away
+the dark clouds, was Indra's charioteer (IV. 49). In the Avesta also,
+Vayu, who blows before the morning light and the sun, and scares away
+the goblins of the night, who first drinks "the Soma draught at the
+morning sacrifice," takes a prominent position, and under his Vedic
+name. The heroes of ancient days cried aloud to Vayu for victory, and he
+brought help to them all. He is the strongest of the strong, the
+swiftest of the swift, girded up and active, higher in stature, broader
+in the hips and shoulders, than the rest of the gods. He sits on a
+golden throne (p. 35); wears a golden helmet, golden armour, a girdle
+and neckband of gold, and rides on a golden chariot. He says to
+Zarathrustra: "I am called the beneficent, because I do good for
+Auramazda. I am called the pure, the strong-winged, the mightiest, the
+swiftest, the powerful for defeat, the expeller of the Daevas. I am
+called the Hurling one, the Biting one, the sharp lance, the flashing
+lance. I am called the Conqueror. These names must thou invoke at the
+shock of the ranks in battle, in the stress of the conflict."[185] In
+the Avesta, as we saw, Verethragna also appears in the form of the wind.
+The "pure swift winds," the air, "which works on high, which purifies
+the heaven from the right hand," are frequently invoked; the "strong
+wind, created by Ahura," brings the rain-clouds which Tistrya (p. 120)
+has liberated over the earth; the wind carries away the lances, which
+those hurl who are hostile to Mithra. We saw above, how the Bactrians
+were defeated by Artaxerxes I., "because the wind blew in their faces"
+(p. 25). If in the Avesta, in accordance with the character of the
+doctrine, the purifying force of the winds and fresh air is made
+prominent, the other traits quoted are sufficient to permit us to
+recognise the original conception formed by the Iranians of the spirits
+of the winds.
+
+The pure waters, the well-flowing, the waters of the springs, pools, and
+rivers are often mentioned in the Avesta and highly extolled. As with
+the Arians in India, so in the Avesta, the great waters are placed high
+up in the sky. The stars contain the seed of water; just as among the
+Arians in India certain constellations at the appearance of which rain
+fell, were considered to be the home of the waters. In the Avesta also
+the water of the sky is the source and origin of the waters on earth. In
+that book a female deity is the guardian of these waters, the goddess
+Ardvicura Anahita, _i.e._ the lofty, stainless one, "to whom Auramazda
+gave the waters in charge." She is at one and the same time the source
+of the heavenly water, which springs up on the golden height of
+Hukairya, the summit of the divine mountain, and the spirit of this
+source and of the water coming from it. At the height of a thousand men,
+the spring Ardvicura flows down from the golden Hukairya; it has a
+thousand basins, and a thousand streams, each stream is forty days'
+journey in length for an active traveller.[186] The goddess who pours
+out this water is a strong, well-grown maiden of brilliant countenance,
+and beautiful arms, which are more brilliant and larger than horses. On
+her brow she bears a golden diadem, adorned with a hundred stars; she
+has golden ear-rings and neck-band, a flowing lower garment with many
+folds of gold, and golden shoes on her feet. Her breasts fall down over
+her girdle; her upper robe is of bright otter skins, _i.e._ of the
+smooth skins of the animal of the water. She carries a golden Paitidana,
+and holds the reins of her chariot which is drawn by four white beasts
+of draught. The deity of the water of the sky is in the Avesta the most
+beneficent of the goddesses; the source of water is also the source of
+fruitfulness and life. She cleanses the seed of men, and gives a happy
+delivery to women; those who are with child entreat her assistance. To
+men she gives swift horses and strong comrades, if duly invoked and
+worshipped. We have already seen how the heroes of old days, Yima,
+Thraetaona, Kerecacpa, Kava Uca, Kava Hucrava, Vistacpa, sacrificed
+horses, cows, and smaller cattle to Ardvicura, in order to win victory
+over the evil spirits, the dragons, the giants, and the enemies of Iran
+(p. 32, 34 ff.). Zarathrustra asks the stainless Ardvicura what
+sacrifice he must offer to her, in order that Auramazda may not hold
+back his course in the height above the sun, that serpents may not
+injure the water by their sweat and poison. And Ardvicura gave command
+that prayer and sacrifice should be offered to her from the ascent of
+the sun till daybreak; the sacrifice was to be consumed by the
+sacrificers and priests in honour of the goddess; the impure, blind,
+dumb, and all afflicted with infirmities were to be kept far from it.
+"Come to me, come down, Ardvicura," is the invocation, "from the stars
+to the earth which Auramazda made; to thee, the excellent, mighty lords
+of the lands, the sons of the lords of the lands, will offer
+sacrifice."[187]
+
+The divine mountain, on which the Ardvicura rises, is in the Avesta "the
+mighty navel of water (_apam napal_)," "in a course swift as the horse,
+Auramazda causes the water to stream forth from it." On this mountain is
+the deep lake Vourukasha, _i.e._ having wide shores, in which the waters
+collect together. Out of this lake the water-clouds rise, which are to
+bring the fertilising rain to the earth. Though the tropic storms are
+wanting in Iran, the fertilising of the land by the water of the
+springs, rivers, and lakes, and by rain was of no less importance there
+than in the Panjab. Hence in the Avesta we again meet with the contest
+of the good spirits against Vritra, and in Iran also these spirits are
+opposed to the demons of blight. It is demons of this kind, which,
+according to the Avesta, keep back the rain-clouds above Vourukasha, and
+men say: "When will Tistrya (Sirius) rise, the bright, the majestic,
+the lord of the stars? When will the streams of water flow which are
+stronger than horses?" And Tistrya, whom Angromainyu slays not, nor the
+magicians and Pairikas, nor the magicians among men, gleams forth from
+the navel of the waters; he runs to Lake Vourukasha like an arrow, in
+the form of a horse, a beautiful brilliant horse, with yellow ears, and
+golden horse-cloth. Auramazda and Mithra prepare the way for him. Ashi
+vanguhi and Parendi follow in his wake with swift chariots. There goes
+to meet him the Daeva Apaosha, _i.e._ the witherer, in the form of a
+black, bald horse, with bald ears, bald back and tail, and ugly brand.
+For three days and three nights they struggle; and the Daeva Apaosha
+scares away the brilliant Tistrya from Lake Vourukasha for the distance
+of a _Hathra_. And Tistrya speaks and says: "If men honour me with the
+sacrifice named by name, with duly performed sacrifice, and prayer, then
+at the appointed time I shall come to the pure men; hostile chariots and
+uplifted banners will not come nigh to the Arian lands, and I shall have
+gained the strength of ten horses, ten bulls, ten mountains, and ten
+flowing waters." And Auramazda sacrificed to Tistrya and brought him
+that strength, and Tistrya fought with the Daeva Apaosha till midday,
+and conquered and overpowered him, and scared him away from Vourukasha.
+And Tistrya announced blessing for the waters and the trees; the streams
+of the waters will come to you without opposition, the cloud rises out
+of Lake Vourukasha, and the vapours gather above on Mount Hendava in the
+midst of Lake Vourukasha, and Tistrya drives forth the vapours, the pure
+ones, whence clouds are formed, and the strong wind drives clouds and
+rain to the villages and hamlets, to the seven Kareshvare (the seven
+parts of the earth). And Auramazda gave command to Zarathrustra that the
+Arian lands should offer sacrifice to Tistrya, should sprinkle
+sacrificial rice, and sacrifice a bright, light-hued, Haoma-coloured
+animal in order that he might withstand the Pairika Dushyairya (_i.e._
+blight). "If I had not created Tistrya," Auramazda says, "this Pairika
+would have carried on war day and night, but Tistrya binds her with two
+and three fetters." "We praise Tistrya, the brilliant majestic star,
+which drives away the Pairika; he blows her away from Lake Vourukasha;
+then the clouds draw up, spreading themselves afar, which contain the
+fertilising water."[188]
+
+Another spirit which fights against the demons in the Avesta is called
+Craosha. On the divine mountain stands "his triumphant dwelling with a
+thousand pillars, on the topmost height of the great mountain, illumined
+within with a light of its own, decked with stars without;" his chariot
+is drawn by four spotless horses, which are swifter than clouds, swifter
+than winds, swifter than storms, swifter than birds with strong wings. A
+strong, well-armed, victorious youth, the strongest and swiftest among
+young men, who fears not the Daevas, and before whom they fly in terror
+to the darkness, Craosha is the companion of Mithra; with him he
+overthrows the ranks of the hosts with whom Mithra is angry (p. 111).
+Thrice in each day he comes to smite the Daevas, with the axe of a
+woodman in his hand. Thus he fights against the evil Angromainyu,
+against Aeshma, and the Daevas Kunda, Banga, and Vibanga; thus he forces
+the conquered Daevi Druj to answer him. In the dark he is wakeful
+against the evil ones; he protects the world from them when the sun has
+set; in each night he comes thrice upon the earth with his weapons in
+his hand. About the third watch of the night he arouses the bird
+Parodarsh, _i.e._ the cock, that by his cry he may scare away the
+goblins of the night, and may banish the Daevi Bushyancta, which holds
+men imprisoned in sleep.[189] Craosha, moreover, protects the sacrifices
+which are offered to the good gods, and which the evil one would carry
+away or defile. One of the priests who took part in the sacred
+ceremonies held a club, the Craosha-club, in his hand, in order to scare
+the demons and keep them back. Of the two instruments which in the book
+of the law are used for flagellation, and by which the evil spirits are
+driven from the bodies of men, one is called the Craosha-whip (_Craosha
+charana_).
+
+We remember the numerous hymns of the Veda which celebrate the benefits
+conferred upon men by Agni, the spirit of fire, who is born from the
+double wood, and descends to earth in the lightning from the water-bed
+of the storm-cloud; the glow of this bright youth preserves men from
+beasts of prey, from murderers and evil spirits, helps the gods to
+victory, and contends in battle in the van; at the same time a royal
+house-lord and priest, Agni is in the Veda the upholder of the religious
+worship, the mediator between heaven and earth (IV. 40). The Avesta is
+filled with similar conceptions, though less poetical in form. Here the
+power as victorious of fire against the demon takes the first place. We
+saw that Mithra's chariot carried the kindled fire. "The sacred, strong
+fire" is invoked as a "warrior," as a "protector," as a slayer of the
+evil spirits, as the giver of good. To whatever side, we are told in the
+book of the law, the wind carries the smoke of the fire, it comes back
+thence as a slayer of thousands. "Happy is the man," we are told in an
+invocation, "to whom thou comest in strength, O Fire, son of Auramazda,
+more friendly than the friendliest, worthy beyond others of
+supplication. O Fire, we approach thee with perfect purity, with a good
+spirit; mayest thou come down to us bringing help."[190] He who uses dry
+selected wood for the fire, him the fire blesses, saying: "May herds of
+cattle gather round thee, and abundance of men; may all things succeed
+according to the wish of thy soul. Live out thy life happily to the full
+extent to which thou wilt live. The fire speaks with all those for whom
+it shines the whole night through, and cooks food; from all it demands
+good nourishment. The fire looks on the hands of all who come; what does
+the friend bring to the friend, he who approaches to him who sits
+alone?[191]" The Gathas of the Avesta also speak of the pieces of wood
+for friction, out of which springs the fire that shows the way;[192] and
+in another passage we hear of the fire Urvazista which dwells in wood.
+The Avesta distinguishes between the fire Cpenista, _i.e._ the
+house-lord, the hearth-fire (it is the same name that is given to the
+hearth-fire in India), the most victorious fire Verethraghna, which
+slays all the demons, and by which, according to the custom of the
+Parsees, the fires of the hearth must be renewed year by year, and the
+fire of lightning, which is called Vazista. This last, which comes down
+direct from heaven, is the "most sacred of all fires, which slays the
+demon Cpenjaghra."[193] In the Avesta the priests are called Athravas, a
+name which, no doubt, goes back to the worship of fire (_athar_); among
+the Indians Atharvan entices the fire from the wood, and together with
+Manu and Dadhyanch kindles the first sacrificial fire; the fourth Veda
+is called after him (IV. 280). In the Avesta also the red glowing fires,
+which gleamed on the earth in the days of King Yima, are repeatedly
+mentioned (p. 32); it extols "the brilliance of the Arian lands,"
+denotes the fire-priests as possessors of the true faith, and assures us
+that what is right may be known from the clear, blazing flames.[194]
+
+The sacrifice offered by the Arians beyond the Indus to Indra, the
+Maruts, and spirits of light, to strengthen them against the demons, the
+draught prepared from the Soma, is known to us; we have shown how this
+Soma which strengthens the gods became itself a god in the fancy of the
+Indians--a mighty nourisher and sustainer of the gods. The same custom
+and deity are found in the Avesta, only the name has become Haoma,
+according to the phonetic laws of the Bactrian language. The legend has
+already shown us what importance was ascribed in Iran to the worship of
+the god Haoma, and the sacrifice of this liquor. Yima was born to
+Vivanghana as a reward because he had first poured out the Haoma and
+worshipped the god. To Athwya, the second worshipper of Haoma,
+Thraetaona was born; and to Thrita, the third, Kerecacpa, the hero (p.
+27, 28). To Zarathrustra, who was born to Pourushacpa for a similar
+service, when he is dressing the sacred fire at the break of dawn, and
+singing the sacred hymns, the god Haoma appears: "Who art thou," asks
+Zarathrustra, "who appearest to my sight as the most perfect in the
+corporeal world, with thy brilliant, immortal body?" Haoma answered him:
+"I am the pure Haoma, who protect men from evil. Call on me, press out
+my juice in order to enjoy me; praise me as all other fire-priests
+praise me." Then said Zarathrustra: "Supplication to Haoma! Haoma, the
+good, is well-created; duly-created is he, and gives health; he bestows
+kindness, is victorious, and of golden colour. Thy wisdom, O golden one,
+I praise; thy strength, thy victory, thy healing power, thy greatness. I
+praise the mountains, the high ones, where thou, Haoma, growest; I
+praise the earth, the wide and patient, thy mother, O pure Haoma. Mayest
+thou grow on the paths of the birds. To the horsemen, who spur their
+horses, Haoma gives power and strength; to the maidens who have long
+remained unmarried, he gives true and vigorous husbands, gifted with
+good understanding, and to wives beautiful children and a pure
+posterity. To those who repeat the Nackas (the chapters of the Avesta)
+he gives sanctity and greatness. Praise to thee, Haoma; thou knowest the
+words which are spoken with truth. Praise to thee, Haoma, who by thine
+own power art a mighty king. To thee Auramazda first gave the girdle
+glittering with stars; girt with this thou lingerest on the summits of
+the mountains in order to maintain in sincerity the commands of the
+sacred sayings. O Haoma, lord of the house, of the village, of the land,
+lord of wisdom, I call on thee for greatness and victory, for favour to
+my body, and rich food. O thou who art of golden colour, I entreat thee
+for skill and power, passing through the whole body, for beauty and
+health, for prosperity and increase, for greatness spreading over the
+whole form. The first boon for which I entreat thee, O Haoma, who
+removest death, is that I may attain to the excellent habitation of the
+saints, the bright dwelling where there is abundance of all good things;
+the second boon is that this body may endure; the third, that my life
+may be long; the fourth, that I may go through the earth powerful and
+glad, troubling the tormentors, and slaying the Druj; the fifth is that
+I may walk victorious on the earth and slay the evil. For this thing
+also, as a sixth boon, O Haoma, who removest death, I entreat thee: may
+I be the first to see the thief, the murderer, and the wolf: may none of
+these previously see me. Keep far from us the hatred of those who hate
+us; tear out the hearts of those who give poison. If in this house, this
+place, this village, this sacrifice, there is a man who does harm, take
+from him the power to go, obscure his reason, break asunder his heart
+with the commandment. Let him not be mighty in the feet, let him not be
+mighty in the hands. O Haoma, I make a prayer to thee, that thou mayest
+go a sovereign lord through the worlds, triumphing over hatred and the
+evil. Thou shouldest triumph over the hatred of all who hate thee, over
+the hatred of the Daevas and men, the evil spirits and magicians, the
+perverse, blind, and dumb, the two-footed murderers and insidious
+creatures, the four-footed wolves, and the numerous hosts which creep
+and fly."[195]
+
+Further, we find in the Avesta that the "priest" offers Haoma to Mithra,
+Craosha, and Drvacpa on the divine mountain.[196] The plant of which
+this god is the genius, grows, according to the books of the Parsees, as
+white heavenly Haoma only on the tree Gaokerena, _i.e._ the heavenly
+tree which stands on the divine mountain or in the spring Ardvicura; the
+yellow Haoma which grows upon the earth is only a copy or descendant of
+the white Haoma. In Iran also the preparation and expression of the
+Haoma juice is accompanied by a long and minute ritual; and the offering
+of the sacrifice, which is still performed among the Parsees of India,
+requires long invocations and responses between the celebrant and the
+ministering priests. At the present day the Parsees send from time to
+time one of their priests to Kerman in order to bring from their ancient
+home twigs of Haoma for the sacrifice.
+
+The coincidence which we find above, in the forms of the legend, between
+the Avesta and the Veda--Vivanghana, Yima, Athwya, Thrita, Kerecacpa,
+and Uca are found in both--is not less marked in the conceptions of the
+gods and their functions, and in the character of the worship. There can
+be no doubt that the Arians of Iran believed themselves to be protected
+and injured by the same spirits as the Arians in the Panjab. If on the
+Indus invocations were addressed to Vritrahan, Vayu, the Maruts, and
+Mitra, in Iran men prayed to Verethraghna, Vayu, and Mithra. In both
+places Vritra and Ahi are the opponents of the god of light; in both
+fire was worshipped; in both the power of the sacrificial liquor was
+elevated into a mighty life-giving god. Among the Indians, as we saw,
+the priest who addresses the invocation to the god at the sacrifice is
+called Hotar; in the Avesta the Zaotar utters the prayers. Further
+coincidences in the number and nature of the gods, in the worship, in
+the laws and forms of purification, in the ceremonial, and even in the
+shape of the universe, will show themselves as we proceed. It is true
+that differences may also be found. Many of the numerous spirits of the
+Rigveda are wanting in the Avesta; and again, some spirits in the
+Avesta, such as Anahita, Craosha, Tistrya, are unknown to the Indians.
+Variations such as these must occur where there has been a separate
+development from a common root. But the factors in the coincidence of
+the most important forms of the gods and heroes, and the distinctive
+modes of worship, in the Avesta and the Rigveda, the very oldest
+monument of the Arians in India, are so great that any doubt whether the
+Avesta remained free from alterations and influences of an alien or
+later nature in the revision under Shapur II., is entirely removed, and
+we know that we possess in it the remains of an original document of
+Iran, going back beyond the time of Cyrus. In the Avesta we have before
+us the faithful expression of the ancient Iranian faith. Though not in
+its original form this result is the more certain, because on the one
+hand some deities, as for instance Mithra, and some myths like that of
+Yima, exhibit older forms in the Avesta than in the Rigveda, while in
+others we have almost an identity of language between the two. In the
+Avesta as in the Veda the Soma is praised as "gold-coloured;" in both
+fire is the "house-lord;" the sun goes on his "path free from dust;" the
+power of the gods is increased by the sacrifice (p. 120). In both one
+god offers sacrifice to another, in order to strengthen him; and the
+invocations of the Avesta, like those of the Rigveda, ask for health and
+long life for the suppliant; for possessions and wealth and favour, for
+the power to see the thief, the murderer, and the wolf before they are
+seen by him.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[178] "Gah Ushahin," 5; "Mihr Yasht," 13, 143.
+
+[179] "Mihr Yasht," 118.
+
+[180] Pouruta may be referred to the [Greek: Paryetai] of Ptolemy, whom
+he places in the north of Arachosia.
+
+[181] Cf. "Mihr Yasht," 127, where the boar is not Verethraghna but the
+"curse of the sage."
+
+[182] Windischmann, "Mithra; Abhl. fuer Kunde des Morgenlandes," 1, 1 ff.
+
+[183] Haug, "Essays," p. 185. The Sassanids also carry the club now
+called _guzr_.
+
+[184] "Yasht Bahram," 57-62. Burnouf, "Commentaire sur le Yacna," p.
+285.
+
+[185] "Ram Yasht," 43-57.
+
+[186] "Aban Yasht," 64 ff.; "Yacna," 74.
+
+[187] Hang, "Essays," p. 179. The passages given in the text from the
+Aban Yasht, notwithstanding the swelling breasts, shows how definitely
+the form of Anahita belongs to the Iranian conception, how peculiarly
+this goddess of fountains is represented in this form, and how
+intimately connected she is with the whole Iranian system of the boon of
+water, and the legends of the heroes. A brass tablet found at Graechwyl
+in the canton of Berne, which exhibits the Persian Artemis with swelling
+breasts, surrounded by four lions, with a bird of prey on her head and
+serpents instead of ears, and wings on the shoulders, has decided J.
+Stickel ("De monumento Graechwyliano") to regard the Persian Artemis as
+identical with the Semitic goddess of birth. This tablet is due to the
+syncretism of Roman times. Certain similarities between the Syrian
+goddess of birth and fertility, Mylitta-Derceto, and the Persian goddess
+of water, might lead to such a syncretism even under the Achaemenids, and
+this coincidence might determine Artaxerxes Mnemon to erect images of
+Anahita in Ecbatana and Susa after the pattern of the Semites. Beros.
+fragm., 16 ed. Mueller, and below.
+
+[188] "Tistar Yasht," 24 ff., 40, 49-58.
+
+[189] "Yacna," 56; "Vend." 18, 39.
+
+[190] "Vend." 8, 248-250; "Yacna," 26, 61, 23; "Yasht Farvardin," 77.
+
+[191] "Vend." 18, 57-63, 19, 134.
+
+[192] Roth, "Ueber Yacna, 31," Tuebingen, 1876, s. 6, 20.
+
+[193] "Vend." 19, 135; "Yacna," 17, 69.
+
+[194] "Yacna," 31, 3, 19.
+
+[195] "Yacna," 9, 10, according to Burnouf, "Journ. Asiat." 1844-1846.
+Cf. Spiegel "Avesta," 2, 68 ff.
+
+[196] "Gosh Yasht," 17; "Mihr Yasht," 88; "Yacna," 56, 8.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE REFORM OF THE FAITH.
+
+
+In the Gathas of the Avesta the spirit who keeps watch over the increase
+of the flocks speaks to the heavenly powers, saying: "All creatures are
+distressed; whom have ye for their assistance?" Auramazda makes answer:
+"I have one only who has received my commands, the holy Zarathrustra; he
+will proclaim my exhortations and those of Mazda and Asha, for I will
+make him practised in speech."[197] Then Auramazda sacrificed to
+Ardvicura that he might unite with Zarathrustra the son of Pourushacpa,
+to the end that the latter might think, speak, and act according to the
+law.[198] Pourushacpa, _i.e._ rich in horses, of the race of
+Haechatacpa,[199] was the fourth who offered the sacrifice of Haoma in
+Airyana Vaeja after Vivanghana, Athwya, and Thrita. For this
+Zarathrustra was born to him.[200] At his birth and his growth the grass
+and the trees increased, and all the creatures of Auramazda greeted each
+other because the priest had been created who would sacrifice for them
+and spread abroad the law of Auramazda, over the seven Kareshvare of
+the earth.[201] Craosha, accompanied by the sublime Asha, appeared to
+Zarathrustra, and the latter declared himself ready to swear enmity
+against the liars, and to be a mighty source of help to the truth. And
+the god Haoma appeared to Zarathrustra and commanded him to press out
+his juice and to praise him, as other fire-priests praise him. And
+Zarathrustra praised Haoma and his mother the earth, and addressed six
+prayers to him (p. 125). Ashi vanguhi also came at Zarathrustra's
+command on her chariot, and inquired: "Who art thou who callest on me,
+whose speech is the most beautiful which I have heard from all those who
+invoke me? Come nearer to me; approach my chariot." Then she surrounded
+him with her right arm and her left and said: "Beautiful art thou,
+Zarathrustra, well grown, with strong legs and long arms. To thy body
+has been given brilliance, and to thy soul long prosperity."[202] And
+when Zarathrustra sacrificed to Verethraghna, he granted him strength of
+arm, health, and vigour of body, and power of vision, such as that of
+the horse, which sees by night, and the gold-coloured vulture.[203] But
+Auramazda taught Zarathrustra "the best words," prayers, and
+invocations, and charms against the evil spirits.[204] "How,"
+Zarathrustra inquires of Auramazda, "how ought I to protect the
+creatures from the evil spirits, from the wicked Angromainyu?" Then
+Auramazda answers: "Praise Auramazda, the creator of the pure creation;
+praise the victorious Mithra; praise the Amesha Cpentas (the immortal
+saints), which rule over the seven parts of the earth; praise the holy
+Craosha, who holds the club against the head of the Daevas; praise
+Verethraghna, created by Ahura, the bearer of the splendour; praise the
+shining heavens, and the glowing Tistrya; praise Vayu, the swift; praise
+Cpenta Armaiti (the holy earth), the beautiful daughter of Auramazda.
+Praise the tree, the good, the pure, created by Ahura, the well-grown
+and strong; praise the glittering Haetumant (Etymandros); praise Yima
+Kshaeta, the possessor of good herds. Praise the good laws, the law
+against the Daevas, the law of the worshippers of Auramazda; praise the
+splendour of the Arian land; praise the abode of the pure. Praise the
+fire Vazista (p. 123), which smites the Daeva Cpenjaghra. Bring hard
+wood and perfumes, and water of purification to the fire."[205]
+
+Zarathrustra first proclaimed the words which Auramazda had taught him
+to Maidhyomao,[206] the son of Aracta, his father's brother, and spoke
+to the members of his race, the Haechatacpas: "Ye holy Haechatacpas, to
+you will I speak; ye distinguish the right and the wrong." The
+announcement did not remain confined to the circle of the family and the
+race: "To you that come," we are told in another passage, "I will
+announce the praises of the all-wise lord, and the praises of Vohumano.
+Look on the beams of fire with pious mind. The fair sayings of the
+fire-priests are the way of Vohumano. Thou gavest ancient sayings, O
+Ahura; by these will I annihilate among you the sacrifices of the lying
+gods. The worshipper of fire should accurately understand the correct
+words which have come from Vohumano (the good disposition and its
+spirit) in order that truth may be his portion." In other poems
+Zarathrustra laments: "The liar possesses the fields of the true man,
+who protects the earth; none of the servants worship me; none of the
+lords of the land, who are unbelievers. The dominion is in the hands of
+the priests and prophets of the lying gods; whither shall I go for
+refuge?--to what land shall I turn? I cry for help for Frashaostra and
+myself. May the fire grant this help to both of us."[207] Frashaostra of
+the race of Hvova, is mentioned in the Avesta as the closest adherent of
+Zarathrustra, and often in connection with Jamacpa. The help for which
+Zarathrustra cried in this invocation was granted to him by King
+Vistacpa. Zarathrustra offered the Haoma draught in Airyana Vaeja to
+Ardvicura, and prayed to her: "Grant to me that I may combine with the
+son of Aurvatacpa, the strong Kava Vistacpa, to the end that he may
+think, speak, and act according to the law;" and the goddess granted him
+this favour.[208] And Zarathrustra sacrificed to the Drvacpa (the
+goddess of flocks) in Airyana Vaeja, to the end that he might unite with
+the good and noble Hutaoca (the wife of Vistacpa), that she might
+impress the good law on her memory.[209] Finally, we read: "Who is thy
+true friend on the great earth; who will proclaim it? Kava Vistacpa, the
+warlike, will do this."[210]
+
+Of King Vistacpa and Frashaostra the Avesta then tells us, "that they
+prepared the right path for the faith which Ahura gave to the
+fire-priests." In the prayers Kava Vistacpa is praised because as an
+arm, an assister, and helper, he has subjected himself to the law of
+Ahura, the law of Zarathrustra; because he has opened a wide path for
+purity, and has established the law in the world. The mighty brilliance
+of the ruler supported Zarathrustra, "in establishing the law and
+making it highly esteemed."[211] When Jamacpa saw the army of the
+Daeva-worshippers approach, he sacrificed to Ardvicura a hundred horses,
+a thousand oxen, and ten thousand head of small cattle, and Ardvicura
+granted to him to fight victoriously against all the non-Arians. And
+Zairivairi, the brother of Vistacpa, besought Ardvicura that he might
+smite the skilful Peshana, who worshipped the Daevas, and Arejatacpa.
+Kava Vistacpa himself offered sacrifice in order to obtain the victory
+over Asta-aurva, over the Daeva worshippers Cpinjauruska, and Darsinika,
+and the murderous Arejatacpa.[212] And Vistacpa smote Peshana and
+Arejatacpa, and Zarathrustra blessed him: "I praise thee, O ruler of the
+lands. May life be given to thy wives and thy children, which shall be
+born from thy body. Be thou possessed of swift horses, like the sun,
+shining like the moon, glowing as fire, sharp as Mithra, a conqueror of
+enemies like Verethraghna, well grown and victorious as Craosha. Mayest
+thou be a ruler like Yima; mayest thou be victorious and rich in cattle
+like Thraetaona, bold and strong as Kerecacpa, wise as Urvakshaya,
+brilliant as Kava Uca, without sickness and death, like Kava Hucrava,
+stainless as Cyavarshana, rich in horses as Pourushacpa, a friend of the
+heavenly ones, and conqueror of men."[213]
+
+The Avesta gives Zarathrustra three sons: Urvatatnara, Hvarecithra,
+Daevotbi (Punisher of the Daevas); and three daughters: Freni, Thriti,
+and Pourushicta.[214] His work is summed up in the fact that he
+compelled the Daevas, who previously had been in human form upon the
+earth, to hide themselves in the earth.[215] His doctrine prevents the
+Daevas from injuring the creation, as before, and gives to all the
+creatures of the good god the means of protecting themselves more
+effectually against the evil. Hence Zarathrustra is the increaser of
+life; in this sense he is described, invoked, and worshipped as the lord
+and master of all created life. But in time Caoshyant will be born, who
+will make the evil creatures wholly powerless, and bring on for man the
+time of undisturbed happiness, in which there will no more be any
+battle; the time of uninterrupted life, _i.e._ of immortality. In this
+period all who once had life will have life again; _i.e._ the life
+destroyed by Angromainyu and the evil spirits will be restored, and the
+dead will rise to a new life.
+
+Zarathrustra's birth and growth struck terror into the evil spirit
+Angromainyu. "The Yazatas" (the gods), he exclaimed, "have not forced me
+from the earth, crossed with paths, round, and wide-reaching; but
+Zarathrustra will drive me from it."[216] And the Daevas took counsel on
+the summit of Arezura, whither they are wont to come together from their
+caves with the Druj: "Alas! in the dwelling of Pourushacpa the pure
+Zarathrustra has been born. He is the weapon with which the Daevas are
+smitten; he takes away the power from the Daevi Druj, and the Daevi Nacu
+([Greek: nekys], _i.e._ the spirit of the dead), and the false lies; how
+shall we compass his death?" And from the region of the north
+Angromainyu dashed forward, who is full of death, the Daeva of Daevas,
+and said: "O Druj, go up and slay the pure Zarathrustra." And
+"Zarathrustra said in the spirit: The wicked, evil-minded Daevas are
+considering my death. And he arose and went forth, bearing in his hand
+stones of the size of a Kata, which he had received from the creator
+Auramazda, and he praised the good waters of the good creation, and the
+law of the worshippers of Auramazda, and uttered the prayer: _Yatha ahu
+vairyo_. The Druj ran round about him, and the Daeva Buiti, the deceiver
+of mortals; and the Druj ran in alarm from him and said to Angromainyu,
+the tormentor: In him, in the holy Zarathrustra, I see no death. And
+Zarathrustra said to Angromainyu: Evil-minded Angromainyu, I will smite
+the creation which is created by the Daevas; I will smite the spirit of
+the dead which the Daevas have created, until Caoshyant the victorious
+shall be born from the water of Kancava, in the region of the east.
+Angromainyu answered him: Wherewith wilt thou smite my creatures? With
+what weapons wilt thou destroy them? Then spake Zarathrustra: The
+pestle, the bowl, the Haoma, these are my best weapons, and the words
+which Auramazda has spoken. By this sacred word will I annihilate thy
+creatures, O evil Angromainyu. Slay not my creatures, O pure
+Zarathrustra, answered Angromainyu. Thou art the son of Pourushacpa, and
+hast life from a mother. Curse the good law of the worshippers of
+Auramazda, and attain the prosperity which Vadhaghna has attained, the
+ruler of the lands. But Zarathrustra spake: I will not curse the good
+law of the worshippers of Auramazda; no, not though my bones and soul
+and power of life were torn asunder. Then the evil Daevas ran and took
+counsel on the summit of Arezura, and Angromainyu spoke: What will the
+Daevas bring thither? But they said: 'The evil eye;' and hastened to the
+bottom of hell, the dark, the evil, the wicked."[217]
+
+With Zarathrustra, according to the Avesta, a new era begins. He is the
+proclaimer of a new law. But along with this we are told that even in
+Yima's time the earth glowed with red fires; the power of the old
+sayings of the fire-priests is extolled; the professors of the first,
+and those of the new law receive commendation. Zarathrustra is born to
+his father as a reward for offering an ancient sacrifice, the sacrifice
+of Haoma. He himself dresses the fire at daybreak before he comes forth
+to announce his new doctrine; and even while announcing it he sacrifices
+to the old gods Verethraghna and Ardvicura; the gods whom the heroes of
+the old days invoke appear to him also, the prophet of the new teaching;
+they demand that he shall offer sacrifice, and insist on their worship;
+they grant him favour and gifts. It is precisely the ancient sacrifice
+of Haoma, the common possession of the Arians in Iran and India, which
+is declared by Zarathrustra to be the best means of repelling the evil
+ones, and not Zarathrustra only, but also Auramazda sacrifices to an
+ancient divinity that the son of Pourushacpa may be obedient to his
+commands, and then directs the latter to invoke the ancient gods,
+Mithra, Verethragna, Craosha, Vayu, and Tistrya, and to worship fire.
+Hence it was no new religion which Zarathrustra taught; it was nothing
+more than a reform of the ancient faith, and traditional modes of
+worship.
+
+We were able definitely to ascertain from the fragments of the Avesta
+that it arose in the east of Iran; the districts of the north-east are
+especially prominent in it. It denotes Bactra as the abode of dominion
+(p. 31). A doctrine which, as we shall see, lays the greatest stress on
+the cultivation of the land, could not have grown up in the deserts of
+the Gedrosians, or the steppes of the Sagartians. If, according to the
+Avesta, "the evil custom of the burial of the dead prevails" in
+Arachosia (Harahvaiti);[218] if Haetumat (Drangiana) is reproved for the
+sins which are practised there;[219] if we are told of Haraeva (the land
+of the Arians) that it is indeed rich in houses but full of poverty and
+idleness,[220] and of Ragha that it is indeed Zoroastian but full of
+utter unbelief[221]--if the sin of burning corpses prevails in Chakhra
+(Chirhem?),[222] it is clear that these lands are distinct from the
+region in which the pure doctrine of Zarathrustra, proclaimed in the
+Avesta, arose, and became so firmly established as to be universally
+current. Hence of all the lands in Iran, mentioned in the Avesta, only
+Airyana Vaeja, Margiana, Sogdiana, and Bactria remain. In the Avesta
+Zarathrustra is famous in Airyana Vaeja; in that land he sacrifices;
+and, as the Avesta allots but two months of summer and ten months of
+cold winter to this region, we must look for it on the high mountain
+range of the North-east (p. 73). Zarathrustra stands in a close relation
+to Queen Hutaoca and King Vistacpa, who fights against the worshippers
+of the Daevas and Arejatacpa, and prepares a way for the new doctrine.
+Among the heroes of the ancient time and the spirits of the pious who
+are invoked in the prayers of the Avesta, the immortal part of King
+Vistacpa is repeatedly invoked besides Zarathrustra and Frashaostra. We
+have already shown in what a contrast the Bactrians and Sogdiani stood
+to the nations of the steppes of the Oxus, and what a position is
+allotted to King Vistacpa as repelling the Iranians. In thus celebrating
+him as the protector of Zarathrustra, the Avesta plainly puts
+Zarathrustra himself in Bactria.
+
+If we may assume the fact that the reform of the religion must have
+proceeded from Bactria and Sogdiana in the north-east of Iran, the next
+question to be decided is, whether it is possible to determine the
+meaning and import of this reform. The forms and views, which are found
+to agree in the Avesta and Rigveda, we have already established, with
+complete certainty, to be the ancient possession of the Arians of Iran.
+The elements of the religious conception, and several very definite
+forms and traits in the belief and worship, were the same in the Panjab
+and Iran. The leading principle was the contrast of the bright
+beneficent powers who give life and increase and the evil spirits of
+darkness, drought, and death. This possession was therefore in existence
+before the reform. This principle must have become more prominent among
+the Arians of Iran owing to the nature of their country. The fertile
+land and the desert were in far greater proximity there than in the
+Panjab. The centre of Iran was filled with a vast desert; wide and
+barren table-lands spread out on north and south; the most favoured
+regions were almost like oases. Closely adjacent to the most fruitful
+valleys and slopes lay endless steppes; blooming plains, shaded by thick
+groups of trees, were surrounded by hot deserts of sand. If the alpine
+districts of the north possessed the most splendid forests and luxuriant
+pastures, yet the snow fell early, and the winter was severe; if
+vegetation ran riot on the fringe of the Caspian, fever and reptiles
+infested the marshy plains. Close beside abundant productiveness lay
+drought and desert, bare flats of rock, deserts of sand, and fields of
+snow. The inhabitants of Iran had not only to suffer from the heat of
+summer but also from the cold of winter, from the scorching winds of the
+desert as well as from the snow-storms which came from the table-lands
+of the north. On the one hand, pastures and fields were covered for many
+weeks with snow; on the other, sand-storms from the desert ruined the
+tillage; in one district camels succumbed to the cold of the lofty
+terraces, or slipped from the icy slopes down the precipices; in
+another, the desert wind dried up fountains and springs. Here the
+winter, "which flies past to slay the herds, and is full of snow," as
+the Avesta says, was "of endless duration;" it was "on the water, the
+trees, and the field," and "its cold penetrated to the heart of the
+earth;" there the herds were tormented by the fly in the heat, bears and
+wolves fell upon the folds, and it was necessary to find protection
+against serpents and ravenous beasts of prey.[223] In this land life was
+a conflict against the heat of summer and the south, against the chill
+of winter and the mountain heights, a struggle for the maintenance and
+protection of the herds; and as soon as these tribes had become settled
+in the more favoured regions and passed over to agriculture, there began
+on the edge of those oases the struggle against the desert and the
+steppe. Here water must be conveyed to the dry earth, there the tillage
+must be protected against the sand-storms of the desert. To these
+difficulties and contrasts in the nature of the land was added a
+contrast in the mode of life of the population. The majority of the
+tribes of the table-land of the interior, and a part of the inhabitants
+of the mountainous rim, could not, owing to the nature of the land, pass
+beyond a nomadic pastoral life, and even to this day the population of
+Iran is to a considerable extent nomadic;[224] while other tribes
+toiled laboriously in the sweat of their brows, these wandered with
+their herds in idleness, ever ready for battle; and thus there could be
+no lack of ambuscades and plunder, of attacks and raids on the
+cultivated districts.
+
+All these contrasts are most marked on the slopes of the north-eastern
+edge, in Margiana, Bactria, and Sogdiana, which lay open to the steppes
+of the Caspian Sea. Here were fruitful, blooming valleys with luxuriant
+vegetation on the banks of the mountain streams, yet, wherever the
+mountains receded, the endless desert at once began. If the stars shone
+clear through the night on mountains and table-lands, in the pure and
+vapourless atmosphere of Iran, sand-storms and mist lay on the northern
+desert. The winds blowing from the north brought icy cold in the winter;
+in the summer they drove the sand of the deserts over the fruitful
+fields, to which water has to be laboriously conveyed in the time of the
+greatest heat, while eternal winter reigned in the heights of Belurdagh
+and Hindu Kush. There was also the continual fear of the nomads who
+dwelt on the steppes to the north, who made attacks on the fruitful
+slopes and valleys. We have already shown that it was precisely on the
+slopes of the Hindu Kush that the necessity of protection against the
+nations of the steppes led to a combination of the forces of the tribes
+who were settled there, and gave the impulse to the formation of a
+larger polity.
+
+In such a territory, when the tribes had once become settled in the more
+favoured regions, amid such struggles against nature and the plundering
+neighbours, it is clear that the conception of the contrast between good
+and evil spirits must become more widely developed and sharply
+pointed--that it should indeed form the hinge of all religious ideas.
+The good spirits had given fruit and increase to many excellent lands;
+but the evil spirits destroyed these blessings with their storms of sand
+and snow, their cold and heat, their beasts of prey and serpents.
+Wherever the herds throve and the fields were fruitful, there the good
+spirits were gracious; where the pastures withered, and the fields were
+covered with sand, the wicked spirits had maliciously rendered of no
+avail the labours of men. In the valleys of Bactria and Sogdiana there
+was labour, industry, increase and fruit; beyond, in the steppe, all was
+barren; the storms went whirling round, and wild hordes of robbers
+roamed to and fro. Thus in these regions the conception of the struggle
+of the good spirits, and the evil, which injure, torment, punish and
+murder men, was most lively, the religious feeling of these conceptions
+most completely penetrated and governed the minds of men.
+
+All creatures were oppressed by the evil spirits, so the Avesta told us
+(p. 129); and therefore Auramazda determines to teach Zarathrustra "the
+wise sayings." No new belief or new forms of worship are to be
+introduced; the means of protection against the evil ones were to be
+multiplied and strengthened. We know what importance the Arians in India
+ascribed to the correct prayer and invocation, what power over the
+spirits and indeed over the deities themselves they ascribed to the
+correct words, what a defensive power they attributed to the sayings of
+the Atharvan. The same ideas were current among the Arians of Iran. The
+heaven of the good god and holy spirits is, in the Avesta, the "dwelling
+of invocations" (Garonmana). Hence the first point in the reform was
+that new formulae and prayers should be added to the old prayers and
+incantations. The fire that slays demons is to burn day and night on
+the hearth, and must always be tended with hard, dry, well-hewn wood;
+the spirits of light, the great Mithra, the sun, the stars, are to be
+earnestly invoked along with the victorious Verethraghna, and Craosha
+the slayer of demons, the life-giving god, to whom Haoma is to be
+offered; and the libation of Haoma is to be frequently offered to the
+spirits of light. If men prayed constantly to the good spirits, and
+cursed the evil, if they made use of the holy sayings when they observed
+that the evil beings came, then wicked creatures would certainly remain
+far from house, and farm, and field. According to the Avesta,
+Zarathrustra first uttered the Ahuna vairya, and Angromainyu says that
+though the deities have not been able to drive him from the earth,
+Zarathrustra will smite him with the Ahuna vairya.[225] In the minds of
+the priests of the Avesta, this prayer is itself a mighty being to which
+worship is to be offered, just as in the Vedas the holy prayers and some
+parts of the ritual--nay even the verse-measure of the hymns--are
+treated as divine powers.
+
+It was an old Arian conception, which we have observed widely spread on
+the Ganges, that filth and pollution and contact with what is impure and
+dead gave the evil spirit power over those who had contracted such
+defilement. This uncleanness must be removed, and its operation checked.
+The reform, which bears the name of Zarathrustra, must have extended and
+increased in Iran the rules for purification and the removal of
+uncleanness. These regulations, carried out in long and wearisome detail
+on the basis of this new movement, are before us in the Vendidad. The
+Avesta says: Zarathrustra was the first who praised the Asha Vahista
+(_i.e._ the best truthfulness which is at the same time the highest
+purity) and represents Angromainyu as exclaiming; "that Zarathrustra
+made him as hot by the Ashi Vahista as metal is made in the
+melting."[226]
+
+Whatever gave increase and life, water and trees and good soil, and the
+animals which were useful to men, were the work of the good spirits, the
+good creation; the steppes, the desert, the heat, the fierce cold, the
+beasts of prey, these were the work of the evil ones, the bad creation.
+Did not a man increase life and growth if he industriously cultivated
+his field, watered it well, and extended it towards the desert, if he
+destroyed the animals and insects which did harm to the fields and
+trees, if he gave room to fruitfulness against unfertility? Did he not
+extend and sustain the good creation, and lessen the evil, if he planted
+and watered, and diminished the harmful animals, the serpents, the
+worms, and beasts of prey? By such work a man took the side of the good
+spirits against the evil, and fought with them. It was in the will and
+power of man by the act of his hands, by labour and effort, to
+strengthen the good creation. The importance which the Avesta ascribes
+to the cultivation of the land, we may regard as a prominent trait of
+the reform, as an essential part of its ethical importance. Beside
+warriors and priests the Avesta knows only the agricultural class.
+
+In the Veda the gods of the light and the highest heaven, Mithra and
+Varuna, are the guardians of truth and purity, the avengers and
+punishers of evil deeds. The invocation of Mithra in the Avesta, given
+above, showed us that the Arians of Iran recognised in this deity the
+spirit of purity, the inevitable avenger of injustice. With his
+all-penetrating eye he watches, not only over purity of body, but also
+over purity of soul. We may regard it as certain that the reform carried
+a long step forward the ethical impulse which lay in this conception of
+Mithra--a conception current on both sides of the Indus. This view is
+supported by the great importance which the Avesta ascribes to
+truthfulness, in the decisive value given to this virtue for the purity
+of the soul, and the identification of purity with truthfulness. As
+filth defiles the body, so, according to the Avesta, does a lie defile
+the soul. Lying and deception are the worst sins of which a man can be
+guilty. The ethical advance is obvious when the evil spirits are not
+merely regarded as doing harm to men, but it is emphatically stated that
+they deceive men, and a lie is the essence of the evil spirits. In the
+Avesta a part of them have simply the name of the spirits of deception,
+of the Druj. The suppliants of the true gods are called _Ashavan, i.e._
+the true, the pure; the worshippers of the evil spirits are liars.
+
+The ideas of the Veda about the hosts of the spirits of ancestors, and
+the entrance of the good and pious into the heaven of light, are also
+current among the Arians of Iran. These the reform could not leave
+untouched. From the ethical characteristic which marks them, from the
+severe inculcation of a pure, true, active life, it proceeded to the
+idea of a sort of judgment on the souls after death. The detailed form
+in which this idea is presented to us in the Avesta will be given below.
+
+In all religions, when they have reached a certain stage of development,
+the impulse arises to find the unity of the divine being among the
+multifarious crowd of deities. On the Ganges the Brahmans or priests
+attained to this unity by elevating the power of the holy acts which
+controlled the deities, and was mightier than they, into the lord of the
+gods, by uniting with this conception the great breath or world-soul,
+the source of life springing up in nature. In Iran the reform did not
+look on nature as one, like the Brahmans on the Ganges, and owing to the
+character of the land and the strong contrasts there met with it could
+not easily perceive in it any single whole; on the contrary, it
+comprehended in unity, on the one hand, the good beneficent side of
+nature, which gives increase, light, and life to men; and, on the other,
+ranged the harmful powers together in opposition to the good. Hence it
+came about that the spirits which worked on either side were, so to
+speak, combined, and the two totals came forward in opposition. To these
+totals the reform sought to give unity by placing a chieftain at the
+head of each, the good and the bad. The chief of the good was Ahura,
+_i.e._ the lord, who is also denoted by the name Mazda, _i.e._ the wise,
+but he is generally invoked by the united title Ahura Mazda (Auramazda
+in the dialect of Western Iran), the wise lord; occasionally, in the
+Avesta, he is called Cpentomainyu, _i.e._ the spirit of holy mind, the
+holy spirit. In the Rigveda the name Ahura Mazda, in the form Asura
+Medha, is used for more than one god of light. The chief of the evil
+spirits was Angromainyu, _i.e._ he that thinks evil, the destroying
+spirit.
+
+The good and the evil spirits are regarded as active, the one on the
+beneficent, the other on the injurious side of nature. It was a step in
+advance when the reform arrived at the conception, that as the good and
+evil spirits ruled the life of nature and man, so in the beginning of
+the world, at the time of its origin, the good and evil spirits must
+have been active; the good was from the beginning the work of the good;
+the evil the work of the evil. As the heavenly and infernal spirits were
+regarded as in perpetual activity, the reform could not here, as in
+India, look on nature and men as emanations from a being in repose--from
+the world-soul--the nature of which became ever less pure and bright,
+less really itself, as the emanations advanced. Instead of an emanation,
+the active force and contrast of the spirits gave rise to the idea that
+the world was brought into being by the will and power of the two
+supreme spirits to a creation of the world. The good side of the world
+must have been the work of the chief of the good spirits, the evil side
+the work of the evil. Auramazda created the good, but immediately he
+created it, Angromainyu created the evil in order to destroy the good.
+And as at the creation, so also in the created world, the mutual
+opposition of the good and evil god, the struggle of their hosts, goes
+on. There is no direct contest between Auramazda and Angromainyu; they
+operate against each other for increase and destruction, life and death,
+and for the souls of men; the direct conflict against evil remains, even
+after the reform, with the old spirits, with Mithra, Verethragna,
+Craosha, and Tistrya.
+
+From this we may without hesitation draw the inference that Auramazda
+and Angromainyu did not belong to the original belief of the Arians of
+Iran. From the absence of any myth about Auramazda, and the character of
+the names, "the wise lord," "the destroying spirit," it further follows
+that the gods thus named could not be the creation of any primitive
+religious feeling. These names belong to a period of reflection, which
+strives to make a presentment of the general operation of the good and
+evil powers, of their intellectual and ethical characteristics, and at
+the same time seeks to express their nature, as well as their relation
+to the world. Finally, the wavering position which Auramazda takes up in
+the Avesta towards the old deities, shows that he is of later origin.
+Though now the supreme deity, he sacrifices to Tistrya, in order to give
+him strength for the victory over Apaosha (p. 120); to Ardvicura, that
+Zarathrustra may be obedient to him (p. 129); and to other gods of the
+old period. Beside him Mithra is praised in the old style as the highest
+power; he instructs Zarathrustra to invoke the old gods, who still
+continue in their traditionary activity. But we have express evidence
+that Auramazda belongs to the reform. "The first man," so the Avesta
+says, "who sacrificed to Auramazda was the sacred Zarathrustra."[227]
+In the transformation, however loose, of the divine nature into "the
+wise lord," with his change from a natural force to an ethical and
+intellectual power, and elevation to be the creator "of the heaven and
+the earth" (p. 87), lay the most decisive step taken by the reform; by
+these conceptions it had raised the ancient possession of the Arians of
+Iran to a new stage.
+
+It is a remarkable fact that the evil spirits in the Avesta bear the
+name of Daevas. The Arians of India called their good gods, the gods of
+light, Devas; from the same root has sprung the general name of the gods
+among the Greeks, Italians, and the Celts. Hence among the Arians of
+Iran also it must once have been in use for the spirits of light. Why
+the names Bagha and Yazata became used in the Avesta for the good gods,
+while the evil spirits received the name of Daevas we cannot discover;
+nor can we decide whether this change of name came in with the reform.
+We can only discover that an analogous change has taken place in India
+also. In the Rigveda the good gods are comprised under the name Asura
+(old Bactrian Ahura), _i.e._ the lord; at a later time the evil spirits
+among the Indians were always called Asuras, while in Iran the name is
+allotted to the highest among the good spirits.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[197] "Yacna," 29; Roth; "Z. D. M. G." 25, 6 ff. _Geus urva_ means soul
+of the bull; the priests identified the soul of the first created bull
+with the protectress of the flocks, the Drvacpa, _i.e._ having mighty
+horses. Spiegel, "Avesta," 3, 74.
+
+[198] "Aban Yasht," 17-19.
+
+[199] "Afrin Zartusht," 4.
+
+[200] "Yacna," 9, 42.
+
+[201] "Farvardin Yasht," 93, 94.
+
+[202] "Ashi Yasht," 17 ff.
+
+[203] "Bahram Yasht," 28-33.
+
+[204] "Yacna," 13, 18; 64, 38; 69, 65.
+
+[205] "Vend." 19, 36-137.
+
+[206] "Farvardin Yasht," 95.
+
+[207] "Yacna," 28, 9, 44, 45; 46, 1-4; 49, 8; 50, 16, 18, according to
+Haug's translation, which however has been called in question.
+
+[208] "Aban Yasht," 104-106.
+
+[209] "Gosh Yasht;" cf. "Ram Yasht," 36; "Farvardin Yasht," 142.
+
+[210] "Yacna," 45, 14 ff.
+
+[211] "Farvardin Yasht," 99; "Zamyad Yasht," 84 ff.
+
+[212] "Ashi Yasht," 49; "Aban Yasht," 112.
+
+[213] "Afrin Zartusht," 1-4.
+
+[214] "Yacna," 52, 3; "Farvardin Yasht," 98.
+
+[215] "Yacna," 9, 46.
+
+[216] "Ashi Yasht," 19.
+
+[217] "Vend." 3, 23; 19, 1-32, 140-147.
+
+[218] "Vend." 1, 46-48.
+
+[219] "Vend." 1, 50-52.
+
+[220] "Vend." 1, 30-32.
+
+[221] "Yacna," 19, 51, 52; "Vend." 1, 60-62.
+
+[222] "Vend." 1, 64-66.
+
+[223] "Vend." 1, 9-12, 24; 7, 69.
+
+[224] Herodotus states expressly that some tribes of the Persians were
+nomads (1, 125); beside the Sagartians nomadic tribes are also mentioned
+among the Carmanians, Areians, etc.
+
+[225] "Yacna," 9, 41; "Ashi Yasht," 20.
+
+[226] "Ashi Yasht," 20.
+
+[227] "Ashi Yasht," 18.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE DOCTRINE OF THE AVESTA.
+
+
+When the tribes of the Aryas advanced from the Panjab towards the East,
+and established themselves on the Ganges, the gods to whom they had
+offered prayers on the Indus faded away amid the abundant fertility of
+the new land; and the lively perception of the struggle of the gods of
+light against the spirits of darkness made room for the conception of
+the world-soul, from which nature and all living creatures were thought
+to have emanated. Similar religious principles led the Arians in Iran to
+a religious reform of an opposite kind. The idea of an emanation of the
+world, proceeding without any opposition, could not maintain itself in a
+life occupied in labour for the means of sustenance, in toiling and
+struggling against nature. Luxuriant growth and dreary desolation,
+scorching heat and severe winter, such as were found alternating in
+Iran, could not flow from one and the same source. There man must be
+active and brave, and therefore the divine being could not be regarded
+as existing in repose. The nature of the table-land, divided between
+fertile tillage and desert, between heat and cold, not merely caused the
+old idea of the conflict between good and evil spirits to continue, but
+even increased and extended it. All nature was made subject to this
+opposing action of the gods, and the old conception of the conflict was
+developed into a complete system. With the extension of the operation of
+the beneficent and harmful power over the whole of nature, man was drawn
+into the conflict as active force. He must not only invoke the
+assistance of the good spirits; he must himself take part in the
+struggle of the good against the evil. In this way he provided for his
+soul and salvation better than by prayer and sacrifice; he strengthened
+so far as in him lay the life and increase of the world, and lessened
+the sphere in which the power of the evil spirits could operate. If the
+Indians by the elevation of Brahman arrived only at the great contrast
+between nature and spirit, between soul and body; if all nature was
+regarded as something evil and to be annihilated, so that the
+mortification and torturing of the body and annihilation of self became
+the highest ethical aims--the Bactrians or Arians in Iran were directed
+by their reform to more energetic work and activity against the harmful
+side of nature, and the evil part of the soul. With the free choice of
+this or that side, with the duty of working on nature, and educating
+self, the conditions of a more happy and powerful development were given
+them.
+
+It was the duty of any earnest and eminent adherents of the reform, and
+afterwards of the priestly races who joined it, or grew up in it, to
+guide the impulse it had given, and bring the new ideas and the rules to
+be deduced from them into harmony with the old conceptions. If the
+contrast between the beneficent and harmful powers once took the shape
+of opposing spirits, the next object was to represent more exactly the
+character and nature of these spirits, and define more closely the good
+and evil Deity. As the reform tended to elevate the natural side in
+these shapes into ethical qualities, it was inevitable that advance in
+this direction should lead at an early time to abstract views--that both
+spirits should be identified with the pure contrast of light and
+darkness, of truth and lying, of moral good and moral evil.
+
+If the good spirit was supreme purity and truth, he must originally have
+created the world in accordance with his nature. Whence then came the
+injurious, the evil? Had the evil spirit also a creative power? Or was
+the evil first introduced after the creation of the world? If this was
+the case, and evil was not always in the world, then it must again
+disappear from it; if the pure god was the more powerful, he must again
+overcome the resistance of the evil. Moreover, with the subordination of
+the light and dark powers to Auramazda and Angromainyu, and their
+combination into these two forms, an impulse was given which gradually
+forced the ancient deities into the background. The first point was, to
+put the latter in the right relation to the new god, who had created
+heaven and earth, and even these ancient gods. In the same way the old
+Arian legend of the golden age of Yima must be harmonised with the new
+doctrine of the creation, and a relation must be established between the
+sacrificers of the old days, who were without the good law of
+Zarathrustra, and the latter. The sayings which held in check the evil
+spirits, and which the reform took from the body of ancient invocations
+or added to them in their spirit, must be accurately preserved if they
+were not to lose their force, especially the prayers and incantations
+which Zarathrustra himself had spoken or was thought to have spoken.
+Lastly, the mode of worship must be regulated in accordance with the
+tendencies of the reform. Which and what kind of sacrifices, which
+invocations and songs of praise were the most efficacious, was a matter
+which required settling. The old customs of purification so
+indispensable for keeping at a distance the evil spirits, which the
+reform, as we ventured to assume, largely increased by new prescripts,
+must be united with the increased importance attached to truth and
+purity and combined into a comprehensive rule for the life pleasing to
+Auramazda. What means were there for wiping out offences against this
+rule, and sins when committed, for turning aside the anger of Mithra,
+for expiating falsehood, lying, and deception? We have already indicated
+(p. 101) how numerous and complicated were the duties of the priesthood
+arising out of pollution and its removal. The answers which the
+priesthood of Iran gave to all the questions which successively arose
+have been collected in the Avesta.
+
+The Gathas of the Avesta, in which the metre has been retained, and
+along with it the older forms of the language--poems which, according to
+another part of the Avesta (the Crosh Yasht), Zarathrustra composed and
+Craosha first sang[228]--are the most speculative part of the book. They
+tell of the existence of the good and evil spirits, place both in the
+beginning of things, identify Auramazda with the truth and Angromainyu
+with the lie, bring forward Auramazda as the creator of the world and of
+living creatures, as the source of what is good in man and nature, and
+describe the duties of the true worshippers and the rewards which they
+may expect, together with the punishments which will come upon the
+worshippers of the Daevas. The ancient gods, Mithra, Haoma, Tistrya,
+Anahita and Drvacpa are not mentioned in the Gathas; though emphasis is
+laid on the blessing of the "imperishable red fire of Auramazda." In
+their place we have Asha (Truthfulness), and Vohumano (Good
+disposition), Armaiti (Piety), and Kshathra (Dominion); these are at
+times merely ideas, at times they are personified beside Auramazda.
+
+In these poems Zarathrustra addresses a number of questions to
+Auramazda: "This question I will ask of thee; answer it truly, O Ahura.
+Who is the first father and begetter of truth? Who created their paths
+for the sun and stars? Who causes the moon to wax and wane? Who sustains
+the earth and holds the clouds above it? Who created the water and the
+trees of the field? Who is in the wind and the storms that they move so
+swiftly? Who created the beneficent lights and the darkness? For whom
+didst thou create the imperishable cow Ranyockereti (the Earth)? Who
+formed the earth with its great blessings? Who are the Daevas, which
+fight against the good creation? Who slew the hostile demons? Who is the
+truthful one, who is the liar? How are we to chase away the lies, how
+shall I put the lies into the hand of Asha (Truthfulness)? How can I
+come to your dwelling (the dwelling of the gods), and to your song? Give
+me now the command, what ought to be and what ought not to be, in such a
+way that we attentive ones may understand it, O Mazda, with the tongue
+of thy mouth, how am I to convert all living creatures, and guide them
+to the right path, which leads to him who hears the praises of the truly
+pious in heaven (Garonmana). Tell me clearly, what ye command me as the
+best, that I may keep it in my heart, and remember what has been
+forgotten, Mazda Ahura, all that ought to be, and ought not to be. Teach
+us, O True one, the way of Vohumano created by thee. Let us, O Mazda,
+receive thy sayings which bring blessing."
+
+"On thee have I looked as the source in the creation of life, because
+thou, O rich in gifts, didst establish the sacred customs and announce
+the words. He who first willed that the spaces of the sky should clothe
+themselves with lights, he in his wisdom establishes the law of duty for
+the pious. In the spirit a man must think of thee that thou art ever the
+same, Ahura. I regarded thee as the most excellent, O Mazda, whom thy
+people have to worship in spirit, as the father of the pious, since I
+saw thee with my eye, as the eternal law-giver of the world, living in
+his works. Since thou of old, O Mazda, didst create all beings and
+spirits according to thy will, and gave them reason and a material body,
+all men, the wise and the unwise, cause their voices to sound, each
+according to his heart and mind; he who strives after wisdom proves in
+his spirit on which side is error. All gleaming bodies with their
+manifestations, everything that by Vohumano has a bright eye, the stars
+and the sun, the herald of the day, move for thy praise, O Mazda. In
+thee the holy earth exists, and the highly-intelligent framer of the
+body of the earth, O living spirit Mazda. Thou didst create the world,
+the earth with the fire that rests in its bosom. With pleasant fields
+thou didst adorn it, after taking counsel with Vohumano, O Mazda. Thou
+didst first create the fields, and didst devise the sayings by thy
+spirit, and the various kinds of knowledge; thou didst then create this
+world of existence, by holy acts and speeches. To Mazda belongs this
+kingdom which he causes to grow by his grace."[229]
+
+"To you, all ye that come, I will announce the praises of Mazda the
+all-wise lord, and the hymns to Vohumano. O wise Asha, I will entreat
+that friendship may display itself through the stars. Hear with your
+ears the glorious, see with your spirit the clear, that every one for
+himself may choose his faith before the great work begins. Those two
+primaeval spirits, which are twins, represent themselves in thought,
+words, and works as this dualism, the good and the evil, and between
+both the virtuous know how to decide, but not the evil. When these two
+deities first came together, they created the good creatures and the
+bad, and (arranged) that at the last hell should be awarded to the bad
+and blessedness to the good. Of these two spirits the evil one chooses
+the worst way of action; but the increase-giving spirit chooses virtue,
+he whose robe is the firm heaven,--and those who in faith make Auramazda
+content by truthful acts. Between them the worshippers of the Daevas,
+the deceived, cannot rightly decide; they chose the worst disposition,
+and came to the evil ones when in council, and together they hastened to
+Aeshma, that by him they might bring plagues upon the life of men. But
+when the punishment of their evil deeds shall be accomplished, and thy
+kingdom as the reward of piety shall come upon those who put the Druj
+(the lie) in the hands of Asha (Truthfulness), then destruction overtake
+the destroying Druj; but those who possess high renown will gather as
+immortal in the beautiful dwellings of Vohumano, of Mazda, and Asha.
+Thus then let us work to make this world eternal, O Auramazda, O Asha
+that givest blessing; may our thoughts be there, where wisdom is
+enthroned."[230]
+
+"Teach me to know both, that I may walk in the way of Vohumano, the
+sacrifice, O Mazda, which is fit for a god like thee, and the pure
+words of thanksgiving; give me the duration over which Ameretat
+presides, and the blessings of Haurvatat.[231] May he be praised, who in
+complete truth, so far as he knows it, will tell the charm of Asha, the
+utterance of prosperity (Haurvatat, _i.e._ health--and afterwards the
+spirit of prosperity and the waters) and of immortality (Ameretat
+immortality, and afterwards the spirit of long life and good
+plants)."[232] "The acts, words, and sacrifices by which I, O Mazda,
+might attain immortality, purity, and power over Haurvatat, I will, so
+far as I can, perform for thee.[233] Grant to me, O most holy spirit,
+Mazda, thou who didst create the cow, the waters, and the plants, grant
+me immortality and health, power and duration, that I may follow the
+doctrine of Vohumano."[234] "From thee comes the nourishment of
+Haurvatat and Ameretat; may piety (Armaiti) increase with truth
+under the dominion of Vohumano, and power and continuance as a
+counter-protection."[235] "Send us the blessing of a long life."[236]
+"I ask thee, answer me truly, Ahura, When shall I win this reward by
+truthfulness?--ten mares with their stallions and a camel, that
+Haurvatat and Ameretat may be in my possession, and I make an offering
+to thee of their blessings."[237] "I will proclaim what the most holy
+one says to me, the best word for mortals to hear; those who for its
+sake lend ear to me, to those will Haurvatat and Ameretat come." "To
+every one who is a friend to him in thought and word, Auramazda has
+given power over the rich Haurvatat (health), over the rich Ameretat
+(freedom from death); he has given him dominion and independence and
+the riches of Vohumano."[238] "Let none of you listen to the counsel
+and command of the evil one, for he brings farm and community, canton
+and land, into distress and ruin, but punish him with the weapon."[239]
+"On the day when Asha will slay the Druj, on the day of immortality,
+when that comes forth, that was denied, when the Daevas and men will
+receive their reward; then, O Ahura, a mighty song of praise will be
+raised to thee."[240]
+
+"To thy kingdom and thy truth, I offer praise, Ahura, Asha. Listen to
+this with kindly spirit, Mazda; incline thine ear, Ahura. Let the
+worshippers of the liar be few; may all these turn themselves to the
+priests of the truthful fire! The good must rule over us, not the evil!
+Ahura, the all-knowing, cannot be deceived. I will think of thee, most
+glorious one, at the final departure of life. With prayers, O Mazda,
+Asha, will I come forward to praise thee, and with the works of
+Vohumano. In your dwelling, O wise one, sound the praises of them that
+give thanks. I will be called the singer of thy praises, and will
+continue to be so as long as I can, by advancing the laws of life, that
+the life of the world may continue of itself. With the verses which have
+been composed and handed down for your praise, I will approach both of
+you, and with uplifted hands. As a worshipper I will invoke you one and
+all, ye who give blessing, as well as all those who attain to the strong
+bridges of your blessedness, Auramazda, Asha, and Vohumano; those
+bridges which belong to you. Come ye to my aid."[241]
+
+These are the essential traits of the doctrine of the Gathas. Auramazda,
+himself a shining one (_hvathra_), has created the shining bodies of the
+heaven, the earth, the waters, the trees, and men; he has appointed
+their paths for the stars. He is the sustainer of the world, inasmuch as
+he devises the good sayings (_daena_) for the protection of the good
+creation. He is light and truth, and therefore is not to be deceived; he
+shows the right way to Zarathrustra, and gives him the proper charms
+against the evil spirits. That at this stage of ideas there can be no
+myth attached to Auramazda, _i.e._ to the concentrated essence of the
+gods of light, is obvious. In the Gathas it is only the quite abstract
+forces of Vohumano and Asha, of good disposition and truthfulness, which
+stand beside him. Auramazda is simply the creator and lord; and the same
+position is ascribed to him as we saw (p. 87) in the inscriptions of the
+Achaemenids. In spite of the strongly-marked trait of spiritualisation
+and abstraction which runs through the Gathas, there is no lack in them
+of unreflecting and naive conceptions, which have come down to us from
+ancient days. It is true that the contrasts in nature and men are
+elevated to the opposition of truth and falsehood, and the service of
+truth is proclaimed as the highest command; but on the other hand, it is
+the strong fire of Auramazda which causes the right to be recognised,
+and gives the decision in battle.[242] It is the good sayings which
+sustain the world, _i.e._ the old magic of prayers and invocations is to
+keep off the evil, and increase the strength of the good, spirits.
+However high may be the conception of Auramazda, he who walks in his
+way, and performs the commands of purity, not only expects his reward,
+but insists on it; he desires to obtain ten mares and stallions, and at
+least one camel; he wishes for the blessings of Haurvatat in order to
+sacrifice from them; he desires continuance and power, health and long
+life. In these traits the old contrast between powers that give
+increase, blessing, and life, and powers of destruction, is plainly
+retained.
+
+From the beginning the evil one was ranged over against Auramazda as his
+twin brother. He has created all that is evil, but nevertheless he is
+without any independent power of creation. If the Gathas express this
+merely in such a manner that they give prominence to Auramazda as the
+creator, they were as far from setting up a dualism of equally-balanced
+forces, as any other religion has been from attempting such a task, and
+carrying it out. The other fragments of the Avesta leave no doubt of the
+fact, that Angromainyu was not in a position to create the world
+according to his own will; he can only implant the form of evil in the
+good creation of Auramazda; he puts desolation, destruction, and death
+in the place of increase. The Vendidad quotes a whole series of lands
+which Auramazda created good, and enumerates the evils which the deadly
+Angromainyu brought into each:--into one winter, into another excessive
+heat; in one case vermin, in another disease, in a third beasts of prey.
+In the same way, in opposition to moral good, the evil one creates
+idleness, lies, lust, doubt, disbelief. An equally poised power of the
+two deities would have led to a direct conflict between them, which
+occurs nowhere in the Avesta; God and the devil only contend for the
+increase and injury of the world, and for the souls of men. The relative
+inferiority of the evil deity has not escaped the Greeks. "Some are of
+opinion," Plutarch says, "that there are two opposite deities, one of
+which framed the good, the other the evil. Others, however, name the
+better power the god, the other the demon, as Zoroaster the Magian. He
+calls one Oromazdes, the other Areimanius, and states that Oromazdes
+most resembles light among perceptible things, and Areimanius gloom and
+uncertainty."[243] It is a later speculation, diverging from the Avesta,
+which formed the good and evil spirits into simple forces, and ranged
+them against each other with equal powers.[244]
+
+In the Gathas we have the nucleus of the conceptions from which the
+reform of the ancient faith of Iran arose, but not in their original
+state. On the contrary, they have been systematised in the circles of
+the priests. Hence the contents and prescripts of other parts of the
+Avesta, which do not present a speculative tendency, are not on that
+account to be regarded as of later origin than the Gathas--least of all
+the invocations to the ancient deities. It was an essential object of
+priestly meditation to bring these old gods, which existed vividly
+before the soul of the nation, into harmony with the new faith. On every
+page of the Avesta it is clear that the priests of Eastern Iran did not
+attain to an accepted system in this direction; that the old gods
+remained in existence beside Auramazda, and the direct contest against
+the evil spirits, after the reform as before it, was carried on by
+Mithra, Verethraghna, and Vayu, Tistrya and Craosha, while Auramazda is
+in the background, and sits somewhat passively on his golden throne in
+the heaven of Garonmana. When the Avesta was written down and collected,
+the ideas of the priests were still so naive, or still preserved such a
+respect for the traditional forms of the gods of light and water, as
+they obviously lived in the mind of the people, that they represent
+Auramazda himself as offering sacrifice to Mithra,[245] Anahita, Vayu,
+and Tistrya, with Haoma and the sacred bundle of twigs, in order to
+strengthen their power or carry out his own wishes, just as the gods of
+the Aryas in India offer sacrifices to one another. In India the old
+gods received a subordinate position as protectors of the world after
+the rise of Brahman, but in Iran this was not the case; nor were they
+brought into any genealogical connection with their new head Auramazda,
+though fire is occasionally spoken of in a figure as the son of
+Auramazda, and the earth (Armaiti) is once or twice called his
+daughter.[246] The only bond of union between the new god and the old
+gods in the Avesta is the fact that Auramazda is made the creator of the
+old gods, and even of Mithra. Yet the old position of Mithra appears,
+when Auramazda says to Zarathrustra: "When I created Mithra, the lord of
+wide pastures, I created him as mighty to pray to, mighty to worship as
+myself." Tistrya also was created by Auramazda as worthy of adoration
+and praise as himself.[247] We are already acquainted with Auramazda's
+command to Zarathrustra to invoke and worship Mithra, Vayu, the other
+ancient gods, and fire (p. 131). The existence and extent of this
+worship is proved not only by the prayers of the Yacna, but also by the
+accounts of western writers which we have already examined.
+
+As a compensation for the independent life of the ancient gods by the
+side of Auramazda, the priests surrounded his throne with six spirits,
+who were his associates and helpers. These are called Amesha Cpentas,
+_i.e._ the holy immortals; as good and wise kings they rule with
+Auramazda over the seven girdles of the earth,[248] as in India the
+eight protectors of the world rule over the eight zones. The views out
+of which these spirits arose are found in the Gathas, but they did not
+receive their complete form till the Gathas had been composed and
+generally received. Plutarch tells us that, according to the faith of
+the Persians, Oromazdes had created six gods: the first, the god of good
+disposition ([Greek: eunoia]); the second, the god of truth ([Greek:
+aletheia]); the third, the god of order and law ([Greek: eunomia]); the
+three remaining deities were the gods of wisdom ([Greek: sophia]), of
+wealth ([Greek: ploutos]), and of delight in the beautiful ([Greek: epi
+tois kalois hedeon]). The two first, good disposition (Vohumano), and
+truth or truthfulness, we already found frequently mentioned in the
+Gathas, but chiefly as ideas rather than persons. With the priests
+Vohumano and Asha vahista (the most excellent truthfulness) became the
+Amesha Cpentas, who stand next to Auramazda. The Avesta speaks not only
+of the good way of Vohumano, but also of his acts, his dwelling, and his
+kingdom. According to the books of the Parsees it is his duty to protect
+the flocks. Asha vahista, as the truthful one, is the protector of fire,
+which points the right path, and, according to the Gathas, gives the
+decision in the contest against the liars. According to the books of the
+Parsees, Asha builds the bridge of Chinvat, to which the souls come
+after death, making it wide when the pious souls step upon it. Not less
+correctly does Plutarch describe the third Amesha Cpenta as the spirit
+of order and law. Kshathra, _i.e._ the kingdom, the dominion, is
+mentioned impersonally in the Gathas; and this idea the priests have
+elevated into Kshathra vairya, _i.e._ the good spirit of the desired
+dominion, of good order and law, which is the third Amesha Cpenta.
+Metals were allotted to him as the king of the Ameshas.[249] The fourth
+figure in this circle, which Plutarch correctly describes as the spirit
+of wisdom, though he is wrong in calling it a god, is the earth spirit
+Armaiti. In the Rigveda Aramati (the earth) is a maiden worthy of
+praise, who, morning and evening, brings butter to Agni. In the Avesta
+Armaiti is "the beautiful daughter of Auramazda, the bearer
+(_barethri_) of cattle, of beasts of draught, and men;" with "her hands
+Auramazda performs pure actions," while the Gathas also ascribe to her
+special relations to the corporeal world.[250] Among the priests the
+spirit of the "patient humble earth" has become the spirit of humility
+and piety. According to the books of the Parsees Armaiti gives patience
+and firmness.[251] The fifth and sixth spirits also, whom Plutarch calls
+the gods of wealth and delight in the beautiful, were found in existence
+by the priests, and merely ranged by them in the circle of the Amesha
+Cpentas. These are Haurvatat and Ameretat. We saw how earnestly the
+Arians of India besought the gods for wealth and length of life; and in
+this matter the Arians of Iran were not behind them. Here, as there, the
+powers which could grant such gifts were elevated into special spirits,
+to whom, naturally, all that gave wealth and long life, good and healing
+plants and refreshing water, belonged. The good plants were the kingdom
+of Ameretat, refreshing water the domain of Haurvatat. In the fancy of
+the Arians of Iran good plants sprang from the tree of heaven, the
+Gaokerena, which grew in Ardvicura (p. 126); the water flowed down from
+this source in heaven, or came from Vourukasha, the lake on the divine
+mountain. Those two spirits, who ruled over plants and water, were
+brought by the system of the priests into the circle of the Amesha
+Cpentas; the province over which they ruled had long been apportioned to
+them. They were distinguished from the first four by the fact that those
+were personifications of moral ideas, these two were personifications of
+real goods.[252] With wealth, prosperity and happy life is given, with
+length of life the complete enjoyment of its blessings, and so the
+Greeks could arrive at the conclusion that these two spirits were gods
+of wealth and delight in beauty. Thus Auramazda now ruled surrounded by
+six sacred forms. The semblance of this circle on earth was the throne
+of Cyrus and his successors, which was surrounded by the six tribal
+princes of the Persians.
+
+The personification of ideas--the process of transforming old figures,
+and changing them into abstractions--did not come to an end with the
+Amesha Cpentas. We are acquainted with Craosha, the warrior against the
+Daevas, his habitation on the divine mountain, his horses, his club, and
+how he fights at the side of Mithra, and keeps watch in the dark of the
+night against the demons (p. 121). Now it is he who first sang the
+sacred four Gathas of Zarathrustra, who first bound the sacred withes,
+"three twigs, five twigs, seven twigs;" he not only knows the sacred
+word; the sacred word is the body of Craosha. Instead of the club which
+he held raised against the head of the Daevas, the invocations of the
+Avesta and the prayer Ahuna vairya are now the weapons with which he,
+"the pure lord of the pure," "advances the world." We remember the
+process by which the Arians in India came to represent Indra as smiting
+Vritra, and shattering his cave, not as formerly with the lightning, but
+with Brahman, the power of the prayer and the sacred acts. Obviously we
+have some influence of these old Arian conceptions of the mysterious
+power of prayer, and the control of the spirits possessed by the correct
+invocations and sayings against gods and spectres, when we find Craosha
+fighting with the prayers of the Avesta, and in the Avesta the sacred
+word is praised as a Divine power--[253] when Zarathrustra offers
+sacrifice to the good law.[254] More liberal creations on the part of
+the system of the priests are the elevation of "excellent thought,
+knowledge, and conception," of "the long study," "and the thought of the
+pure man," which are invoked and praised in the Avesta, into Divine
+powers. Of not less abstract nature are other forms, like Rashnu
+razista, _i.e._ the most straight-forward justice,[255] which, according
+to the Dinkart, tests the souls on the bridge of Chinvat; time, which is
+invoked as unlimited, as the ruler of the long periods, and like the
+genius of the five portions into which the priests divided the day. Of
+older origin, though also modified by the reform, is the invocation of
+the heights, which Mithra first illuminated with his light. In the
+Avesta this invocation is mainly addressed to the high "navel of the
+waters," the Divine mountain, which reaches to the sky, "on which were
+asked the holy questions," _i.e._ on which Zarathrustra has received the
+revelation; "by reason of the revelation of the sacred word we invoke
+the height, which preserved the knowledge."[256] Many of the traditional
+forms of ancient times were partly modified by the priests and partly
+allowed to fade away. The goddess Drvacpa, to whom the ancient heroes
+had sacrificed, they changed into the soul of the primeval bull, which
+Angromainyu had slain.[257] Nairyocangha, the Naracansa of the Veda, an
+ancient name of the spirit of fire, which we learned to know in the Veda
+as the messenger of men to the heavenly beings, as priest and mediator
+between heaven and earth (IV. 39), appears in the Avesta merely as the
+messenger of the gods.[258] The form of Vayu, the more ancient
+conception of which still plainly breaks through (p. 116), becomes
+merely the air "whose operation is on high;" and Ashi vanguhi, whom the
+ancient sacrificers and heroes invoked, together with Ardvicura, for
+victory, bears traces which can hardly any longer be recognised. We
+merely perceive that she could once confer power, fertility, beauty, and
+wealth. We saw above how she called Zarathrustra to her chariot, and
+promised splendour to his body, and long prosperity to his soul (p.
+130). If the luminaries of heaven, in spite of the creation described to
+Auramazda, are extolled as "having no beginning," we have in this fact a
+glimpse of the old position of the spirits of light. The struggles of
+Tistrya against the demons of drought were allowed to remain (p. 120).
+Plutarch observes that, according to the doctrine of the Magians,
+Oromazdes had placed Sirius (Tistrya) as a watchman and advanced guard.
+On the other hand, the worship of the sun-god appears but faintly in the
+Avesta--in our fragments at any rate. Yet Herodotus informs us that with
+the Persians the neighing of horses at sunrise was regarded as a
+favourable sign from the gods, and Xenophon states that the Magians
+offered bulls to Zeus, but horses to the sun-god, and that on the
+journeys of the Achaemenids the chariot of Zeus went first, then that of
+the sun-god; both were white and crowned; and these were followed by a
+third chariot covered with purple, which as it seems was the chariot of
+fire. In the march of Xerxes to Hellas, according to the account of
+Herodotus, a sacred car, yoked with eight white horses, went before him;
+and ten sacred horses were led, clothed in the most beautiful trappings.
+Curtius represents the emblem of the sun as glowing over the tent of
+the last Darius, who invokes "the sun, Mithra, and the sacred eternal
+fire;" and he tells us of the chariot of Zeus in the army, yoked with
+white horses, behind which was led a horse of remarkable size, the horse
+of the sun, with golden bridle and white covering, like those before the
+chariot. Dio Chrysostom tells us that the Magians reared a yoke of
+Nisaean horses for Zeus, _i.e._ for Mithra, which were the largest and
+most beautiful in all Asia, and a horse for Helius.[259] We can call to
+mind the battle-chariot of Mithra, "with golden wheels and silver
+spokes" (p. 110). These were imitations of the divine chariots of which
+the Greeks tell us, and if they were not in a position to distinguish
+accurately what belonged to Mithra (Auramazda does not come into the
+question), and what to Hvare Kshaeta (the sun-god)--Strabo is of opinion
+that the Persians called the sun Mithras[260]--we may still conclude
+with certainty from these statements, that the worship of Mithra and the
+sun-god remained more vigorous and effectual among the princes and
+nations of Iran than our fragments of the Avesta would allow us to
+assume, if the old invocations to Mithra, Tistrya, Haoma, Vayu, and
+Verethraghna had not been preserved in them. Yet the fragments do
+present us with an invocation to the sun-god, though weakened, it is
+true, and adapted to the new faith. "We celebrate the brilliant,
+immortal sun, whose horses are unwearied. When the sun gleams in heaven,
+the heavenly spirits come by hundreds and thousands, and spread the
+light over the earth for the salvation of the pure world, for the
+salvation of the pure bodies. As the sun rises, the earth purifies
+herself, and the fructifying waters of the springs, pools and lakes;
+the sun-god purifies all creatures that belong to Cpentomainyu. If the
+sun came not, the Daevas would slay all that inhabits the seven girdles
+of the earth, and the heavenly beings would not be able to withstand
+them; they could not drive them away. He who sacrifices to the sun in
+order to withstand the dark Daevas, the thieves and robbers, he
+sacrifices to Auramazda, to the Amesha Cpentas and to his own
+soul."[261] In the time of the Sassanids, the worship of the sun comes
+definitely forward.
+
+Plutarch states that the demon Areimanius had created an equal number of
+evil spirits to match the six good gods of Oromazdes, _i.e._ the Amesha
+Cpentas. The Vendidad mentions five of them: Andra, Caurva,
+Naonghaithya, Tauru, and Zairicha,[262] to which we have only to add
+Akomano, which has been mentioned already in the Gathas, in order to
+make up the number. They are all of them creations of the priests,
+partly invented to match the Amesha Cpentas, partly borrowed from older
+forms, which had lost their brightness among the Arians of Iran.
+Akomano, _i.e._ Bad disposition, is naturally the counterpart of
+Vohumano, or Good disposition: opposite Asha vahista, _i.e._ the most
+excellent truthfulness, the priests placed the demon Andra (Indra),
+_i.e._ an old Arian name which the Arians beyond the Indus had elevated
+to be the best warrior against the demons, the god of the storm. No
+special qualities of Andra are known or mentioned in the Avesta; the
+books of the Parsees can only say that he brings care and sorrow of
+heart to men, and makes narrow the bridge of Chinvat. The demon Caurva
+is the opponent of Kshathra vairya, of order and law, of good dominion;
+hence, according to the Sad-der-Bundehesh, he leads kings astray into
+despotism, and nations into lawlessness and robbery. Naonghaithya is the
+opponent of Armaiti, the spirit of humility and piety; this spirit
+therefore, as the Bundehesh maintains, makes men impatient and proud;
+the science of languages claims to find in this name a Vedic name for
+the two Acvins,--Nasatya (IV. 42). Only the last two opposing spirits of
+the Amesha Cpentas, the opponents of Haurvatat and Ameretat, display,
+like these beings, real characteristics. If they are the spirits of
+water and plants, of prosperity and long life or immortality, then Tauru
+is the spirit of thirst and sickness, and Zairicha of hunger and
+death.[263]
+
+If the ancient gods have preserved more lively traits than the Amesha
+Cpentas, the old demons have also more definite outlines than the
+opposing spirits. Such are the Daeva Apaosha, who parches up the land
+and keeps back the water from the earth; Cpenjaghra, the comrade of him
+who was struck by lightning; Zemaka, the spirit of the cold winter; and
+finally Azhi, who seeks to steal away the fire from men in the night.
+Among these evil spirits may further be reckoned a female demon
+Bushyancta, with long hands and of a yellow hue, who leads men astray
+into much sleep and idleness, who does not allow them to see the rise of
+the sun, and shortens the joy of existence;[264] the three Daevas of
+drunkenness, Kunda, Banga, and Vibanga; the Daeva Buiti, the spirit of
+lies and falsehood, who deceives men;[265] the spirit of flattery,
+Ashemaogha;[266] and the very wicked Ashma "of evil glance," who
+attempts to slay the sleeping, and withstands Craosha by night with
+terrible weapons.[267] Very evil also is Actovidhotu, _i.e._ the
+destroyer of bodies, and a female goblin, the spirit of the Daevas, the
+Druj Nacu. This spirit enters the body immediately after death, and
+exercises power over all who come in contact with it.
+
+Under Auramazda are united the gods, the Amesha Cpentas, the rest of the
+Yazatas (those worthy of adoration), in opposition to the troops of
+hell, the Daevas, Druj, Pairikas and Jainis, which are led by
+Angromainyu. The first are found in the light of sunrise, in the clear
+gleam of the pure sky; the latter in the gloom of sunset, or in the
+distant clouds of the north; in burial-places, and where the dead are
+placed; in all corners into which the light of heaven does not pierce;
+in the dark abyss under earth; in "the worst place."[268] On the summit
+of the mountain Arezura (Demavend, apparently), they take counsel how
+they are to turn the evil eye on men; how they can injure and slay
+them.[269] To them belong gloom, cold, drought, the barren land and the
+wilderness, thorns and poisonous herbs, hunger and thirst, sickness,
+death, dirt, laziness, lying, sin. Theirs are the harmful beasts, the
+Khrafctras; beasts of prey, wolves, serpents; all animals which live in
+holes and corners, lizards, scorpions, toads, frogs, rats, mice, gnats,
+and lastly mosquitoes, lice, and fleas.[270] To the good spirits belong
+light, water, springs, rivers, the fruitful earth, good plants,[271]
+trees, fields, pastures, good food, purity, truth, life in this world
+and the next; and theirs are the good animals, the animals of the
+flocks, the birds which nestle on the heights, and live in the clear
+air. The dog and the cock are worshipped in the Avesta as fighting with
+men against the Daevas. The first protects the flocks against the beasts
+of prey of Angromainyu. Of the cock the Avesta says: "The bird
+Parodarsh, which evil-speaking men call Kahzkatac (_i.e._ Kikeriki or
+the like), lifts up his voice in the last third of the night, roused by
+the holy Craosha at every divine dawn. He cries: 'Rise up, ye men;
+praise the most excellent truth; drive away the Daevas.' Who gives a
+pair of these birds to a pure man, in purity and kindness, gives as much
+as if he had given a palace with a thousand pillars and a thousand
+beams, ten thousand windows, and a hundred thousand turrets." "And
+whoever gives to a pure man as much meat as makes the size of a
+Parodarsh"--the book of Auramazda tells us in another place--"I who am
+Auramazda will ask him no other question on his way to Paradise."[272]
+According to the Avesta the dog and cock unite their powers against the
+Druj.[273] The bird Asho-zusta fights against the Daevas, and the bird
+Karshipta (the sacred hawk) announces the good law in the garden of
+Yima. Two other mythical birds, the two eagles (_caena_) of the sky,
+Amru and Chamru, are invoked as helpful powers.[274] They nestle on the
+tree of life in the heaven. Besides the tree Gaokerena, which grows in
+Ardvicura and bears the heavenly Haoma, the Avesta has also the tree
+Vicpataokhma, which grows in the Lake Vourukasha, and bears all seeds.
+When Amru sits on this tree, the seeds fall down, and Chamru carries
+them away where Tistrya collects the water, who then rains down the seed
+with the water to the earth. In the book of kings of Firdusi, Simurgh
+(Cinmurv), the king of the birds, carries Rustem on his pinions over the
+broad earth as far as the sea of Chin (China) to the tree of life.[275]
+A prophet of the Hebrews represents Jehovah as saying of Cyrus: "I
+summoned from the East the eagle, the man of my counsel."[276] Xenophon
+tells us that Cyrus, and the Achaemenids who succeeded him, carried as a
+standard a golden eagle on a tall lance;[277] and Curtius says, that a
+golden eagle with outspread wings was attached to the chariots of the
+Persian king.[278]
+
+The fragments of the Avesta which have been preserved do not give us
+very full information on the sacrifices. The essential matters are hymns
+of praise and prayers. The chief sacrifice is offered to one of the old
+deities, Haoma, the supporter and protector of life. When Plutarch
+represents the Magi as pounding a certain herb of the name of Omomi in a
+mortar, with invocations to avert Hades, he gives a correct account of
+the supposed tendency of this sacrifice. According to the Avesta the
+utensils for this sacrifice--the mortar, cup and bundle of twigs--were
+found in every house. The sacrifice consisted in the offering, _i.e._
+the elevation of the cup filled with the juice of the Haoma, during the
+recitation of the proper prayers. Beside this offering, which even now
+is offered twice each day by the priests of the Parsees, the fire is to
+be kept up perpetually, and fed with good dry wood and perfumes. The
+flesh of the sacrifice (_myazda_) is not often mentioned; yet the book
+of the law provides that a thousand head of small cattle must be offered
+in expiation of certain offences,[279] and we are told in the
+invocations that the heroes of old time, from Thraetaona down to King
+Vistacpa, had offered great sacrifices of animals to Ardvicura and
+Drvacpa, in order to gain the victory, viz. 100 horses, 1000 cattle, and
+10,000 head of small cattle. Herodotus tells us that the Magians, when
+Xerxes marched into Hellas, sacrificed 1000 oxen on the summit of
+Pergamus to Athene of Ilium, and at a later time white horses in Thrace;
+Xenophon maintains that the Persians sacrificed beautiful bulls to Zeus,
+_i.e._ to Auramazda, and horses to the sun, and burnt them whole;
+Athenaeus tells that with the king of the Persians a thousand animals
+were daily slaughtered as sacrifices; camels, horses, oxen, apes, deer,
+and especially sheep. According to Arrian, the Magians who kept guard
+over the burial-place of Cyrus received a horse every month, and a sheep
+every day, for sacrifice.[280] Herodotus has already told us, that the
+animals were led to a pure place, and when the sacrificer had invoked
+the god were killed, cut up, cooked, and then laid out on delicate
+grass. The Magian then sang the theogony, and after some time, the
+person who offered the sacrifice "carried away the flesh, and used it at
+his pleasure" (p. 85). Herodotus is better informed than Xenophon;
+according to the Avesta only the head of the animal belongs to the
+gods.[281] Obviously, as the nature of the gods became more
+spiritualised--and the reform prepared the way for this--the sacrifice
+of animals was restricted in this manner, so that it consisted
+essentially in the offering of the animals, _i.e._ in the consecration
+of the flesh. We may conclude from the statement in Athenaeus, that only
+consecrated flesh could be eaten at the court of the kings. Xerxes
+certainly would not have sacrificed to Athene, "a lying deity" of the
+Greeks, on the summit of Ilium; but he might very well have selected the
+last eminence in Asia Minor, "the many-fountained Ida," in order to
+offer there a sacrifice of 1000 oxen to Ardvicura for his victory beyond
+the sea--a sacrifice which corresponds exactly to the first offering
+made by Kava Hucrava and Kava Vistacpa to the same goddess for victory
+over the Turanians.[282]
+
+Temples and images are unknown to the Avesta. The reform preserved for
+the nations of Iran the traditional form of worship without images, on
+which it was founded. The accounts of western writers, from Herodotus
+and Xenophon downwards, establish the fact that there were only
+sacrificial places on the heights and consecrated fire-altars in
+Iran.[283] But this must not be taken to mean that the forms of worship
+and the images of the nations with which the Persians became acquainted
+after the foundation of their supremacy, especially of their nearest
+neighbours, the Semites on the Tigris and Euphrates, remained without
+influence on them. On the monuments of Darius we see the picture of
+Auramazda, cut exactly after the pattern which the Assyrian monuments
+exhibit in the portraiture of their god Asshur. We are also told of
+images of Anahita. Berosus maintains that Artaxerxes Mnemon erected
+statues to Aphrodite Anaitis at Babylon, Ecbatana, and Susa, and taught
+this form of worship to the Damascenes and Lydians.[284] From this
+statement, taken in connection with the account of Herodotus that the
+Persians had learnt to sacrifice to Mylitta,[285] the conclusion has
+been drawn that Artaxerxes II. introduced the worship of Bilit among the
+Persians. But it was not necessary to teach this worship to the
+Damascenes and Lydians (I. 358, 563), and even in the Avesta, Anahita as
+the goddess of the heavenly water is the goddess of fertility. Hence the
+statues made by Artaxerxes were, no doubt, images of Anahita the
+goddess, whom he invokes along with Auramazda and Mithra in his
+inscription at Susa. Strabo describes the worship of the Magians at the
+fire-altars of Cappadocia in a manner which completely agrees with the
+accounts given in the Avesta, and then adds that these functions were
+also performed in the enclosures ([Greek: sekoi]) which were consecrated
+there to Anaitis, Amardatus, and Omanus, and the image of Omanus was
+carried round in processions. He concludes with the words: "this (_i.e._
+the form of worship described) I have myself seen."[286] According to
+this account, then, Amardate,[287] _i.e._ the Amesha Cpenta Ameretat,
+who averts death, was worshipped there beside Anahita, and Omanus,
+_i.e._ the Amesha Cpenta Vohumano, the protector of the flocks, had an
+image. As this is all that we can discover about the image-worship of
+the Persians, it is clear that the influence of the picture-worship of
+Hither Asia and Egypt had no great influence even on the western nations
+of Iran. It is limited to the facts that Darius added the symbolical
+picture of Auramazda to his inscriptions without, however, building him
+a temple; that a century after him Artaxerxes II. erected statues and a
+temple to Anahita at Ecbatana; and that at a later time a portable image
+of Vohumano was in existence in Cappadocia.
+
+The nucleus of the old religious conceptions of the Arians--the desire
+to obtain increase and life from the gods--has been sufficiently
+disclosed; and that which could not be obtained in this world, the
+continuance of the individual life, heaven was to bestow upon them. This
+line was followed up by the reform; the spirits of health and long life
+were added by the priests to the circle of the Amesha Cpentas. When
+Zarathrustra had increased the means for the protection and support of
+life; when it became a fixed maxim that purity preserved life in this
+world and ensured it after death; the sharp insistence on the command of
+the pure and active and truthful life which men ought to lead in this
+world, became developed into the conception of a judgment on the souls
+after death. He who had lived purely, and given the Daevas no room to
+exercise their power on his body, became himself pure and bright, and
+could therefore enter after death as a pure spirit among the spirits of
+light. Thus the Avesta announces that "when body and soul have
+separated," the soul on the third night after death, as soon as the
+brilliant sun arises, and the victorious Mithra seats himself with "pure
+brilliance" on the mountains, comes over the Hara berezaiti to the
+bridge of Chinvat, _i.e._ the bridge of assembly or of assembling, which
+leads to Garonmana, _i.e._ to the dwelling of hymns, the abode of the
+good gods. Here the Daevas and the gods contend for the soul;[288] the
+judgment of the souls takes place;[289] here Auramazda asks the souls
+about their conduct.[290] The pure soul, whose odour the Daevas
+dread,[291] which approaches with virtue and sanctity, is joined by the
+other pure souls and by the souls of the dogs which keep watch over the
+bridge of Chinvat,[292] and the host of the heavenly Yazatas brings the
+soul of the good over the bridge into heaven. In contentment the pure
+soul goes to the golden throne of Auramazda, to the thrones of the
+Amesha Cpentas, to the dwelling of the pure. And Vohumano rises from his
+golden throne and inquires of the pure one: "How hast thou, O pure one,
+come hither out of the perishable to the imperishable world?"[293] But
+the souls which come to the bridge full of terror and sick, find no
+friend there; the evil spirits, Vizaresha by name, lead them bound down
+into the place of the bad, into the darkness, the dwelling of the
+Druj.[294]
+
+In the Veda the spirits of the fathers are invited to the sacrificial
+meal; they are to enjoy the gifts which are laid for them on the grass,
+to support the prayers of their descendants, to keep away the evil
+spirits, and to increase wealth. Each day water was poured there for the
+forefathers, and corns of rice were scattered for them; on the new moon
+the clans held the funeral feast for the dead; and we are acquainted
+with the consequences which attended expulsion from this banquet.[295]
+The belief in the spirits of the ancestors, and their continued relation
+to their descendants, existed also among the Arians of Iran, and the
+Avesta alters it only so far as to limit consistently the assistance
+given by the spirits of the fathers to the souls of those who have lived
+in truth and purity, and have thus found entrance into heaven. According
+to the Avesta the Fravashis of the pure--this is the name given to the
+Pitaras, or fathers of the Indians--protect their descendants against
+the Daevas, help them in distress and danger, and fight for their
+families on the day of battle, if they are honoured and satisfied by
+their descendants. It is only an old conception, repeated in the Avesta,
+when we are told: "We invoke the good, strong, holy Fravashis. Where
+strong men fight in severe conflict, there come the Fravashis with
+strong shield, iron helmet, and iron weapons; with Mithra and the
+victorious wind they go forward; strong warriors against the enemies,
+they are mighty saviours; strong conquerors, they destroy the victory of
+the enemy--the Turas (Turanians)."[296] It is due to the additions and
+modifications introduced by the priests that we hear that the hosts of
+the Fravashis watch the body of Kerecacpa till the resurrection, and the
+seed of Zarathrustra, and protect the sleepers from the rising of the
+stars till midnight.[297] As among the Arians of India the ancient
+belief in the fathers was retained in spite of all changes of the
+religious system, so also in Iran. At the close of the year, on the
+intercalary days which were added to it, the Fravashis come to their
+families, abide among them for ten nights, and ask: "Who will receive
+us, and sacrifice to us, and praise us?" and "if any one offers to them
+prayers and flesh and clothes, him they bless, and in his dwelling there
+will be abundance of oxen and men, swift horses and a strong car."[298]
+The Greeks had therefore reason to say that according to the doctrine of
+the Magians the air was full of spirits.[299]
+
+In another direction the system of the priests deviated far more widely
+from the ancient conception of the spirits of the ancestors. They held
+that only the pure and bright part of the soul could live on after
+death. Hence, even in the living they distinguished this part from the
+polluted part, and in the pure immortal half they saw the side created
+by the good gods, its true being, the Fravashi or protecting spirit
+allotted to each man. In the Avesta therefore rules can be given for the
+invocation of this pure part and nature of the individual soul, of the
+separate Fravashis. The priests then transferred this notion to the
+heavenly spirits, and even to Auramazda himself. His purest nature, his
+best self, must be praised and invoked for aid. Auramazda says to
+Zarathrustra in the book of the law: "O Zarathrustra, praise thou my
+Fravashi, the Fravashi of Auramazda, the greatest, best, most
+intelligent, best-formed, highest in holiness, whose soul is the holy
+word."[300] And in the prayers we are told: "We praise the Fravashis of
+the Amesha Cpentas, of the holy Craosha, of Mithra, together with all
+the Fravashis of the heavenly Yazatas. I invoke the Fravashi of the holy
+Zarathrustra, the Fravashis of the men of the ancient law, and the
+Fravashis of the men of the new law, the good mighty Fravashis of the
+pure, of the nearest relations, and of my own soul."[301] The Persians
+at the king's gate, according to the Greeks, set apart a separate table
+at each meal with bread and food for the "demon" of the king, and at a
+Persian banquet the host, according to Plutarch, calls on his guests,
+"to honour the demon of king Artaxerxes." Hence it clearly follows that
+the priestly doctrine of the Fravashis of the living was current even in
+Western Iran under the Achaemenids.[302]
+
+Zarathrustra had increased the means for keeping off the evil ones, and
+had made the struggle against the wicked spirits easier for men. But the
+time will come when the struggle will be no longer necessary, and the
+bright spirits alone will rule. This doctrine is indicated even in the
+Gathas.[303] In the book of the law Zarathrustra says to Angromainyu: he
+will smite the Daevas till Caoshyant is born from the water of Kancava
+in the eastern region.[304] Caoshyant, _i.e._ the useful, the saviour,
+is called in the Avesta, "the sublime, the victorious;" he will smite
+the Druj, and Aeshma will bow before him. He will make the world to live
+for ever, without age and death; the dead will rise again, and the
+living will be immortal. Vohumano will smite Akomano, Asha will kill the
+lies. Haurvatat and Ameretat will destroy thirst and hunger: "The
+evil-doer Angromainyu, robbed of his dominion, bows himself."[305] This
+doctrine of the Avesta also was well known to the western world. In
+Herodotus Prexaspes tells Cambyses that when the dead rise again he will
+see Smerdis and Astyages.[306] Theopompus of Chios tells us: Zoroaster
+had proclaimed that there would be a time in which the dead will arise,
+and men will be immortal, and everything will be done by their
+invocations. Last of all, Hades will pass away; men will then be happy;
+they will need no nourishment, and throw no shadows, and the god who
+will accomplish this rests for a time, but not a long time for a
+god.[307] It is true that men required no nourishment when Caoshyant had
+appeared, in the meaning of the Avesta, for Haurvatat and Ameretat had
+overcome hunger and thirst as well as sickness and death; and as the
+dark side of man was taken away, and only the bright side remained, they
+could not cast any shadows.
+
+As already remarked, it was part of the duty of the priests to bring the
+ancient legends of the old time into harmony with the new doctrine. We
+saw that the legends of Iran began with the happy age of Yima, and his
+reign of a thousand years full of increase and blessing. This conception
+of a perfect age for the creatures of earth at the very beginning of
+things did not suit with the struggle, which, according to the new
+doctrine, Angromainyu commenced immediately after the creation. The
+priests, therefore, conceived the beginning of things in a different
+manner. In their system Auramazda first created the heaven, then the
+water, then the earth and the trees, and after these the four-footed
+bull, and the two-legged pure man Gayo maretan.[308] In the Avesta the
+primeval bull and man are at the head, and time extends from Gayo
+maretan to Caoshyant.[309] The books of the Parsees then tell us that
+Angromainyu killed the primeval man and bull, but from the seed of the
+bull proceeded a pair of oxen, and then all kinds of good animals; and
+out of the seed of Gayo maretan grew up the first man and the first
+woman. As we have already remarked, our fragments of the Avesta identify
+the soul of the first created bull with the Drvacpa, the ancient
+guardian spirit of the flocks; next to Gayo maretan they place
+Haoshyangha, the Paradhata (p. 36), and represent him as sacrificing to
+Ardvicura, Vayu, and Ashi vanguhi, in order to obtain the dominion over
+the evil spirits.[310] After him Takhmo urupa rules the earth of seven
+parts; he sacrifices to Vayu in order to obtain grace to restrain
+Angromainyu for thirty years.[311] Then, according to the system of the
+priests, follows the dominion of Yima the son of Vivanghana, during
+which there was no cold and no heat, no age and no death, as was
+represented in the old views. Yima kindles the red-glowing fire. Flocks
+and men, _i.e._ life, increase; and the earth must be made larger. The
+end of this happy period, and the death of Yima, is brought about,
+according to the priests, by the fact that Yima refused to be the
+preacher of the doctrine of Auramazda, that he was unable to maintain
+purity and truth, and began to "love lying speech" (p. 41). As Yima was
+born to Vivanghana as a reward for his Haoma sacrifice, there follows a
+series of those who have offered the sacrifice: Athwya, Thrita,
+Pourushacpa, and their sons. To the first Thraetaona was born, who
+smites the serpent Dahaka; to Thrita Kerecacpa, who smites the serpent
+Cruvara; and to Pourushacpa was born Zarathrustra, who receives the law
+of Auramazda and proclaims it; by this law the Daevas will be warded off
+till Caoshyant appears, when everything which has once had life will
+come to life again.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[228] "Yacna," 56, 3, 1-3.
+
+[229] "Yacna," 28, 29, 42, 43, 44, 46, according to Haug's translation,
+which is not universally accepted; "Yacna," 31 after Roth. "Z. D. M. G."
+25, 6 ff.
+
+[230] "Yacna," 30, after Huebschmann's rendering.
+
+[231] "Yacna," 33, 8.
+
+[232] "Yacna," 31, 6.
+
+[233] "Yacna," 34, 1.
+
+[234] "Yacna," 50, 7.
+
+[235] "Yacna," 34, 11.
+
+[236] "Yacna," 41, 10, 11; cf. 57, 20.
+
+[237] "Yacna," 43, 18.
+
+[238] "Yacna," 44, 5. The passages in the text concerning Haurvatat and
+Ameretat are given after Darmesteter, "Haurvatat et Ameretat," p. 35 ff.
+
+[239] "Yacna," 31, 18.
+
+[240] "Yacna," 47, 1.
+
+[241] "Yacna," 47-49, according to Haug's translation.
+
+[242] "Yacna," 31, 3, 19; 33, 3; 46, 7.
+
+[243] Plut. "De Isid." 46.
+
+[244] From the invocation of the time without limit, _Zrvana akarana_,
+in the Avesta (p. 79), some have sought to draw the conclusion, that
+this is the supreme principle, and that Auramazda and Angromainyu
+proceeded from it. This is no less incorrect than if it were maintained
+that according to the Christian dogma God and the devil owed their
+origin to eternity. In the Avesta Zrvana akarana does not assume an
+important place either at the creation or in the worship. I have already
+remarked above, that the spirits of light are called in the Rigveda sons
+of Aditi, _i.e._ of the unlimited, the eternal. Parallel similitudes
+which, however, mean no more than the eternity of the gods, could be
+made even among the Arians of Iran. But there is a difference between
+speaking in similes, and derivation from a principle. The faith of Iran
+was not a philosophical system, but a religion; a religion cannot
+combine the good and evil god into one unity. It is only when
+speculation becomes master over religion, that conceptions of this kind
+can find a place; and this speculation, which sought for primeval
+cosmical unity, arrived as a fact at an identical origin for the good
+and evil spirit; but this was not the case with the Avesta. Centuries
+after the establishment of the canon we find the oldest form of such
+teaching in a demand made to the Armenian Christians that they should
+join the faith of Auramazda. In this we are told that the great deity
+Zrovan had sacrificed for a thousand years, and had received two sons,
+Ormuzd and Ahriman. The first had created heaven and earth, the other
+had opposed him with evil works. About the same time Theodorus of
+Mopsuestia in Cilicia (Phot. "Biblioth." p. 63, ed. Bekker), tells us:
+"Zoroaster called the creator of all things Zaruam, and described him as
+fate;" and in the sixth century Damascius ("De prim. princip." p. 384)
+writes: "The Magi and the whole Arian nation call the Whole and One in
+thought, space and time respectively; from this One arose the good and
+evil god, Oromasdes and Areimanius, or as others say light and darkness
+were divided before these." The sect of the Zarvanites, who deviated
+from the faith of Zoroaster, inasmuch as they carried these principles
+still further, has been already mentioned (p. 67).
+
+[245] "Mihr Yasht," 123.
+
+[246] Ashi vanguhi is in one passage called the daughter of Auramazda
+and Armaiti; "Yacna," 44, 4; "Vend." 19, 45; "Ashi Yasht," 16.
+
+[247] "Tistar Yasht," 50.
+
+[248] "Vend." 19, 40; "Yacna," 56, 10, 2.
+
+[249] "Vispered," 23, 1.
+
+[250] "Yacna," 44, 4; 46, 2; 13, 6; "Vend." 19, 45; Haug, "Essays," p.
+231.
+
+[251] Spiegel, "Eran," 1, 435.
+
+[252] Darmesteter, "Haurvatat et Ameretat," p. 68, 81 ff.
+
+[253] "Vend." 19, 30-34, 54.
+
+[254] "Din Yasht," 2.
+
+[255] "Rashnu Yasht," 8.
+
+[256] Burnouf, _l. c._ p. 417, 468.
+
+[257] "Gosh Yasht;" Yacna, 29; 39, 1.
+
+[258] "Vend." 19, 111, 112; 22, 22.
+
+[259] Herod. 7, 40, 55; Xenoph. "Cyr. inst." 8, 3, 12; Curtius, 3, 3, 8;
+4, 48, 12. Dio Chrysost. 2, 60, ed. Dindorf.
+
+[260] p. 732.
+
+[261] "Khorshed Yasht," in De Harlez, "Avesta," p. 34.
+
+[262] 10, 17, 18.
+
+[263] "Zamyad Yasht," 96; Darmesteter, _l. c._ p. 10.
+
+[264] "Vend." 18, 38.
+
+[265] "Vend." 19, 6, 146.
+
+[266] Burnouf, "Journ. Asiatic," 1845, p. 433.
+
+[267] "Vend." 10, 23. Windischmann, "Zoroastrische Studien," s. 138.
+
+[268] "Vend." 19, 147.
+
+[269] "Vend." 4, 139.
+
+[270] "Vend." 12, 65, 71; 14, 9 ff.; Plut. "De Isid." c. 46; Agath. 2,
+24.
+
+[271] Plut. "De Isid." c. 46.
+
+[272] "Vend" 18, 34-37; 64-69.
+
+[273] Cf. "Bundehesh," c. 19.
+
+[274] "Yasht Farvardin," 109; "Yasht Bahram," 19-21.
+
+[275] Kuhn, "Herabkunft des Feuers," s. 125; Darmesteter, _loc. cit._ p.
+55. Cinmurv has arisen out of _Caena (Cin), i.e._ eagle, and _meregha_,
+"bird;" Middle Pers. _murv_; New Pers. _murgh_. In New Pers. Cinmurv
+becomes Simurgh.
+
+[276] Isaiah xlvi. 11. In Aeschylus also an eagle represents the
+Persians and a falcon the Hellenes; "Pers." 205-210.
+
+[277] "Cyri instit." 7, 1, 4.
+
+[278] 3, 7.
+
+[279] "Vend." 18, 137, 138, 149.
+
+[280] Xenophon, "Cyri instit." 8, 3, 11, 24; Athen. p. 145; Arrian,
+"Anab." 6, 29.
+
+[281] "Yacna," 10. 38, 11, 16. Strabo, p. 732, tells us that the deity
+of the Persians received nothing from the sacrifice.
+
+[282] What Herodotus tells us of the sacrifice of girls and boys by the
+Magi in Thrace contradicts his own statement that the Magi did not
+venture to kill any one, and the whole conception of the Avesta. If
+Cambyses is said to have caused twelve Persians to be buried alive, this
+is not to be regarded as a sacrifice, but as a barbarous form of
+execution, which occurs also under the Sassanids. What Herodotus says of
+the fourteen boys offered by Amestris as a sacrifice, if true, must have
+its origin in some other superstition, not in the Avesta; and the
+actions of Amestris and Parysatis in this direction, as recorded by
+Ctesias, were in any cases crimes, not sacrifices.
+
+[283] Strabo, p. 732.
+
+[284] Fragm. 16, ed. Mueller.
+
+[285] 1, 131.
+
+[286] Strabo, p. 733.
+
+[287] Windischmann has shown, "Abh. Bair. Akad. phil. philol. Kl." 8,
+90, 120, that, [Greek: Amardatos] must be read for [Greek: Anandatos].
+
+[288] "Vend." 7, 132-136; 19, 90-100.
+
+[289] "Vend." 19, 89.
+
+[290] "Vend." 18, 68, 69.
+
+[291] "Vend." 19, 108.
+
+[292] "Vend." 13, 22, 25.
+
+[293] "Vend." 19, 100-108.
+
+[294] "Vend." 8, 252, 310; 19, 94; cf. 3, 118-121. In the Dinkart the
+proceedings on the bridge are related at greater length.
+
+[295] Vol. IV., 61, 163, 230.
+
+[296] "Farvardin Yasht," 35-48, 70, 71.
+
+[297] "Farvardin Yasht," 61, 62.
+
+[298] "Farvardin Yasht," 50-52.
+
+[299] Diogen. Laert. "Prooem." 6.
+
+[300] "Vend." 19, 46, 48.
+
+[301] "Yacna," 1, 47; 23, 6; Burnouf, "Commentaire," p. 571.
+
+[302] Plut. "Artax." 15; Theopomp. Fragm. 135, ed. Mueller.
+
+[303] "Yacna," 45, 3; 47, 1; above, p. 156.
+
+[304] "Vend." 19, 17-19; above, p. 135.
+
+[305] "Zamyad Yasht," 89, 95, 96.
+
+[306] 3, 62.
+
+[307] Theopomp. Fragm. 71, 72, ed. Mueller.
+
+[308] "Yacna," 19, 16-18.
+
+[309] "Yacna," 26, 32; "Farvardin Yasht," 135.
+
+[310] "Aban Yasht," 21-23; "Farvardin Yasht," 157; "Ashi Yasht," 24;
+"Zamyad Yasht," 26.
+
+[311] "Ram Yasht," 11; "Zamyad Yasht," 28.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE PRIESTHOOD OF IRAN
+
+
+In the form in which we have them the books of the Avesta are the work
+of the priests of Eastern Iran. According to the evidence repeatedly
+furnished by them, there were three orders in Sogdiana and Bactria:
+priests, warriors, and husbandmen. This sequence, which is uniformly
+preserved both in the invocations and in the book of the law, shows that
+the priests had risen above the warriors, and claimed to be the first of
+the three orders.[312]
+
+In considering the civilisation of the Bactrian kingdom we found
+ourselves compelled by the proximity of the nations of the steppes to
+assume, that when the Arians had become established there, the tribes
+which had a capacity or love for battle, undertook the protection of the
+land, the flocks and fields, against the incursions of the nomads of the
+north, and made battle and strife their special vocation. Such attacks
+increased with the increasing culture of Bactria, and led to a
+consolidation of powers; these clans raised one of their number
+distinguished in battle to be their leader, or followed him, and thus
+was laid the basis for the foundation of a great state. The importance
+ascribed in the Avesta to the splendour of majesty--we find the
+personification of good government in the Avesta among the Amesha
+Cpentas--in combination with the battles which, as we learn from the
+book, the princes of Bactria carried on against the Turanians, and with
+the statements in the West Iranian Epos about the kingdom of the
+Bactrians, together with the later condition of the country, allowed us
+to draw the conclusion that at one time the kings of Bactria were not
+without power and importance. They reigned, surrounded by the families
+of the warriors, who were enabled by their possessions in lands and
+flocks, to devote themselves to the practice of arms and to battle. The
+invocations to Mithra, Verethraghna, and Vayu, bear upon them very
+evident traces of a war-like spirit (p. 110, 114). That the spirits of
+the sky, which once fought with the cloud-dragons, have become mortal
+heroes in the Avesta, also proves--since even among other nations the
+Epic poetry which follows periods of warlike excitement transforms
+shapes of the sky into heroes of old time--that once on a time Bactria
+had experienced a period of warfare, when difficulties arose which it
+was mainly the business of the monarchy and the nobles to settle. The
+Avesta can tell us of arms and robes as well as of palaces with pillars
+and turrets; of earthen, iron, silver and golden vessels; of mats,
+carpets, and adornments of gold,[313] such as are found among noble
+families; and those hecatombs of horses, cattle, and sheep which the
+heroes in the Avesta sacrifice to Anahita and Drvacpa, in order to
+obtain their favour by victory, are no doubt borrowed from the
+sacrifices which princes and nobles were wont to offer in cases where
+the numbers must be enlarged in honour of the heroes. Yet we see that
+Xerxes orders a thousand oxen to be sacrificed at one time. We have
+already shown (IV. 390), how important and pre-eminent was the position
+which the races of the warriors, "the princes," occupied on the Indus
+and the Ganges, and what respect they commanded among "the free Indians"
+in the Panjab, even in the fourth century B.C. That a warlike nobility
+of a similar character, attitude, and position, existed in Eastern Iran,
+is the less to be doubted, as the order of warriors in the Avesta is
+denoted by a name (_rathaestar_) which goes back to the chariots of war.
+The husbandmen, who were settled beside and among them, bear in the
+Avesta the name of Vactrya,[314] but the word Vaecu is also used for
+them, which simply repeats the name of the Indian Vaicyas.
+
+Like the Arians of India, the Arians of Iran believed in the power of
+the correct invocations, prayers, and sacrifice; among them also the
+sacrifice strengthens the gods and increases their power. In India too,
+the priests, and minstrels, and sacrificers handed down in their
+families the knowledge of the effective invocations and ceremonies which
+exercised compulsion on the gods, and the same was the case in Eastern
+Iran; priestly families arose at a very early period. They did not here
+retain the name of supplicators, as in India; but are called Athravas in
+the Avesta. In the Veda Atharvan kindles the sacrificial fire, and among
+the Arians of India the incantations of the race of Atharvan passed from
+the most powerful. In a similar way powerful invocations and sentences
+were handed down in Iran from father to son in the race of the
+Athravas. These families preserved the ancient invocations to Mithra,
+Verethraghna, Anahita, Tistrya, which are preserved to us in the Avesta,
+though in a modified form. The god Haoma instructs Zarathrustra to
+praise him, as the other fire-priests had done (p. 124). The reform
+which bears the name of Zarathrustra cannot have left the condition of
+the priests unchanged. The doctrine may, as invocations in the Avesta
+would seem to show, have first found adherents in the race of
+Haechatacpa, to which Zarathrustra belonged, and to which he first
+proclaimed his law (131), and next in the race of Jamacpa and
+Frashaostra, who are spoken of as Zarathrustra's most zealous followers.
+According to the creed of the Parsees the good law also came to Aderbat
+Mahresfant by family descent (p. 62). These new races of priests, who
+knew the sayings, invocations, and prayers of Zarathrustra, would then
+be joined by those among the races of the old fire-priests who approved
+of the reform, and the priesthood thus formed would be further
+strengthened by those who, deeply impressed by the new doctrine, sought
+and found reception as pupils into a family of the priests, thus
+entering into their circle, and becoming members of their families.
+United by a new doctrine and settled tenets, the priests who represented
+the reform would become united together more firmly than the priestly
+families of the old time.
+
+The priesthood could very well claim precedence of the warriors; on
+their prayers and sayings, their knowledge of the custom of sacrifice,
+depended the favour of the gods, the power of averting evil spirits, the
+removal of pollution, salvation in this world and the next. Yet they
+could not obtain such a position as the Brahmans held on the Ganges
+after the reform of the ancient faith, and the victory of Brahman over
+Indra. For in Iran there was no order of Cudras, no vanquished remnant
+of an old population, which created a sharp line of division even among
+the orders of the Aryas; and moreover the Brahmans were the first-born
+of Brahman, a purer incarnation of the divine nature than any other
+order. The world had not emanated from Auramazda; there were in Iran no
+gradations of beings in which the divine essence existed in a more or
+less pure condition. All had to fight against evil deities and against
+evil; the priests were the leaders in this struggle--this leadership and
+nothing more could they claim. In their lives they studied especial
+purity of body and mind; and they were pre-eminently "the pure men."
+Only by their means, at any rate with their assistance, could sacrifice
+be offered; from their mouths alone could the correct invocations be
+uttered to the gods, and the evil ones be driven away. Men were
+compelled to submit to the rules of the life acceptable to the gods of
+light, of pure conversation, which were accurately known to the priests
+only; they had to take upon themselves the expiations which the priests
+prescribed, in order to wipe out offences and sins and their
+consequences--but they had not to reverence in them, as was the case
+beyond the Indus, a class of creatures raised by birth to a higher
+level. Hence the sharp separation of the priesthood from the rest of the
+orders, in the Brahmanic fashion, was at once placed out of the
+question. The priesthood of Iran perpetuated their knowledge and wisdom
+in their families; but they had not the right to bar all entrance into
+their families or their order on the score of higher birth, or to
+prohibit the marriage of priests with women of other orders, on the
+ground of their superior nature.
+
+From our fragments of the Avesta we may assume that although, as is
+obvious, the precedence of the priests above the remaining orders was
+strongly marked, and they were especially denoted as "pure men," the
+limits of their political and social position were far more modest than
+those of the Brahmans. So far as we can see, the Avesta allots no
+special income to the priests beyond the camels, horses, or small cattle
+given to them by warriors and husbandmen in quittance for the
+purifications they have performed. The penalties also which have to be
+paid in expiation of certain offences are to be given to "the pure men,"
+and the Avesta repeatedly recommends the presentation of gifts to them.
+On the other hand, the priests do not possess the exclusive right to
+perform purifications. The Vendidad merely says that any one who wishes
+to perform purifications must have learned the law from one of the
+purifiers, _i.e._ it is only the instruction of the priest which is
+indispensable in this matter. Any one who performs purification without
+such instruction (except in the case of necessary purifications, p.
+230), will take away from the places where it is performed, "food and
+fatness, health and all remedies, prosperity, luxuriance and growth, and
+increase of corn and fodder; and corn and fodder will not return to such
+places until for three days and nights the holy Craosha has been praised
+at the burning fire with bound withes and uplifted Haoma." The
+uncertified purifier is to be put in chains, his clothes taken from him,
+and his head cut off.[315] If it was permitted to learn the
+purifications, it follows that men not of priestly descent could enter
+the order of the Athravas, and the boundary line between this order and
+the rest was not impassable. Among the Parsees of India any one can
+become a priest. The duties of the priest, according to the book of the
+law, consist in watching and tending the sacred fire, in praising the
+good spirits, in offering sacrifice, and performing purifications, and
+in the ceaseless study of the holy scriptures. The priest is to be
+provided with a mortar made according to certain rules, a cup (for the
+Haoma sacrifice), the snake-switch (a stick for killing impure animals),
+and the Paitidana, _i.e._ a piece of cloth for veiling the mouth, in
+order that he may not approach the sacred fire with breath that is
+possibly impure. For the rest, the Vendidad lays down the rule that the
+priests are to be patient and content, and satisfied with a little
+bread, and they ought to eat what is offered to them.[316] Auramazda
+says; "Many men, O Zarathrustra, carry the Paitidana, the
+serpent-switch, the sacred bundle of twigs, without being guided
+according to the law. These are wrongly called priests; do not thou call
+them priests, O Zarathrustra. He who lies the whole night without
+praising or hearing, or reciting, or learning, or teaching--call not
+such an one a priest. Call him a priest, O pure Zarathrustra, who
+inquires of the pure intelligence the whole night, of the wisdom which
+purifies from sins and makes the heart wide, which has merits in store
+on the bridge of Chinvat, and causes us to attain the purity and bliss
+of Paradise."[317] The Avesta distinguishes different classes of
+priests, but the distinction only rests on the various acts which they
+perform in the sacred rites. The first rank is taken by the Zaotar, who
+utters the prayers and invocations (the Hotar, _i.e._ the Repeater of
+the Veda); next to him apparently is the Craoshavareza, "who speaks very
+wise and truthful things;"[318] he bears the club of Craosha, in order
+to keep the evil spirits at a distance from the sacred acts; then comes
+the Atarevaksha, _i.e._ the priest who causes the fire to increase, and
+attends to the worship of it; then the Acnatar (the Washer), who has to
+cleanse the instruments of sacrifice to keep them from pollution; the
+Frabaretar, _i.e._ the Carrier, etc. In the modern ritual of the Parsees
+all the duties of the sacred service have been transferred to the Zaotar
+and the Racpi, which latter discharges the functions of ministering
+priest.
+
+If we were only approximately correct in placing the date of
+Zarathrustra and the reform of the ancient faith at 1000 B.C., the
+formation of this priestly order, which took place on the basis of the
+new doctrine, may have come to an end about the year 800 B.C. We saw
+that from this date onwards the spread of the new doctrine must have
+begun in the west of Iran towards the Medes and Persians, since there
+existed among the Medes from 700 B.C. an hereditary priesthood, charged
+with the worship of the gods according to the regulations of
+Zarathrustra, and in this century it was already sufficiently numerous
+to be placed as an equal division beside the tribes of the Medes.
+
+We have no better information about the priests of the West than we have
+on the political and social position of the priests of Eastern Iran.
+They are not called Athravas but Magush. This name is first found in the
+inscription which Darius caused to be cut on the rock-wall of Behistun;
+afterwards it was consistently used by Western writers, from Herodotus
+to Agathias, for the priests of Iran. The Avesta has the words _magha_
+and _maghavan_, i.e. the powerful, the great,[319] but does not use it
+of the priests, which are always called Athravas. If the last title is
+taken from the fire-worship, the first allows us to see the importance
+of the priests. He who can use incantations to the gods and spirits--can
+summon or remove them--is the mighty one, the powerful. If in this name
+we have evidence of the respect with which the laity of Western Iran
+looked up to the priests, the difference between the names in the East
+and West shows that there were priestly races among the Medes and
+Persians before the religion of Zarathrustra reached them. Had not such
+existed before the reform, and had they not possessed a definite name in
+the West--had priestly families become known there for the first time at
+the rise of the reform--they would never have had any other name than
+that of Athravas. Even without this positive proof we might assume that
+from all antiquity there had been priests among the Medes and Persians
+who understood how to invoke the gods of light in the old Arian
+faith--Mithra and Verethraghna, Vayu and Tistrya--and tend the fire
+which destroyed demons. When the new doctrine reached from the East to
+Ragha and then to Media (p. 96), the old races who passed over to the
+new faith united with the families the members of which were the
+prophets of the new doctrine. The teachers of the Medes in old times,
+which Pliny called successors of Zarathrustra, might have stood at the
+head of this transformation of the ancient priestly families, of the
+creation of the Median priesthood on the basis of the new religion (p.
+92). However this may have been, the priestly families among the Medes
+were so numerous, their connection and union so close and firmly fixed,
+that they could be counted as a sixth tribe beside the other five Median
+tribes.
+
+Among the tribes of the Persians Herodotus mentions no tribe of Magi. It
+would be a mistake to conclude from this that there were originally no
+priests among the Persians, and to put faith in Xenophon's statement
+that Cyrus was the first to give the Magians the care of the sacred
+fire, "because he preferred to go on board with the pious rather than
+the impious."[320] No one will maintain that the Persians in ancient
+times were without worship and religious rites, or that when they
+accepted the doctrine of Zarathrustra, which did not permit sacrifice
+without Magians, they used the services of none but alien priests. Such
+a proceeding would be absurd. The proper conclusion from the fact that
+Herodotus does not mention a tribe of Magians among the Persians is that
+the priestly families there were less numerous; they had not broken away
+from the tribal connections to which they originally belonged, and
+formed themselves into a separate community. Further, from the fact that
+the priestly families of the Persians in old times had not formed
+themselves into a separate community, we may conclude--and indeed the
+conclusion follows from the position of Media and the notice in the
+Avesta about Ragha, and the observation about the ancient teachers of
+the Medes, who are said to have been followers of Zarathrustra--that the
+reform of the faith first came from Bactria to the Medes, that it was
+adopted and more strongly represented among them, and so passed on to
+the Persians. We cannot doubt that there were Persians belonging to the
+order of Magians. If Plato and his pupils call Zoroaster the "teacher of
+the Magians," and at the same time "a Persian," they must assume that
+there were Magians among the Persians; if, according to Plato's
+statement, the four teachers of the heirs to the Persian throne, of
+which one had to teach the Magism of Zoroaster, were selected out of
+"all the Persians;"--if at the time of Xerxes there were Persians who
+wrote on the doctrine of Zoroaster, they must have been initiated in the
+wisdom and knowledge of the Magians, and have known their invocations
+and customs; the contents of the holy scriptures and the scriptures
+themselves can hardly have been hidden from them. In order to prove that
+the Magians, _i.e._ the priests, belonged exclusively to the Medes, the
+fact has been brought forward that the Persians, after Darius had
+dethroned the Pseudo-Smerdis, celebrated each year the feast of the
+slaughter of the Magians, at which no Magian allowed himself to be seen,
+but all were obliged to remain at home.[321] The Magophonia was not the
+celebration of a victory over the Magi generally, but over the removal
+of a usurper, and the restoration of the dominion to the Achaemenids,
+which had been taken from them by one who happened to be a Magian.
+Herodotus at any rate calls this Magian a Mede.[322] Darius contents
+himself with calling him the "Magian." Hence there is no ground to doubt
+that both before and after the reform, families of the Persians were
+charged with the worship of the gods; the less so because Plato, as
+already remarked, represents the heirs to the throne in Persia as being
+instructed in the doctrine of Zoroaster, while Strabo and Pausanias
+speak expressly of "Persian Magi," and the chief Magian is enumerated
+among the tribes "which dwell in the districts of Persis."[323]
+
+When the dominion of the Achaemenids had been established over Iran, the
+priestly families of all the West must have been united into one
+community. There is no doubt that this remained an order in which the
+priestly wisdom and knowledge were traditional. Strabo, like Herodotus,
+calls the Magians a tribe; he adds that the members of it sought after a
+holy life. The tribe was large, he tells us in another place; Magians
+could be found even in Cappadocia. Ammianus also informs us that the
+Magians handed down their doctrines to later times, each by his
+descendants. Growing up through centuries from a small number, the
+Magians became a nation, and being regarded as dedicated to the service
+of the gods, they had acquired respect through their religion. They
+inhabited open villages, lived according to a law of their own, and
+possessed fruitful fields in the district called Nisaea. Agathias also
+calls the Magians a tribe.[324] But the separation of the priestly order
+in the West cannot have been more strict than that of the Athravas in
+the East. Marriage with the women of other orders was not forbidden, nor
+transition from other orders into that of the Medes. The Avesta speaks
+of the teacher and the pupil (p. 203); and it is expressly said--though
+the statement comes from the beginning of the third century of our
+era--that the Magians among the Persians, _i.e._ the Magians under the
+Arsacids, instructed even those who were not Persians in their doctrine,
+but only at the special command of the king.[325]
+
+We find the Magians in close proximity to the rulers of the Medes and
+Persians; they were not without importance and influence. In Herodotus
+they tell Astyages that they had and would have great honours from
+him.[326] Xenophon speaks of them as determining, at the time of Cyrus,
+which god is to be honoured on each day.[327] Cambyses charges Magians
+with the duty of watching the grave of Cyrus, and this office became
+hereditary in their families;[328] he also entrusts a Magian with the
+care of the royal household, while he marches with the army into the
+remote parts of Egypt and Nubia. The inscriptions of Darius showed us
+how much in earnest he was with the doctrines and regulations of the
+religion--how lively was his faith. On his march to Hellas, Xerxes was
+accompanied by Osthanes, a man skilled in the priestly dogmas, and by
+Magians; they offer sacrifice, and charm the storms.[329] The sacred
+fire which was carried before the kings[330] was conducted by Magians,
+and so also were the sacred chariot, the sacred horses of Mithra and the
+sun-god, in the campaigns of the Achaemenids (p. 167). Of greater
+importance was it that the heirs to the throne in Persia were
+instructed, as Plato tells us, in the Magism of Zoroaster,[331] which
+could only be done by Magians. Nicolaus of Damascus relates that the
+Persian princes were instructed by the Magians in truthfulness, justice,
+and the laws of their country;[332] and, according to Plutarch, Magians
+were the educators of the Persian princes; Magians also under the
+Achaemenids performed the consecration at the accession of a new
+king.[333] We are also told that this king of the Medes and that of the
+Persians, took the advice of the Magians on important occasions. Under
+the Arsacids they formed, along with the members of the race of the
+kings, the supreme council of the kingdom; in the time when this dynasty
+was at its height they ruled, as Pliny told us, "over the king of
+kings;" and we have seen (p. 60) that their influence under the
+Sassanids, at court, in the administration of law, and in politics, was
+even more powerful.
+
+Herodotus maintains that the Magians also occupied themselves with
+soothsaying and prophecy; like Ctesias, he ascribes to the Medes the
+interpretation of certain dreams and other miraculous acts. Of such
+interpretations and prophesying on the part of the priests the Avesta
+knows nothing, and those Greeks who were better informed, warmly
+contested the assertion that the Magians were occupied with such things.
+Plato tells us: "The Magism of Zoroaster is the worship of the gods;"
+and Aristotle assures us that the Magians knew nothing of
+soothsaying.[334] What Herodotus tells us, on the other side, he
+certainly did not invent, but repeats after his informants. The
+Medo-Persian Epos, which, though indirectly, forms the basis of
+Herodotus' account of the rise of Cyrus and the death of Cambyses,
+allowed a wide field, even in the account of the fall of the Assyrian
+empire (III. 264), to the astrological and prophetic wisdom of the
+Chaldaeans. From this we may conclude that prophecies of the Chaldaeans
+were not left out of sight at the overthrow of Astyages. In Nicolaus of
+Damascus it is a Chaldaean of Babylon who expounds her dream to the
+mother of Cyrus,[335] and possibly the kings of the Medes followed the
+example of the Assyrian and Babylonian courts in having astrologers and
+interpreters of dreams from Babylon about them.
+
+Whatever was the influence employed by the Magians at the court of the
+Achaemenids, the Arsacids and Sassanids, their influence was of a moral
+nature; it was only through the effect of religion on the heart and
+conscience of the king, that they could work; their position did not
+rest on any hierarchical institutions. In Iran the priesthood had no
+real means of power which permitted it to come forward in opposition to
+the power of the State. The priest was a subject of the king like any
+one else. It was within the king's power to proceed at his pleasure with
+the severest corporal punishment against the Magi, and it is abundantly
+clear that the kings did not shrink from inflicting such punishments,
+even if we do not regard as established facts the stories that Astyages
+impaled the Magians who had given him a false report, and that Darius
+caused forty Magians to be executed at once.[336]
+
+Diogenes Laertius relates that the Magians lived on lentils, bread and
+cheese, which agrees with the Avesta to the extent that the priests are
+there commanded to be content with a little food.[337] What Herodotus
+tells us of the duties and occupation of the Magians agrees entirely
+with the rules given in the Avesta for the Athravas. No one could
+sacrifice without a Magian; the sacrifices were offered on high places
+(in this Xenophon agrees[338]) or in "pure places;" the most delicate
+grass was spread--we remember the importance of the Kuca-grass in the
+Veda and the Brahmanas--on this grass the flesh of the sacrifice was
+laid; the Magians sang the theogony, _i.e._ long sacrificial prayers,
+and the sacred rite is fulfilled. Herodotus also asserts that the
+Magians took great pride in killing serpents, ants, and other winged and
+creeping things with their own hands; that human life was greatly
+respected by them; that the dog was held in high honour (p. 86); and the
+corpses of the Magians were exposed to dogs or birds of prey. This he
+declares that he knows to be the truth; Xenophon represents the Magians
+as beginning their songs of praise with the break of day, and as
+offering their sacrifices at certain places, which were selected for the
+gods. Curtius relates that they sang native songs.[339] Strabo told us
+above that the Magians sought after a holy life; he observes also that
+whatever was the god to which they sacrificed they first prayed to fire.
+At every sacrifice the Magians conducted the sacred rite; the victims
+were not slain with the knife but struck down with a club. No part of
+the flesh of the victim was set apart for the deity, for they declared
+that the god required only the soul of the animal; yet according to some
+they placed a small portion of the fat in the fire. "In Cappadocia there
+were enclosed places," Strabo continues, "in the midst of which was an
+altar, heaped up with ashes. On this the Magians kept up the
+unquenchable fire. Each day they went and sang for an hour before the
+fire, holding in their hands a bundle of twigs. On their heads they
+wore tiaras of felt, which fell down on both sides so far that the
+side-pieces covered the lips."[340] Pausanias, who observed the worship
+of the Magians in the cities of Lydia, says: "At both places there was a
+shrine with a cell, and in the cell is an altar; on this are ashes the
+colour of which is not the ordinary colour of ashes. When the Magian
+comes into the cell, he lays the dry wood on the altar, puts the tiara
+on his head, and sings the invocation to some god or another, in a
+barbarian manner, quite unintelligible to the Hellenes; but he sings
+from a book. Then the pieces of wood, without being kindled, ought to
+become lighted, and a flame from them should flash all round the
+cell."[341]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[312] "Vend." 2, 87-89; "Yacna," 14, 4-6. If in "Yacna," 19, 46 four
+occupations are mentioned instead of the four orders, and artisans are
+added to the husbandmen, this is only another theory, which does not,
+however, alter the series and system; in India the order of Vaicyas
+comprises husbandmen, merchants, and artisans.
+
+[313] "Vond." 8, 254.
+
+[314] Under the Sassanids we find a chief of the husbandmen
+(_vactriosan_), and a chief of the warriors (_arthestaran_); Noeldeke,
+"Tabari," s. 110.
+
+[315] "Vend." 9, 172-180, 187-196.
+
+[316] "Vend." 13, 126-129.
+
+[317] "Vend." 18, 1-17.
+
+[318] "Vispered," 3, 13, 14. Above, p. 165.
+
+[319] The Mobedh of Middle Persian is _magupat_, i.e. lord of the
+Magians (p. 60). The derivation of the name Magus from the Turanian
+_imga_ (apparently = honourable) can only be adopted by those who regard
+the Magians as descendants of the Turanians, or at any rate as
+containing a strong admixture of Turanians; a view which rests on the
+theory that the second series in the inscriptions of the Achaemenids is
+the Median translation of the Persian inscriptions. With this view I
+cannot agree; all that we learn from the Greeks of the customs, manners,
+and names of the Medes bears the mark of an Arian origin, and is in
+harmony with what is attributed to the Persians. In the inscription of
+the second class at Behistun, Gaumata is not called _imga_ but _magush_.
+
+[320] "Cyri instit." 8, 1, 23.
+
+[321] Herod. 3, 79.
+
+[322] Herod. 3, 73.
+
+[323] Strabo, p. 727; Pausanias, 5, 27, 3.
+
+[324] Ammian. 23, 6, 32-35; Agathias, 2, 26.
+
+[325] Philostratus in Rapp, "Z. D. M. G." 20, 71.
+
+[326] Herod. 1, 120.
+
+[327] "Cyri instit." 7, 5, 20; 8, 1, 8.
+
+[328] Arrian, "Anab." 6, 29.
+
+[329] Herod. 7, 191.
+
+[330] Curtius, 3, 7; Ammian. 23, 6, 34.
+
+[331] "Alcibiad. I." p. 122.
+
+[332] Nic. Dam. fragm. 67, ed. Mueller.
+
+[333] Plut. "Artaxerxes," c. 3.
+
+[334] Diog. Laert. prooem. 6.
+
+[335] Fragm. 66, ed. Mueller; cf. infra Bk. 8, c. 4.
+
+[336] Herod. 1, 128; Ctes. "Pers." 15. The excerpt says 40 Chaldaeans,
+but obviously Magi are here meant.
+
+[337] Prooem. 7. Above, p. 190. The further statements of Diogenes about
+the white robes of the Magians, their avoidance of all ornament and
+gold, of their lying on the ground, and staff of reed, deserve little
+notice, inasmuch as the source whence they are derived is unknown.
+
+[338] "Cyri instit." 8, 7, 3.
+
+[339] "Cyri instit." 8, 7, 3; 7, 5, 20; 8, 1, 8; Curtius, 3, 3, 8.
+
+[340] Strabo, p. 733.
+
+[341] Pausan. 5, 27, 5, 6.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE LAW OF THE PRIESTS.
+
+
+The rules concerning purity and purification, the expiations and
+penances necessary to avert the Daevas, which we possess in the Vendidad
+of the Avesta, are only the remnant of a far more comprehensive law.
+From the list of books and chapters traditional among the Parsees, we
+can see that it was intended to include not only all the invocations and
+prayers which the worship required, the rules of sacrifice, and the
+entire ritual, together with the Calendar of the year of the Church, but
+also the arrangement of the process of law, the civil and criminal code,
+and, moreover, rules for agriculture and medicine. If to this we add the
+statements and quotations of the Greeks (p. 53), we may assume that the
+scriptures of Eastern Iran comprised the whole sum of the knowledge of
+the priests. In the Avesta the Athravas had sketched the ideal picture
+of the correct conduct pleasing to Auramazda in every department of
+life. How far the princes of Bactria and the viceroys of Cyaxares and
+the Achaemenids, or even these princes themselves, and the judges, wished
+or allowed themselves to be bound in their decisions by these
+regulations of the priests, may be left out of the question. The priests
+here, like the Brahmans in India, could only influence the action of
+the State and those charged with it, so far as the reverence for the
+principles of religion and the force of their own authority extended.
+
+The existing part of the law has obviously arisen out of the questions
+and considerations sketched above, which in consequence of the reform
+must have forced themselves into the circles of the priests. The reform
+also required above all things purity from men, but no supernatural
+purity, such as the Brahmans demanded. The body is not in the Avesta, as
+it was to the Brahmans and after them to the Buddhists, the impure
+prison of the soul which must be abandoned; on the contrary the Avesta
+rejoices in its health and vigour. It requires that the body should be
+kept pure from filth, from contamination by the impure, which gives the
+Daevas power over mankind, _i.e._ it demands the exclusion of the
+harmful side of nature; it desires that the soul should be pure from
+pollution, freed from untruthfulness, lying, and deceit, which are
+contradictory to the nature of the clear bright gods, and Auramazda, and
+make men companions of the Daevas, and sharers in their nature. In other
+words, it demands the invigoration of the light and wholesome side of
+man. The kingdom of the good spirits is truth, increase, and life; the
+kingdom of the evil is deception and falsehood, lying, destruction, and
+death. The Avesta praises Auramazda as purity itself; and next to him
+Asha vahista, _i.e._ the best purity; the gods are chiefly extolled as
+"the pure," and Zarathrustra as the master and teacher of purity. The
+Avesta repeatedly declares "that purity after birth is the best thing
+for men." Hence it is the foremost of all duties to keep the soul and
+body pure. The worshipper of Auramazda must preserve his purity by good
+thoughts, words, and works; truth is required in thinking, speaking,
+and acting; uprightness and honesty in all the relations of life; the
+sacredness of promises and pledges, and solemn assurances, at which
+Mithra is summoned to bear witness. It is an old function of the god
+which appears here. He is the guardian of the word, and the compact.
+"Mithra is twenty-fold between friends and kinsmen, thirty-fold between
+tradespeople, forty-fold between companions who live together,
+fifty-fold between man and wife, sixty-fold between associates in
+sacrifice, seventy-fold between scholar and teacher, eighty-fold between
+step-son and step-parents, ninety-fold between brothers, a hundred-fold
+between son and father." "Miserable are the houses, without descendants
+the dwellings, inhabited by those who deceive Mithra. Miserably does the
+cloven-footed cow go on the wrong path, which is oppressed by the burden
+of Mithra-deceiving men."[342] In accordance with this view deception is
+in the eyes of the law the worst offence; worse than robbery or theft.
+Evil-speaking and calumny also are, according to the Vendidad, "lies and
+sins" against Mithra. The gravest offence of this kind is the calumny by
+which "a pure man" is disparaged "with a man of another religion," for
+this sin is committed with full knowledge, and by a man's own
+intelligence; and the worst of all lies is teaching a false law. "One
+who teaches such a law," says the Vendidad, "does no better than if he
+killed a thousand horses, slew the men in a village inhabited by
+worshippers of Auramazda, or carried off the cows on the wrong
+way."[343]
+
+It is not the least proof of the currency of the doctrines of the Avesta
+in the West of Iran that their ethical side, which gathers round the
+command of truthfulness, was there most distinctly recognised. King
+Darius has already told us that "the lie" had brought his kingdom into
+rebellion; the leaders of the rebellious lands, who gave themselves out
+to be descendants of the ancient royal families, he calls "liars against
+the kingdom." From their youth up, Herodotus tells us, the children of
+the Persians were instructed in truthfulness. He adds: Among the
+Persians it was forbidden to speak of that which it was forbidden to do;
+the Avesta requires truth "in thought, speech, and action." Lying and
+borrowing, Herodotus says, passed with the Persians for the most
+disgraceful acts, for they were of opinion that any one who contracted
+debts was generally compelled to tell lies. The Avesta says: "He who
+does not restore that which has been borrowed, seeks day and night to
+deceive the creditor." Plato states that the heirs to the Persian throne
+had, besides three others, a teacher whose special business it was to
+instruct them in truth. Xenophon assures us that pledges and oaths were
+religiously kept among the Persians; and Diodorus, that the pledge of
+hands was the strongest security among them.[344] Practice in Persia
+was, it is true, not equal to these injunctions, however sharply
+expressed; on the contrary, we often find the two in the most glaring
+contradiction.
+
+Not falsehood and lies only, but also laziness and sloth pollute the
+soul of man. The pious man must rise early. Craosha awakes the bird
+Parodarsh, we are told in the book of the law. At the return of the
+divine Ushahina, _i.e._ of the morning (p. 108), this bird speaks to
+those who are in their beds: "Friend, up, arise. Praise purity, and the
+Daevas will fly away. Long sleep, O man, is not good for thee. The
+Bushyancta runs up to thee, who lays again in sleep the whole corporeal
+world. Turn yourselves not away from the three best things: good
+thinking, speaking, and acting. He who rises first will come into
+Paradise; he who first brings pure, dry, old, well-hewn wood to the fire
+of Auramazda, him will the fire bless (p. 122)."[345] The pious man
+should be industrious and work; the best work is that which increases
+nourishment and fruit for men and animals, which furthers the increase
+and life of the world, and thus diminishes the kingdom of the evil, the
+power of the dark spirits. For this reason running water and growing
+fruits should be spread over the earth; "the field should be tilled, and
+trees planted which produce food." "When there are shoots," the law-book
+says, "the Daevas are in alarm; when there are stalks, the Daevas weep;
+when there are ears, the Daevas hiss; when there are grains, the Daevas
+fly."[346] "In the house where there are most ears, the Daevas are
+smitten most heavily." "The earth is not glad which lies untilled. The
+greatest pleasure is given to the earth where a pure man builds his
+house, provided with fire and cattle, and good flocks, with wife and
+child, where most corn, fodder, and grain is produced by husbandry,
+where the dry land is most watered, where fruit-bearing trees are
+planted, where cattle and beasts of draught leave the most urine."[347]
+"He who plants fruits and trees, who gives water to the earth where it
+is needed, and takes it away where too abundant, he worships the earth."
+When a man tills the earth she bestows life upon him; "as a friend to a
+beloved friend, she gives him descendants and wealth." To him who tills
+her, the earth says: "O man, who tillest me with the left arm and the
+right, with the right arm and the left, in love will I bear thee all
+kinds of fruit." But to him who tills her not the earth says: "Thou wilt
+go to the doors of others and there stand, in order to beg for food; in
+idleness thou wilt ask for it and get but little." He who sows corn,
+sows purity; the law of Auramazda increases with the fruits of the
+field; they extend the law of Auramazda by 100, 1000, and 10,000
+meritorious works.
+
+These regulations of the Avesta were fully accepted in the West. The
+great reverence paid to splendid trees by the Achaemenids is shown by
+Herodotus' story of Xerxes, that he furnished a beautiful plane tree,
+which he saw in Lydia, with golden ornaments, and appointed a perpetual
+guardian for it.[348] Ameretat, as already observed, was the special
+protecting spirit of trees (p. 164). Xenophon tells us that the Persian
+kings gave special attention to agriculture; on their journeys they
+inquired into the tillage of the land, and demanded similar attention
+from their satraps. Round their palaces and wherever they came they
+caused the most beautiful gardens to be laid out, planted with trees and
+all the most excellent shrubs in the world.[349] The satraps also had
+gardens of this kind (_pairidaeza_) round their residences, and the
+younger Cyrus assures Lysander, "in the name of Mithra," that he never
+took food before he had induced perspiration by work in the garden or
+exercise in arms.[350] The satraps, says Xenophon, whose provinces were
+found deficient in population and poorly cultivated, were punished and
+removed from their office, while those whose provinces were in good
+order, were rewarded by presents. When the king of the Persians
+conferred distinctions, those were summoned first who had distinguished
+themselves in war, and next came those whose districts were best
+cultivated.[351] Respect and reverence for trees was so deeply rooted in
+Iran, that even Islam did not extirpate the feeling. To this day in
+Shiraz old trees are presented with dedicatory offerings, and hung with
+amulets; and the pious prefer to pray under tall trees rather than in
+the neighbouring mosques; while in the barren regions of Iran even
+groups of bushes receive offerings.[352]
+
+Besides the care of trees, plants, and the soil, the labour of mankind
+must be directed to the care of the flocks, to the increase of the
+animals of the good god, and the destruction of the Khrafctras, or
+animals belonging to the evil spirit (p. 171). Cows are not held in such
+veneration in Iran as beyond the Indus, yet even here the "cow is not to
+be driven on the wrong way," and gomez (the urine of oxen) is the most
+effectual means of purification; in the theory of the priests Auramazda
+began the creation of living things with the bull. We have already
+mentioned the rank taken among the animals of Auramazda by the cock and
+dog. In the Vendidad Auramazda says: "I have created the dog with
+clothes and shoes of his own, with keen scent and sharp teeth, attached
+to men, savage against the enemy, for the protection of the flocks. No
+thief or wolf comes to the village or the fold and carries away anything
+unobserved, if the dog is healthy, in good voice, and among the flocks.
+The houses would not stand firm upon the earth if there were not dogs in
+the villages and flocks. The dog is patient, contented, and satisfied
+with little food, like a priest; he goes forward, and is before and
+behind the house, like a warrior; he sleeps less than the husbandmen, is
+talkative like a child, and friendly as a mistress."[353] The dogs are
+to receive good food, "for of all the creatures of Auramazda old age
+comes upon them the most quickly;" especially must the watch-dog be
+provided with milk, fat, and flesh, "the proper food" for a dog; and a
+dog must never be among those who are eating without receiving something
+to eat. Any one who gives unbroken bones or hot food to a sheep-dog or
+house-dog, and the bones injure him, and the hot food burns his mouth
+and tongue, so that he dies--is worthy of death.[354] Dogs with young
+are treated with the same care as pregnant women. It is a sin to chase
+or beat a dog which has brought forth; if she is injured or dies in
+running the sinner is worthy of death; and any one who beats a pregnant
+dog is to receive twice seven hundred stripes. It is the duty of every
+man to bring up for six months the dogs born on his ground, until they
+are able to run round in a circuit of twice seven houses.[355] Sick dogs
+are treated with the same remedies as rich men; and to the question of
+Zarathrustra--"If the dog will not take the remedies?" Auramazda answers
+that in this case "the dog can be tied, and its mouth opened with a flat
+piece of wood."[356] Wounds inflicted on dogs are to be punished with
+stripes to the number of twice eight hundred;[357] and besides this,
+compensation is to be given for the damage which thieves or wolves do to
+the village so long as the dog is prevented by his injuries from keeping
+watch. The book of the law everywhere threatens all those men who beat
+dogs that their souls will go from this world full of terror, and sick.
+To kill a water-dog is the greatest crime;[358] and is menaced with the
+worst penalties and expiations known to the Vendidad. As a general rule
+punishments do not go beyond 2000 stripes, or the necessity of killing
+2000 noxious animals; but the slayer of the water-dog is to receive
+10,000 stripes. Besides this, if he would save his soul, he must give
+10,000 parcels of hard wood, well hewn and dried, for the fire of
+Auramazda, and also 10,000 parcels of soft, fragrant wood; he must kill
+10,000 snakes, and an equal number of tortoises, lizards, and
+water-lizards, ants, flies, and rats. He must fill up 10,000 impure
+holes in the earth; give to the priests all the utensils required for
+the holy rites; to a warrior a complete set of armour; to a husbandman
+he must give all that is needed for agriculture: a house, provided with
+a beautiful mat, and arable land for tillage. In addition, he must give,
+as an expiation for his soul, fourteen head of small cattle to the "pure
+men," and bring up fourteen young dogs, and build fourteen bridges over
+running water. He must cleanse eighteen dogs from fleas, and make
+eighteen bones into edible food; and satisfy eighteen "pure men" with
+wine and flesh. If he does not perform these expiations he will go into
+the dwelling of the Druj, and "the heat which is injurious to the
+pasture will not depart from his dwelling until he has offered sacrifice
+for three days and nights for the pure soul of the water-dog, on the
+burning fire, with bound rods and uplifted Haoma."[359]
+
+In order to extirpate the animals of Angromainyu, the priest is to be
+provided with a stick, the Khrafctra-killer. Herodotus has already told
+us, that the Magians held it a duty to kill serpents, ants, and other
+creeping and winged insects. For the expiation of sins the Avesta
+universally requires the killing of serpents, lizards, and ants; rats
+and mice, which do harm to the crops; flies, midges, fleas, lice, and
+other vermin. Plutarch tells us that the Persians count him a happy man
+who slays most water-mice; Agathias observes that in honour of the chief
+festival in Persia every one killed as many snakes, and beasts of prey,
+and animals living in the desert, as possible, and then brought them to
+the Magians as a proof of his piety. In this way they believed that they
+did what was pleasing to the good god, while they injured and distressed
+Arimanes.[360]
+
+According to the Avesta, the soul of man is kept pure by truthfulness,
+industry, and diligence, by good thoughts, good words and acts, which
+advance the kingdom of life; the body is to be kept free from dirt and
+the house from filth and dead creatures; from all that belongs to the
+evil spirits and is in their power. The soul of man is created pure; but
+from the first the body has certain impure parts, and the defilement
+which Angromainyu brought into the bodies of men. This defilement
+consists in the spittle, the excrements, dead skin, sores, etc; in
+everything that has an unpleasant smell, or is removed from the living
+body, like the hair and nails. These when cut are dead, and therefore
+belong to the kingdom of darkness; hence in Iran as in India they are
+impure things. "Wherever cut hair and nails lie," says the book of the
+law, "there the Daevas gather to these unholy places; there the impure
+animals come, which men call lice. Therefore carry away--so saith
+Auramazda--cut hair and nails, ten paces from the pure men, twenty from
+the fire, thirty from the water, fifty from the sacred bundle of rods.
+Dig a hole below the house in the earth, pronounce the prayer
+Ahunavairya thrice, six times, nine times, and then say: To thee, O
+bird, Asho-zusta, I show these nails. These nails I dedicate to thee;
+may they be thy lances, thy swords, thy bow, thy swift-flying arrows,
+thy sling-stones against the Mazanian Daevas. If these nails are not
+announced to the bird Asho-zusta, they are weapons for, not against, the
+Daevas."[361] Spittle is among the worst impurities. The priests could
+only approach the fire with veiled mouth, and even now the Parsees
+invariably cover the mouth in praying. They eat in silence, and two
+never use the same spoon, because the food would then be polluted by
+spittle. The removal of the excrements requires as much care in the
+Avesta as it did in the Brahmanic law, and the Vendidad gives minute
+regulations in regard to these matters.[362] A man is rendered impure by
+excess and debauchery; a woman by her courses, "by marks and blood," and
+by the birth of a child. She must be carried to an elevated place in the
+dwelling, which is strewn with dry sand, fifteen paces from the fire,
+from water, and the sacred bundle of rods, "at a distance also from the
+trees," and so placed that she cannot see the fire on the hearth. No one
+may touch her. Only a definite amount of certain kinds of food can be
+given to her, and that in metal jars, because these contract the least
+amount of impurity, and are most easily cleansed; the person who brings
+the food must remain three paces distant from her bed. After childbirth
+a woman is unclean for three days; then she must wash her body with
+water and gomez. If she has had a miscarriage her body is also polluted
+by the dead child: she must be placed thirty paces away from the fire
+and the sacred objects of the house, and must pass a longer period on
+her dust-bed--at the present time forty-one days are required. The first
+thing she is allowed to taste is ashes mixed with gomez--three, six, and
+then nine drops. The nine apertures of her body--that number is common
+to the Indians and Iranians--must be washed with ashes and gomez. She
+may not drink any water out of her impure hand; if she does so, she must
+receive two hundred blows with the rod, and two hundred with the
+whip.[363] Fire and water, springs, streams and rivers, the best gifts
+of the good gods, must, like the human body, be carefully preserved from
+all filth and defilement. The accounts of Western writers prove that the
+Persians and Medes observed the rules of purification given in the Book
+of the Law; it was not the custom among the Persians to spit in the
+presence of another, still less to sneeze, etc. They avoided the
+defilement of a river, or of the shadow of a man; and it was forbidden
+to uncover in the sight of the sun or moon.[364]
+
+"The sun, the moon, the stars shine unwillingly," we are told in the
+Vendidad, "on the polluted man."[365] "The impure takes away prosperity
+and increase; he brings sickness and death; after death he will not go
+into heaven."[366] "But whatever pollution a man has contracted, and
+whatever sin he has committed, the good law quenches all impurity and
+sin, if the purifications, expiations, and penalties which it
+prescribes are performed and paid; for the good law of Auramazda
+surpasses all others in greatness, goodness, and salvation, as far as
+the heaven rises above the earth, and as the sea of Vourukasha includes
+all other waters."[367] "The good law of Auramazda takes from the man
+who praises it and commits no evil actions afterwards, his deception; it
+takes away the murder of the pure man, and the burial of the dead; it
+takes away inexpiable actions, and accumulated guilt; it takes away all
+evil words, thoughts, and actions, even as the strong swift wind
+purifies heaven from the right side."[368]
+
+Slight pollution is removed by washing with pure water accompanied by
+certain prayers and imprecations on the Daevas, such as: "I contend with
+thee, O evil Angromainyu; away from this dwelling, away from the fire,
+the water, from this place, from all the blessings which Auramazda has
+created. I contend against pollution, direct and indirect; against the
+unclean spirits; I contend against the Daeva Andra, Caurva, Zairicha (p.
+169); against the Pairika, who goes to the water, the earth, cattle, and
+trees," etc.[369] More serious impurities require ablutions with gomez,
+which in certain cases have to be repeated thirty times, with various
+prayers.[370] The most efficacious purification, which removes even the
+worst taint, is that of the nine nights. This can only be performed by a
+priest, who knows the law accurately, can repeat the sacred word by
+heart, and speaks the truth. A special place must be constructed for it;
+thirty paces (which are equal to ninety times the length of the foot)
+from the fire, the water, and the sacred bundle of rods. In the middle
+of this space nine pits are dug in the earth, and round them twelve
+furrows are drawn with a metal instrument. The purifier sprinkles the
+person who requires cleansing (who is entirely naked) with gomez, from a
+leaden vessel, with many prayers. He is then rubbed fifteen times with
+earth; he must then wash himself at each of the nine pits once, twice,
+thrice with water, after which he is fumigated with fragrant wood. Then
+follow washings with water and gomez in the third, sixth, and ninth
+night. "After this," says the book, "the purified person shall bring
+water of purification to the fire, hard wood, and perfumes; he is to
+utter praises to Auramazda, to the Amesha Cpentas, and to the rest of
+the pure ones--so will the man be purified." The purifier must be
+rewarded for this purification; according to the measure of the man's
+property the payment rises from small cattle and cows to camels; "in
+order that the purifier may go away contented and without hatred."
+Instead of cattle, goods of another description can be given. "But if
+the purifier goes away discontented, the wicked spirit of impurity comes
+again into the purified persons, and they are impure for evermore."[371]
+
+In the view of the Avesta impurity consists essentially in that which is
+opposed to life; hence there is no worse form of uncleanness than that
+caused by the corpse. The body, as soon as the soul has left it, belongs
+to Angromainyu. The fiend of death, the Druj Nacu, obtains possession of
+it, and from it she springs on all who touch it, or come near it. If a
+man dies, or a dog--and in this matter dogs are put quite on a level
+with men--and other men and women are in the same house--two, five,
+fifty, or a hundred--the Druj Nacu comes immediately from the north in
+the form of a fly, and settles on all the inhabitants of the house and
+makes them impure with infection, pollution, and uncleanness.[372] In
+the first instance she is to be met by incantations--the Gathas,
+Bisamruta, Thrisamruta, Chathrasamruta, must be repeated; then the fiend
+falls to pieces like grass that has been dead a year.[373] After this
+the hearth-fire must be removed from the house of the dead, and the
+sacred utensils--the mortar, the cup, the sacred bundle of rods, and the
+Haoma. In winter the fire can be kindled again upon the hearth after
+nine nights; in summer, when the need for warmth and cooked food is less
+pressing, after a month; any one who does not observe these periods is
+to be punished with twice two hundred stripes.[374] After purification
+the kinsmen are to utter prayers for the departed, and the number of
+these is fixed, in the Vendidad, in the same fanciful manner which is so
+often met with in the book of Manu. The number decreases according to
+the degree of relationship; for the nearest kinsmen thirty prayers are
+spoken; for the most remote, five; if the dead man has led an impure
+life the number of prayers is doubled in order to give efficacy to the
+petition.[375]
+
+The preservation and increase of life is the foundation of the teaching
+of the Avesta. The good life of nature is promoted by planting and
+agriculture, by tending the useful and destroying the pernicious
+animals; and by posterity provision is to be made for the life of men.
+From this point of view the Vendidad lays especial weight on marriage.
+"I declare," Auramazda says, "that the married is before the unmarried,
+and he that has a house before him that has none, and the father of
+children before the childless."[376] We can only ascertain very
+incompletely from the remaining fragments of the Avesta the rules which
+it prescribed for family life. We see that bringing about a marriage was
+regarded as a meritorious work, and marriage between close relations was
+considered happy. Yet maidens are not to be given in marriage before
+their fifteenth year.[377] To those who have long remained unmarried the
+god Haoma, the special protector of life, sends truthful, active
+husbands, gifted with good understanding (p. 125). We never hear of any
+difference of the orders in contracting marriage; nor is there the least
+hint that the priest can only marry a wife of priestly blood, or the
+husbandman a wife of his own class. On the other hand, the strictest
+directions are given that the worshippers of Auramazda are only to marry
+among themselves; marriage with those of an alien religion is severely
+reprobated. "A man who mingles the seed of the faithful and the
+unbelievers, the seed of the worshippers of the Daevas with the
+worshippers of Mazda, keeps back a third part of the flowing water, a
+third part of the increase of the blooming plants, and their golden
+fruits; he annihilates a third part of the clothing of Cpenta Armaiti
+(the Earth); he robs the just men of a third part of their power, their
+merits, their purity. They who do this are more destructive than forked
+serpents, than howling wolves, than the she-wolf which rushes on the
+flocks, than the thousand-fold brood of the lizard, which pollutes the
+water."[378] The Vendidad gives the house-father a similar power over
+his wife and children to that given in Manu's law--so far as we can
+conclude from certain indications. He is to be spoken of with the same
+reverence as the house-father on the Ganges; the wife is to be honoured,
+but is to "be watched perpetually, like the fire of Auramazda."[379]
+With regard to the education of children, we can only gather from the
+Vendidad they were to be tended for seven years; "protect dogs for six
+months, children for seven years;"[380] and boys are to be invested in
+their fifteenth year with the sacred girdle.[381] We remember the sacred
+girdle which the three upper castes wore and still wear beyond the
+Ganges; the investiture with this, and adoption into the family and
+caste--"the second birth" takes place, according to Manu's law, among
+the Brahman boys in the eighth year, among the Kshatryas, in the
+eleventh, and the Vaicyas in the twelfth. The habit of wearing the
+girdle, which prevails on both sides of the Indus, proves that this
+custom was in use before the two branches of the Arians separated.
+Originally the girdle was intended to be a protection or amulet against
+the evil spirits.[382] In the girdle which the priests prepare with
+traditional ceremonies, and put on boys in their seventh or tenth year,
+the modern Parsees see the bond which encloses and unites the
+worshippers of Auramazda.
+
+If I attempt to supplement the scanty hints of the Avesta on family life
+from the accounts preserved to us on this subject by Western writers, it
+must be remembered that the more ancient of these statements hold good
+only of the West of Iran. But as we have hitherto found the worship and
+manners of the Persians and Medes, as described by the Greeks, agreeing
+with the rules of the Avesta, we may suppose that in this province also
+East and West were in agreement. Herodotus states that the Persians
+married many wives, and had concubines in addition. They considered it
+honourable and right to have as many children as possible; next to
+bravery in war it was the greatest merit to have many children, and the
+king sent presents every year to the man who had most.[383] Of all days
+the Persians celebrated most the day on which they were born. A more
+abundant meal was served on this day: among the wealthy an ox, a horse,
+or a camel was roasted whole; and smaller animals among those who were
+poorer. Plato adds: "When the first son, the heir of the kingdom, was
+born to the king of Persia, all the subjects of the king celebrated the
+day, and on the birthday of the king there were festivals and sacrifices
+throughout all Asia."[384] Herodotus observes, that the respect of
+children for their parents was great. The Persians regarded the murder
+of parents by a son as impossible; if such a thing happened they
+believed that the child was supposititious.[385] Aristotle tells us that
+the power of the father over the sons among the Persians was tyrannical,
+_i.e._ unlimited; he treated them as slaves.[386] That the mother was
+also treated with respect follows from the statement that the son might
+not remain seated when the mother entered, and could only resume his
+seat at her permission. At the court of the Achaemenids the mother of the
+king had the first place, the king the second.[387] That the
+queen-mother often exercised great influence is shown by the history of
+this ruling family. Of the careful education of the heir to the throne,
+the other princes, and the sons of the wealthy Persians, both in the
+exercise and strengthening of their bodies and in moral training, the
+Western writers had much to tell.
+
+What the Greeks narrate respecting the celebration of the birthday among
+the Persians, the distinction of the satraps whose provinces were best
+cultivated and populated, and the rewards given to those who had most
+children, agrees entirely with the delight in life which runs through
+the Avesta, and the exhortations to increase life everywhere present in
+that book. The Avesta always speaks of one wife only. The polygamy
+noticed by the Greeks was limited to the rich (the number of wives among
+the Persians, says Ammian, was regulated by property[388]); in
+consequence of the religious feeling just noticed, it prevailed, no
+doubt, far more extensively among the Arians of Iran than among the
+Indians. Yet the harems of the Indian princes were large. However
+numerous the harems of the Achaemenids, only one wife was the lawful
+wife; and she alone, as in India, bore the name of queen: only her sons
+could be considered heirs to the throne. The other wives greeted the
+queen on their knees: the queen must belong to the race of the
+Achaemenids, or at any rate to one of the six tribal princes.[389] The
+same was the case among the rest of the Persians who had several wives;
+one only was the house-wife. The Avesta told us above that the wife must
+be watched. According to Plutarch the Persians were more strict in this
+matter than the rest of the barbarians; they kept not only the wife but
+the concubines shut up, and they left the houses in covered cars
+only.[390] Manu's law also requires that women should be watched (IV.
+263). The power of the father, and the respectful attitude of the
+children to the mother, correspond to the principles of family life
+which we have seen beyond the Indus. Yet, so far as we can see, marriage
+was not in Iran so close and firmly established a relation as among the
+Arians of India, where the wife belonged absolutely to the man, and
+surrendered herself in complete devotion to him; nor did the relation of
+children to parents in Iran experience that excellent and happy
+development which on the whole attended it in India, and of which we can
+still perceive the results. If Western writers maintain that it was the
+custom among the Persians to take the nearest relations in marriage, so
+that even the brother married the sister (of which Herodotus gives an
+example in Cambyses) and the son the mother after the father's death
+(the latter is said to have prevailed especially among the
+Magi)[391]--the Avesta, as we have seen, declared marriages between near
+relations to be good, and the history of the Achaemenids mentions
+marriage with sisters more than once. The more extreme assertions,
+especially in regard to the Magi, are to be regarded as exaggerations of
+the Greeks, and owed their origin to their astonishment at a custom
+which was more than revolting. On the relation of the sexes both before
+and after marriage, and other matters connected with procreation, the
+Vendidad supplies a number of minute regulations.[392]
+
+The preservation of life also receives great attention in the Avesta. We
+remember the incantations of the Rigveda which banish sickness into
+thrushes and woodpeckers, and the sentences of the Atharvaveda against
+sickness and death (IV. 281). The remedies of the Veda are water and
+plants. All remedies are in water; the waters of the springs and the
+waters of the rivers drive away sickness. The plants said, when they
+came from heaven, that they descended from the water of the sky. "The
+mortal whom we touch will suffer no harm." "May Agni protect me with the
+waters, and Soma with the plants," we are told in the Veda; and again:
+"The plants whose king is Soma, have rescued me from death."[393] The
+priest who knows the sentences is at the same time the physician, though
+the Rigveda has a separate name for the latter (IV. 35). How highly the
+Indians respected doctors and physicians at a later time, in spite of
+the theory of the Brahmans of the unworthiness of the body, and how it
+was the custom there in the sixth century B.C. to send for the physician
+in every sickness, has been mentioned in its place (IV. 323). Proceeding
+from precisely the same conceptions, the Avesta went on to fill several
+books with medical remedies. The best mode of healing is that by charms,
+and the sacred word. In such incantations of the Avesta we are told: "I
+contend against sickness, I contend against death, I contend against
+pain, I contend against fever, I contend against the corruption and
+pollution which Angromainyu has created in the body of men. Sickness, I
+curse thee; fever, I curse thee; death, I curse thee."[394] The sacred
+word is invoked to heal by its power. "Mayst thou heal me, O Manthra
+Cpenta. As a recompense I will give to thee a thousand stall-fed oxen, a
+thousand spotless cattle, a thousand swiftly-running horses, a thousand
+camels, swift and with strong backs. I will bless thee with beautiful,
+pious blessings; with dear, pious blessings, which make the deficient
+full, and the full to overflow, which bind the friend and make the bond
+firm."[395] As in the Veda, the remedies are water and plants, "Draw up,
+ye clouds, draw up," we are told in the Vendidad; "Let the water fall as
+thousand-fold, ten thousand-fold rain, to drive away sickness, to drive
+away corruption, to drive away death. May it rain for the renewal of the
+waters, the earth, the plants, the means of healing."[396] As in the
+Veda Soma is the king of plants, so in Iran Haoma, the god of life, is
+the lord of plants.[397] The white heavenly Haoma grows, as we have
+seen, on the Gaokerena, the tree of heaven; from it springs the earthly
+Haoma and all plants of which the seed falls from the tree Vicpotaokhma
+in Vourukasha, which the bird Chamru carries where Tistrya collects the
+clouds, in order to let the seed fall down from them to the earth.[398]
+"I, who am the giver of all blessings," says Auramazda, "created this
+dwelling (the earth), the beautiful, brilliant, and noteworthy; then
+Angromainyu, who is full of death, created nine diseases, ninety
+diseases, nine hundred diseases, nine thousand diseases, nine and ninety
+thousand diseases. Thrita desired as a favour a means to withstand
+death, to withstand pain, to withstand the heat of fever, and the evil
+corruptions and filth which Angromainyu has brought into the body of
+men. Then I, who am Auramazda, brought forth the healing plants, many
+hundreds, many thousands, many tens of thousands, around the one
+Gaokerena." The invocation then follows: "We bless thee, we invoke thee,
+we worship thee for the healing of the body of men, in order to drive
+away sickness, in order to drive away death, the hot fever and the cold
+fever."[399]
+
+Thrita, a spirit of heaven, who has a place among the sages and
+sacrificers of old time (p. 42) was, in the Avesta, the first physician
+who kept back disease and death; and every one who follows in his
+course, every physician, must appear as a willing combatant, an active
+co-operator against the evil spirits, from whom death and disease
+proceed. According to the Vendidad, those have the first place among the
+physicians who heal by charms, _i.e._ by the sacred word, the words of
+the law; these are the "physicians of physicians;" next come the
+physicians who heal by remedies; and last of all, those who heal by the
+knife.[400] These latter must first use the knife on the worshippers of
+the Daevas; when they have done so three times, and the patient has died
+each time, they are incapable for ever of practising the art of healing.
+But if they have healed three worshippers of the Daevas, they are
+capable of "healing the worshippers of Auramazda, and they can try their
+skill upon them as they please." The physician is not only to heal sick
+men, but sick animals also, and above all the sick dog. The Vendidad
+fixes the sum which the physician is to receive for his services. He is
+to heal a priest, and ask for no more than his blessing. For healing the
+overseer of a district he is to receive a yoke of four oxen, and for his
+wife a she-camel; the overseer of a canton is to pay a large beast of
+draught, and his wife a mare; the head of a village pays a smaller
+beast, and his wife a cow; the head of a house a small beast, and his
+wife a she-ass. For healing a large beast of draught the price is a
+beast of moderate size; and for one of moderate size, a head of small
+cattle, etc.[401] Pliny quotes a number of remedies and means of cure
+used by the Magi, some of them of an extraordinary character; indeed,
+the impression made on Pliny by the importance ascribed to medicine in
+the doctrine of Zarathrustra was so great, that he maintained that the
+Magism of Zoroaster had arisen out of the art of healing, and had
+introduced, as it were, a higher and sacred medicine. To this was
+subsequently added the power of religion, and the mathematical arts of
+investigating the future by the heavens, so that Zoroaster's doctrine
+had taken possession of the mind of men by a three-fold bond.[402] How
+greatly he is mistaken in ascribing to the Magians the astrology of the
+Chaldaeans, has been remarked above; the mistake is explained by the
+fact, that the Avesta includes the astronomical knowledge of the priests
+of Iran in the books which treated of medicine (p. 52).
+
+The astronomical chapters are lost as well as those on medicine. From
+our fragments we cannot so much as fix the year by which the Avesta
+reckons. We merely perceive that it counted by nights, not by days. It
+is from the Bundehesh that we first learn that the year of Eastern Iran
+is made up of 360 days in twelve months of thirty days, with five
+additional days. This year is said to have begun with the vernal
+equinox, _i.e._ the period when the vigour of nature again shows itself.
+In the last five nights of the old year, and the first five nights of
+the new one, the spirits of the forefathers, the Fravashis, come to
+their descendants in the houses; they awake with nature to new life (p.
+179). The first month is called Farvardin after these spirits; of the
+remaining eleven, six are called after the Amesha Cpentas, and the
+remaining five, which are inserted between the six, after Mithra,
+Tistrya, the spirits of fire and water, and lastly after the law (Din).
+The inscriptions of the Achaemenids give us nine names of months entirely
+different from these. Hence the West had its own calendar, as well as
+its own alphabet, and made use of it as early as the year 500 B.C. In
+the East the calendar of the Avesta was in use; and this seems to have
+been current in the West also in the first half of the fourth century
+B.C. There is no doubt whatever that it was the standard for all Iran at
+the time of the Sassanids.[403]
+
+We have already set forth in detail what weight the Avesta lays on
+purity, and the avoidance of contact with dead matter, which has fallen
+into the power of the Daevas. From these points of view, in consequence
+of the reform, the priests in Iran came to adopt a peculiar mode of
+burial. Among the Arians of the Panjab the oldest form of burial was
+interment, and in time cremation came into use (IV. 62). But could the
+Athravas allow anything so unclean as a corpse to be laid on fire, the
+pure "son of Auramazda"? If the corpse was thrown into water the pure
+water was defiled; if buried in the earth pollution was cast on the
+beautiful, submissive daughter of Auramazda. Nothing therefore remained
+for the priests but to leave the corpse above the earth; in this case it
+served the pure animals, the birds and dogs, for nourishment, and was
+thus destroyed in the best manner. To throw a corpse into water, to bury
+or burn it, are great sins, actions which do not admit of
+expiation,[404] and those who do such things "help the drought which
+destroys the pasture, and the evil onsweeping winter, which kills the
+flock, and is full of snow; such men are impure for ever."[405] Any one
+who buries a dead dog or a dead man in the earth, and does not dig the
+body up again within half a year, is to receive twice five hundred
+stripes; any one who allows it to remain in the earth for a year, is to
+receive twice a thousand stripes; but if a man leaves a corpse in the
+earth for more than two years, there is for him neither penalty, nor
+expiation, nor purification.[406]
+
+The dead are to be carried away on peculiarly dry paths, little trodden
+by cattle, beasts of draught, and pure men, and laid on the driest and
+barest places in the earth, on the highest eminences where carnivorous
+birds and dogs may most easily see them.[407] The soil is to be dug out,
+waist deep, if the earth is soft; if hard, to the depth of half a foot,
+and this depression is to be filled with tiles, stones, and dust; for
+damp earth contracts pollution most readily, whereas stones, tiles, and
+dust contract it very slowly. To this place (Dakhma) the naked corpse is
+to be taken on a bier, which has a foundation of stones or tiles, by
+two strong men--never by one: one bearer would pollute himself for ever,
+and the Druj Nacu would never leave him. Any one who throws a cloth on
+the dead must be punished with twice four hundred, or twice a thousand
+stripes, according to the size of the cloth. The corpse is to be placed
+on the Dakhma, with the face turned to the sun (any one who does not
+place the body with its face to the sun, is to pay the same penalty as
+is prescribed for the murder of a pure man[408]): the corpse is then to
+be secured in its place by iron, stones, or lead, attached to the feet
+or hair, in order that the birds and dogs may not carry away the bones
+and remains to water and trees: the neglect of these fastenings is to be
+punished with twice two hundred stripes.[409] If it rains or snows, or
+the wind is strong, so that the necessary preparations cannot be made on
+the day of death, the corpse can be carried on its own bed and mat to
+the Dakhma.[410]
+
+At these burial-places the Daevas hold their meetings; there they
+propagate and assemble, "in order to bring to death, fifty, a hundred, a
+thousand, ten thousand, an innumerable host of men;" there the Daevas
+are most dangerous and deadly to men: for in the places of burial are
+"infection, disease, fever, impurity, ague, trembling, and old hair." A
+Dakhma is not pure till the body has been eaten by dogs and birds, till
+the remains have entirely changed into dust, and become utterly mixed up
+with the foundation of mortar, tiles, and stones. When this point has
+been reached, the Dakhma should be levelled. Such destruction of the
+place of burial is regarded by the law-book as the annihilation of death
+itself; as one of the highest virtues of the faithful. "He who levels
+only so much as the size of his own body of a burial-place," says the
+book of the law, "has repented of all his sins which he has committed in
+thought, speech, and action; he has not only repented of them, but he
+has expiated them, and the two heavenly powers will not begin a contest
+about his entrance into paradise."[411]
+
+The prescriptions of the law for the purification of the vessels and
+clothes which have touched the corpse, are given from regard to utility,
+and from the point of view of a certain simple rationalism, which forms
+an advantageous contrast between Iran and India. Vessels of lead, wood,
+and earth, are impure for ever; vessels of gold and silver can be taken
+into use again after a number of washings with gomez. Garments on which
+spittle, moisture, or dung have fallen are to be cut in pieces and
+buried; in other cases they can be purified with gomez, water, and
+earth, and aired, and then again taken into use for women at the time of
+impurity. The house of the dead is pure when the period for the
+extinction of the fire is over, when the prayers appointed for the dead
+have been said, and the inhabitants of the house have had their bodies
+and clothes washed three times, and the sacred hymns have been sung (p.
+215).
+
+For the bearers, who have carried a corpse to the Dakhma, and those who
+in any way have come into contact with a corpse, special forms of
+purification are necessary. The washing of the bearers must be begun
+immediately after the corpse has been deposited. For this purpose the
+gomez of the nearest male and female relation of the dead is required as
+well as that of "cattle and beasts of draught." At the last washing the
+Druj Nacu springs out of the forehead between the eyebrows, from thence
+to the shoulders and under the arms, until at length by continued
+ablutions she is driven into the left toes, and is compelled to pass
+away from there to the north in the form of a fly.[412] In order to
+purify the way on which the dead has been carried to the Dakhma, a dog
+must be led along it, three times, six times, and nine times. Then a
+priest must walk along it, who pronounces the "victorious words," _i.e._
+certain exorcisms. "I drive back the Daevi Druj, so that she flies to
+the North. Avaunt! She must not slay the corporeal world of the pure.
+May Auramazda and Cpenta Armaiti protect us from our enemies; may
+Craosha come, and Vohumano."[413] The worst of all forms of pollution is
+that contracted by touching a corpse in a distant place in solitude, for
+here the power of the demon was greatest. Any one to whom this has
+happened, is to wash himself fifteen times with water, and rub himself
+an equal number of times with earth, to hurry away from the spot, and
+call out to every one whom he meets: "I have touched a dead body,
+without wishing it in thought, word, or deed; my desire is
+purification." Every one is to avoid him unless he wishes to bring on
+himself the guilt of the impure man.[414]
+
+Pools and streams are polluted by corpses till the corpses have been
+removed and rain has thrice fallen upon the water; after this cattle and
+men can again drink of the water. So long as the corpse lies in a river,
+the fiend of death extends over nine paces above and three paces below
+it, and six paces on either side; in a pool the domain of the fiend is
+six paces in every direction; in snow and ice-water it is three paces.
+When Zarathrustra asks, whether the water which falls from heaven on the
+corpse is impure, the god answers, "I, Auramazda, allow the water to go
+forth from Lake Vourukasha, with storms and clouds, and to fall on a
+corpse; I, Auramazda, and to flow upon a burial-place, and upon a
+dung-heap, and carry away a bone, and wash all into Lake Puitika (the
+pool of purification in heaven). When purified the waters flow from Lake
+Puitika into Lake Vourukasha. I, Auramazda, rain down herbs of all
+kinds, to be food for the pious men, food for the useful cattle. With
+such speeches Auramazda appeased the just Zarathrustra."[415]
+Zarathrustra further inquires, whether corpses which have been carried
+by dogs, wolves, and panthers to a field make the field and men impure?
+Auramazda, as frequently happens in such cases, argues from the point of
+view of the possible and attainable. "If such corpses," says the god,
+"rendered men impure, all mankind would quickly be rendered impure owing
+to the multitude of the corpses which are upon the earth." But
+Zarathrustra is not satisfied; he says: "A man dies in the hollow of a
+valley; from the heights of the mountains a bird flies down to the
+valley, and then back to the summit of a mountain, and alights on a tree
+of hard or soft wood. There he is sick and voids excrements. Then a man
+goes up from the valley to the summit of the mountain, and comes to the
+tree, on which the bird has sat, and seeks fuel for his fire. He cuts
+the tree down, splits it up, and kindles a fire with it. What is his
+penalty?" Auramazda again replies that nothing carried away by wolves,
+dogs, birds, flies, or winds pollutes men. But now it occurs to
+Zarathrustra, or rather to the priests who have written these things
+down, whether the animals which have eaten the corpses are not impure.
+This difficulty Auramazda solves by declaring the animals pure; but no
+flesh of such animals is to be eaten within a year, or offered for
+sacrifice.[416]
+
+With the exception of Herodotus, Strabo, and Agathias, the Western
+writers give us only very exaggerated accounts of the peculiar mode of
+burial in use among the Persians. Herodotus has already told us that the
+corpses of the Magians were exposed to dogs and birds; with regard to
+the corpses of the rest he had no accurate knowledge, for a mystery was
+made of the matter.[417] Onesicritus relates that those Bactrians, who
+were weakened by disease and age, were thrown to dogs brought up for the
+purpose and called buriers of the dead; and Strabo says that among the
+Caspians, parents, when they had reached seventy years of age, were shut
+up by their children, and so killed by starvation;[418] though he also
+observes that the Magians gave over the corpses to birds.[419] Cicero
+narrates that it was not the custom of the Magians to bury the corpses
+of their dead before they had been torn by wild animals: in Hyrcania a
+peculiar kind of dog was reared--by the lower classes in common; of the
+wealthier men each had his own--by which they might be torn after death,
+and this was considered the best kind of burial.[420] From Eusebius we
+hear that the Medes gave the dying to carefully-reared dogs; the
+Hyrcanians and Caspians those who were still alive; the Bactrians the
+old; others the dead.[421] Agathias, on the other hand, tells us, that
+the dead among the Persians were carried out before the gates of the
+cities naked and without a coffin, and eaten by dogs, so that the bones
+lay about in the fields. If any man's corpse was not at once eaten, the
+Persians believed that he had been of an unholy mind, that his soul was
+unjust and wicked, and so had come into the power of the evil spirits,
+and would be carried into hell. Such men were lamented by their friends,
+because they had no part in the better lot. Those who were most quickly
+eaten up, the Persians praised as fortunate; they called their souls the
+best, and like the gods, and said of them that they had gone into the
+good land.[422]
+
+The Greeks maintained that the Achaemenids were buried at Pasargadae and
+Persepolis, and that the corpse of Cyrus rested at Pasargadae.[423] Of
+Darius we are told that even in his lifetime he caused his tomb to be
+prepared on the summit of a mountain. The corpses of Artaxerxes I. of
+Damaspia, and of his son Xerxes, were buried, according to Ctesias, in
+Persia.[424] The last Darius was buried by Alexander in the royal
+sepulchre, when he had already given the honours of burial to the
+Persian queen Statera.[425] Diodorus tells us that these tombs were on
+the eastern side of the citadel of Persepolis, at a distance of four
+hundred feet, in the "royal mountain." The rock was hewn out, and
+contained several chambers. But these tombs had no entrance; the corpses
+were drawn up by machines to the summit, and so laid in them.[426]
+
+The burial-places of the rulers of ancient Persia can still be
+recognised. Some hundred paces to the east of the remains of the royal
+palace at Persepolis, towards the rising of the sun, precisely as
+Diodorus describes the place, are three stone pictures in Mount Rachmed.
+Sculptures which begin three hundred feet above the ground on the
+perpendicular front of the mountain form three high facades, with
+pillars, which present a gateway with woodwork, supporting a large
+canopy, on which are seen several rows of dogs; the same animals are to
+be seen on the lower lines of ornamentation. Within this framework are
+the pictures of the buried sovereigns. In the left hand is the bow
+without a string; the right is raised in an attitude of prayer, and the
+figures are standing before an altar of burning fire. The king is
+supported on a foundation upheld by the arms of several rows of men, who
+represent the conquered lands. Two leagues to the north of Persepolis
+are four great sculptures, now called Naksh-i-Rustem, _i.e._ pictures of
+Rustem, of a similar kind, but beginning only sixty or seventy feet from
+the ground, deeply cut in the perpendicular wall of two hundred feet in
+length. Three of these pictures are close together; the fourth is on a
+spur of the rock, at right angles to the other three. The centre of the
+three marks the tomb of Darius, the son of Hystaspes. It is the only one
+among the seven monuments which has inscriptions.[427]
+
+The corpses of the princes might have been exposed to the sun, the dogs,
+and birds on the summit above these pictures. In that case they would
+merely mark the place of exposure, and these rocks would be
+burial-places like those of the modern Parsees in Bombay. But behind the
+sculptures, though not accessible from them, sepulchral chambers have
+been discovered. From this, and from the description which the Greeks
+give us of the tomb of Cyrus, we must draw the conclusion that the
+Persian custom of burial did not agree with the rule of the Avesta--with
+the exception of the priests, whose corpses, as Herodotus expressly
+states, were exposed. The Vendidad laments that in certain districts of
+the East, Arachosia and Chakhra, the dead were burned, or buried.[428]
+Under the Sassanids exposure was strictly observed both in the East and
+West, as is clear from the account of Agathias already quoted, and all
+the statements which relate to this later period.
+
+The regulations of the book of the law with regard to the burial of
+corpses and the places of exposure are still strictly observed by the
+Parsees. Great care is taken at the erection of a Dakhma that the
+rain-water can run off from the bier of the corpse. At the last moment a
+dog is brought into the presence of the dying person, so that its eye
+may be directed on him; and when a woman with child dies two dogs are
+brought, because two lives are in question. The eye of the dog has the
+power to keep the evil spirits at a distance. But every one must remain
+at nine paces distance from the dying person. After death the two
+corpse-bearers at once strip the body--their hands are protected from
+immediate contact by napkins made of old clothes--and carry it on a bier
+of iron--for metal contracts less pollution than wood--accompanied by
+the prayers of the priests, to the place of burial. The kinspeople
+follow the corpse in silence to within ninety paces of the Dakhma. For
+the first three nights the priests and kinsmen repeat continually the
+prescribed prayers for the soul of the dead; in the third night the
+decision is made at the bridge of Chinvat (p. 178). The burial-places of
+the Parsees at Bombay are situated on a mountain on the coast, on the
+summit of which several hollows have been cut. From a distance the
+relatives look eagerly to this summit, to see whether the vultures are
+already attacking the corpse, and which part of it they first consume.
+For the first year after death a prayer is said daily before meals for
+the soul of the dead to the Fravashis of the pure,[429] and a service is
+held on the day of the month on which the death took place. In the years
+that follow, on the fourth, tenth, and thirtieth day of each month, as
+the book prescribes, but above all on the festival of all souls--_i.e._
+on the feast of the ten nights during which the Fravashis come down (p.
+224)--prayers are said for the dead.
+
+It is hardly possible to ascertain the arrangement and life of the state
+from the very scanty and obscure traits in the existing fragments of the
+law. We have no rules on the rights and duties of the monarchy, though
+these were included in the Avesta, if we may trust the list of
+contents.[430] But the splendour of majesty as it dwelt with the rulers
+of old time, with Yima, Thraetaona, and Kerecacpa, and was imparted to
+Cyavarshana and Vistacpa, is brought strongly into prominence; and among
+the Amesha Cpentas we found the spirit of good order, of good
+government. Of the position of the orders so much only is clear--that
+the priests claimed precedence over the warriors and husbandmen; that
+the Avesta allows them certain privileges of moderate extent (p. 187);
+and that the priestly families did not form exclusive castes, though the
+priestly functions were hereditary in them. Still less can we learn of
+the families of the warriors. We do not hear that they enjoyed a
+favoured position; they are merely mentioned before the husbandmen; and
+the Vendidad also gives us some information about their armour. It
+should consist of a coat of mail and helmet, a girdle and greaves, a bow
+with thirty arrows, a sling with thirty stones, a sword, a club, and a
+lance.[431] Under the Achaemenids there were rich families in Bactria and
+Sogdiana, in which we may no doubt venture to find descendants of the
+old military families, enjoying an influential position in politics;
+under the Sassanids the knightly nobility of Iran comes plainly to the
+front. The Avesta speaks of great and intermediate houses, of important
+and unimportant inhabitants of the villages. We also read of rich and
+poor, men who have property and beggars; and mention is made of
+tradespeople and slaves. The Avesta rises from the lord of the house to
+the lord of the village or community (_vic_), then to the lord of the
+tribe or canton (_zantu_) and to the lord of the province (_danhu_); an
+arrangement which corresponds to the Indian government as fixed by
+Manu's regulations. When Alexander of Macedon forced his way to Bactria
+and Sogdiana, he met with resistance from the native overseers of
+cantons or chieftains, whom he had summoned to Zariaspa, "the largest
+city" in Bactria (p. 12).[432] When the castles of the most powerful had
+been taken, and their lords had submitted, he sought to gain them by
+marrying their daughters to the captains of his army, while he himself
+took to wife the daughter of the Bactrian Oxyartes.
+
+The protection of property is obviously a matter of great importance in
+the Avesta. The utility of dogs is frequently mentioned, which protect
+flocks and villages from thieves and wolves. Theft is looked on as
+especially wicked, because the thief leads a roving life, eats raw and
+unprepared food, and carries on his evil work in the darkness.[433] In
+regard to contracts the Vendidad distinguishes six kinds, according as
+they are concluded by word, by the pledge of hands, and are concerned
+with the value of a head of small cattle, a beast of draught, a man
+(_i.e._ a slave), and a piece of land. Anyone who violates the first
+kind is to receive 300 blows with the rod, and 300 with the whip, and
+the punishment increases in the violation of the other kinds up to 1000
+stripes with both instruments.[434] To check injury of the person the
+Vendidad lays down the rule, that anyone who lifts up his weapon against
+a man without beating him, is to receive twice five stripes the first
+time, and twice two hundred on the seventh occasion of committing the
+offence, if he has not expiated the preceding six offences; if he has
+expiated them, the measure of the first offence is dealt out on each
+occasion. Anyone who attacks another not in anger but with malice, is to
+be punished with twice fifteen, and on the sixth occasion with 200
+stripes, in case he has not expiated the former offences. Anyone who
+inflicts a wound on another, is punished the first time with twice
+thirty, the fifth time with twice two hundred stripes. The same
+punishment is inflicted on a man who breaks the bones of another, if he
+does not expiate the offence. If the wound proves fatal, he is to be
+punished with twice ninety stripes, and on a second offence with twice
+two hundred.[435]
+
+We have but few indications in the Avesta from which to draw conclusions
+as to the state of civilisation. The amounts to be paid to the purifier
+and the physician are given in animals; the series of contracts is
+determined according to the value of small cattle, beasts of draught,
+slaves, and landed property. But other property may be given in place of
+the animals; we find mention of money (_shaeta_),[436] and, as has been
+observed, of tradespeople; of mats and carpets, vessels of earth,
+silver, and gold, rich garments, palaces with pillars and turrets, ovens
+for smelting and for glass. The art of the physician cannot have been in
+a primitive stage, when so much space is devoted to remedies (p. 223),
+and the physicians who heal with the knife are designated as a separate
+class. So far as I can see, the Avesta betrays a state of civilisation,
+which, beginning from the pastoral condition, has remained in close
+connection with cattle-breeding and agriculture, but has also reached a
+more advanced stage. The unions of the tribes seem dissolved, and
+neither the previous importance of the warlike families nor their
+present position is brought prominently forward. This, no less than the
+liberal imposition of bodily punishment, shows that long before the
+dominion of the Achaemenids, the East of Iran must have been in the hands
+of princes who ruled with despotic power.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[342] "Mihr Yasht," 38, 116, 117.
+
+[343] "Vend." 1, 18, 20; 18, 22-32.
+
+[344] Herod. 1, 136; Plato, "Alcib. I." p. 122; Xen. "Cyri instit." 8,
+8, 2; Diod. 16, 43.
+
+[345] "Vend." 18, 35-42; 53-57.
+
+[346] "Vend." 3, 105 ff.
+
+[347] _Loc. cit._ 3, 1-20.
+
+[348] Herod. 7, 31.
+
+[349] "Oeconom." 4, 13 ff.
+
+[350] Ibid. 4, 20-24.
+
+[351] Ibid. 4, 8-12; "Cyri instit." 8, 6, 16.
+
+[352] Darmesteter, "Haurvatat et Ameretat," p. 64 ff.
+
+[353] "Vend." 13, 125-162.
+
+[354] "Vend." 15, 2, 3, 4.
+
+[355] "Vend." 15, 5, 20, 21, according to Goldner's translation. [Cf.
+Darmesteter.]
+
+[356] "Vend." 13, 97-105.
+
+[357] "Vend." 13, 26-47.
+
+[358] It is not certain whether the _udra_ of the Vendidad is the
+water-dog (spaniel?) or the otter.
+
+[359] "Vend." 13, 169-174; 14, 4-75.
+
+[360] Agath. 2, 24.
+
+[361] "Vend." Farg. 17.
+
+[362] "Wer den Urin mit vorgestrecktem Fusse laesst macht die Drudsch
+schwanger," so dass sie neue Unholde gebaeren.
+
+[363] "Vend." 5, 45-55, 136-157; 7, 158-182.
+
+[364] Herod. 1, 133; Xen. "Cyri instit." 1, 2, 16; 8, 9, 11; Plin. "H.
+N." 28, 19.
+
+[365] "Vend." 9, 161.
+
+[366] "Vend." 9, 187.
+
+[367] "Vend." 5, 23-25.
+
+[368] "Vend." 3, 140-147; 8, 87.
+
+[369] "Vend." 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 26-28.
+
+[370] "Vend." 8, 275, 276.
+
+[371] "Vend." 9, 119-158; 19, 69-80.
+
+[372] "Vend." 5, 83-108; 7, 4 ff.
+
+[373] "Vend." 9, 168-171; Farg. 10.
+
+[374] "Vend." 5, 124-135.
+
+[375] "Vend." 12, 1-59.
+
+[376] "Vend." 4, 130-133.
+
+[377] "Vend." 14, 64-66.
+
+[378] "Vend." 18, 123-133, after Harlez' translation. [Cf. Darmesteter.]
+
+[379] "Vend." 15, 126.
+
+[380] "Vend." 15, 125.
+
+[381] "Vend." 18, 115.
+
+[382] "Vend." 18, 23.
+
+[383] Herod. 1, 135, 136.
+
+[384] Plato, "Aloib. I."; p. 121.
+
+[385] Herod. 1, 137.
+
+[386] "Ethic. Nicom." 8, 10, ed. Zell.
+
+[387] Curt. 5, 9; Plut. "Artax." c. 5.
+
+[388] Ammian, 23, 6.
+
+[389] Herod. 3, 70, 88; Dinon. fragm. 17, ed. Mueller; Ctes. "Pers. Ecl."
+44.
+
+[390] Plut. "Themist." c. 26.
+
+[391] Herod. 3, 31; Diogen. Laert. Prooem. 6; Plut. "Artax." c. 26;
+Ctes. "Pers. Ecl." 44; Agathias, 2, 23; Heracl. Cum. fragm. 7 ed.
+Mueller.
+
+[392] The regulations respecting sexual intercourse, abortion, etc.,
+which here follow in the German text will be found in "Vend." 16, 33-40;
+18, 100-122, 136, 152; _ib._ 15, 9-17, 60; 18, 115; _ib._ 18, 115-119;
+_ib._ 8, 74-82; _ib._ 8, 96-106.
+
+[393] "Rigveda," 10, 97, 17; "Atharvaveda," 2, 10, 2; 8, 1, 18 in
+Darmesteter _loc. cit._ 73, 76.
+
+[394] "Vend." 20, 19, 25.
+
+[395] "Vend." 22, 7-38.
+
+[396] "Vend." 21, 3-19.
+
+[397] Justi, "Bundehesh," c. 24.
+
+[398] West, "Mainyo-i-Khard," c. 62. Above, p. 172.
+
+[399] "Vend." 20, 11-20.
+
+[400] "Vend." 7, 118, 121.
+
+[401] "Vend." 7, 105, 117.
+
+[402] "H. N." 30, 1.
+
+[403] Von Gutschmid ("Das iranische Wandeljahr, Berichte der K.
+Saechsischen Gesellschaft der Wiss." 1862) places the establishment of
+the cycle, by which, in order to bring the year of 365 days into
+agreement with the natural time, a month was inserted every 120 years,
+and consequently the introduction of the East Iranian calendar into the
+whole kingdom, in the year 411, or between 428 and 381 B.C. That the
+beginning of the year was universally placed in the spring after the
+introduction of this calendar, and fixed between March and the middle of
+June, would follow from the importance of the Farvardin festival, even
+if it were not sufficiently vouched for by other evidence. The Bundehesh
+(c. 25) speaks of the year as fixed, inasmuch as it reckons the
+shortening of the days from a certain day in the month of Tir, and puts
+the shortest day on the 20th of the month of Din, yet it adds that the
+priests reckoned on this basis, and that the lunar year did not
+correspond to the year thus calculated. The Cappadocian names for the
+months are those of the East Iranian calendar; and the Cappadocians
+cannot have obtained these till the calendar was current throughout the
+whole kingdom of the Achaemenids. On this ground also Von Gutschmid's
+dates do not seem to be too high.
+
+[404] "Vend." 1, 48; 6, 6 and _loc. cit._
+
+[405] "Vend." 7, 65-71.
+
+[406] "Vend." 3, 122-136.
+
+[407] "Vend." 6, 93-95; 8, 13; 3, 50-54.
+
+[408] "Vend." 5, 13, 14, 47, 48.
+
+[409] "Vend." 6, 98 ff.
+
+[410] "Vend." 6, 106.
+
+[411] "Vend." 7, 126-147.
+
+[412] "Vend." 8, 34-36; 130-228.
+
+[413] "Vend." 8, 38-64.
+
+[414] "Vend." 8, 271-310; 9, 164-166.
+
+[415] "Vend." 5, 15-21, according to Geldner's rendering.
+
+[416] "Vend." 5, 1-22; 7, 189-191.
+
+[417] Herod. 1, 140; 3, 16.
+
+[418] Strabo, p. 517.
+
+[419] Strabo, p. 735. Cf. p. 520.
+
+[420] "Quaest. Tuscul." 1, 45.
+
+[421] Euseb. "Praep. Evang." p. 277.
+
+[422] Agath. 2, 23.
+
+[423] Diod. 17, 71; Arrian, "Anab." 3, 22; 6, 29.
+
+[424] Ctes. "Pers. Ecl." 44, 46; Strabo, p. 730.
+
+[425] Arrian, l. c.; Justin, 11, 15; Aelian, "Var. Hist." 6, 8; Plut.
+"Alex." c. 30.
+
+[426] Diod. 17, 71; cf. Ctes. "Pers. Ecl." 15.
+
+[427] K. Niebuhr, "Reise," 2, 150 ff.
+
+[428] "Vend." 1, 46, 48, 60, 64; cf. above, p. 137, 138.
+
+[429] "Yacna," 26.
+
+[430] Above, p. 52. The Mainyo-i-Khard contains some rules on the duties
+of the king. The prince is to defend the city and land against enemies
+and risings, to respect water and fire, to keep at a distance bad laws
+and customs, and promote the worship of Auramazda, and good works, and
+to bring back to the right way those who have left it. A king of this
+kind is like the Yazatas and Amesha Cpentas: c. 15, 20, 33, 68, ed.
+West.
+
+[431] "Vend." 14, 32-40.
+
+[432] Arrian, "Anab." 4, 1, 5.
+
+[433] "Vend." 13, 143-145.
+
+[434] "Vend." 4, 4-53 according to Harlez.
+
+[435] "Vend." 4, 54-113. Even after all that has been advanced by De
+Harlez, "Avesta," p. 101, I cannot convince myself that the stripes
+appointed here and elsewhere in the Vendidad are to fall, not on the
+guilty, but on animals of Angromainyu. If animals are to be killed, we
+are told so expressly in the Vendidad, and this duty is often mentioned
+along with the stripes (p. 209). To kill twice 90 or 200 flies or
+lizards is no equivalent for murdering a man. I allow that no one could
+endure blows by thousands, if they were given in earnest, yet in running
+a "muck" five and six hundred very severe blows have been endured. In my
+opinion the punishments of the Avesta are not intended for legal
+penalties; they mark what was needed, in the opinion of the priests, to
+expel the evil disposition, which could recur again and again.
+
+[436] "Vend." 4, 120; "Astad Yasht," 1; Justi, "Handbuch," _sub. voc._
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE LATER DEVELOPMENT OF EASTERN IRAN.
+
+
+Of the tribes of the Arians occupying the table-land called by their
+name, those which had their habitations on the northern slope of the
+Hindu Kush, in the valleys of the Murghab and Zarefshan, outstripped the
+rest in combining their forces, and uniting into a larger community. In
+these regions they held advanced posts over against the steppes and the
+migratory nations of the low plains stretching before them without limit
+towards the north. We had good reason to suppose that it was the
+repulsion of the attacks of the nomads from the steppes of the Oxus and
+Jaxartes, which brought these tribes, whose possessions consisted of
+flocks and pastures, into the habit of living in arms, and of
+undertaking the protection of the country. From their midst arose the
+monarchy intended to lead and combine the defence, the formation of
+which we placed about the year 1100 B.C., and having its centre at
+Bactria and Zariaspa. The tribes of the West, on the other hand, for
+four centuries after this time lived in isolation under their
+chieftains. The continuance of the struggles which Bactria had to
+undergo, even after the formation of the monarchy, is proved, not only
+by the proximity of the nomads of the steppes, but also by the traits of
+warlike feeling preserved in the Avesta; by the order of warriors which
+existed beside the orders of priests and husbandmen; by the chieftains
+and their citadels, which we found here in the fourth century B.C.; and
+lastly, by the circumstance, that the old shapes of the myth of the
+Arians, the spirits of the sky which smite the demons, are changed in
+the Avesta not merely into ideal patterns, but even into ancestors of
+the Bactrian kings, and connected with the genealogical tree of the
+nation. Yima, Thraetaona, Manuschithra, Airyu, Uca, and Hucrava, are
+changed into ancestors of the kings and the people.
+
+Like the Aryas in the Panjab, the tribes of the Airyas in Iran prayed to
+Mithra, to the spirits of light, the clear air, the wind, and fire,
+which protected them against the demons of the night and gloom, and gave
+increase to their pastures and flocks, and recovered the water of the
+sky which the demons sought to carry away. As in India, the juice of the
+Soma plant was the principal offering presented to the gods; as Soma was
+not only the king of plants, the lord of nourishment and life--so the
+liquor which gave strength to the gods was here also a god, Haoma. The
+belief in the opposition of the spirits of light and the spirits of
+destruction, in the power of the correct sacrifice, in the influence of
+the good sayings, the sacred words, was on both sides of the Indus, the
+starting-point of religious ideas, and in Iran it became the hinge on
+which they turned.
+
+Iran was divided into fertile land and deserts; next to the most
+luxuriant growth lay wide tracts, in which heat or cold, morass or
+drought, storms of sand or of snow, made life and agriculture
+impossible. These contrasts were most striking on the upper Oxus, in
+Sogdiana and Margiana. Hence it came to pass that in Bactria the
+ancient belief in the struggle of the good and evil spirits made an
+essential advance. The old gods and spirits, the ancient worship of
+fire, were not indeed overthrown by the doctrine of Zarathrustra; on the
+contrary, the struggle between the good and evil powers was spread over
+the whole of nature, and the means of repelling the evil ones were
+increased. The good and evil spirits were respectively ranged under
+chiefs, on the counter-operation of whom and their spirit-armies rests
+the life of nature; and on this life depends the life of man. Henceforth
+man must not merely keep the evil ones from himself, he must take part
+in the struggle of the good against the evil powers, increase so far as
+he can the good creation which now belongs to Auramazda and has
+proceeded from him; and thus restrict the sphere in which the evil
+spirit exercises his power. After death he will receive the reward of
+his conflict; and if in and through this struggle he has been made a
+participator in the nature of the pure and bright deities, he will
+continue to live in their heaven of light.
+
+This development of the old Arian views and reform of the religion
+received the impulse which eventually called it into life at the time
+when Vistacpa was king of Bactria. It must have taken place about the
+year 1000 B.C., _i.e._ about the time when the Brahmans on the Ganges
+came to reform their ancient faith, and exalted Brahman above Indra and
+the ancient deities. From the idea of this new god, in which the power
+of the Holy and the world-soul were equal factors, the Brahmans arrived
+at a sharp distinction between spirit and matter. Their ethics,
+beginning with the rejection of nature, could not but require the
+annihilation of the body as their final goal, and this led to the vain
+pursuit of impossibilities, to the ascetic suicide of body and soul.
+The doctrine of Zarathrustra does not recognise the contradiction of
+spirit and matter. The good God has not created the world in order to
+entangle men in evil and wickedness, but in order to give to it and to
+mankind life and increase. It is only one side of nature, not the whole
+of it, and that side harmful to men, which has proceeded from evil, and
+this evil does not come from the good, but from the wicked spirit. Evil
+is here limited to gloom, desolation, drought and death. As it is this
+part, and this only in nature, which has to be removed, man is not
+called upon to lay aside his whole nature, but on the contrary to
+rejoice in the beneficial side of it. This he must tend and strengthen
+in himself, while he keeps the harmful side at a distance, struggles
+against and annihilates it so far as possible both in himself and all
+around him. He must strengthen the light side of his soul against the
+dark, and make it the master of the dark; he must banish from his soul
+lying and deceit, idleness and filthiness; purity of soul consists in
+truthfulness. Thus must a man watch and work with the good gods and
+under their eyes. It is not contemplation, meditation, or asceticism, as
+in the doctrine of the Brahmans; it is practical activity and inward
+effort that the teaching of Zarathrustra requires from men; the object
+it placed before men was not self-annihilation, but the purification of
+soul and body, and true assertion of self. If a man kept his body and
+soul pure; if he was truthful in word and work, and increased the good
+creation in meadow, field, and forest; if he slew the animals of the
+evil spirits, then all would be well with him; he would have abundance
+of cattle and descendants, long life in this world, and eternal life in
+the heaven of the spirits of light.
+
+This reform had been accomplished in its fundamental principles in
+Bactria, and Auramazda had been elevated above Mithra as the creator of
+heaven, of the gods, and the earth, when about the middle of the ninth
+century B.C. the armies of Shalmanesar II. of Asshur invaded the East of
+Iran. About this time, or soon after, the order of Athravas was formed.
+It rose, on the one hand, out of the ancient families of the
+fire-priests, who understood the custom of sacrifice, and had preserved
+the efficacious prayers to Mithra, Verethraghna, Haoma, and Tistrya, to
+Ardvicura and Drvacpa down to the period of the reform, so far as they
+came over to the new doctrine; and on the other hand, out of the race of
+Zarathrustra, and the families of the zealous adherents of the new
+doctrine, who devoted themselves to the service of religion. This order
+of priests, which handed down in its families the sayings of
+Zarathrustra and those of old days, the ancient invocations as well as
+those of the new teaching, took precedence of the families of the
+nobles, warriors, and husbandmen, though they were not separated from
+them by any rights of connubium or other privileges. From the whole
+tendency of the reform there could not be any thought of acquiring such
+a position as that which the Brahmans--the first created of
+Brahman--attained among the orders of India. When the army of
+Tiglath-Pilesar II. entered Arachosia about the middle of the eighth
+century B.C. the new doctrine had already advanced to the West. It was
+represented among the Medes by eminent teachers. In this region, at the
+time when the Medes were under the supremacy of Assyria, a priestly
+order grew up out of the old families of the priests or Magians, _i.e._
+the powerful, and adherents of the new doctrine; the families of this
+order abandoned their tribal connection among the Medes, and thus
+formed an hereditary caste, which preserved the name already in use in
+the West for the priests, and became so numerous that it could be ranked
+as a tribe among the other tribes of the Medes. The formation of this
+order was already complete when, after the middle of the seventh century
+B.C., the Medes rebelled against the kings of Asshur.
+
+Meanwhile the Athravas of the East were busily occupied in developing
+and fixing the contents and meaning of the new idea of God, and of the
+ethics resulting from it. They ranged the old gods under the new
+doctrine, and determined their relation to the new supreme deity; they
+peopled heaven with shapes corresponding to the reformed teaching, and
+brought mythology into harmony with it; from the commands of purity they
+developed in the spirit of the reformed religion the rules of
+purification and the removal of impurities as required in every
+occurrence of life. Thus, beside the old invocations of the gods, arose
+theories of a speculative cast which sought to regard the gods as
+ethical forces, and prayers of a formal character; from the dialectic of
+the priestly schools was developed a very complicated system of purity
+of life, of rubrics for expiation and purification, in which formalism
+and casuistry were not wanting. Enquiries arose how law and justice
+should be shaped so as to conform to the rules of religion; while, on
+the other hand, the old sacrificial songs were collected, the liturgy
+was fixed, as well as the order of the festivals and sacrifices for the
+new moon and full moon, and the course of the year; the prescriptions of
+medicine were written down, and those cycles formed which comprised the
+battle between Auramazda and Angromainyu down to the last and eternal
+victory of light and life. After various attempts at compilation, the
+priests of the East finally succeeded in uniting the sum of these
+labours into one great whole, which was the canon of the sacred
+scriptures. We may assume that the labours of the priesthood of Bactria,
+which came to an end with this result, may have occupied the same space
+of time as the growth and writing down of the Brahmanas on the Ganges.
+There are good reasons for supposing that the canon was finally
+established about the year 600 B.C., and therefore, on the calculation
+given, the labours of the priests upon it must have commenced about the
+year 800 B.C.
+
+Like the kindred tribes in India, the Arians in Iran were not destitute
+of imagination and a tendency to abstraction. But from the first these
+qualities were restrained within narrower limits owing to the nature of
+the land,--while the scenery and phenomena of the Ganges tended to
+develop them,--and the teaching of Zarathrustra provided a counterpoise
+in the practical requirements which it set up. Labour took the place of
+idle dreaming, conflict and energetic activity the place of asceticism,
+and the imagination received impulses to simple and great conceptions.
+The ethics of this religion guaranteed the conditions of a healthy human
+existence; man's effort was essentially directed to this present world,
+and the duties imposed upon him were such as he could fulfil. Thus they
+led to results different from the introspection, quietism, and
+asceticism of the Indians, and the relapse into sensuality which was the
+inseparable concomitant of the latter. The doctrine of Zarathrustra
+contributed essentially to educate the tribes which followed it in
+truthfulness and manliness, and to qualify them for energy and action.
+In their sensible, intelligent view of the world, in putting theory
+below practice, and aiming at an active life, the Iranians are as far
+before the Indians as the Romans are before the Greeks.
+
+If Eastern Iran, in the first instance, discharged a religious mission,
+the duty of politics was undertaken by the West. The empire of the Medes
+and of the Persians rose and fell, but the religion of Auramazda
+survived the fall of the Achaemenids. It rose to renewed life with the
+empire of the Arsacids and Sassanids. The national reaction against the
+dominion of the Seleucids began with the Parthians; the empire of the
+Sassanids, which subsequently took the place of that of the Arsacids,
+was supported in the first place by the tribes of the Persians, and was
+connected with the remembrance of the Achaemenids. Yet from the first the
+Sassanids were prepared to deal equal measure to the East and West of
+Iran; in opposition to any attempt at religious innovation they held
+firmly to the tradition of the East. When after a rule of more than four
+centuries the Sassanids succumbed to the invasion of the Arabs,
+Yezdegerd III. attempted to maintain himself in Merv, as Darius III. had
+attempted to maintain himself in Bactria. The attempt failed. Iran
+succumbed to Islam. Yet it was the East from which, not quite two
+centuries after the fall of the Sassanids, a reaction commenced against
+the Arabs, and this gradually increased till it rescued the nationality
+and the language of Iran. It was the viceroys in the districts of the
+East who rebelled against the Chalifate, and they found support in the
+population of their provinces. A process similar to that which had
+previously broken down the dominion of the Seleucids over Iran shattered
+the empire of the Abbasids. The impulse to this movement rose in
+Taberistan, where the Taherids appeared, as independent princes soon
+after the death of Harun-al-Rashid; some decads later the Soffarids
+rebelled in Sejestan, and towards the end of the ninth century the power
+of the Samanids sprang up in Sogdiana, Balkh, and Merv, and founded
+seats in Samarcand and Bokhara. Not long after the Ziads obtained an
+independent position in Dilem and Jorjan (the ancient Hyrcania). Towards
+the end of the tenth century the Ghasnavids, who had hitherto been the
+servants and captains of the Samanids, threw off their allegiance; and
+united under their dominion all the lands which had been subject to the
+Soffarids, the Samanids, and Ziads. Soon after the year 1000 B.C. they
+ruled from their abode in Ghasna over Cabul, Balkh, Merv, and Chovaresm
+to the north, and over Sejestan and Afghanistan to the south, and to the
+west over the lands of Elburz, while their armies crossed the Indus to
+the east, and advanced beyond the Panjab to the valley of the Ganges.
+The ancient religion of Iran was not wholly lost even in the time of
+Harun-al-Rashid; Magians were tolerated at the court of the Chalifs for
+the sake of their skill in medicine. The Barmecides, who came from
+Balkh, displayed, even under the Chalifate, a partiality for the legends
+and the religion of Iran. The Samanids boasted to be sprung from the
+Sassanids, the Ziads were reproached with being idolaters in heart and
+Moslem in tongue. They called themselves once more by the names
+celebrated in the legends of Eastern Iran: Minocher after Manuschithra,
+Kai Kobad after Kava Kavata, Kai Kaus after Kava Uca, Isfendyar after
+Cpentodata; and in the list of the Ghasnavids, the Afghan princes in
+India, we meet at a later time with the name of Kava Hucrava (Chosru).
+
+The regeneration of Old Iran, in opposition to the Arabs, found its
+firmest stronghold in Ghasna. The deeds of the Achaemenids were
+completely forgotten in the East which had no part in them; but the
+legends of Yima, Thraetaona, Kava Hucrava, and Kava Vistacpa, had lived
+on under the dominion of the Achaemenids, the Seleucids, the Greek
+princes of Balkh and Cabul, and under the Arsacids. Then came the
+revival of the Avesta under Shapur II. about the middle of the fourth
+century A.D. (p. 61). The first Chosru (531-578 A.D.) caused the legends
+and traditions of the nation and the priests to be collected and copied;
+a comprehensive exposition of the whole was made under the last
+Yezdegerd. Thus as early as the last days of the Sassanids the tradition
+of Iran was collected and fixed, and this, transcribed in Pehlevi,
+outlived the fall of the kingdom, and descended as a legacy of ancient
+glory to the Soffarids, Samanids, and Ghasnavids.[437] On the basis of
+this "book of kings," which he possessed in an Arabic translation,
+Firdusi of Tus on the Tejend, a city of which at the present day some
+scanty ruins remain not far from Meshhed, undertook to restore to life
+the remembrance of the past of Eastern Iran and the fame of her ancient
+heroes in a great Epic poem. He gathered together the entire existing
+tradition, and under the dominion of Islam cast a new glory on the
+ancient belief in Auramazda, who was now known as Yazdan. This poem, the
+book of kings (Shahnameh) exhibits at the same time the New Persian
+language in its pure form, developed out of the Eastern dialects, and
+not yet contaminated with Aramaean and Arabic elements.
+
+The first king in Firdusi is Gayumart. He assembles men and animals, and
+teaches the first to hide their nakedness with the skins of leopards.
+His son Siyamek is torn in pieces by a demon. We are acquainted with the
+primeval man Gayo maretan; whom the priests placed at the beginning of
+things (p. 183). Then king Hoshang taught men to harness the bull, to
+tame the horse, to forge iron, to till the field, and introduced the
+worship of fire. After Hoshang king Tahmurath reigned, who overcame the
+Divs (Daevas), and compelled them to teach him the art of writing. He
+taught his people the art of weaving, and rode round the world on
+Angromainyu (now Ahriman) till the latter threw him off on Elburz, and
+so killed him. In the Avesta Haoshyangha sacrifices in order to obtain
+power over the evil spirits, and Takhmo urupa also sacrifices in order
+to curb Angromainyu for the space of thirty years (p. 183). After
+Tahmurath, Jemshid (Yima) is king. He teaches the art of forging weapons
+and weaving precious stuffs, divides men into priests, warriors,
+husbandmen, and artisans; discovers the art of healing, and compels the
+demons to build houses, and erect for him a splendid palace and a
+gorgeous throne adorned with gold and precious stones. Three hundred
+years passed away while he was king, in which the Divs were bound, and
+death could not approach mankind. Then Jemshid boasted that he had saved
+the world by his remedies from sickness and death, and demanded divine
+honours. This sin alienated from him the princes of his kingdom. Jemshid
+was compelled to fly before Zohak, the king of Babylon. Zohak pursued
+him. In the remote East, on the sea of China, Jemshid was overtaken and
+slain.
+
+The old Arian legend of the happy age of Yima shows itself even yet
+through Firdusi's version. Death could not approach men under his
+dominion; there was no sickness, and therefore Jemshid is said to have
+discovered the art of healing. The Avesta had already found a motive for
+the fall of Yima in the fact that he had refused to announce the law,
+and at length had begun to love lies (p. 41). The Zohak of Firdusi is no
+other than the ancient cloud dragon, Azhi dahaka, which attempts to
+carry away the waters of the sky, and swallows up men and horses. He is
+now a foreign, hostile, bloodthirsty king, who puts an end to the
+blessings of Yima's reign in order to bring the reverse of blessing upon
+Iran. Azhi dahaka had three heads and three throats; Zohak has two
+serpents growing from his shoulders, to which by degrees thousands fall
+as sacrifices, for they are fed with the brains of men, and for this
+purpose two youths are slaughtered every day. That Zohak is called king
+of Babylon is due to a reminiscence of the fact that the Assyrians ruled
+over Western Iran, and the Seleucids and Chalifs over the whole country.
+Zohak persecutes severely the descendants of Jemshid. Abtin, the last of
+these, finally falls into his power; he causes him to be slain for his
+serpents; but Abtin's wife carries off his young son Feridun in safety
+to Elburz. When the latter is sixteen years of age his mother discloses
+to him the fate of his father; the discontented gather round him, and
+the angel Serosh teaches him how to overcome the magician Zohak. In the
+citadel at Babylon Feridun strikes Zohak to the ground with a blow of
+the club which Kave, the smith, has forged for him. But Serosh bids him
+not to kill Zohak, who is now chained in a deep cave in Elburz, under
+Demavend, the highest summit on the chain. Abtin, the descendant of
+Jemshid, is the Athwya of the Avesta; Feridun is Thraetaona, the son of
+Athwya, the slayer of Dahaka; the angel Serosh is the well-known god
+Craosha. Feridun is not permitted to slay Zohak, because Azhi dahaka is
+also a demon.
+
+Feridun has three sons--Salm (Cairima), Tur (Tuirya), and Yrej (Airyu);
+to the last, who was the youngest, Feridun gives Iran, the best part of
+his dominions, while Salm receives the West and Tur the North. Filled
+with envy at the favour shown to their youngest brother, Salm and Tur
+slay the pious Yrej. Feridun is deeply moved; but he gives the daughter
+whom Yrej has left in marriage to Pesheng. The son of Pesheng is
+Minocher, who grows up to avenge his grandfather's death. In order to
+prevent this, Salm and Tur invade Iran. The battle continues for three
+days, till Minocher has slain Tur with his own hand. He also overtakes
+Salm in flight, and slays him. Feridun can now die in peace, as he has
+seen the kingdom handed over to Minocher. After the death of the latter
+the kingdom descended to his son Naudar.[438] Then Afrasiab of Turan,
+the great-grandson of Tur, whom Minocher had slain, invaded Iran to
+avenge the death of his ancestor on the descendant of Minocher. Naudar's
+army was defeated; he was taken captive with many princes of Iran, and
+beheaded by the order of Afrasiab.
+
+Besides the race of Abtin, Jemshid had left other descendants. In union
+with the daughter of the king of Cabul, whose kingdom extends from Bost
+on the Hilmend to Ghasna (and consequently includes the region of
+Sejestan, the ancient Haetumat),[439] he had begotten Gershasp, a mighty
+hero who stood by the side of Minocher in the struggle against Salm and
+Tur; the sons of Gershasp are Neriman and Sam, and his grandson is Zal.
+The Gershasp of Firdusi is the Kerecacpa of the Avesta, the son of
+Thrita, of the race of Cama (p. 35), who slays the serpent Cruvara and
+the giant Gandarewa. The Avesta gives him the epithet Nairimanao, _i.e._
+the man-hearted, heroic, and represents him as seizing the brilliance of
+majesty, when it departed for the third time from Yima (p. 36). This
+hint was enough to give the royal power to Kerecacpa; his epithet and
+his tribal name are personified, and become his descendants Neriman and
+Sam. In accordance with their origin these princes from Zabul are in
+Firdusi the most faithful adherents of the race of Feridun, which has
+rewarded them with the dominion over the South. In this way the legend
+of Sejestan is woven into the closest connection with the legend of the
+Avesta. The power of the descendants of Feridun is extinguished with
+Naudar, from whose sons "the splendour of the royal majesty shines no
+longer;" thus does Firdusi repeat the metaphor current in the Avesta.
+The princes of Zabul now take their place as the protectors and
+guardians of Iran. The son of king Sam of Zabul is Zal. After Naudar's
+melancholy fall he makes peace between Iran and Turan; the Oxus is fixed
+as the boundary, Afrasiab returns to his own country, and in the place
+of the sons of Naudar Zal allows Zav to be chosen king of Iran. Zav is
+already aged and soon dies; Afrasiab invades Iran again. Then Zal
+deliberates with the Mobedhs (_i.e._ with the chiefs of the Magians, p.
+60), who is to be king of Iran. It is resolved to raise Kai Kobad to the
+throne, who like Feridun before him dwells on Elburz. Zal sends his son
+Rustem (Moses of Khorene is the first who mentions the Persian legend of
+Rustem), a youth of great strength, who as a boy had slain an infuriated
+elephant, to fetch Kai Kobad from Elburz. Rustem finds him prepared,
+for he has seen in a dream two white falcons who place a golden crown
+upon his head. Afrasiab's army, which opposes him, is defeated; Kai
+Kobad ascends the throne of Iran, the Turanians are defeated in a great
+battle, Rustem seizes Afrasiab by his girdle and drags him from his
+horse; but the girdle breaks, Afrasiab falls to the ground, and is saved
+by his own people. In the peace the Oxus is once more fixed as the
+boundary between Iran and Turan. Kai Kobad is followed by his son Kai
+Kaus. Against the advice of his vassals and of Zal he leads his army
+against Mazanderan, a land inhabited by demons, which take the king
+captive with his whole army. A single warrior escapes to bring the
+terrible news to Zal. As Zal is now 200 years old, Rustem undertakes to
+liberate the king. He has to overcome seven terrible monsters before he
+can arrive at the demons. At last he makes his way to them, and on his
+horse Reksh, he destroys the army of the demons. Then he slays their
+chief, the white demon, in the dark cave, and liberates Kai Kaus and the
+army of Iran. Kai Kaus now causes the conquered demons to build him
+splendid palaces on Elburz, and resolves to fly up to heaven, in order
+to see the course of the sun. Four eagles bound to his throne carry him
+upwards, but then allow him to fall to earth. Ashamed at his pride he
+humbles himself, and his penance appeases the wrath of heaven. When
+Afrasiab breaks the peace and again invades Iran, Kai Kaus sends his son
+Siavaksh, under the guidance of Rustem, against the Turanians. For three
+days the battle rages at the gates of Balkh, and at length Siavaksh is
+victorious. Afrasiab sues for peace, Siavaksh concludes a treaty; but
+Kai Kaus will not confirm it. That he may not break his word, Siavaksh
+gives himself up to the Turanians. Afrasiab receives him with honour,
+and gives him his daughter Feringis to wife. Subsequently he harbours
+suspicion against him, causes him to be executed, and the son, whom
+Feringis bears after the execution of her husband, to be brought up
+among the shepherds without any knowledge of his birth. To this son an
+abode is then allotted in a remote region of Turan.
+
+To avenge the execution of Siavaksh Rustem invades Turan. Victorious in
+the battle he causes Surkha, the son of Afrasiab, whom he captures in
+the battle, to be put to death in the same way as Siavaksh, pursues
+Afrasiab to the extreme border of his kingdom, and does not return till
+the whole of Turan has been laid waste: the booty is immense. Many years
+afterwards it was revealed in a dream to Guderz (Gotarzes), a descendant
+of that Kave, who had once forged for Feridun the club used against
+Zohak, that a son of Siavaksh survived. Gev, the son of Guderz, arose to
+seek in Turan the right heir to the throne of Iran. For seven years he
+seeks in vain. At length he discovers Kai Chosru, to whom his mother
+Feringis has already revealed the secret of his birth. In spite of the
+most severe persecution on the part of Afrasiab, Gev succeeds in
+carrying away mother and son to Iran; they swim through the swollen Oxus
+on horseback. But when Kai Kaus wishes to make the grandson so happily
+discovered his successor, Tur, the son of king Naudar, opposes the
+elevation of a king who has Turanian blood in his veins. Kai Chosru
+proves his higher claim by capturing a citadel of the demons, and
+erecting a fire-altar in its place. Then he sets himself to avenge the
+death of his father on Afrasiab. But the first army of the Iranians
+under Tur is defeated; and when Feriborz receives the command the
+warriors of Iran are again severely beaten in the valley of Peshen; a
+third army is shut up on Mount Hamaven. To liberate this Rustem sets
+forth, and conquers in the most terrible battle which he has ever
+fought. At length Afrasiab and Kai Chosru take the lead of their armies.
+After a bloody struggle the Turanians are compelled to retire, first
+beyond the Oxus, and then beyond the Jaxartes. Afrasiab flies for refuge
+to his fortified city Kang Bihist; the city is taken, but he escapes
+into a cave. Kai Kaus and Kai Chosru entreat the fire Adar gucasp, that
+Afrasiab may not escape them. A pious penitent, Hom, who hears the
+lament of Afrasiab in his cave, recognises him, overpowers and binds
+him, and leads him forth. Afrasiab entreats the penitent to loose his
+bonds, and then escapes once more, into a lake. The pious Hom obtains
+possession of him again, and hands him over to Kai Chosru, who has his
+head cut off in revenge for his father Siavaksh. Kai Kaus has now seen
+the fulfilment of vengeance on Afrasiab for the death of Siavaksh; his
+days draw to a close. For sixty years after him, Kai Chosru rules over
+Iran in peace, and then resolves to enter on a pilgrimage to heaven.
+When the angel Serosh has bidden him nominate Lohrasp as his successor,
+he fulfils this injunction, establishes Rustem as general-in-chief of
+the kingdom and successor of his father Zal in the kingdom of the South,
+and after long meditation, accompanied by the sons of Naudar, Tus and
+Gustehem, and the heroes Gev and Feriborz, he begins the pilgrimage to
+the East. When high up in the mountains he advises his companions to
+return; soon they will see him no more. He disappears after bathing in a
+spring; his heroes, in spite of the command to return, seek for him, and
+are buried in a storm of snow.
+
+We saw above that in the Avesta, Manuschithra and Airyu are connected
+with Thraetaona, and that the group of the Paradhatas comes to an end
+with these names. Hence Firdusi also represents the crown as being
+brought to the first ruler of the new group, Kai Kobad, _i.e._ the Kava
+Kavata of the Avesta, from the sky by two falcons; he also represents
+him as being fetched from Elburz, _i.e._ from the holy mountain of the
+old legend, in order to overcome Zohak, just as Thraetaona descended
+from the same mountain. Kai Kaus, the Kava Uca of the Avesta, who
+succeeded Kai Kobad, betrays his divine nature in Firdusi by his march
+against the demons, by the castles which these demons build for him on
+Elburz, and by his attempt to fly into heaven. In the Avesta Kava Uca
+offers sacrifice, in order to obtain the dominion over men and Daevas,
+and this favour is granted to him. That the march against the demons is
+made in the direction of Mazanderan is due no doubt to the frequent
+mention of the Mazanian Devs in the Avesta. Siavaksh, the son of Kai
+Kaus, who honourably gives himself up to the Turanians, is the
+Cyavarshana of the Avesta--from which we merely learn that he was
+spotless, and that after Kava Uca the royal majesty united with the
+beautiful body of Cyavarshana, and that he died by a violent death (p.
+37). The destructive Turanian Franghracyana, who is now called Afrasiab,
+is known to the Avesta. "Thrice," we are told, "he sought after the
+royal majesty which belongs to the Arian lands, but he found it
+not."[440] Kai Chosru, _i.e._ Kava Hucrava, is in the Avesta also the
+son of Cyavarshana; he offers sacrifice, in order that it may be granted
+to him "to put an end to the long period of dimness," "to bind the
+Franghracyana filled with abundance;" he is said to be "without
+sickness and death." Firdusi's poem neglects none of these traits. After
+the triple war which, kindled by Afrasiab, has lasted for a long time,
+Firdusi represents Chosru as invoking the fire Gucasp, that Afrasiab may
+not escape him. In the Avesta the god Haoma is said himself to bind
+Franghracyana, and to carry him away as a captive of king Hucrava, in
+order that the latter may slay him beyond the lake Chaechacta (p. 37).
+In Firdusi the pious Hom discovers the hiding-place of Afrasiab; he
+binds him and carries him away a prisoner. Afrasiab escapes; but Hom
+captures him once more in lake Kanyesht. As Hucrava is "without sickness
+and death," Firdusi represents him as vanishing on a pilgrimage to
+heaven.
+
+In Firdusi, Lohrasp, whom Chosru has made his successor, erects a
+fire-temple at Balkh, his royal abode, and after reigning 120 years,
+abdicates in favour of Gushtasp, his elder son, in order to devote his
+life to pious exercises at his temple. When Zartusht proclaims the
+Avesta, Gushtasp and his wife receive the new doctrine. But Arjasp, the
+king of Turan, sent Gushtasp a command not to listen to the words of
+Zartusht. To this request Gushtasp did not accede; a battle took place
+on the banks of the Oxus, which turned in favour of Iran, owing to the
+bravery of Zarir, the brother of Gushtasp. An arrow from an ambush lays
+the hero low at the moment of victory. His death terrifies the Iranians;
+not one of them ventures to avenge it till Gushtasp promises Isfendyar,
+the strongest and bravest of his sons, that he will give him the crown
+if he succeeds in avenging the death of Zarir. Isfendyar overthrows the
+warriors of Iran, brings the arms and horse of Zarir into the camp of
+Iran, and Arjasp retires into his land. In the place of the promised
+crown, Isfendyar receives from his father the high mission of spreading
+abroad the new faith. By means of a chain which he places on his neck,
+Zartusht makes Isfendyar invulnerable, and surrounds him with a charm so
+that anyone who slays him will himself quickly die. When Isfendyar
+returns home after a long time, his mission fully accomplished, as all
+have received the law of Zartusht, accusations are made against him that
+he is collecting an army to dethrone his father. On this unfounded
+charge Gushtasp causes Isfendyar to be cast into prison. But while he
+remains in Zabul, the Turanians attack Balkh. The aged Lohrasp takes up
+arms; he cannot check the Turanians; he falls; the city is taken:
+Zartusht with the fire-priests is slain in the fire-temple, the sacred
+fire is quenched in their blood, and two daughters of Gushtasp are
+carried away to Turan. In vain does Gushtasp hasten up, when he has
+collected his army; thirty-eight of his sons are slain in the battle
+against the Turanians. Gushtasp takes to flight, and with his warriors
+finds refuge in a mountain which is quickly invested by Arjasp. Then
+Jamasp, the faithful adviser of Gushtasp, passes in disguise through the
+camp of the Turanians, to fetch Isfendyar out of prison, and urge him to
+save his father and Iran. Forgetting his deep injury and wrong,
+Isfendyar forces a way through the camp of Arjasp, and in the subsequent
+battle slaughters so many of the enemy's men that he takes to flight.
+But the task is not yet accomplished; it still remains to set at liberty
+the two sisters whom the Turanians had carried away from Balkh, and whom
+Arjasp keeps imprisoned in "the brazen fortress." After seven conflicts,
+corresponding to those which Rustem had to undergo, when he liberated
+Kai Kaus from the power of the demons, Isfendyar reaches the fortress.
+He sends his army back, and in the guise of a merchant obtains entrance
+into the citadel. Here he asks Arjasp, to whom he is unknown, for
+permission to give a feast to the principal men on the turrets of the
+citadel. When the wine has done its work, Isfendyar gives the signal of
+fire already agreed upon to his followers; the garrison is overpowered;
+Arjasp is slain by Isfendyar in single combat, and Isfendyar returns
+victorious with his sisters to Balkh.
+
+Here a new and yet more dangerous task awaits him. Rustem, who made Kai
+Kobad ruler of Iran, and has since done such good service, and achieved
+such noble acts for Kai Kaus and Kai Chosru, remains at a distance from
+the court and army of king Gushtasp. He despises the doctrine of
+Zartusht. At Gushtasp's bidding Isfendyar must break down this
+opposition, and bring him to the king. Isfendyar marches out and
+commands Rustem to follow him in chains to the court. With a heavy heart
+Rustem seeks to withdraw from the contest; he treats with Isfendyar; but
+the latter obstinately insists on his terms. Nothing remains for the
+aged hero but to give battle against his will. Isfendyar's invulnerable
+body resists his blows, and Reksh, the horse of Rustem, is wounded;
+Rustem is himself wounded and compelled to retire. He has no hope of
+conquering in the battle which is to begin again on the next day. In his
+deep distress he calls to the bird Simurgh, who comes, sucks the blood
+from his wound, and heals the horse. Simurgh is acquainted with the
+future, and advises a compromise: there is indeed a way of overcoming
+Isfendyar, but anyone who takes his life "must not expect salvation in
+this world or the next." Rustem cannot bring himself to suffer defeat in
+the battle, and therefore in the night Simurgh carries him away to the
+tree of life, on the sea of China, and bids him break off the branch to
+which Isfendyar's life is bound. Out of this branch is cut the
+death-arrow for the conflict of the morrow. With it Rustem hits the
+place in the eye in which alone Isfendyar is vulnerable. But for Rustem
+also the lot of death is cast. He is invited by the king of Cabul, a
+tributary prince, to hunt; and the king's son-in-law, Sheghad, prepares
+a pit filled with swords and lances, for the destruction of the aged
+hero. Into this Rustem falls with his horse, but even in the moment of
+death his arrow hits Sheghad, who had concealed himself in a hollow
+tree, in order to watch the success of his scheme. Rustem's son Feramorz
+avenges the murder of his father on the king of Cabul; but Gushtasp
+renounces the world, and transfers the government to his grandson
+Bahman, the son of Isfendyar.
+
+Here also we find traces of the Avesta underlying the poem. In the
+Avesta Aurvatacpa, now Lohrasp, and Vistacpa, now Gushtasp, form a group
+distinct from the most ancient princes. Firdusi represents Kai Chosru as
+making Lohrasp his successor in spite of the murmurs of the nobles.
+Arejatacpa, now Arjasp, the Turanian, sacrifices in the Avesta in order
+to obtain victory over Vistacpa, and the great equestrian, Zairivairi,
+the brother of Vistacpa. In Firdusi this brother, the bravest warrior of
+Iran against Turan, is Zarir. In the Avesta Vistacpa conquers
+Arejatacpa; in Firdusi Arjasp finally succumbs in the conflict. In the
+Avesta Jamacpa is a prince of great influence with Vistacpa; in Firdusi
+he is his faithful counsellor. In the Avesta Zarathrustra offers
+sacrifice that he may unite with the warlike Vistacpa, and that the
+king's consort Hutaoca may impress the law on her memory (p. 37); in
+Firdusi Gushtasp and his wife receive the new law. According to the
+Avesta Vistacpa has given his support and protection to the law, has set
+up the law in the world, and given it a high position, and made the path
+broad for purity. In Firdusi Isfendyar is sent to spread abroad the new
+law over the earth. The Avesta mentions twenty-nine sons of Vistacpa,
+Firdusi even more; in both Cpentodata (Isfendyar) has the first place.
+In the Avesta Zarathrustra pronounces a blessing on Vistacpa, in Firdusi
+he pronounces it on Isfendyar. That the latter was extolled, even in the
+Avesta, as supporting the faith and spreading it abroad--though our
+fragments do not allow us to draw any further conclusions--is
+nevertheless clear from the creed of the Parsees: "I abide in the law
+which the lord Ormuzd taught to Zartusht, and Zartusht to king Gushtasp,
+and Gushtasp to Frashaostra (p. 62), Jamasp, and Isfendyar, and these to
+all the faithful in the world." Firdusi has made use of the spread of
+the new law by Isfendyar, in order to bring to a conclusion the legend
+of Sejestan which he connects with the tradition of the Avesta, and to
+provide an adequate motive for the fall of the mighty Rustem of Ghasna,
+the descendant of the mighty Kerecacpa. In his zeal for the faith,
+Isfendyar demands more than Rustem can grant; the champion of the faith
+is stronger in the conflict than Rustem; and the latter, in order to
+keep his honour, avails himself of wicked magical arts. We have seen
+what was the occupation of the two eagles of the sky, Amru and Chamru,
+at the tree in Lake Vourukasha, which bears the seeds of all life (p.
+172). To these arts the champion of the faith succumbs, but by his
+success the victor has pronounced judgment on himself.
+
+In the form which Firdusi has given them, the legends of Ancient Iran
+have to some extent continued to live among the people, and to some
+extent they have failed. The Shahnameh celebrates Jemshid's (Yima's)
+glittering palace and splendid throne; hence the ruins of the great
+palace of the Achaemenids at Persepolis have gained the name of the
+throne of Jemshid; ruins near Bamiyan in the Hindu-Kush, on the road
+from Balkh to Cabul, are still called Zohak's castle. The smoke rising
+out of the crater of Demavend is the breath of Zohak chained in the
+depths of the mountain. Each year, on the last day of August, the
+inhabitants of Elburz celebrate the festival of the overthrow of Zohak
+with bonfires on every height, and demonstrations of joy. The ruins of
+Takt-i-Bostan are called the garden of Kai Chosru, and in Iran Balkh is
+still the mother of cities.[441] A lofty and steep rock in Lake Zirreh
+in Sejestan is said to have been crowned with the castle of Rustem, and
+the site of a second castle is pointed out at Aivan. Aqueducts and dams
+pass for works of Rustem. In the desert of Beluchistan, the ancient
+Gedrosia, the tracks of the camels of Rustem are still shown by large
+stones in the sand. In Mazanderan is the battle-field where Rustem
+defeated the Divs in order to liberate Kai Kaus (p. 253). The sculptures
+of the Achaemenids on the tombs at Persepolis are called pictures of
+Rustem (Naksh-i-Rustem), and in the bed of the Hilmend his grave is
+shown. When Timour's Mongols devastated Sejestan in the fourteenth
+century, the people called on Rustem to raise his head from the grave,
+and behold Iran in the hand of his enemy, the warrior of Turan. By a
+strange misconception the nobles in Mazanderan assume the name Div as a
+title of honour. A large family of nobles in Sejestan call themselves
+Kaianids, and boast of their descent from Jemshid and the ancient
+kings, and to this family, down to the most recent times, the
+viceroyalty of Sejestan belonged as an hereditary office. When the
+holder of it died, the eldest of the family went to court in order to
+apply for the office, and was duly installed by investment with the robe
+of honour and armour.[442]
+
+While the ancient legends have lived on in Iran, the religion of
+Zoroaster has passed beyond Iran, and survives on the Malabar coast.
+Every day the Parsees utter their invocations before the sacred fire,
+and present bowls filled with the juice of the Haoma. Each month, as we
+have seen, belongs to one of the heavenly deities, who is then specially
+invoked; each of the thirty days of the month has its own protecting
+spirit, who is especially honoured on his own day. Six yearly festivals,
+each of five days, celebrate the creation of the heaven, water, the
+earth, the trees, animals, and men (p. 182); on each of which special
+prayers are said. At the close of the year the Parsees purify and adorn
+their houses, in order to receive worthily the souls of their ancestors:
+sacrificial bread, fruits, milk, wine, and meat are put ready for them.
+The Fravashis, now called Farvars, are invoked "to receive the
+sacrifice, to lift up their hands to it, and depart in peace from the
+dwelling."[443] On these days the priests read the liturgies appointed
+as prayers for the souls of the damned, and for ten days the laity have
+to repeat many thousands of times the prayers "Ahuna-vairya" and "Ashem
+Vohu." Each morning, on waking, the Parsee prays: "The best purity is to
+the just, who is pure. He is pure who does pure works. I pray with
+purity of thought, of word, and act." When removing, and again when
+putting on, his girdle (p. 217), he says, with face turned to the East:
+"May Ormuzd be king; may Ahriman be defeated and destroyed; may the
+enemies be confounded, and remain far off; of all my sins I repent."
+Then he takes gomez for ablutions, washes his face and hands with it,
+rubs himself with earth, and with gomez in his hand says: "May Ahriman
+be destroyed; may the thirty-three Amshaspands and Ormuzd be victorious
+and pure." After a prayer to Crosh (Craosha)--"the pure and strong, may
+he increase to greater majesty, whose body is the word, and whose club
+is victorious"--follows ablution with water, dressing of the fire with
+wood and perfumes, and the proper morning prayer to Ushahin, the spirit
+of the morning: "Praise to thee, high Dawn." When it is light, a prayer
+is offered to Mithra, and two others at midday and sunset. In the
+morning a prayer to Ormuzd is recited, in which all his names and
+qualities are enumerated. Before eating, the Parsee must wash himself
+and pronounce the prayer "Ahuna-vairya," and after eating, the prayer
+"King Ormuzd." When the Parsee goes to rest he must arrange his bed in
+such a way that he lies towards the fire, or the moon, or the East.
+Before sleeping, a prayer is offered to Ormuzd. On turning over in bed,
+sneezing, the discharge of natural or sexual functions, kindling a
+light, approaching water or fire, special prayers are uttered, and the
+sum of daily duties is increased on many occasions in family life--at
+the time of a birth, or death, or festivals, and when impurities have
+been incurred. However external and formal these numerous prayers and
+rituals may appear, the Parsee forms of confession are nevertheless
+evidence of the depth of their religious feeling, and their retention in
+the family and social life proves that the ancient religion still
+possesses a powerful influence.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[437] Fluegel, "Mani," s. 407; Mohl, "Livre des Rois," Intro. Mordtmann,
+"Z. D. M. G." 19, 485 ff; Noeldeke, "Tabari," s. xv.
+
+[438] Nohodares in Ammian, 1, 14, 3; 1, 25, 3.
+
+[439] Spiegel, "Eran," 1, 557.
+
+[440] "Zamyad Yasht," 56 ff. Above, p. 37.
+
+[441] Ritter, "Erdkunde," 8, 153, 183, 491, 561.
+
+[442] Chanikof, in Spiegel, "Eran," 1, 556.
+
+[443] "Farvardin Yasht," 147.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VIII.
+
+THE EMPIRE OF THE MEDES AND PERSIANS.
+
+
+
+
+THE EMPIRE OF THE MEDES AND PERSIANS.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE FOUNDATION OF THE MEDIAN KINGDOM.
+
+
+On the northern edge of the table-land of Iran, where the mountains
+descend to the Caspian Sea, we found dwelling towards the east the
+Hyrcanians (_Vehrkana_ in the Avesta, _Varkana_ in the inscriptions of
+Darius).[444] Their territory may have corresponded to the modern
+district of Jorjan, which has preserved their name (p. 9). To the west
+of the Hyrcanians, between Elburz and the Caspian, lay the Tapurians,
+whose name has survived in the modern Taberistan, and further yet, on
+the sea-coast, and at the mouth of the Mardus (now Safidrud), were the
+Mardians. Adjacent to these, on the shores of the Caspian Sea as far as
+the mouth of the Cyrus, lay the nation whom the Greeks called Cadusians,
+but whose native name was Gaels[445]--a name still preserved in the name
+of the district of Ghilan.[446] To the south of these tribes--the
+Tapurians, Mardians, and Cadusians--the north-west of the table-land was
+entirely occupied by the Medes.
+
+The country of the Medes, Herodotus tells us, is very high and
+mountainous in the north towards the Euxine, and covered with forests,
+but the remainder of it is flat.[447] Polybius gives a more minute
+description of the nature of Media. "It is difficult to speak adequately
+of the natural strength and of the extent of the country of the Medes.
+It lies in the centre of Asia, and in the size and elevation of the land
+surpasses all other parts, while the situation enables it to govern the
+strongest and most populous nations. Towards the east it is protected by
+the desert which lies between Persia and Parthia, it has control of the
+Caspian gates, and abuts on the mountains of the Tapurians, which are
+not far distant from the Hyrcanian Sea. Towards the north it is bounded
+by the Matieni and Cadusians, on the west it extends to the Saspeires,
+who dwell close to the tribes which lie on the Euxine. Towards the south
+it extends to Mesopotamia and abuts on Persia; on this side it is
+protected by the range of the Zagrus, which reaches an elevation of one
+hundred stadia, and is broken into various ranges and groups, separated
+by deep valleys and open plains, in which dwell the Carchi, Cossaei, and
+other warlike tribes. Media itself is traversed by several ranges in the
+direction from east to west, but between them are plains filled with
+cities and villages. The Medes possess corn and cattle in untold
+abundance, and in horses their country is superior to the whole of Asia,
+so that it takes the first place, not only in virtue of its extent, but
+also owing to the number and excellence of the men and horses."[448]
+Strabo allows Media an extent of 4000 stades (500 miles) in length and
+breadth. It reached from the Zagrus to the Caspian gates. The greater
+part of the land was high and cold, but the district below the Caspian
+gates on the lower ground was very fertile. Even in the rest of the
+land, with the exception of some mountain districts, there was no lack
+of the means of subsistence, and everywhere on the high ground there was
+excellent pasture for horses.[449]
+
+The nation of the Medes belongs to the group of the Arian tribes, which
+occupied the table-land of Iran. This has been already proved by the
+statement of Herodotus that in ancient time the Medians were called
+Areans by all men (p. 14), by the religion of the Medes, and by all the
+Median words and names that have come down to us.[450] According to
+Herodotus the nation consisted of six tribes: the Arizanti, Busae,
+Struchates, Budii, Paraetaceni, and Magi. Whether certain parts of the
+land belonged to these tribes as their habitation, is not clear from
+this statement. The Magians we have already found to be a hereditary
+order of priests (p. 191), and therefore we can hardly assume a separate
+part of the country as their habitation. The question thus becomes
+limited to the remaining five tribes. The name of the Paraetaceni occurs
+in the mountain district, which the later Greeks call Paraetacene. This
+district separated Media from Persia, and there is therefore nothing
+remarkable in the fact that the Paraetaceni are counted among the
+Persians or spoken of as an independent tribe.[451] If the Paraetaceni
+had a special province, we shall be all the more justified in allotting
+the same to the Arizanti, the Budii, Struchates, and Busae, as the tribe
+of the Matieni, which Strabo reckons among the Medes,[452] had a special
+habitation and territory in the district of Matiene, _i.e._ in the
+region which after the time of the Seleucids was known as Atropatene;
+and the tribes of the Persians, who were closely akin to the Medes, were
+also settled in special regions, or marched through them with their
+flocks. The name Arizanti (_Arizantu_) might signify the noble families,
+_i.e._ an eminent tribe, which tribe might nevertheless possess a
+separate habitation. Among the Persians there was a privileged tribe, to
+which the royal family belonged, which ruled over all the tribes, and
+this tribe like the rest had a special territory.
+
+The districts of Media, as we know them from the accounts of later
+writers, are beside Atropatene: Choromithrene, Nisaea, Rhagiana,
+Cambadene, and Bagistana.[453] Atropatene is the elevated plain which
+spreads round the lake which Ptolemy calls the Matienian lake (now
+Urumiah). The inscriptions of the kings of Asshur call the inhabitants
+of this land Mati and Mala.[454] Shut in by mighty summits which reach
+a height of more than 12,000 feet, naked ridges, fields of snow,
+mountain pastures, green forests and meadows here make up the wildest,
+but at the same time most beautiful, Alpine landscape in the west of
+Iran. The snow lies on the backs of the heights for about nine months,
+but in the valleys there reigns for the most part uninterrupted spring;
+in the deeper clefts the summer is hot, and the naphtha springs must
+have caused this region to appear as one highly favoured by the gods in
+the eyes of such zealous worshippers of fire as the Arians of Iran. We
+have already seen (p. 74) that the name Atropatene, which in middle
+Persian is Aturpatkan, and modern Persian Aderbeijan, means "protected
+by fire."
+
+In the ranges of the Zagrus, which, running from the Alps of Atropatene
+to the south-east, separate the table-land of Iran from the valley of
+the Tigris--these summits rise above the hilly land of Assyria to a
+height of 15,000 feet--we must seek the territory which Ptolemy calls
+Choromithrene, _i.e._ by a name which beyond doubt goes back to the
+worship of Mithra. Further to the east, beyond the isolated
+mountain-group of Elvend, on the eastern foot of the mountains, lay the
+territory where Ecbatana was subsequently built. To the south-east were
+the "Nisaean plains" of Herodotus, on which, as he tells us, were kept
+the most beautiful and largest horses, superior to those of the
+Indians.[455] Polybius has already stated, that in regard to horses
+Media surpassed the rest of Asia; the mares of the Parthian kings were
+kept in Media owing to the excellent pastures. According to Strabo,
+there were 50,000 mares on the "horse pastures" in the time of the
+Achaemenids; these pastures any one going from Babylonia and Persia to
+the Caspian gates, _i.e._ to the Sirdarra-pass in Elburz, would cross.
+Diodorus places them seven days' march to the east of Behistun, and
+tells us that at one time there were 160,000 wild horses here, though
+Alexander found only 60,000. Arrian puts the previous number at 150,000,
+and the number found by Alexander at 50,000, as the greater part had
+been carried off by robbers.[456] That Herodotus has given the name of
+this region correctly is shown by the inscriptions of Darius, which
+speak of a province of Nicaya in Media.[457] To the north-east of the
+region of Ecbatana, on an elevated plateau, lay the district of
+Raghiana. It takes its name from the metropolis Ragha, a city on the
+southern foot of Elburz, mentioned both in the Avesta and the
+inscriptions. Under the Arsacids Ragha was the largest city of Media.
+Its later name was Rai; the ruins (near the modern Teheran) are said to
+cover the land for leagues. Besides Ragha there were at one time
+numerous flourishing cities in Raghiana.[458] Campadene,[459] the
+Campada of the inscriptions of Darius, we must look for in the south of
+Media, to the east of the Zagrus; it is no doubt the district now called
+Chamabatan.[460] According to the statement of the Greeks, the district
+of Bagistana extended to a mountain which was sacred to Zeus. As
+Diodorus says, it was a region fit for the gods, filled with fruit-trees
+and every other kind that ministers to delight and enjoyment.[461] The
+name of the mountain consecrated to Zeus, Bagistana, and the similar
+name of the district, go back to the title under which the gods are
+comprised in the Avesta and the inscriptions of Darius (Old Bactr.
+_bagha_, Old Pers. _baga_, New Pers. _bag_); and if Diodorus tells us
+that the region was a land fit for the gods, the name Bagistana means
+the abode of the gods. The district may have been held peculiarly sacred
+by the Medes, or the name may have been intended to express their
+gratitude for its fertility and beauty. We can fix precisely the
+position of this district by the hill consecrated to Zeus near the
+modern Behistun. It lies south-west of Elvend, between that mountain and
+the Zagrus in the valley of the Choaspes, and is the district now known
+as Kirmenshah.
+
+According to the statements of Berosus, the historian of Babylon, the
+Medes in the most ancient period had already reigned over Babylonia for
+more than two centuries. They had suddenly collected an army, reduced
+Babylonia, and there set up tyrants of their own people. According to
+the succession of the dynasties which Berosus represents as ruling over
+Babylonia, the beginning of this supremacy of the Medes fell, as has
+been shown (I. 241, 247), in the year 2458 B.C. The first of the Medes
+who thus ruled in Babylon is called Zoroaster by Syncellus, after
+Polyhistor; according to this writer the seven Medes reign till the year
+2224 B.C. Whether Berosus called the first Median king who reigned in
+Babylon Zoroaster, or Polyhistor has ascribed that position to him as
+the most famous name in Iran, or the only name known in antiquity, must
+be left undecided, no less than the actual fact of the Median supremacy.
+
+The Medo-Persian epos told us that Ninus of Asshur, after subjugating
+Babylonia and Armenia, attacked the Medes. Pharnus, their king, met him
+with a mighty army, but was nevertheless beaten. He was crucified with
+his wife and seven children by Ninus; one of his retinue was made
+viceroy of Media; and for many years the Medes were subject to the
+successors of Ninus on the throne of Assyria (II. 3 ff). Herodotus'
+account is as follows: "When the Assyrians had reigned over upper Asia
+for 520 years, the Medes were the first to revolt, and as they fought
+bravely for their freedom against the Assyrians, they succeeded in
+escaping slavery and liberating themselves. Afterwards the rest of the
+nations did what the Medes had done. And as all the nations of the
+mainland lived according to laws of their own, they again fell under a
+tyranny in the following manner:--Among the Medes was a man of ability,
+called Deioces, the son of Phraortes. He desired the tyranny, and did as
+follows: The Medes dwelt in villages, and Deioces, who was previously a
+man of importance, set himself more and more zealously to the task of
+doing justice, since lawlessness reigned throughout the whole of Media.
+When the Medes of his village discovered these qualities in him, they
+chose him for their judge. And as his heart was already set on the
+empire, he acted justly and rightly, and thus got no small credit among
+his fellow-citizens, so that the men from other villages, when they
+found that Deioces alone judged rightly, gladly resorted to him, since
+hitherto they had had to endure unjust sentences, and at last they would
+not go to any one else. As the number of the applicants became greater,
+and Deioces found that everything depended upon him, he refused to sit
+any longer in court and pronounce sentence, saying, that it was of no
+advantage to himself to neglect his own business and spend the day in
+settling the disputes of others. Then robbery and lawlessness became
+more rife than ever in the villages, and the Medes gathered together and
+consulted on the position of affairs. In my belief the friends of
+Deioces were the first to speak: 'As things are, it is impossible to
+live in the land; let us choose some one to be king, and thus the land
+will obtain good government. We can occupy ourselves with our own
+business, and shall not be compelled to wander from home.' With these
+words they persuaded the Medes to set up a monarchy. And when they at
+once began the discussion who should be king, Deioces was highly
+commended and put forward by every one, so that at last he was chosen by
+all to be king. Then Deioces commanded the Medes to build him a palace
+suitable for a king, and strengthen his power by a body-guard. This they
+did, and built a great and strong palace, on the place which Deioces
+pointed out to them, and allowed him to choose his lance-bearers out of
+all the nation. When he had obtained the sovereign power he at once
+compelled the Medes to build him a large city, in order that, being thus
+occupied, they might trouble him less about other things; and when the
+Medes obeyed him in this matter also, he erected the great and strong
+citadel now known as Ecbatana. The walls formed seven circles, in such a
+manner that the inner was always higher by the turrets than the next
+outer circle, an arrangement assisted by the locality, for the town was
+situated on a hill. In the seventh wall was the palace and the
+treasure-house of Deioces. After erecting this fortification for
+himself, and his palace, the king commanded the people to settle round
+the citadel. When the building was completed Deioces first made the
+arrangement that no one should enter in to the king, but every thing was
+done by messengers, in order that those who had grown up with him, and
+were of similar age, equal in descent and bravery, might not envy him,
+and set conspiracies on foot, but that by being invisible he might
+appear a different being; it was also disgraceful to laugh or spit, or
+do anything of that kind in his presence. When he had made these
+arrangements, and thus strengthened his tyranny, he adhered strictly to
+justice. Plaints had to be sent in to him in writing, and he sent back
+the sentence. Thus he managed this and all other matters, and if he
+found that any one was guilty of insolence, and did violence to others,
+he punished him according to the measure of his offence, and his spies
+and emissaries were everywhere in the land.[462] In this manner Deioces
+united the Medes, and governed them for 53 years. After his death, his
+son Phraortes succeeded to the throne. Not content with ruling over the
+Medes only, he marched against the Persians, and first made them subject
+to the Medes. When he had become master of these two powerful nations,
+he subjugated all Asia, attacking one nation after another. Finally, he
+marched against the Assyrians, who had previously ruled over all men,
+but, though otherwise in excellent condition, were then abandoned by
+their allies, who had revolted. In the war against these Phraortes fell,
+after a reign of 22 years, and with him the greatest part of his
+army."[463]
+
+The account of the history of the Medes given by Ctesias is wholly
+different. As their subjugation to Assyria is coeval with the founding
+of that kingdom, so is their liberation coeval with the fall of it. When
+the Medes, after their conquest by Ninus, had been subject to the rulers
+of Asshur, down to his thirty-sixth successor, Arbaces, the viceroy of
+Media, with Belesys, the viceroy of Babylonia, revolted from the
+Assyrian king. The kingdom of Assyria still remains unbroken; it is only
+after severe struggles, and in consequence of the desertion of the
+Bactrians and other nations during the conflict, that it is overthrown.
+After the capture of Nineveh, Arbaces, as supreme lord, takes the place
+of the king of Asshur.
+
+According to the dates of Herodotus Deioces ascended the throne of Media
+in the year 714 or 708 B.C.[464] The time which elapsed between the
+liberation of the Medes and Deioces' elevation is not given by him.
+According to Ctesias Arbaces established the dominion of the Medes at
+least 170 years before the date given by Herodotus for Deioces. In
+Herodotus Phraortes, Cyaxares, and Astyages follow Deioces in the
+dominion over the Medes, with a total of 97 years. In Ctesias the
+successors of Arbaces, who reigns 28 years, are Mandaces with a reign of
+50 years, Sosarmus with 30, Artycas with 50, Arbianes with 22, Artaeus
+with 40, Artynes with 22, Astibaras with 40, and finally Aspadas with 38
+years. On this calculation the dominion of the Median kings lasted 320
+years, and consequently Arbaces must have overthrown the Assyrian and
+established the Median Empire in the year 878 B.C.; or as Ctesias puts
+the fall of the last Median king in 564, and not in 550 B.C.--in the
+year 884 B.C.--_i.e._ precisely at the time when Assyria began to rise
+into the position of a widely dominant power (III. 269, 270). In the
+list of kings given by Ctesias Mandaces and Artycas each rule fifty
+years, Arbianes and Artynes 22 years, Artaeus and Astibaras 40 years.
+This uniformity points to an artificial extension of the series by
+duplicates.[465] If it is reduced by striking out the three seconds in
+these pairs, and Arbaces is followed by Mandaces with 50 years, Sosarmus
+with 30 years, Arbianes with 22 years, Artaeus with 40 years, and
+Aspadas with 38 years, we obtain a period of 178 years for the kings of
+the Medes, and so arrive at a point nearer that given by Herodotus for
+the commencement of the Median kingdom, the year 736 B.C. (558 + 178),
+as the first year of Arbaces. Yet even so we do not find any coincidence
+whatever between the two narratives.
+
+In the narrative of Herodotus we find with surprise that the Medes
+attained their liberation without any combination in the people; without
+the leadership of a single head. Yet soon after the time at which he
+describes the Medes as revolting from the Assyrians, Herodotus tells us
+that Sennacherib marched against Egypt, and asserts that for 75 years
+after the accession of Deioces, "the Assyrians were indeed without
+allies, since they had revolted, but were otherwise in a good
+condition," so that Phraortes and the greatest part of his army fell in
+battle against them. If after acquiring their freedom the Medes lived
+isolated in villages, as Herodotus states, would not the Assyrians have
+made use of this anarchy close upon their borders in order to reduce the
+Medes again to subjection, rather than engage in campaigns against Syria
+and Egypt? According to the account of Herodotus, it was the justice of
+Deioces which won for him ever-increasing importance, and finally helped
+him to the throne. But had Deioces, who sits on the throne for 53 years
+afterwards, sufficient time before his elevation to make himself known
+for his love of justice throughout all Media, unless we are willing to
+assign him a very unusual age?[466] And if such dire anarchy did indeed
+prevail among the Medes, what man in such times submits to even the most
+righteous sentence? Least of all are the mighty and powerful willing to
+do so. How did Deioces obtain the means of compelling the insubordinate
+to obey his sentence?--how could he give protection to the accused,
+oppressed, and weak against their opponents? And supposing that he was
+able to do this, would he have been unanimously elected king? Herodotus
+himself remarks that Deioces knew that "the unjust are the enemies of
+the just."[467] Moreover, if the Medes at that time lived in the
+simplest manner, how could a sovereign elected from their midst change
+these conditions at a single stroke, or at any rate in the course of a
+single reign, though a long one, so entirely as Herodotus supposes?
+Village life is changed into city life, the Medes are settled in one
+city round the royal fortress, and in the place of a patriarchal
+government over a simple people, Deioces, "as the first," establishes
+the whole apparatus of Oriental tyranny. Immense palaces, citadels, and
+walls are built; the wide outer walls are adorned with gold and silver;
+the secluded life of the sovereign in the palace becomes the established
+law; the legal process is carried on by writing; and a system of
+espionage is introduced over the whole country. It is obvious that in
+this narrative elements, belonging to the tradition of the Medes, have
+been taken by Herodotus and mingled with the views of the Greeks, who
+were familiar with the combination of villages into one canton, and the
+union of hamlets into a city, and had experience of the establishment of
+a monarchy by setting up a tyranny in consequence of the services
+rendered by the aspirant to the multitude. Herodotus expressly calls the
+dominion of Deioces a tyranny. It is a fact beyond dispute that
+Herodotus was influenced by such conceptions in shaping and forming the
+material which came to him from tradition.
+
+Apart from the motives which influenced him in describing the elevation
+of Deioces, Herodotus wishes to show how the nations of Asia obtained
+their freedom, and subsequently lost it. He begins with the statement,
+that the Medes revolted from Assyria, and all the nations of Asia
+followed their example. According to his dates, which have been already
+mentioned, the Medes must have revolted precisely at the time when
+Tiglath Pilesar II. and Sargon reigned over Assyria, _i.e._ in the
+period between 745 and 705 B.C. The liberation of the remaining nations
+must therefore have taken place under Sargon or his successors,
+Sennacherib and Esarhaddon, _i.e._ between the year 705 and 668 B.C.
+That this general liberation from the sovereignty of the Assyrians did
+not take place at this period is abundantly clear from the inscriptions
+of the kings and the Hebrew Scriptures. We have seen above to what an
+extent Tiglath Pilesar caused the whole of Syria to feel the weight of
+the Assyrian arms; he reduced Babylonia to dependence as far as the
+Persian Gulf; Sargon was sovereign of Babylonia, maintained Syria, and
+received the homage of the island of Cyprus, and the islands of the
+Persian Gulf. His successor, Sennacherib, though unable to protect Syria
+against Egypt, yet retained Babylonia and the eastern half of Asia Minor
+under his dominion. Esarhaddon united the crowns of Asshur and Babel,
+restored the supremacy of Assyria over Syria, subjugated a part of
+Arabia and the whole of Egypt.[468] Hence it is clear, that precisely at
+the time when, according to Herodotus, the rest of the nations following
+the example of the Medes threw off the Assyrian yoke, that kingdom
+reached a wider extent than at any previous time. If, nevertheless, we
+wish to maintain the statement that the rest of the nations followed the
+example which the Medes are supposed to have set about the year 736
+B.C.,[469] we must place these events in the last decade of the reign of
+Assurbanipal, _i.e._ in the period between 636 and 626 B.C. We must
+therefore bring them down a full century, and this was a very late
+result of the action of the Medes.
+
+Let us attempt, by a comparison of the statements of the Assyrian
+inscriptions on the events which took place on the table-land of Iran
+and the narrative of Herodotus, to ascertain the real facts of the
+liberation of the Medes. We saw above (p. 19) that Shalmanesar II. of
+Asshur (859-823 B.C.) carried his campaigns as far as the East of Iran.
+In the year 835 B.C. he imposed tribute on twenty-seven princes of the
+land of Parsua, and "turned against the plains of the land of Amadai;"
+in 830 B.C. his general-in-chief, Dayan Asshur, went down into the land
+of Parsua, and laid tribute on the land of Parsua, "which did not
+worship Asshur," obtained possession of the cities, and sent their
+people and treasures into the land of Assyria.[470] Tiglath Pilesar II.
+(745-727 B.C.), in the campaign which carried him to Arachosia,
+subjugated "the land of Nisaa" and "the cities of the land of Media
+(Madai)." In the following year he occupied "the land of Parsua;"
+"Zikruti in rugged Media, I added to the land of Assyria; I received the
+tribute of Media;" and on his ninth campaign he again marched into "the
+land of Media." In an inscription which sums up all his achievements, he
+declares that he has imposed tribute "on the land of Parsua," the city
+of Zikruti, "which depends on the land of the Medes," and on the
+chieftains of "the land of Media."[471] The books of the Hebrews tell us
+that after the fall of Samaria in 721 B.C. "the king of Assyria carried
+Israel away, and gave them habitations in Chalah, and in the cities of
+the Medes." It was Sargon (722-705 B.C.) to whom Samaria yielded.[472]
+His inscriptions also tell us that he carried away the inhabitants of
+Samaria, and they make mention of the cities of the Medes. According to
+them, he received heavy tribute from twenty-five chiefs of the Medes in
+the year 716 B.C., and set up his royal image in the midst of their
+cities. In the next year he carried away captive "Dayauku with his
+people and his family, and caused him to dwell in the land of Amat,"
+built fortresses in order to control Media, received tribute from
+twenty-two chiefs of the Medes, conquered thirty-four cities in Media,
+and united them with Assyria. In the year 713 B.C. he marched against
+Bit Dayauku, reduced the chief districts of Media, which had cast off
+the yoke of Assyria, and received tribute from forty-five Median chiefs;
+4609 horses, asses, and sheep in great abundance. Sargon repeatedly
+boasts that "he has reduced the distant land of Media, all the places of
+distant Media, as far as the borders of the land of Bikni; that he
+brought them under the dominion of Asshur; and that his power extended
+as far as the city of Simaspati, which belonged to distant Media in the
+East."[473] The inscriptions of his successor Sennacherib (705-681 B.C.)
+tell us that on his return from his second campaign (against the land of
+Ellip), he received the heavy tribute of the distant land of Media, and
+subjugated the land to his dominion.[474] Esarhaddon (681-668 B.C.), the
+successor of Sennacherib, according to the Hebrew Scriptures, deported
+people from Persia to Samaria. He tells us himself: "The land of
+Patusarra, a district in the region of ----, in the midst of distant
+Media, on the border of the land of Bikni, the copper mountains. None of
+the kings my forefathers had subjugated this land. Sitirparna and
+Iparna, the chiefs of the fortified places, had not bowed before me. I
+carried them away with their subjects, horses, chariots, oxen, sheep,
+asses, as rich booty to Assyria." "The chiefs of the cities of Partakka,
+Partukka, and Uraka-zabarna, in the land of Media, who lay far off, and
+in the days of the kings my forefathers had not trodden the soil of
+Assyria--them the fear of Asshur, my lord, threw to the ground; they
+brought for me, to my city Nineveh, their great animals, copper, the
+product of their mines, bowed themselves with folded hands before me,
+and besought my favour. I put my viceroys over them, who united the
+inhabitants of these regions with my kingdom; I imposed services upon
+them, and a fixed tribute."[475] The period at which this tribute was
+imposed on the most distant part of Media can only be so far fixed that
+it must lie between 681 and 673 B.C. Assurbanipal, who succeeded
+Esarhaddon (668-626 B.C.), tells us: "I captured Birizchadri, the warden
+of the city of Madai (?); Sariti and Pariza, the sons of Gagi, the
+warden of the cities of the land of Sakhi, and 75 citadels had cast off
+the yoke of my dominion; I took the cities; the chiefs fell alive into
+my hands; I sent them to Nineveh my metropolis." These events belong to
+the period between the years 660 and 650 B.C.[476]
+
+To weaken the contradiction between this series of statements and the
+narrative of Herodotus, we may call to mind the gross exaggerations in
+which the kings of Assyria indulge in describing their acts and
+successes, and the grandiloquence which we have already noticed more
+than once in the statements of Assyrian history (III. 139, 200). But
+however great or however small may have been the success of the
+campaigns of Tiglath Pilesar II., Sargon, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon and
+Assurbanipal against the chiefs of the Medes, it cannot be denied that
+these campaigns took place. And if from the very frequency of such
+campaigns, after the reign of Tiglath Pilesar, we are inclined to draw
+the conclusion that they are a proof of the lax and nominal character of
+the dominion of Assyria over Media, this conclusion proves too much. The
+same repetition of warlike enterprises on the part of the kings of
+Asshur takes place, as we saw, in every direction. We shall have as much
+right to conclude that there was no such thing as an Assyrian empire,
+either before the year 736 or after it, over the Medes or any other
+nation. As I have shown (III. 185), the Assyrian kingdom never acquired
+a firm dominion over the subjugated nations, still less an organisation
+of the empire, like the subsequent kingdom of the Achaemenids. Their
+sovereignty consisted almost exclusively in the collection of tribute by
+force of arms, in the subjugation or removal of the princes who refused
+it, and setting up of others, who in turn soon withheld it. At the most,
+Assyrian fortresses were planted here and there; and no doubt Assyrian
+viceroys were placed over smaller regions. The same procedure is seen in
+the inscriptions as in use towards the Medes; and if this is not
+regarded as the sovereignty of Assyria, no such sovereignty existed
+before Tiglath Pilesar. If, to meet this objection, the existence of an
+Assyrian dominion is allowed, in the very lax form which is everywhere
+characteristic of it, we may, from the same frequency of the campaigns
+against Media, draw the opposite conclusion, that the Medes had
+struggled very vigorously for freedom, that in the first place the most
+remote tribes acquired it, and for them the liberation gradually spread,
+and the tradition of the Medes has accepted the beginning of the
+movement as the completion of it.
+
+Setting aside any conclusions of this kind, even tradition can only have
+regarded the beginning of the struggle for freedom as the beginning of
+liberation, if it covered the nucleus of a firm resistance, either in
+some definite district, or in a dynasty which took the lead in the
+struggle and carried it on. Herodotus is not acquainted with any leader
+in the struggle and does not mention any, while the campaigns of the
+Assyrians are always directed against a greater or less number of
+princes and cities; sometimes they fall on this chieftain and sometimes
+on that.[477] If, moreover, the fact that Sargon receives tribute from
+twenty-five, then from twenty-two, and then from forty-five chieftains,
+is brought forward to confirm the narratives of Herodotus about the
+anarchy which prevailed among the Medes, it is not the separation of the
+Medes under different chiefs which constitutes the anarchy as described
+by Herodotus, but actual lawlessness. His description gives us no
+chieftains in Media, ruling their lands as captains in war and judges in
+peace. The Medes dwell in villages, and the inhabitants choose the
+village judge, though it is in their power to go for decision to another
+village. Chieftains, even if they had not forbidden their tribes to seek
+for justice out of the tribe, would in any case have left the decision
+of Deioces unnoticed.
+
+However this may be, one harsh contradiction between the narrative of
+Herodotus and the inscriptions cannot be removed by any exposition or
+any deductions. According to Herodotus Deioces reigned from the year 708
+to 655 B.C., Phraortes from 655 to 633 B.C., over the whole of Media.
+The inscriptions of Sennacherib mention the great payment of tribute by
+the distant land of Media, and its subjugation under Sennacherib (p.
+282); Esarhaddon removes two chieftains with their flocks and subjects
+out of Media from the border of the land of Bikni to Asshur, and three
+chiefs from the same district bring their tribute to Nineveh; he places
+his viceroys over them, and they unite this district with Assyria. After
+the year 660 B.C. Assurbanipal is said to have taken a chieftain of
+Media captive; and in the inscriptions there is nowhere any mention of
+Deioces, Phraortes, and the Median kingdom.
+
+The inscriptions extend the land of the Medes to the East as far as the
+copper mountains, or borders of the land of Bikni.[478] The people lived
+separately under a considerable number of chieftains. The five tribes of
+the Median nation, enumerated by Herodotus, if they also possessed
+separate territory, were not isolated groups, but on the contrary broken
+up into yet smaller divisions. The booty taken by the Assyrians from the
+Medes, the tribute imposed upon them, consists chiefly in oxen, asses,
+sheep, and horses. The number of horses given by the chieftains to
+Sargon allows on an average a hundred for each, and we also hear of
+other property, treasures, and the product of copper mines. We have
+repeated mention of the cities of Media and their governors; Sargon
+conquers thirty-four cities. Though we ought to regard these mainly as
+citadels, yet civic life cannot have been so unknown to the Medes as the
+narrative of Herodotus would compel us to suppose. Other elements of
+civilisation also are known to the Medes at this time, _i.e._ in the
+second half of the eighth and first half of the seventh century B.C. It
+has been proved above that at the beginning of this period the doctrine
+of Zoroaster must have reached them, and the names could be given of the
+men in Media who published it; and the priests of the new religion
+became formed during this century into an order which perpetuated in
+their families the knowledge of the good sayings and the customs of
+sacrifice. To this order we may also attribute what the Medes acquired
+of the superior civilisation and skill of Assyria, especially the
+knowledge of the Assyrian cuneiform writing, which underwent a change in
+the hands of the Magians, and assumed the form known to us from the
+Achaemenid inscriptions of the first class. When Herodotus ascribes the
+introduction of written process at law to Deioces, the tradition
+presupposes an established and extensive use of writing.
+
+The dominion of the princes under which the Medes stood is followed by
+the dominion of the monarchy, which must have arisen out of it. One of
+the families of these princes must have succeeded in obtaining influence
+and power over the others. The position of Deioces and Phraortes must
+have arisen and developed itself in this manner. Whether the Dayauku,
+whom Sargon carried off in the year 715 B.C. with his followers to Amat,
+is one and the same person with the prince of Bit Dayauku, against whom
+the Assyrian king marched in the year 713 B.C. (p. 282), would be
+difficult to decide; and even if the matter could be determined with
+certainty, it would not be of great importance. We often find the kings
+of Asshur replacing conquered and captive princes in their dominions. On
+the other hand, it is of importance that there was a region of Media,
+which could be called Bit Dayauku, _i.e._ the land of Dayauku, by the
+Assyrians in the year 713 B.C. There must have existed at this time a
+principality of Deioces among other principalities, and the beginning of
+this must be put earlier than the date allowed by Herodotus for the
+election, _i.e._ at the latest at 720 B.C. In course of time the land of
+Deioces may have increased in extent, and the importance of the ruler
+may have grown--though he may not, after the conflict of 713 B.C., have
+taken any leading part in the resistance to the payment of tribute, the
+conflicts and successes of other chieftains against the Assyrians; at
+any rate, there is no subsequent mention of the land in the
+inscriptions. Neither Deioces nor his land is mentioned when Sennacherib
+speaks of the tribute of the whole of Media, and the subjugation of the
+country under his dominion; nor even when Esarhaddon speaks of the
+conquest of the most distant princes. Hence we can only grant to the
+narrative of Herodotus that, in the times of Sennacherib and Esarhaddon,
+Deioces, the son of Phraortes, had a considerable territory among the
+chiefs of the Medes, and greater importance than others, and we have no
+reason to look for his dominion elsewhere than at Ecbatana. His son
+Phraortes (Fravartis), who according to Herodotus came to the throne in
+the year 655 B.C., must have succeeded in uniting the chiefs of the
+Medes under his sway, and combining with the tribes of the Persians,
+among whom at that time the race of the Achaemenids had acquired a
+prominent position,[479] in order to maintain their independence against
+Assyria.
+
+From this point downwards we can date the union and independence of
+Media. Had the country been free and united at the time of Sargon,
+Sennacherib, and Esarhaddon, the rulers of Assyria would not have
+marched against Syria and Cilicia, or undertaken the conquest of Egypt.
+Assurbanipal could not have employed the forces of the kingdom to
+maintain Egypt, or reduce Babylon, or annihilate Edom, or make campaigns
+to the distant parts of Arabia, if the united power of Media had existed
+behind the Zagrus, close on the borders of his native land, the very
+centre of the Assyrian power. Still less could he have looked on in
+inaction, while Phraortes, as Herodotus tells us, conquered the
+Persians, and attacked one nation after another till he had subjugated
+Asia. On the other hand, the annihilation of Elam by Assurbanipal, and
+consequent strengthening of the Assyrian power on the borders of Persia,
+may well have determined the Persians to unite with the Medes, and
+accept a position under Phraortes.
+
+In considering the situation and importance of the powers, we may assume
+that Phraortes, in the first instance, thought rather of defence than of
+any attack on Assyria, and for this object undertook the fortification
+of Ecbatana on a large scale. What could have induced him to abandon the
+protecting line of the Zagrus, in order to attack under the massive
+walls of its metropolis the power which had just dealt such heavy and
+destructive blows on ancient states like Babylonia and Elam, unless we
+attribute to him the most reckless audacity? Nor, on the other hand, can
+we suppose that an ancient ruler like Assurbanipal, who had held his own
+successfully against the searching attack of his brother, and finally
+gained important conquests, would have allowed the formation of the
+Median power in the closest proximity, and its combination with the
+Persians, without the least attempt to prevent it. It was in repulsing
+this attack that Phraortes fell.[480]
+
+If this inquiry leads us to attribute to Phraortes the foundation of a
+consolidated government, the establishment of monarchy in Media, the
+union of the Persians and Medes, and the subordination of the former to
+Phraortes, we can yet understand that the traditions of the Medes,
+anxious to increase the glory of the country, threw the monarchy further
+back, ascribed to Deioces, the father of Phraortes, the consolidation of
+Media, and represented the liberation from the sway of Assyria as prior
+to the foundation of the monarchy. What Median poems can do for the
+glorification of their country, even in the teeth of the established
+facts of history, will soon become even more clear. How this tradition
+explained the elevation of Deioces we cannot now discover; it is clear
+that Herodotus gives a Greek turn to this part of the story (p. 280).
+And if tradition ascribes to Deioces the extensive and strong
+fortifications of Ecbatana, which more correctly belong to Phraortes and
+his successors, it is Herodotus who credits him with the discovery of
+the mode of life usual among Oriental monarchs. The Medo-Persian Epos
+shows us the successors of Semiramis in the seclusion of the palace. On
+the other hand, the Median tradition must have ascribed the reduction of
+Asia to Phraortes. We have already remarked (III. 280), that towards the
+close of the sixth century B.C. Cyaxares and not Phraortes was regarded
+by the nation as the founder of the power and greatness of Media.
+Herodotus himself tells us "that Cyaxares was far more powerful than his
+predecessors." Hence the later legend, which Herodotus reproduces,
+ascribed the foundation to Phraortes, and the extension of the Median
+power to Cyaxares. But if Phraortes was to be the conqueror of Asia, he
+must "when he had attacked and conquered the other nations one after the
+other," have finally marched against the Assyrians, against whom he did
+in fact contend.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[444] "Vend." 1, 42; Behist. 2, 92.
+
+[445] Plin. "H. N." 6, 18, (48).
+
+[446] Alexander came from Hyrcania and Parthia to the land of the
+Tapurians. According to Arrian's statements, the Hyrcanians, Parthians
+and Tapurians were all under one leader in the army of Darius III.
+"Anab." 3, 8, 4; 3, 11, 4; Strabo, p. 507, 508, 514, 524; Justin, 12, 3;
+41, 5.
+
+[447] Herod. 1, 110.
+
+[448] Polyb. 5, 44; 10, 27. Cf. Curt. 3, 2 ff.
+
+[449] Strabo, p. 523-525.
+
+[450] In the most recent times it has been maintained that the Medes
+were of Turkish-Tatar (Altaic) family, but this view rests simply on the
+assumption that the inscriptions of the second class in the inscriptions
+of the Achaemenids must have been written in the language of the Medes.
+This hypothesis contradicts everything that has come down to us of
+Median names and works, and the close relationship between the Medes and
+Persians. Whether the Arians, on immigrating into Media, found there
+Turkish-Tatar tribes, overpowered, expelled or subjugated them, is
+another question. If this were the case, the fragments of the population
+could hardly have exercised any influence worth mentioning on the Arian
+Medes.
+
+[451] Paraetacene is derived no doubt from _parvata_, mountain, or
+_parvataka_, mountainous. Strabo remarks that when the Persians had
+conquered the Medes, they took some land from them. The distance between
+Persepolis and Ecbatana was twenty marches; Alexander reached the
+borders of Media on the twelfth day after leaving Persepolis. Arrian,
+"Anab." 3, 19.
+
+[452] Strabo, p. 73; 509.
+
+[453] Under the Sassanids Media (Mah) consisted of four regions:
+Aderbeijan, Rai (Rhagiana), Hamadan (Ecbatana), Isfahan.
+
+[454] Herodotus allows the Matieni a considerable extent, for he
+includes under the name the Armenians and the inhabitants of Atropatene.
+Later authors confine the Matieni to the region round the lake of
+Urumiah; in this sense, Polybius, quoted above in the text, limits Media
+in the North by the Cadusians and Matieni.
+
+[455] Herod. 3, 106; 7, 40.
+
+[456] Strabo, p. 525; Diod. 17, 110; Arrian, "Anab." 7, 13.
+
+[457] Behist. 1, 13. Strabo's [Greek: Nesaia] (p. 509, 511), the Nisiaea
+of Pliny (6, 29), the Parthaunisa of Isidore of Charax, must be sought
+in the neighbourhood of Nishapur, which was built by Shapur II. The
+Avesta puts Nica between Merv and Balkh.
+
+[458] Diod. 19, 44. Alexander in eleven forced marches advanced from
+Ecbatana to Ragha.
+
+[459] Isid. Ch. "M. P." c. 5.
+
+[460] Mordtmann, "B. d. Bair. Akademie," 1876, s. 364.
+
+[461] Diod. 2, 13; 17, 110. The city of Baptana, which Isidore (c. 5)
+mentions "as situated on a mountain in Cambadene," is in any case
+Bagistana (Behistun).
+
+[462] Herodotus, 1, 95-101.
+
+[463] Herod. 1, 102.
+
+[464] Vol. III. 257 ff. According to the reigns which Herodotus allows
+to Deioces and his successors, 150 years before the overthrow of
+Astyages, which took place 558 B.C., _i.e._ 708, but, according to the
+total given by Herodotus--156 years, 714 B.C.
+
+[465] Volney, "Recherches," 1, 144 ff.
+
+[466] In order to remove this objection, the dates of Deioces and
+Phraortes must be transposed, and the 22 years of Phraortes given to the
+former, the 53 years of Deioces to the latter. Phraortes would then have
+marched out against the Assyrians in extreme old age, and fallen in the
+battle.
+
+[467] Herod. 1, 96.
+
+[468] Vol. III. Bk. 4; Chaps. 1, 4, 5-8.
+
+[469] According to Von Gutschmid. Cf. _supr._ p. 278.
+
+[470] Vol. II. p. 319. I cannot accept the theory which Lenormant has
+attempted to establish on the geographical differences in the
+inscriptions of Shalmanesar II. and Tiglath Pilesar II.--that the Medes
+and Persians obtained possession of Western Iran shortly before the
+middle of the eighth century. "Lettres Assyriolog." and "Z. Aegypt.
+Spr." 1870, s. 48 ff.
+
+[471] Vol. III. 3-5.
+
+[472] Vol. III. 85.
+
+[473] Vol. III. 101.
+
+[474] Vol. III. 113.
+
+[475] Vol. III. 150.
+
+[476] Vol. III. 167.
+
+[477] That is the reason why I cannot regard the parallels which Von
+Gutshchmid suggests ("Neue Beitraege," s. 90 ff.) of the struggle between
+the Arsacids and Seleucids, and the relations between the Great Mogul
+and the Mahrattas, as pertinent.
+
+[478] The Patusarra of Esarhaddon might be the Patisuvari of Darius; the
+Pateischoreans, whom Strabo quotes among the tribes of the Persians; Von
+Gutschmid, _loc. cit._ s. 93, but in the Babylonian version of the
+inscription of Behistun the Pateischoreans are called _Pidishuris_.
+
+[479] Von Gutschmid, _loc. cit._ s. 88; below, c. 3.
+
+[480] Vol. III. 280. The Assyrian inscriptions are silent from 644 B.C.
+downwards. Von Gutschmid, "Neue Beitr." s. 89. From this silence I have
+concluded, and still conclude, that the liberation of the Medes took
+place towards 640 B.C., and moreover that the victory of the Assyrians
+over Phraortes, and his death in battle did not bring about a decisive
+change in favour of the Assyrians.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE EMPIRE OF THE MEDES.
+
+
+"When Phraortes had fallen, he was succeeded by his son Cyaxares. This
+prince collected all his subjects and marched against Nineveh, in order
+to avenge the death of his father and destroy the city. He defeated the
+Assyrians, and while encamped before Nineveh, there came upon him the
+vast army of the Scythians, led by their king Madyas, the son of
+Protothyas, who invaded Asia in pursuit of the Cimmerians, and as they
+did not come through the land of the Saspeires, but kept the Caucasus to
+the right, they reached the Median country. Here they attacked the
+Medes, and the latter being conquered in the battle lost their empire;
+the Scythians became masters of the whole of Asia, and ruled over it for
+28 years. With reckless cruelty they laid everything waste; they not
+only imposed tribute on all the nations, but went round and took from
+every one all that he possessed. But Cyaxares and the Medes massacred
+the greater part of them after making them intoxicated at a banquet, and
+in this way the Medes recovered their empire, and again governed those
+who had previously been subject to them. Then a horde of Scythians,
+which had separated from the rest and put themselves under the
+protection of Cyaxares, were guilty of a crime against a Median boy who
+had been entrusted to them, and fled for refuge to Alyattes, king of
+Lydia, who refused to give them up. This led to a war between Media and
+Lydia which continued for five years, and was brought to an end by a
+treaty in which Alyattes gave his daughter Aryanis to wife to the son of
+Cyaxares. Cyaxares was master of all Asia beyond the Halys, took
+Nineveh, and subjugated the Assyrians, with the exception of the
+Babylonian portion." Such is the history, given by Herodotus, of
+Cyaxares, who, on his reckoning, ascended the throne of Media in the
+year 633 B.C.
+
+If Phraortes had fallen in battle against the Assyrians with the greater
+part of his army, Cyaxares (Uvakshathra) could hardly have at once
+undertaken an attack on Nineveh, with a view of avenging his father's
+death by the destruction of that city; his first care, on the contrary,
+would have been to prevent the Assyrians from making use of their great
+victory, to guard against further advances on their part, and to
+maintain the freedom of Media. This struggle Cyaxares passed through
+with success; that his good fortune carried him as far as the walls of
+Nineveh, is indeed possible, but not probable; according to Herodotus
+the collision of the Scythians and Medes did not take place in the land
+of Asshur, but further to the East, in Media.
+
+The facts about the pursuit of the Cimmerians and the invasion of the
+Scythians have been already examined, and it has been shown that
+Herodotus has connected the immigration of the Cimmerians into Asia
+Minor, which took place in the eighth century B.C., with the incursion
+of Sacian tribes from the Oxus into Media, about the year 630 B.C. He
+was deceived by the circumstance that the Cimmerians from their abode on
+the lower Halys penetrated to Sardis and the cities of the Western
+coast, about the time when the Sacae invaded Media and inundated Hither
+Asia (III. 276). The truth is that the hordes of the Sacae not only
+overthrew Media, but passed through Mesopotamia into Syria as far as the
+borders of Egypt. Their attack shattered and destroyed the cohesion of
+the Assyrian empire.
+
+About the year 620 Cyaxares succeeded in overpowering the section of the
+Scythians which remained in Media (these hordes were no doubt widely
+dispersed), and again became master in his own dominions. He made use of
+his advantageous position as the first who could again direct the forces
+of his people. He showed himself to the Armenians and Cappadocians as a
+champion to defend them from the plundering Scythians, and at the same
+time aided in liberating them from the dominion of the Assyrians. The
+incursion of the Scythians had prepared the way for him; in a few years
+he was able to extend his power to the West as far as the Halys.[481]
+Nabopolassar, the viceroy of Assyria in Babylon, who had determined to
+turn to account the severe blow which the incursion of the Scyths had
+given to the Assyrian kingdom, had already offered him his hand in
+alliance. Amyite, the daughter of Cyaxares, had become the wife of
+Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabopolassar. But in Asia Minor, far to the
+West, the princes of the Lydians had taken advantage of the disturbance
+and confusion which the advance of the Cimmerians had carried to the
+Western coast, to extend their power over Phrygia as far as the Halys
+(III. 435). Here the two rapidly-developing powers met. Though inferior
+in numbers the Lydians showed themselves a match for the Medes. After a
+war of five years, peace was established between them by Nabopolassar of
+Babylon and Syennesis of Cilicia, in order to set the power of Media
+free to act against Nineveh. The Halys became the boundary of the two
+kingdoms, and the peace was confirmed by an alliance. Alyattes of Lydia
+gave his daughter Aryanis to wife to Astyages the son of Cyaxares (610
+B.C.[482]). Media and Babylonia now thought themselves strong enough to
+undertake the contest against the remains of the Assyrian kingdom.
+Cyaxares led out the Medes, Nabopolassar the Babylonians against king
+Assur-idil-ili. The latter offered a long and stubborn defence, and when
+at length the walls of Nineveh were broken through, he burnt himself in
+the citadel. The Assyrian country as far as the Tigris fell to the share
+of Media; Mesopotamia was united with the new kingdom of Babylon (607
+B.C.[483]). Thus Media and Babylonia took the place of Assyria; and
+Babylon, as Herodotus says, was now the chief city of the Assyrians.
+
+When the kingdom had fallen which for three centuries had ruled in the
+East and West, Cyaxares might indulge the thought of making his empire
+more complete on the table-land of Iran. According to the story which
+Ctesias has preserved for us from the Medo-Persian Epos of the fall of
+Assyria (III. 249), the Bactrians had been prevailed upon to join the
+Medes and Babylonians in the course of the war against Assyria, and the
+Persian songs which describe the contest of Cyrus and Astyages,
+represent the Hyrcanians, Parthians, Bactrians, and other nations of the
+East, as ruled by viceroys of the Median king.[484] We may regard it as
+certain that Cyaxares succeeded in subjugating the table-land of Iran to
+a considerable extent. No slight proof is afforded of the increase and
+greatness of the Median kingdom in his reign by the unusual care and
+extraordinary efforts of the successor of Nabopolassar to protect
+Babylonia and Babylon by fortifications against the event of a struggle
+between the two powers, whose united exertions had destroyed Assyria
+(III. 366).
+
+The position which the Medo-Persian poems assign to the chief of the
+Babylonians beside the chief of the Medes, during and after the common
+struggle, has been already explained. The Babylonian is the astrologer,
+the adviser, the helper; the Mede is the man of action. In the event of
+success against Assyria he promises the Babylonian the viceroyalty of
+Babylon, and has already given it to him, free of tribute, when the
+fraud is discovered by which the cunning Babylonian has acquired the
+most valuable part of the spoil of Nineveh. For this offence the chief
+is condemned to death; but the Mede pardons him, and in consideration of
+his former services and the promise made, leaves him the viceroyalty. So
+eager were the Median minstrels to conceal the independence of Babylonia
+beside Media, and represent a power as great as Babylon was under
+Nebuchadnezzar as a satrapy of their kings. This fiction is maintained
+in other episodes of the Medo-Persian Epos which have come down to us.
+We are told of the stubborn resistance which the Cadusians made to the
+Medes; and an explanation is given how this unimportant nation on the
+shore of the Caspian (p. 268) could withstand the mighty kingdom of the
+Medes. This episode has come to us in the Persian form. It is the fault
+of the Median king that the Cadusians have become stubborn and
+successful enemies. He failed to help to his rights a brave warrior in
+his service; this warrior betook himself to the Cadusians, and became
+their chief, led them well, and bequeathed his thirst for vengeance to
+his descendants. From such a point of view even a Median minstrel could
+lament the perversity of the Median king, and the power of Babylonian
+gold, the abundance of which is strongly marked in the narrative, could
+praise the ancient simplicity of the Medes: "who took no heed of silver,
+and did not regard gold," as we are told in the Hebrew Scriptures, and
+reprobate the victory of gold over strict justice. But it is a Persian
+to whom the wrong is done, who summons the Cadusians to freedom; and the
+resistance of the Cadusians to the Median kingdom, thus brought about by
+a Persian, subsequently furnishes Cyrus with a pretext for arming the
+Persians, and also provides him with allies in the Cadusians. It was the
+merit of a brave Persian to have provided this assistance for his people
+long before. The king of the Medes who was guilty of this mistake is
+called in Ctesias Artaeus; we have seen (p. 277) that Artaeus and
+Astibaras, who reigned 40 years each, are but one and the same person;
+and as the reign of Cyaxares occupies 40 years in Herodotus, we may
+conjecture that he is the king hidden behind the Artaeus-Astibaras of
+Ctesias. The king of Babylon, the satrap of the episode, is brought in
+as a descendant of Belesys (Nabopolassar), and described as an
+effeminate man. His name, in the form given by Ctesias, is Annarus.
+Evilmerodach or Neriglissar of Babylon must be meant; but, without
+doubt, we are dealing with mere fiction.
+
+The episode is as follows: There was a Persian of the name of Parsondes,
+in the service of the king of the Medes, an eager huntsman, and active
+warrior on foot and in the chariot, distinguished in council and in the
+field, and of influence with the king. Parsondes often urged the king to
+make him satrap of Babylon in the place of Annarus, who wore women's
+clothes and ornaments, but the king always put the petition aside, for
+it could not be granted without breaking the promise which his ancestor
+had made to Belesys (p. 297). Annarus discovered the intentions of
+Parsondes, and sought to secure himself against him, and to take
+vengeance. He promised great rewards to the cooks who were in the train
+of the king, if they succeeded in seizing Parsondes and giving him up.
+One day Parsondes in the heat of the chase strayed far from the king. He
+had already killed many boars and deer, when the pursuit of a wild ass
+(the Sassanids also hunt this animal) carried him to a great distance.
+At last he came upon the cooks, who were occupied in preparations for
+the king's table. Being thirsty, Parsondes asked for wine; they gave it,
+took care of his horse, and invited him to take food--an invitation
+agreeable to Parsondes, who had been hunting the whole day. He bade them
+send the ass which he had captured to the king, and tell his own
+servants where he was. Then he ate of the various kinds of food set
+before him, and drank abundantly of the excellent wine, and at last
+asked for his horse in order to return to the king. But they brought
+beautiful women to him, and urged him to remain for the night. He
+agreed, and as soon as, overcome by hunting, wine, and love he had
+fallen into a deep sleep, the cooks bound him, and brought him to
+Annarus. Annarus reproached him with calling him an effeminate man, and
+seeking to obtain his satrapy; he had the king to thank that the satrapy
+granted to his ancestors had not been taken from him. Parsondes replied
+that he considered himself more worthy of the office, because he was
+more manly and more useful to the king. But Annarus swore by Bel and
+Mylitta that Parsondes should be softer and whiter than a woman, called
+for the eunuch who was over the female players, and bade him shave the
+body of Parsondes and bathe and anoint him every day, put women's
+clothes on him, plait his hair after the manner of women, paint his
+face, and place him among the women, who played the guitar and sang,
+and to teach him their arts. This was done, and soon Parsondes played
+and sang better at the table of Annarus than any of the women. Meanwhile
+the king of the Medes had caused search to be made everywhere for
+Parsondes, and since he could nowhere be found, and nothing could be
+heard of him, he believed that a lion or some other wild animal had torn
+him when out hunting, and lamented for his loss. Parsondes had lived for
+seven years as a woman in Babylon, when Annarus caused an eunuch to be
+scourged and grievously maltreated. This eunuch Parsondes induced by
+large presents to retire to Media and tell the king the misfortune which
+had come upon him. Then the king sent a message commanding Annarus to
+give up Parsondes. Annarus declared that he had never seen him. But the
+king sent a second messenger charging him to bring Annarus to be put to
+death if he did not surrender Parsondes. Annarus entertained the
+messenger of the king, and when the meal was brought, 150 women entered,
+of whom some played the guitar while others blew the flute. At the end
+of the meal Annarus asked the king's envoy which of all the women was
+the most beautiful and had played best. The envoy pointed to Parsondes.
+Annarus laughed long and said, "That is the person whom you seek," and
+released Parsondes, who on the next day returned home with the envoy to
+the king in a chariot. The king was astonished at the sight of him, and
+asked why he had not avoided such disgrace by death? Parsondes answered:
+"In order that I might see you again, and by you execute vengeance on
+Annarus, which could never have been mine had I taken my life." The king
+promised him that his hope should not be deceived, as soon as he came to
+Babylon. But when he came there, Annarus defended himself on the ground
+that Parsondes, though in no way injured by him, had maligned him, and
+sought to obtain the satrapy over Babylonia. The king pointed out that
+he had made himself judge in his own cause, and had imposed a punishment
+of a degrading character; in ten days he would pronounce sentence upon
+him for his conduct. In terror Annarus hastened to Mitraphernes, the
+eunuch of greatest influence with the king, and promised him the most
+liberal rewards (10 talents of gold and 100 talents of silver, 10 golden
+and 200 silver bowls) if he could induce the king to spare his life and
+retain him in the satrapy of Babylonia. He was prepared to give the king
+100 talents of gold, 1000 talents of silver, 100 golden and 300 silver
+bowls, and costly robes with other gifts; Parsondes also should receive
+100 talents of silver and costly robes. After many entreaties
+Mitraphernes persuaded the king not to command the execution of Annarus,
+as he had not killed Parsondes, but to condemn him in the penalty which
+he was prepared to pay Parsondes and the king. Annarus in gratitude
+threw himself at the feet of the king, but Parsondes said: "Cursed be
+the man who first brought gold among men; for the sake of gold I have
+been made a mockery to the Babylonians." The eunuch advised him to lay
+aside his anger, and be reconciled with Annarus, for that was what the
+king desired; but Parsondes determined to take vengeance for the
+sentence of the king, and waited for a favourable opportunity in order
+to fly with a thousand horse and three thousand infantry to the
+Cadusians, whose most distinguished chief had married his sister. Then
+he persuaded the Cadusians to revolt from the Medes, and was elected to
+be their general. When the king of the Medes armed against them,
+Parsondes armed in return, and occupied the passes into the country with
+200,000 warriors. Though the Median king brought up 800,000 men,
+Parsondes nevertheless put him to flight, and slew 50,000 Medes. In
+admiration of such noble deeds, the Cadusians made Parsondes king, and
+they often invaded Media and laid it waste. At the end of his days,
+Parsondes commanded his successor to remain an enemy of the Medes, and
+pronounced a curse: "If ever peace should be concluded between the Medes
+and the Cadusians, might his race and the whole nation of the Cadusians
+perish." This is the reason why the Cadusians remained the enemies of
+the Medes, and were never subject to them.[485]
+
+Another episode tells us of the contests which the Medes had to sustain
+under the dominion of Astibaras-Artaeus, _i.e._ of Cyaxares, against the
+Parthians and the Sacae. The Parthians, whose chief was Marmares,
+revolted from the Medes, but handed over their land and city to the king
+of the Sacae, Cydraeus, that he might protect them against the Medes; and
+the sister of Cydraeus, Zarinaea (Zaranya, _i.e._ the golden), who was
+distinguished for her beauty and wisdom, her boldness and bravery (for
+the women of the Sacae took the field with the men), became the wife of
+Marmares. As the Medians intended to reduce the Parthians again to
+subjection, a war broke out between them and the Parthians and Sacae,
+which lasted for several years, and led to battles in which many fell on
+one side and the other. In one of these battles Zarinaea was wounded.
+Stryangaeus, the Mede, to whom Cyaxares had given his daughter Rhoetaea
+to wife, pursued, overtook, and threw her from her horse. But the sight
+of her beauty and youth, and her entreaties, moved him; he allowed her
+to escape. Not long afterwards Stryangaeus with other Medes was taken
+captive by the Parthians. Marmares wished to put him to death, and
+though Zarinaea entreated for his life, insisted on his execution. Then
+Zarinaea loosed the bonds of the captive Medes, caused Marmares to be
+put to death by them, and allowed Stryangaeus to escape. When, after the
+death of her brother Cydraeus, she ascended the throne of the Sacae, she
+sent messengers to the king of the Medes to conclude peace and
+friendship. The Parthians were to return under the sovereignty of the
+Medes, the Sacae and Medes were to keep what previously belonged to them,
+and to be friends and allies for ever. This was done. Stryangaeus, the
+real author of this treaty, ever since the battle in which he had first
+seen Zarinaea, had been possessed with violent love for her, and went to
+Roxanace (_i.e._ the brilliant),[486] where was the royal citadel of the
+Sacae, in order to see the beloved princess once more. Zarinaea, who
+returned his affection, came to see him full of joy, received him and
+his attendants in the most splendid manner, kissed him in the sight of
+all, and ascended his chariot, and thus, while conversing with each
+other they arrived in the palace. Here Stryangaeus sighed in the
+chambers assigned to him, and could not resist the violence of his
+passion. At length he took counsel with the most faithful of his
+eunuchs, who encouraged him to discover his passion to Zarinaea. Easily
+persuaded, Stryangaeus hastened to the queen, and after much delay and
+many sighs, sometimes blushing and again turning pale, he ventured to
+declare that he was consumed with love for her. Zarinaea answered
+quietly and gently that it would be shameful and fatal for her to
+surrender herself to him, and far more shameful and dangerous for
+Stryangaeus, as his wife was the daughter of the king of the Medes, and,
+as she heard, more beautiful than herself and many other women. He must
+be brave, not only against his enemies, but against himself, and not
+bring about a long calamity for the sake of a brief enjoyment. No other
+wish of his but this should remain unsatisfied. Stryangaeus was silent
+for a long time, then embraced and kissed the queen, and departed. He
+was far more dejected than before, and determined to take his life.
+"Thou hast been saved by me," he wrote to Zarinaea, "but through thee I
+am destroyed. If in this thou hast done justly, then may all good things
+be thine, and mayest thou be happy; if thou hast done evil, may a
+passion like mine overtake thee." When he had bound the eunuch by an
+oath to give this letter to Zarinaea immediately after his death, he lay
+back on his cushions and demanded his sword. As the eunuch refused to
+give it, he ended his days by starvation. Zarinaea ruled over the Sacae
+with wisdom and power. She conquered the neighbouring nations who sought
+to subjugate her people, caused a great part of the land to be
+cultivated, and built a considerable number of cities, and brought the
+Sacae into greater prosperity. In gratitude for the benefits received
+from her, and in remembrance of her virtues, the Sacae erected on her
+grave a three-sided pyramid, three stades in length on each side, and
+ending in a point a stadum in height, on which was placed a colossal
+golden statue of the queen. Worship was also offered to her as to a
+hero, so that she received greater honours than any of her
+predecessors.[487]
+
+We have already acquainted ourselves with the land of the Parthians (p.
+10). The Sacae were neighbours of the Hyrcanians, the Parthians, and the
+Bactrians in the steppes of the Oxus. Herodotus tells us that the Sacae
+were a nation of the tribe of the Scyths, and that their proper name was
+Amyrgians; the Persians called all the Scythians Sacae. The inscriptions
+of Darius speak of Caka Humavarka; in the second version the name is
+Omuvargap, and in the Babylonian-Assyrian version Umurga. According to
+the account of Herodotus the Sacae wore trousers, and upright, pointed
+caps, and carried bows of a peculiar character, battle-axes and daggers.
+They fought as mounted bowmen. On the monument of Darius at Behistun
+Cakuka,[488] the leader of the Sacae, wears a tall pointed cap. In the
+army of Xerxes the Sacae were ranged with the Bactrians. What our episode
+tells us of the royal citadel and the cities built by Zarinaea does not
+harmonise with the nature of the steppe-country of the Sacae, and the
+statement of the Greeks, that the Sacae lived in variegated tents, and
+that their wealth consisted in flocks of sheep, but it does agree with
+the fact that the women went to battle on horseback with the men. The
+companions of Alexander describe the Sacae as strong, warlike, well-grown
+men, with flowing hair; the Macedonians only came up to their shoulders.
+Later accounts speak of heavy-armed horse among them; both horse and
+rider were covered with armour, and the weapons of attack were long
+lances.[489] From the narratives given in the episodes we may retain
+the fact that although the Persians followed the lead of the Medes from
+the time of Phraortes, Cyaxares, even after the fall of Nineveh, did not
+succeed in subjugating the remaining nations of Iran without severe
+struggles. There is no reason to doubt that the Cadusians made an
+obstinate resistance, and maintained their independence: The Parthians
+were able to combine with the Sacae in order to preserve their freedom,
+and did not become subject to Cyaxares without severe contests. That the
+Sagartians on the edge of the great desert (p. 6) were subject to
+Cyaxares, is clear from the inscription of Darius at Behistun. If the
+Medes had to fight with the Sacae, who were settled on the Oxus, Bactria
+must have been reduced to form a part of their kingdom. Beside the
+Hyrcanians, Parthians, and "other nations," the Bactrians and Sacae are
+specially mentioned as subjects of the Median kings,[490] and Arrian
+assures us that the Acvakas, whom we found north of the Cabul on the
+right bank of the Indus (IV. 393), were subjects of the Medes.[491]
+
+Herodotus tells us that Cyaxares was the first to separate the
+lance-bearers, archers, and horsemen, and combine them into divisions;
+that is, he introduced a better and more manageable arrangement of the
+army. To the same prince, no doubt, is due the completion of the
+fortifications of Ecbatana, which we found had been strengthened by his
+predecessor Phraortes. When the fortifications were first begun, the
+place was merely intended as a point of defence against Assyria; but as
+soon as it became destined to aid in the maintenance of independence, it
+was necessary that it should be capable of offering refuge and support
+to the Median army, if hard pressed. The mountains of the Zagrus form
+the boundary wall, and at the same time the line of division between the
+Medes and Assyrians. As Polybius told us (p. 268), it was an ascent of
+twelve miles--_i.e._ four leagues--to the top of the pass. If the Medes
+failed to hold these passes, and were then defeated in their own
+table-land, the mountains of the Orontes formed a new point of
+protection to their retreat. The Orontes (Old Persian, _Urvanda_; now
+Elvend) is a steep range of mountains, traversing Media from north-west
+to south-east; the heights of the passes are given by travellers at 7000
+or 10,000 feet; Ctesias puts the ascent at twenty-five stades;[492]
+recent explorers fix the time at four hours. On the eastern spur of this
+mountain wall, in a fertile plain, six leagues long and four leagues
+broad, lay Ecbatana, Old Persian _Hangmatana, i.e._ place of assembly,
+the Achmeta of the Hebrews. If the Orontes could not be held, the
+fortifications of Ecbatana formed a last point of protection for the
+Median army. From the Assyrians there was nothing more to be feared
+after the fall of Nineveh, but Cyaxares had no doubt felt, in the
+inundation of Media by the nomadic tribes of the Sacae, and then in the
+final battles against Asshur, what a support was given by a strong
+metropolis; what good service the walls of Nineveh had rendered to the
+enemy, even in his decline. He saw what measures were being taken by
+Nebuchadnezzar, his step-son, to make his metropolis secure, and
+determined that the kingdom, which he had so rapidly and brilliantly
+erected and developed, should not be without the nucleus of an
+impregnable fortress and royal citadel. The booty in silver and gold,
+which the Medes gained in Nineveh, and of which we hear not in the
+Median poems only, but also from the Hebrew prophets who lived at the
+time of the fall of the city, provided no doubt ample means both for the
+erection of the strongest works, and for the adornment of these as well
+as the citadel.
+
+Ctesias tells us that Semiramis built a splendid palace at Ecbatana, a
+city lying in a plain, and as there were no springs near, she cut
+through the roots of the range of mountains, twelve stades distant from
+the city (the Orontes), on the farther side of which was a lake flowing
+into a river, in order to convey the water of the river into the city.
+For this object a tunnel was cut through the mountain, fifteen feet in
+breadth and forty feet in depth, and through it the river was carried
+into Ecbatana.[493] If Ctesias ascribes the palace of Ecbatana and the
+tunnel, like other monuments of Media, to Semiramis, we have already
+seen that the queen is no more than a poetical fiction; nor could any of
+the sovereigns who ruled over Assyria entertain the project of building
+citadels and conduits for the Median kings. These could only be the work
+of Median princes, who resided in Ecbatana; and as Phraortes could
+hardly have had the means and the time for such important structures, we
+must ascribe both the completion and adornment of the royal citadel, as
+well as the tunnel, to Cyaxares, unless we are to reject the latter as a
+pure invention, for which there seems to me no sufficient proof.
+
+"When the palace had been built at Ecbatana, it was surrounded with
+large and strong walls," Herodotus tells us, "of which one encircled
+another, in such a manner that the inner overtopped the outer by the
+height of the turret. The situation, which was on a hill, contributed to
+this result, and the natural elevation was artificially increased. In
+all there were seven circles; the innermost contained the king's
+dwelling and treasure-house; the outermost wall was of about the extent
+of the wall of Athens. The towers of the first circle were white, of the
+second black, of the third red-purple, of the fourth blue-purple, of the
+fifth red; the towers of the sixth are covered with silver; and those of
+the seventh, which surrounds the buildings of the palace, with gold. The
+city was built round the outermost wall."[494] Polybius describes the
+situation of Ecbatana and the palace as they were under the Achaemenids,
+who were wont to pass some of the hot summer months in the cool and
+fresh air of Ecbatana. "Ecbatana lies in the northern regions of Media,
+and commands the parts of Asia which look towards the Maeotis and the
+Euxine. The city was in old days the royal abode of the Median kings,
+and it appears to have far surpassed all other cities in wealth and in
+the splendour of its buildings. It is built under the spurs of the
+Orontes. Though without walls, it possesses a citadel built by the hand
+of man, of surprising strength. Below the citadel is the palace, which
+it is as difficult to speak of in detail as to pass over in silence.
+Ecbatana is an excellent theme for those who love to tell of marvellous
+things with adornment and exaggeration; but those who enter with caution
+on anything which goes beyond the ordinary intelligence find themselves
+in difficulties. The circuit of the palace is about seven stades, and
+the rich ornamentation of the various parts proves how flourishing was
+the condition of those who founded it. Though the entire wood-work
+consists of cedar and cypress, this is never allowed to appear; on the
+contrary, the beams of the roof and the panelling, the pillars in the
+chambers and halls, are covered with gold or silver plates, and the
+roof consists wholly of silver tiles. Most of these were carried off at
+the time of the expedition of Alexander, and the remainder in the reign
+of Antigonus and Seleucus-Nicanor. Nevertheless the temple of Aine
+(_i.e._ of Anahita) at the time when Antiochus Theos (261-245 B.C.) came
+to Ecbatana, had gilded pillars round it; and some of the gold plates in
+the side-walls were still remaining, and the greater part of the silver
+plates, while the silver tiles of the roof were still there in
+considerable quantities."[495] At the time of Alexander, Diodorus allows
+the city of Ecbatana a circuit of 250 stades, _i.e._ of more than 30
+miles.[496] Isidore of Charax mentions the treasure-house at Ecbatana,
+the metropolis of Media and the shrine of Anaitis, in which sacrifice
+was constantly offered.[497]
+
+It is not clear from these descriptions whether the fortifications at
+that time included the whole city or not. Herodotus only speaks of the
+fortifications of the citadel, and represents the city as built at the
+foot of its walls. Yet we may assume that Phraortes and Cyaxares
+followed the pattern of the chief cities of Assyria and Babylonia in
+placing a strong wall round their city. A late and very uncertain
+authority, the book of Judith, states that the walls of Ecbatana
+consisted of splendid masonry, and reached a height of seventy cubits
+(about 110 feet); the towers of these walls were a hundred cubits in
+height, and there were gates in them.[498] When the Medes lost their
+empire and became subject to the Achaemenids, it was to their interest
+that the metropolis of the Medes should not be fortified, but that the
+citadel should be in the hands of a Persian garrison. Cyrus himself,
+therefore, after the conquest of Astyages, or Darius, after suppressing
+the rebellion of the Medes, may have thrown down the walls which
+surrounded Ecbatana. The silence of Herodotus respecting them would then
+be explained by the fact that they were no longer in existence in his
+time. The circuit of the external wall Herodotus compares with the
+circuit of the city of Athens, which, exclusive of the harbour cities
+but including the space between the Phaleric and the long walls, reached
+60 stades, or 71/2 miles.[499] If we chose to assume that Herodotus
+included the Phaleric and long walls in the circuit, the total extent
+would be 221/2 miles, an incredible length for the wall of a citadel.
+Of the outer walls of the royal citadels at Babylon, Diodorus puts those
+on the one bank of the Euphrates at 30 stades, and those on the other at
+60, and of the two inner walls of the latter the first was 40 stades in
+length and the second 20.[500] The circuit of 221/2 miles may,
+therefore, refer only to the whole extent of the citadel and city of
+Ecbatana, and it would then come near the statement of Diodorus, who
+puts the circuit of Ecbatana at 250 stades.
+
+The royal citadel of the Achaemenids at Persepolis was surrounded,
+according to Diodorus, with a triple wall; the first wall was 16, the
+second 32, the third 60 cubits in height. These walls were decorated
+with great expense, and adorned with towers. The citadel of Ecbatana is
+said to have had seven walls, and, however strange this may appear,
+religious no less than military motives might have led to that number.
+We know the importance ascribed in the Avesta to the number seven--the
+seven supreme deities, and the seven girdles of the earth. On the other
+hand, if we leave out of sight the hill on which the citadel was built,
+the elevated plateau of Ecbatana did not present the natural
+difficulties such as rivers and heights, which strengthened the
+fortification of the Assyrian metropolis and the walls of Babylon; hence
+it was more important to meet this deficiency by the number of towers
+and walls. The successive walls would have been of little service had
+not each inner one been higher than the outer, and they would have been
+the reverse of serviceable, had not the distance between them been so
+great that the arrows and missiles of the enemy, when they had gained
+the outer walls, failed to reach from it to the next, so that the
+assault of the next wall had to be begun afresh after the capture of the
+adjacent outer wall, without any cover. If we might assume that the
+words of Polybius: "The palaces, of which the extent reaches to about
+seven stades, lie below the citadel," are to be interpreted as meaning
+that these buildings lay under the protection of the walls of the
+citadel, _i.e._ behind them--and it is scarcely conceivable that the
+Achaemenids should have chosen an unprotected palace in Media for a
+constant residence, and deposited there large treasures, and the
+archives of the kingdom--the circuit of the buildings of the palace and
+that of the external wall of 60 stadia would give a space between the
+walls of each of about 2000 feet; a distance not much in excess of that
+absolutely required. Hence the circuit of 60 stadia from the outer wall
+does not appear too large.
+
+More astonishing still is the account given by Herodotus of the
+ornamentation of the turrets of these walls--the colours of the turrets
+of the first five, the silver and gold of the two last. The attempt has
+been made to explain these statements as a legendary echo of the fame of
+the splendour of Ecbatana in the time of Cyaxares and his successor
+Astyages. But Polybius tells us very distinctly that the roof of the
+palace and that of the temple of Anahita consisted of silver tiles at
+the time of the Achaemenids, that the beams and panels of the roofs as
+well as the pillars were entirely covered with gold and silver plates,
+and that these decorations remained in the temple of Anahita at the time
+of Antiochus Theos. This ornamentation might be extended to the turrets
+of the inner walls. Considering the amount of the spoil of Nineveh, it
+cannot be regarded as an impossibility that the ramparts of the interior
+walls, the length of which, according to the statement of Polybius, did
+not reach more than 4200 feet, were covered with plates of gold, and of
+the next with plates of silver, when the roof of the palace could
+consist of silver tiles. That the overthrow of the Assyrian kingdom and
+the spoil of the cities brought considerable possessions to the Median
+nation may be concluded from the remark of Herodotus that the Persians
+had adopted better clothing and more luxurious habits from the Medes.
+The kings would without doubt receive the richest part of the spoil. The
+decoration of the turrets was possibly rude, but it exhibited in a
+striking manner the splendour and exaltation of the kingdom, which was
+thus encased in gold and silver, while the sovereign dwelt in gold and
+silver chambers. Such a parade of royal magnificence is not out of
+harmony with the character of the ancient East. To those who were not
+allowed to enter the wide and high gates of the palace, these turrets
+showed far and wide, through city and country, the splendour of the
+citadel. The colours of the five outer walls would be given by glazed
+tiles, such as those found in the ruins of Nineveh and Chalah, of
+Babylon and Mugheir. We may assume with certainty that Cyaxares desired
+to give to his palace and citadel a splendour no less than that
+displayed by the palaces of Nineveh, or the royal citadel of
+Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, or the golden citadel in Sardis. Religious
+conceptions may also have determined the colours of the decoration as
+well as the number of the walls. As Auramazda sat in pure light, on a
+golden throne on the golden Hukairya, so was the ruler on earth to dwell
+in his palace of Ecbatana in golden chambers surrounded by golden walls.
+The Avesta exhibits Mithra with a golden helmet and silver coat of mail,
+the wheels of his chariots are of gold, his horses are greys,[501] shod
+on the fore hoofs with gold, and on the hinder hoofs with silver; in
+like manner the upper turrets of the citadel must shine with silver and
+the highest with gold. We have seen that the metals, owing to the
+brilliance inherent in them, belonged in the ideas of the Iranians to
+the good spirits. And as the splendour of gold and silver belonged to
+the highest gods, so must the colours of the other turrets have been
+assigned to the good spirits, to whose protection each separate wall was
+entrusted.[502]
+
+The account which Polybius gives of the structure of the palace, the
+cedar and cypress wood of which the door-posts, pillars, roofs, and
+panels in the walls were made, shows that wood was employed in building
+in Media, which agrees with the habits of mountaineers. In Teheran and
+Ispahan buildings of wood of this kind are still in use, and no doubt
+the mountain forests of northern Media provided better materials in
+ancient times than now. The noblest trunks and best kinds of wood were
+sought out for the royal house. The kings of Asshur, and Nebuchadnezzar
+tell us in their inscriptions that they have caused trees to be cut down
+on this or that mountain for their buildings. The wooden palace, which
+Deioces, and perhaps Phraortes, first erected, must have been extended
+by Cyaxares, and may have been furnished by him or his successor with
+the brilliant ornamentation. The inner walls of the palace of the
+Achaemenids at Persepolis, if we may draw this conclusion from the metal
+supports which are found in the remains of the stone walls, were
+decorated in a similar manner. When the palace of the Median kings at
+Ecbatana had become the summer residence and treasure-house of the
+Persian monarchs, it would, no doubt, be enriched and adorned yet more.
+The temple of Anahita, connected with the palace, which Polybius has
+described above, is the work of Artaxerxes II. Alexander caused the
+spoil he had taken in Babylon, Susa, Persepolis, and Pasargadae, to be
+brought to Ecbatana, where he is said to have collected 180,000 talents
+in gold and silver.[503] At a later time, the Arsacids are said to have
+resided at Ecbatana during the summer like the Achaemenids.[504] At the
+present day, Hamadan, which is built high up on a slope of Elvend, marks
+the site of the ancient Ecbatana. It contains about 40,000 inhabitants;
+the ruins of the ancient city have not yet been satisfactorily explored.
+The slender pillars with lotus-like capitals, discovered here, are like
+the pillars of Persepolis, and therefore might be the work of the
+Achaemenids; what has been discovered in engraved stones and coins comes
+from the time of the Arsacids and Sassanids. Some cylinders covered with
+cuneiform inscriptions have not yet been examined.
+
+Cyaxares had rescued Media from the most extreme peril. The consequences
+of the defeat, in which his father, with the greatest part of his army,
+fell before the Assyrians, had been averted. Though subsequently
+overpowered by the Scythians, he yet became once more sovereign in his
+own country. This rise of Media, and the weakening of the Assyrian
+kingdom by the inundation of the Scythians, he used in order to
+subjugate Armenia and Cappadocia. And though he was not able to achieve
+anything decisive against the Lydians, he attained a greater success; in
+combination with Babylonia he avenged on the Assyrians the supremacy
+they had exercised over Media; he overthrew the remnant of that kingdom,
+whose tough vigour showed itself even at the final hour in an obstinate
+resistance. It was a great achievement and at the same time an important
+extension of the Median dominions, not merely by the whole extent of the
+Assyrian country on the left bank of the Tigris, which fell to Media,
+but also by the closer connection which Cyaxares thus obtained with
+Armenia and Cappadocia, the subject lands to the west. Then followed the
+spread of the Median power over the kindred nations in the north and
+east of Iran. The Persians were already subjected to Phraortes, and
+Cyaxares brought under his sovereignty the Sagartians, Hyrcanians,
+Parthians, and Bactrians; he made the Sacae dependant on him, and in the
+east perhaps extended his power as far as the Indus. From his proud
+citadel at Ecbatana he ruled from the Halys to the Oxus. It was a
+powerful empire. Herodotus depicts the reign of Cyaxares when he says:
+"He was far more powerful than his predecessors." With the Medes he
+passes as the founder of their sovereignty; and his reign must have been
+held in grateful remembrance, not by the Medes only, but also by the
+subject nations. Those who afterwards attempted to bring the Medes and
+Sagartians under arms against the dominion of the Persians, called
+themselves the descendants of Cyaxares--and one even laid aside his own
+name, Phraortes, to do so.
+
+After the fall of Assyria the leading portion passed to Media,
+Babylonia, and Lydia. As the two first had united for the overthrow of
+Assyria, and had come to terms with Lydia for this object, so in other
+respects they displayed a friendly feeling towards each other. The
+daughter of Cyaxares became the consort of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon,
+and the daughter of Alyattes, king of Lydia, was married to his son
+Astyages. Afterwards, Babylon prevented the attempt of Egypt to unite
+Syria with the land of the Nile; it was eagerly occupied with
+subjugating Mesopotamia and Syria, while Lydia established its power
+over the tribes and cities of Asia Minor as far as the Halys. Neither
+Media nor Lydia thought of putting any hindrances in the way of the
+extension of the Babylonian dominion over Syria and Phoenicia. Of
+these three kingdoms, thus connected by mutual alliances, Media was the
+strongest. Babylonia and Lydia were not equal either in extent of
+country or amount of population; Lydia was perhaps inferior in the
+vigour of the ruling tribe, and Babylonia certainly inferior in the
+military strength of the population. Even when united they did not reach
+the size or strength of the Median power, whose army Cyaxares had
+arranged, and for which he had provided at Ecbatana a strongly fortified
+centre, equidistant from the Halys and the Oxus. When Astyages ascended
+the throne, on the death of his father in 593 B.C., he entered upon the
+inheritance of a secure dominion in peaceful and friendly relations to
+all the neighbouring powers. While his father-in-law, Alyattes of Lydia,
+and his son Croesus were occupied in subjugating the Carians and the
+Greek cities on the west coast of Anatolia (III. 439), and
+Nebuchadnezzar carried on one campaign after another in order to
+incorporate in his kingdom the great trading marts of the Syrian coasts,
+Astyages could enjoy, for more than thirty years, the fruits of the
+efforts by which his father had founded and established the Median
+empire.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[481] Herod. 1, 72. In Xenophon, who represents Astyages as reigning
+before Cyaxares, Astyages had subjugated the king of Armenia; the
+rebellion of this king was afterwards repressed by Cyaxares. "Cyri
+instit." 3, 1, 6 ff.
+
+[482] Vol. III. 287, 438. Even after the discussions of Gelzer
+("Rheinisches Museum," 1875, s. 264 ff.) on the date of the eclipse, I
+believe that Oltmann and Bailly's calculation may hold good for it,
+until it is proved astronomically that in the year 610 B.C. an eclipse
+of the sun would not have been visible in Asia Minor. If this were
+proved, Herodotus' dates for Cyaxares, who not only in his work but on
+the evidence of the inscription of Behistun, was the founder of the
+Median empire, would have to be thrown back more than half a century,
+which the date of Cyrus does not allow. To assume a confusion of
+Cyaxares with Astyages in Herodotus, is impossible, for Cyaxares is
+twice expressly mentioned (1, 74, and 103), and moreover Astyages is
+spoken of as the son of Cyaxares to whom Aryanis was married. Nor can I
+regard it as finally proved that the double capture of Sardis rests
+simply on Callisthenes, and a deduction from Strabo. Gelzer agrees that
+the incursions of the Cimmerians into Asia Minor and their establishment
+in Cappadocia must be placed at the least before the year 705 B.C. ("Z.
+Aegypt. Sprache," 1875, s. 18); the devastation of Phrygia by the
+Cimmerians he puts in the year 696 or 676 B.C. According to the dates of
+Eusebius Midas (the husband of Damodike) began to reign in Olymp. 10, 3
+= 738, and took his own life in Ol. 21, 2 = 695 (Euseb. ed. Schoene, 2,
+82, 85); his reign extended therefore from 738 to 695 B.C. Hence the
+devastation of Phrygia by the Cimmerians must have taken place in the
+year 695. If they were masters of Phrygia at this date, it is not easy
+to see why these successes did not carry them on into Lydia. As a fact,
+this is far from improbable; and if the image at Nymsi is their work,
+they would not have had any time for it in 630 B.C., for that incursion
+was merely a "plundering raid," and the change in the dynasty of Lydia,
+the accession of Gyges in the year 689 B.C. (Vol. III. 416), seems to me
+to point to some previous violent change. Besides, Strabo's words, p.
+61, and p. 647, are plain and conclusive enough, so that I see no reason
+to attach much weight to the interpretation of the passage, p. 627. Cf.
+Caesar, "Ind. lect. Marb. Sem. aestivum," 1876.
+
+[483] Vol. III. 284 ff., 291.
+
+[484] Diod. 2, 34; Nicol. Damasc. fragm. 66.
+
+[485] Nicol. Damasc. fragm. 9, 10, ed. Mueller; Diod. 2, 33; Ctes. Fragm.
+52, ed. Mueller.
+
+[486] Roxane and Roxanace are both formed from the old Bactrian
+_raokshna_. Muellenhoff, "Monatsberichte Berl. Akadem." 1866, s. 562.
+
+[487] Ctes. Fragm. 25-28, ed. Mueller; Nic. Damasc. fragm. 12 ed. Mueller.
+
+[488] Oppert gives the form of the second version as Cakuka Iskunka.
+
+[489] Choerilus in Strabo, p. 303; Herod. 3, 93; 7, 64; 9, 71; Ptolem.
+6, 13; Curtius, 7, 4, 6; Arrian, "Anab." 3, 13; Cf. Plut. "Crassus," 24.
+
+[490] Nicol. Damasc. fragm. 66, ed. Mueller.
+
+[491] "Ind." 1, 1.
+
+[492] Diod. 2, 13; 17, 110; Strabo, p. 127.
+
+[493] Diod. 2, 13.
+
+[494] Herod. 1, 98, 99.
+
+[495] Polyb. 10, 27.
+
+[496] 17, 110.
+
+[497] "Mans. Parth." c. 6.
+
+[498] Judith, i. 2-4. On the date of the composition of this book, cf.
+Volkmar. "Rheinisches Museum," 12, 481. In any case it dates from the
+end of the first or the second century of our reckoning.
+
+[499] Thuc. 2, 13, and the Scholia.
+
+[500] Diod. 2, 8.
+
+[501] Diod. 17, 71.
+
+[502] Hence I see no reason for connecting the colours of the turrets
+with the Babylonian star-worship. The only fact in favour of this is the
+black of the second wall; but as the highest turrets exhibited the two
+most precious metals, the others may have received the colours of the
+remaining five, over all of which Kshathra vairya presided, and in the
+order of the Avesta in which silver and copper follow gold, while iron
+and steel end the list. It can hardly be proved that Babylonian
+star-worship had a decisive influence among the Medes at the time of
+Cyaxares. Isaiah xiii. 17 might be quoted against the wealth of
+Ecbatana, but this passage only gives the idea of the writer that the
+Medes would not be bought off by Babylonian money, and abandons the
+destruction of Babylon for the sake of gold. Setting this aside, the
+episodes quoted above show that at the time of Astyages men could regret
+the loss of ancient simplicity in Media, and extol it against the gold
+which had come from Nineveh to Ecbatana, and against the gold of Babylon
+(p. 301). The nation may also have remained in simple habits of life
+however brilliant the royal citadel may have been. Yet it has already
+been observed in the text that at the time of Cyaxares and Astyages the
+upper classes lived in wealth and comfort.
+
+[503] Diod. 17, 66, 71; 19, 48; Strabo, p. 731; Plut. "Alex." 72.
+
+[504] Strabo, p. 523.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE TRIBES OF THE PERSIANS.
+
+
+The oldest subjects in the Median kingdom were the Persians. Their
+country lay in the south-west corner of the table-land of Iran. The
+heights of the Zagrus, which run down to the sea in a south-easterly
+direction, divide it from the ancient kingdom of Elam, and the land of
+the Tigris, just as in the north they divide the land of the Medes from
+the valley of the two rivers. The Eastern border of the Persian
+territory was formed, almost down to the coast, by the great desert,
+which fills the centre of Iran; the northern boundary towards the land
+of the Medes is marked by the range which the Greeks call Parachoatras;
+the name would be _Kuruhvathra_, _i.e._ very brilliant, in Old Persian.
+The southern boundary of Persia was the sea. Nearchus, who sailed along
+the coast of Persia, gives it an extent of 4400 stades, _i.e._ 550
+miles; their land began at the mouth of the Oroatis (Old Persian,
+_Aurvaiti_, _i.e._ the swift),[505] the Tsab, which falls into the
+Persian Gulf below the modern Hindian, and reached to the east almost as
+far as the entrance into this gulf, where it ended opposite the island
+of Coloe (Kishm).[506] Euripides contrasts the sun-lit mountain flats
+of Persia with the wintry land of Media and the citadels of
+Bactria.[507] According to Strabo the coast of Persia was hot and sandy,
+and, with the exception of some palms, produced no fruit. But beyond the
+coast was a land of very great fertility, abounding in lakes and rivers,
+and providing the most excellent pasture. Further to the north, the
+Persian land became cold and mountainous, and supported nothing but
+droves of camels and their keepers. Arrian tells us that to the north of
+the coast of Persia the air was temperate, and the land traversed by the
+clearest streams, in addition to which there were also lakes; the
+meadows were grassy and well watered, and provided excellent pastures
+for horses and other beasts of draught. The soil produced all kinds of
+fruits and even wine, but not olives. The forests were extensive and
+rich in game, and all kinds of water-fowl were to be found there. But
+further to the north the land of the Persians was wintry and full of
+snow.[508] What the Greeks relate of the desolation of the Persian coast
+is still applicable; it consists of naked sand-flats, broken only by
+scanty groves of palms. Above this coast the soil rises in terraces,
+which are separated from each other by yet higher ranges. Further to the
+north the slopes of the mountains provide excellent pastures, till the
+ground becomes more bare as we approach Media, while on the east it
+gradually passes into the great desert of the centre. On the mountain
+terraces and in the depressions between them are some favoured lands and
+valleys. The warmth of the southern situation is tempered by the
+elevation of the soil and the winds blowing from the sea. This happy
+climate allows a perpetual spring to reign, and increases the fertility
+which the abundant mountain springs produce in such a degree that
+groves of orchard trees, cypresses, and myrtles alternate with vineyards
+and carpets of flowers. The beauty of Persia and the fertility of the
+vegetation is concentrated in the valleys of Kazerun, Shiras, and
+Merdasht, which lie in stages one above the other, between mountain
+walls which rise to a height of 8000 feet. The most extensive and at the
+same time the highest valley is that of Merdasht. It is traversed by the
+Murghab, which brings an abundant supply of water from the snow-covered
+heights in the north-west. The upper course is surrounded by steep
+cones, and jagged walls of rock; in the lower part it takes another
+name, and is called the Pulwar. Further down, it unites with the
+Kum-i-Firuz (the Araxes of the Greeks), and from this confluence down to
+the mouth in the great lake of Bakhtegan it is known as the Bendemir.
+The Greeks called the Pulwar the Medus, and the Bendemir, which is also
+known as the Kur in modern times, they named the Cyrus.[509]
+
+According to Herodotus the Persians regarded their land as of moderate
+extent, poorly equipped, and filled with rocks. In the Books of the Laws
+which are ascribed to Plato, we are told that the Persian land is
+naturally adapted to produce strong shepherds, and as they had to watch
+their flocks night and day, they were thus in a position to do good
+service in war. As a fact Persia is a mountainous country; the slopes
+are admirably fitted for cattle breeding, but there is little room or
+encouragement for agriculture. According to Xenophon's description, the
+Persians in ancient times were much occupied in the chase, and in
+riding; they only ate once in the day, and at their banquets goblets
+might indeed be seen, but no pitchers of wine. Strabo remarks, with
+reference to a later period, that the Persian youth remained long in the
+open air with their flocks, and were eager hunters; when thus engaged,
+their only drink was water, their food bread, flesh, and salt. The
+Greeks with one consent describe the Persians of ancient times as
+simple, hardy, self-controlled men, of great endurance and martial
+vigour, with few requirements. They were also called "Eaters of
+Terebinths," in order to mark the scantiness of their food: their drink
+was water; and their clothing, coats as well as trousers, were of
+leather.[510]
+
+The nation of the Persians consisted of various tribes. Herodotus gives
+a special prominence to three, on which the rest were dependent. These
+were the Pasargadae, the Maraphians, and the Maspians. "Other tribes are
+the Panthialaei, the Derrusiaei, the Germanii, all of which are
+agricultural; while the remainder, the Dai, Mardi, Dropici, and Sagartii
+are Nomads."[511] According to this statement six of the Persian tribes
+carried on agriculture, and four were pastoral. But the Germanians and
+Sagartians were distinguished from the tribes of the Persians in the
+narrower sense. The Sagartians (Acagarta) are spoken of in the
+inscriptions of Darius, and by Herodotus himself in other passages, as a
+separate nation; we have already found their country on the western edge
+of the great desert, and observed its character (p. 6). The Germanians
+of Herodotus are the Carmanians of the later Greeks, who also passed
+with them as a separate nation, though closely allied to the Persians
+and Medes.[512] They wandered to and fro to the east of Persia in the
+district now called Kirman. The number of the tribes mentioned by
+Herodotus would therefore have to be reduced to the Pasargadae,
+Maraphians, Maspians, Panthialaeans, Derusiaeans, Dai, Mardi, and
+Dropici, if we did not hear of two others in the inscriptions of Darius,
+the Yutiyas and the Patisuvaris, whose names were known to the later
+Greeks in the form Utei and Pateischorei. These later authorities tell
+us also of other Persian tribes: Kyrtians, Rhapaesans, Stobaeans,
+Suzaeans, etc. They also reckon the Paraetaci, or Paraetaceni, among the
+Persians.[513] The Mardians of Herodotus are also called Amardians by
+later writers, who place them in the West, among the mountains which
+divide Persia from Elam.[514] With regard to the position of the rest of
+the tribes, we can only ascertain that the Pasargadae occupied the best
+part of the Persian land--the valley of the Pulwar; that the
+Maraphians[515] and the Maspians were their neighbours, and the land of
+the Pateischorei followed next after that of the Pasargadae on the
+eastern side, towards Carmania. Besides these three chief tribes, the
+Pasargadae, Maraphians, and Maspians, the Persian nation, according to
+these statements, was made up of a considerable number of more or less
+powerful tribes, of whom each one, like the chief tribes themselves,
+must have had a separate territory, or, at any rate, a pasture for its
+flocks.
+
+If the name Parsua could signify Persians, the inscriptions of the kings
+of Asshur would confirm the division of the Persians into several
+tribes. Shalmanesar II. tells us, that in the year 833 B.C. he received
+tribute from the heads of the Parsuas, as the inscription says: from
+twenty-seven princes of the Parsuas. Afterwards Tiglath Pilesar II.
+traversed the land of the Parsuas and imposed tribute upon them (744
+B.C.).[516] The books of the Hebrews confirm Esarhaddon's dominion over
+Persia, inasmuch as they tell us that he settled Persians and Dai
+(Dahas) in Samaria (III. 154).
+
+It must have been in the period of the supremacy of Assyria, at the
+latest in the first half of the seventh century B.C., that the worship
+of the gods, which the Persians shared from all antiquity with their
+fellow-tribesmen on the table-land of Iran, the worship of Mithra, Vayu,
+Anahita, and fire, underwent the change which bears the name of
+Zarathrustra. As we saw good reason to assume, the new doctrine first
+came to the Medes from the North-East; from the Medes it passed, without
+doubt, to the Persians. If Herodotus places the Magians, or special
+priestly order, among the tribes of the Medes and not among those of the
+Persians, among whom Strabo is the first to mention them, the conclusion
+is, as has been sufficiently proved, not that the Persians were without
+priests before and after the reform, but rather that even after the
+reform the priestly families remained in their natural unions, and did
+not form themselves into a special tribe (p. 192).
+
+The supremacy of Assyria over the West of Iran came to an end when
+Phraortes united the tribes of the Medes under his leadership, and,
+towards the year 640 B.C., undertook to maintain the independence of
+Media against Assurbanipal, the successor of Esarhaddon. In this
+struggle the Persians joined the Medes and ranged themselves under them.
+Herodotus, who obviously follows the tradition of the Medes, represents
+Phraortes as marching against the Persians, conquering and subjugating
+them; according to the Persian account, which is preserved in Ctesias,
+the chief of the Medes induced the Persians to revolt against the
+Assyrians, and to join him, by the promise that they should remain free
+under his leadership (III. 250). The situation of affairs agrees better
+with the second version than with the first. Considering the enormous
+power which Assyria under Assurbanipal possessed down to the middle of
+the seventh century, it is hardly probable that Phraortes would have
+inaugurated the recent independence of Media by an attack on the
+Persians, which might, and indeed must, drive them into the arms of the
+Assyrians. It is far more probable that the two nations formed a league
+against Assyria. As already observed, the annihilation of the kingdom of
+Elam, which Assurbanipal accomplished in the year 645 B.C., would supply
+the Persians with a strong incentive to unite themselves with the
+kindred and more powerful nation of the Medes.
+
+Of the three tribes of the Pasargadae, Maraphians, and Maspians, the
+most prominent--so Herodotus tells us--are the Pasargadae.[517] To them
+belongs the race of the Achaemenids, from which sprang the Persian kings.
+In the inscription of Behistun, King Darius says: "From old time we were
+kings; eight of my family have been kings (Kshayathiya), I am the ninth;
+from very ancient times we have been kings."[518] He enumerates his
+ancestors: "My father was Vistacpa, the father of Vistacpa was Arsama,
+the father of Arsama was Ariyaramna, the father of Ariyaramna was
+Khaispis, the father of Khaispis was Hakhamanis; hence we are called
+Hakhamanisiya (Achaemenids)." In these words Darius gives the tree of his
+own family up to Khaispis; this was the younger branch of the
+Achaemenids. Teispes, the son of Achaemenes, had two sons; the elder was
+Cambyses (Kambujiya), the younger Ariamnes; the son of Cambyses was
+Cyrus (Kurus), the son of Cyrus was Cambyses II.[519] Hence Darius could
+indeed maintain, that eight princes of his family had preceded him; but
+it was not correct to maintain that they had been kings before him, and
+that he was the ninth king.[520]
+
+In this series of the ancestors of Darius we find names belonging not
+only to the East of Iran, but also to the Arians of India. The name
+Cambyses (Kambujiya) points to the Cambojas, a nation which we found in
+the north-west of India (IV. 249); the name Cyrus (Kurus) to the
+ancestors of the ancient princely race who founded the first great
+empire in the land of the Ganges on the upper course of the river, whose
+contest with and overthrow by the Pandus is celebrated by the Indian
+epic, while the name Vistacpa repeats the name of the King of Bactria,
+whom the prayers of the Avesta extol as the protector of Zarathrustra
+(p. 132). Of Achaemenes we are told that an eagle nourished him;[521] a
+prophet of the Hebrews calls Cyrus "the eagle;" we know the importance
+which the Avesta ascribes to the two eagles of the sky, and the modern
+Persian epic to Simurgh; and we have seen that the standard of the
+Achaemenids was an eagle (p. 173). Hence from this notice we may with
+certainty conclude that the tradition of the Persians ascribed to this
+ancestor of their kings a youth distinguished by the favour of heaven.
+
+As Cambyses the father of Cyrus is a contemporary of Astyages of Media,
+Teispes the father of Cambyses must be reckoned a contemporary of
+Cyaxares, and Achaemenes, the father of Teispes, as a contemporary of
+Phraortes.[522] We must therefore assume either that Achaemenes was at
+the head of the Persians, at the time when they joined Media, or that he
+was established by Phraortes as the chief of Persia and his
+vassal-king, and that his throne passed with the duties of vassalage to
+his descendants Teispes and Cambyses. It is not very probable that the
+traditions of the Persians should have accorded signs of divine favour
+to the youth of a man, who had been placed over them after their
+subjugation as viceroy of Media. Moreover, we find among the Persians,
+according to this tradition, a form of constitution, such as a Median
+viceroy would hardly have established, even for the object of
+overthrowing the Median power. The race of the Achaemenids belonged to
+the tribe of the Pasargadae; we may therefore assume that Achaemenes was
+the first to become chief of this tribe.
+
+Aeschylus enumerates the seven men who stand at the side of the king of
+the Persians.[523] Josephus says that the "seven houses" of the Persians
+had named Darius as king. As a fact we see that when Darius, after the
+extinction of the older line of the descendants of Achaemenes, sets
+himself to ascend the throne, six men stand at his side, whom Herodotus
+distinguishes as the "first of the Persians." The Laws ascribed to Plato
+say that the empire was then divided into seven parts between Darius and
+the Six, and that a relic of this division was still in existence.[524]
+In regard to the privileges of the Six and their descendants we find
+that they consisted in the right of free access to the king, and that
+the king could choose his chief wife only from their families;[525] the
+descendants of the Six had also the right to wear the head-dress of the
+king, the upright _kidaris_, which was the symbol of royal dignity. In
+the kingdom of the Sassanids, we find seven hereditary princes under
+the king; these princes, like the king, wear crowns, but their crowns
+are lower than that of the king; the "sons of the houses," _i.e._ the
+members of these seven families, form the highest rank of the nobility.
+Hence in these six chieftains of the Persians standing at the side of
+and beneath the seventh, who is the prince of the Pasargadae, we may
+suppose that we have the princes of the remaining tribes.[526] And in
+respect of the privileges of the six co-chieftains in the kingdom of
+the Achaemenids we may assume that they originally occupied a position
+close to the king, and formed the council and court of the chief tribal
+prince. These privileges the Greeks ascribe to the services which the
+Six rendered at the time when Darius ascended the throne. But as the
+seven houses existed before, and the Six had previously been "the first
+of the Persians," their privileged position must have been of an older
+date; it must have been introduced by Cyrus or be of even more remote
+origin. It is not probable that such a mighty warrior prince as Cyrus
+would, after the reduction of the Medes, impose limitations on his power
+by sharing the symbols of royalty and hereditary privileges. According
+to the narrative of Herodotus, Cyrus does not simply command the
+Persians to take up arms against the Medes, but he assembles the tribes,
+and ascertains their feeling. In considering the peculiar position of
+these six families we may certainly assume, that under the ancestors of
+Cyrus there were chiefs among the Persians with whom the Achaemenids had
+to deal. If the Achaemenids were the heads of the tribe of the
+Pasargadae, the other tribes would have chiefs also. Yet we only hear of
+"six princes" besides the Achaemenids, though we have seen that the
+number of the Persian tribes was considerably more than seven.
+
+Following the indications thus given, we may sketch the course of events
+as follows. When Achaemenes had acquired the headship of the tribe of the
+Pasargadae, he must have combined the two neighbouring tribes, the
+Maraphians and Maspians, whom Herodotus classes with the Pasargadae as
+the most important among the Persians, into closer union, perhaps by
+some understanding with the chiefs. Supported by these three tribes,
+who possessed the favoured regions of Kazerun, Shiras, and Merdasht,
+Achaemenes must then have subjugated the remainder to his power.
+Herodotus told us above that the remaining tribes depended on the three
+mentioned. They must, therefore, have been combined into larger groups,
+and in fact into four communities. To the chiefs who became the heads of
+these new combinations, a position must have been accorded similar to
+that enjoyed by the Maraphians and Maspians beside Achaemenes--above all,
+the right to bequeath the chieftainship to their descendants. When the
+chiefs of the Persians, now seven in number, mutually guaranteed to each
+other their position, the foundation was laid of a community of
+interests, and thus of a community of the Persian nation. That the
+princes of the four new combinations of tribes belonged to those tribes,
+and not to the three first, is proved by the inscription of Darius at
+Naksh-i-Rustem, where one of the princes of the date of Darius is called
+a Pateischorean. In some such way as this Achaemenes may have brought
+about the union of the Persian tribes, and at the same time have
+obtained the leadership of them. His position thus rested essentially on
+the relation of the prince of the Pasargadae to the other six tribal
+princes, a relation of which we find no trace in the Medes. That the
+number seven was normal for the combinations of the tribes we may
+ascribe to the influence of the recently-introduced doctrine of
+Zarathrustra, of which we found echoes in the legend of Achaemenes.
+
+Achaemenes and his race after him must have had their dwelling in the
+canton of the tribe to which they belonged, at the place of assembly of
+the Pasargadae, the chief town, which bore the name of the tribe.
+Supported by this tribe, Achaemenes succeeded in uniting the people; on
+it and the neighbouring Marapheans and Maspians depended the importance
+of the Achaemenids. Strabo calls Pasargadae the ancient seat, and with
+Persepolis the patriarchal abode of the Persian kings,[527] and here, on
+ascending the throne, they were consecrated. Here Cyrus deposited his
+treasures; here he found his last resting-place. We must look for this
+place in "Hollow Persia," as the Greeks call it, in the plain of
+Merdasht, to the east of the later Istakhr, the city of the Sassanids,
+below the confluence of the Medus and Cyrus (_i.e._ the Pulwar and
+Kum-i-Firuz) in the land of the Bendemir.[528]
+
+When Achaemenes had united the tribes of the Persians by means of the new
+hereditary chieftainships, and got into his hands the supreme power
+with the co-operation of the six princes in council and jurisdiction,
+he joined the king of the Medes, who had also united the tribes of his
+people, soon after the year 645 B.C., as we were compelled to assume,
+for common defence against Assyria. Being weaker than the Median king,
+he ranged himself under his leadership and power, agreed to follow him
+in war, and accepted the position of his general and vassal. The
+relation must have been similar to that which Firdusi represents as
+existing between his kings and the princes of Sejestan (p. 252). In this
+combination the Persians shared the dangers of the war against king
+Assurbanipal, and the defeat of Phraortes, no less than the defeat of
+Cyaxares by the Scythians; on the other hand, they were the comrades of
+Cyaxares in his struggles against the Lydians, and in his victory over
+Assyria, while they took an active part in the annihilation of Nineveh.
+At the same time we may assume that this dependent position became more
+strongly marked as the power of Media increased, and we may believe
+Herodotus that their soldiers joined in subjugating the other tribes of
+the table-land of Iran, and marched with the armies of the Medes to the
+wars which Cyaxares carried on in the East. The episode of Parsondes
+exhibits a Persian at the court, in the council, and in the army of the
+Median king; and the position of the Persians under the successors of
+Achaemenes, Teispes, and Cambyses, must have closely resembled the
+position of the other nations subject to the Median power. Cyaxares and
+his successor Astyages would have regarded Teispes and Cambyses merely
+as their viceroys over Persia, though they did not disturb the
+succession in the tribe of Achaemenes. If Darius still calls all his
+ancestors kings, and extends this title to his father, grandfather, and
+great-grandfather, who were not viceroys, that is merely the custom and
+view of the East; even under the great king, the King of kings, a vassal
+is still a king. The hereditary viceroys of Persia under the Arsacids,
+one and all, put the title "king" on their coins. When Papek, and
+Ardeshir after him, had taken their place, they call themselves kings;
+Ardeshir, the founder of the dominion of the Sassanids, designates
+himself as "king," "king of the divine stock," even before he has
+overthrown his own king, Artabanus, the Arsacid. As the youth of
+Achaemenes is ennobled in the older tradition, so later legends
+surrounded the life of the progenitor of the Sassanids with premonitory
+indications.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[505] Burnouf, "Commentaire sur le Yacna," p. 251.
+
+[506] Arrian, "Ind." 38-40; Strabo, p. 727, 728, 738; Plin. "H. N." 6,
+26; cf. Ptol. 6, 4, 1.
+
+[507] "Bacch." 14-16.
+
+[508] Arrian, "Ind." 40.
+
+[509] Spiegel, "Eran," 2, 260.
+
+[510] Herod. 9, 122, 1, 171; Nicol. Damasc. fragm. 66, ed. Mueller;
+Xenophon, "Cyri instit." 6, 2, 22; 8, 8, 5-12; Plato, "Legg." p. 695;
+Strabo, p. 734.
+
+[511] Herod. 1, 125.
+
+[512] Strabo, p. 727.
+
+[513] Above, p. 270. Strabo, p. 728, 730; Ptol. 6, 4.
+
+[514] Arrian, "Ind." 40; Strabo, p. 727.
+
+[515] Aeschylus speaks of a Maraphis among the kings of the Persians,
+"Pers." 778.
+
+[516] Above, p. 282.
+
+[517] The place has the same name as the tribe; Pasargadae cannot in any
+case mean "Persian camp," as Anaximenes maintains in Stephanus. Oppert
+believes that he has discovered in the Pisiyauvada of the inscription of
+Behistun the original form of the name Pasargadae, which is the Greek
+form of the Persian word. Pisiyauvada (_paisi gauvuda_) means "valley of
+springs;" "Peuple des Medes," p. 110.
+
+[518] So Rawlinson and Spiegel. E. Schrader translates III. of the
+Babylonian version: "From old from the fathers we were kings." _Abutav_
+appears as a fact to leave no doubt about this sense. Oppert now
+translates _duvitataranam_ (IV. of the Persian text) by twice, _i.e._ in
+two epochs we were kings: "Rec. of the Past," 7, 88; but his previous
+translation, "in two tribes" (_i.e._ in the older and younger line), we
+were kings, exactly corresponds to the facts.
+
+[519] The list of the Achaemenids, which we obtain from a comparison of
+Herodotus (6, 11), and the inscription of Behistun 1, 3-8, is as
+follows:
+
+               Achaemenes (Hakhamanis).
+                          |
+                   Teispes (Khaispis).
+                          |
+           +--------------+-------------+
+           |                            |
+  (Kambujiya) Cambyses.     Ariamnes (Ariyaramna).
+           |                            |
+      (Kurus) Cyrus.           Arsames (Arsama).
+           |                            |
+  (Kambujiya) Cambyses.         Hystaspes (Vistacpa).
+                                        |
+                               Darius (Darayavus).
+
+[520] If Darius calls himself the ninth Achaemenid, Xerxes also in
+Herodotus enumerates nine Achaemenids as his predecessors, in which
+enumeration, it is true, Cambyses occurs but once, while Teispes is
+twice mentioned, once as the ancestor of the older line, and then as the
+ancestor of the younger. On a broken cylinder which has just been
+brought from Babylon by Rassam, the genealogy of Cyrus is said to be
+given thus: Achaemenes, Teispes, Cyrus, Cambyses, Cyrus,--so the journals
+tell us. In this the older line has one member more as against the
+younger. Till the cylinder is published we must keep to the inscription
+of Behistun and Herodotus.
+
+[521] Aelian, "Hist. Anim." 12, 21.
+
+[522] Cyrus is said to have been forty years old in 558 B.C., so that he
+must have been born in 598 B.C., from which it follows that his father
+Cambyses was born in 620 at the latest. Astyages was married in 610, and
+must therefore have been born about 630 B.C.
+
+[523] "Persae," 956-960.
+
+[524] Joseph. "Antiq." 11, 2; Herod. 3, 77; Plat. "Legg." p. 695.
+
+[525] Herod. 3, 84.
+
+[526] This highest rank of nobility is called _waspur_ in Pehlevi, and
+_bar bithan_ is Aramaic. The book of Esther mentions the seven princes
+of the Persians and Medes, "who may behold the countenance of the king
+and have the first place in the kingdom," i. 14. The names of the six
+who aided Darius in slaying Gaumata, as given in Herodotus, agree with
+the inscription of Behistun, with the exception of one name. Herodotus
+gives Aspathines for the Ardumanis of Darius. The list of Ctesias is
+wholly different. If we examine them more closely we find that Ctesias
+has given the names of the sons of the comrades of Darius for the
+comrades themselves. Instead of Gobryas he puts Mardonius the son of
+Gobryas, instead of Otanes Anaphes (so we must read the name Onophes);
+Anaphes, according to Herod. 7, 62, is the son of Otanes. The name
+Hydarnes agrees with the inscription and with Herodotus, but the son of
+Hydarnes had the same name as his father (Herod. 7, 83, 211). The
+Barisses of Ctesias must be the eldest son of Intaphernes whom Darius
+allowed to live; he was called after his grandfather, Vayacpara, as was
+often the case with the Persians. The Ariarathes, who afterwards
+governed Cappadocia, claimed to have sprung from Anaphes, whom Darius
+made satrap or king of Cappadocia. Anaphes was succeeded by a son of the
+same name; after him came Datames, Ariamnes, Ariarathes I., who governed
+Cappadocia at the time of Artaxerxes Ochus; his son Ariathes II.
+crucified Perdiccas in the year 322 B.C. when he had conquered him,
+though an old man of 82 years; Droysen, "Hellenismus," 2^2, 95. The
+Norondobates in Ctesias I cannot explain, unless we ought to read
+Rhodobates. Mithridates, who in Xenophon's time had been governor of
+Lycaonia from about 420 B.C., is called a son of Rhodobates (Diog.
+Laert. 3, 25), and his father and grandfather are said to have been
+viceroys of Pontus. The ancestor would be one of the seven, to whom the
+kingdom of Pontus was given for his services; Polyb. 5, 43. Mithridates
+Eupator calls himself the sixteenth after Darius; Appian, "Bell. Mith."
+c. 112; cf. Justin, 38, 7. These quotations will be sufficient to show
+that the rank of the six tribal princes of the Persians, like that of
+the chief princes, was originally hereditary, as the governorships left
+to their descendants outside Persia must have remained in their
+families.
+
+[527] p. 728, 729.
+
+[528] Strabo, p. 729, puts Pasargadae on the Cyrus. Stephanus ([Greek:
+Passargadai]) following Anaximenes of Lampsacus, represents Pasargadae
+as first built by Cyrus; so Curt. 5, 11: Cyrus Pasargadum urbem
+condiderat. It cannot be doubted that Cyrus built there, and Alexander,
+according to Arrian (3, 18), found there the treasures of Cyrus. Strabo
+also tells us that Cyrus built the city and citadel, p. 730. From the
+accounts of the march of Alexander from Persepolis to Pasargadae, and
+from his return from the Indus to Pasargadae and Persepolis, it is clear
+that Pasargadae lay to the east or south-east of Persepolis. If
+Pasargadae is placed at Murghab, the only reason is the statement that
+the grave of Cyrus was at Pasargadae, and this grave has been identified
+with the pyramid of Murghab, in the immediate proximity of which a
+relief exhibits the picture of Cyrus. But the portrait of Cyrus there is
+very different from the portrait of Darius and his successors on the
+tombs at Rachmed, and Naksh-i-Rustem; and the building at Murghab may
+have served another purpose. According to Pliny ("H. N." 6, 26, 29) we
+ought to look for Pasargadae to the south of Lake Bakhtegan, near Fasa,
+or Darabgerd; flumen Sitioganus, quo Pasargadas septimo die navigatur.
+Sitioganus is the modern Sitaragan. Ptolemy puts Pasargadae in the
+neighbourhood of Caramania, and Oppert therefore identifies it with the
+ruins of Tell-i-Zohak near Fasa, and looks for the mountain Paraga of
+the inscriptions in the modern Forg: "Journal Asiat." 1872, p. 549.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE FALL OF THE MEDIAN KINGDOM.
+
+
+"Cyaxares was succeeded by his son Astyages on the throne of the
+Medes"--such is the narrative of Herodotus--"and the latter had a
+daughter named Mandane. Once he saw his daughter in a dream, and water
+came from her in such quantities that all Asia was inundated. This
+vision Astyages laid before the interpreters of dreams, among the
+Magians, and their interpretation alarmed him. To guard against the
+event portended, he gave his daughter, who was already of marriageable
+age, to none of the Medes of suitable rank, but to a Persian of the name
+of Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, who was of a good family, but quiet in
+disposition; he regarded him as of less account than a Mede of the
+middle class. Mandane had not been married a year when Astyages had a
+second vision; from his daughter's womb there grew up a vine-tree which
+overshadowed all Asia. This dream also he laid before the interpreters,
+and caused his daughter, who was with child, to be brought from the land
+of the Persians and be kept under watch; his intention was to kill the
+child, which, as the Magians said, was destined to reign in his place.
+When Mandane bore a son, Astyages sent for Harpagus, a man akin to the
+royal household,[529] the most faithful of his servants, in whose care
+he trusted on all occasions, and bade him take Mandane's child to his
+house and there kill it, and bury it, in whatever way he chose. When the
+boy was given to him, dressed as if for a funeral, Harpagus went in
+tears to his house, told his wife the orders of Astyages, and declared
+that he would not be the perpetrator of this murder even though Astyages
+should lose his reason more utterly than at present, and fall into worse
+madness: 'the child is akin to me; Astyages is old and without male
+heirs, if the throne passes to the daughter, whose child he is now
+putting to death by my hands, I shall find myself in the greatest
+danger. Inasmuch as my present safety demands it the child must die. But
+the murder must be done by one of the people of Astyages, not by any one
+of mine.' Without delay he sent a messenger to one of the cowherds of
+the king, Mithradates by name, whose pastures lay on mountains to the
+north of Ecbatana, where wild beasts are numerous. When the herdman came
+he found the whole house of Harpagus filled with lamentation, and saw a
+struggling and screaming child adorned with gold and variegated robes,
+and Harpagus said to him: 'Astyages commands you to expose this child on
+the most desolate mountains, in order that it may die as quickly as
+possible.' The herdman believed that the child belonged to one of the
+household of Harpagus, and took it, but from the servant who accompanied
+him out of the city he ascertained that it was the child of Mandane and
+Cambyses. Returning to his hut, he found that his wife Spako (the Medes
+call a dog Spako) had just brought forth a dead child, and when she saw
+the well-grown and beautiful child which her husband showed her, she
+clasped his knees in tears, and entreated him not to expose it, but to
+take away her dead child in its place, and bring it up as her own
+son:[530] Thus doing you will not be guilty of wrong towards your
+master; the dead child will receive a splendid funeral, and the other
+will not lose his life. The herdman took his wife's advice, and did as
+she bade him. He placed his own dead child in the basket, put on him all
+the ornaments of the other, and placed him on the wildest mountain.
+Three days after he told Harpagus that he was ready to show him the
+corpse of the child. Harpagus sent the most trustworthy of his
+bodyguard, and buried the herdman's child. But the herdman's wife
+brought up the other child, and gave him some other name than Cyrus, by
+which he was afterwards called. When he was ten years old an incident
+happened which caused him to be known. He was playing with his comrades,
+in the village in which the herdman lived, in the street, and his
+playfellows had chosen him whom they considered the herdman's son to be
+king. He assigned to every one his work, and bade one build houses, and
+another to be a lance-bearer; one he made 'the king's eye,' and another
+'the bearer of his messages.' Among the boys who were playing with him
+was the son of Artembares, a man of high rank in Media. This boy failed
+to do what Cyrus ordered; and Cyrus bade the others take him, and
+whipped him severely. The boy hastened to the city and complained to his
+father of the treatment he had received from the son of the cowherd. His
+father took him to the king and showed his son's shoulders, and said:
+'This insult we have received from thy servant, the son of the cowherd.'
+Astyages summoned Mithradates and his son. When Astyages asked the
+latter how he dared so to insult the son of a man in such high favour
+with the king as Artembares, the lad maintained that he was right in
+acting as he did, but if he was to blame he was ready to bear the
+penalty. Astyages was surprised by the likeness of the boy to his own
+family, and the freedom of his reply. After applying the torture to
+Mithradates, he soon discovered the truth. He was more enraged at
+Harpagus than at Mithradates, but concealed his resentment. When
+Harpagus at his request had acknowledged what he had done, Astyages
+said: 'The boy was alive, and all that had been done was well. Let
+Harpagus send his own son to join the new-comer, and also come himself
+to the banquet.' As soon as the son of Harpagus, a boy of thirteen
+years, was in the palace, Astyages caused him to be slain, and the
+dismembered limbs were boiled and roasted, while the head, hands, and
+feet, were put in a covered basket. At the banquet Harpagus was served
+with the flesh of his own son, while the other guests ate the flesh of
+sheep. When Harpagus had eaten, Astyages inquired whether he had enjoyed
+the meal, and when he replied that he had enjoyed it greatly, the
+servants of the king brought him the basket, bade him uncover it and
+take what he would. Harpagus controlled himself, and said that whatever
+the king did was best. Then Astyages took counsel with the Magians who
+had interpreted the dreams: they were to consider everything, and give
+him the advice best for himself and his house. The Magians declared that
+they had it much at heart that the dominion of Astyages should continue;
+for if the throne passed to the boy who was a Persian, the Medes would
+be governed by others, 'but if thou remainest king we are rulers in our
+degree, and have great honour from thee.' But as the boy had already
+been king in the game, the dream was fulfilled; the king might send him
+back to Persia to his parents. Astyages did so. When Cyrus came to the
+house of Cambyses, his parents received him with great joy, when they
+found who he was, since they believed that he was already dead, and
+desired to know how he had been preserved. He told them that he had been
+supposed to be the son of the cowherd, but on the way he had ascertained
+everything from the convoy which Astyages had sent with him. He related
+how the wife of the herdman had brought him up, and praised her much,
+and Spako (the dog) was always on his lips. His parents seized on the
+name in order that the preservation of the boy might appear to be the
+work of the gods, and laid the foundation for the legend that a dog had
+suckled Cyrus when exposed."
+
+"When Cyrus came to manhood and was the bravest and best-beloved of his
+comrades, Harpagus sought to win him by presents with a view to
+vengeance on Astyages, for he regarded the injury done to Cyrus as no
+less than that done to himself. He had already prepared his revenge. As
+Astyages was severe towards the Medes, he had secretly persuaded the
+chief men among them, one by one, that an end must be put to the rule of
+Astyages, and that Cyrus must be raised to the throne. When this was
+done and all was ready, he wished to discover his views to Cyrus, who
+was then in Persia. As the roads were guarded, he invented the following
+stratagem: he prepared a hare by cutting open the belly without further
+injury to the skin, inserted a letter, and then again closed the
+opening. This hare he gave with some nets to the most faithful of his
+slaves, and sent him, as though he were a hunter, to Persia, with a
+command to take the hare to Cyrus, and at the same time to tell him that
+he must open it himself and let no one be present at the time. Cyrus
+opened the hare, and found written: 'Son of Cambyses, the gods regard
+thee with favour, or thou hadst not attained to such good fortune.
+Avenge thy death on Astyages, for dead thou art in his intention; it is
+through the gods and me that thou livest. Long ago thou hast learnt all
+that befell thee, and what I have suffered at the hands of the king
+because I did not slay thee, but gave thee to the cowherd. If thou wilt
+follow my counsel, thou shalt rule over all the land over which Astyages
+was ruler. Persuade the Persians to revolt, and march against Media, and
+if I or any other chief man among the Medes is appointed by Astyages to
+lead the army against thee, all will be as thou wilt. They will revolt
+from the king, and by passing over to thee attempt to dethrone him. All
+is ready here; act therefore, and act quickly.'
+
+"Cyrus considered in what way he could best persuade the Persians to
+revolt, and when he discovered what he believed to be the best plan, he
+wrote down his intentions in a letter and summoned an assembly of the
+Persians. In their presence he opened the letter, and read out, that
+Astyages had appointed him general of the Persians; then he added: 'I
+command that every one of you appear with a sickle.' And when they were
+all assembled, furnished with sickles, Cyrus bade them clear a bushy
+tract of land about twenty stades in length and breadth, and make it fit
+for cultivation in a single day. When they had done this, he bade them
+assemble on the next day; every one was to come bathed. Then he caused
+all the goats, sheep, and oxen of his father to be got together,
+slaughtered and dressed, and prepared in addition wine and other
+excellent food, and entertained the whole of the Persians in a meadow;
+after the meal he asked them which they preferred, the entertainment of
+that day, or the work of the day before? They replied that the
+difference was great: yesterday they had nothing that was good, to-day
+nothing that was bad. Cyrus took up this reply, and discovered his aims,
+saying: 'O Persians, thus it is with you. If ye will follow me, ye shall
+have these blessings and many others, without any service; if ye will
+not, ye will have troubles without number like those of yesterday.
+Follow me, and ye will be free. I believe that I was born by the favour
+of heaven to take this work in hand, and I do not count you as less than
+the Medes, in war or any other service. Since this is so, revolt at once
+from Astyages.' The Persians were quite ready to liberate themselves;
+they only required a leader, and had long borne the yoke of the Medes
+with dissatisfaction."
+
+"When Astyages found what Cyrus had done, he summoned him into his
+presence by a messenger. Cyrus bade the messenger reply that he would
+come before Astyages wished. Then the king armed all the Medes, and, as
+though blinded by the gods, he named Harpagus as general, entirely
+forgetting the injury he had done to him. When the Medes and Persians
+met, some of the Medes, who were not in the conspiracy fought, but the
+greater part made no resistance and fled. Thus the Median army was
+shamefully put to rout. But Astyages threatened Cyrus and said, that
+even so he should not accomplish his purpose. The interpreters of dreams
+among the magicians who had advised him to let Cyrus go he impaled, and
+then armed all who had remained in the city, young and old, and led them
+out. He was defeated, lost those whom he commanded, and was himself
+taken captive. Harpagus spoke harsh words to him, and asked how he liked
+slavery instead of monarchy with reference to that banquet. Astyages
+replied by asking, whether the insurrection was his own work or that of
+Cyrus. Harpagus answered that he had written the letter, and the
+insurrection was therefore his doing. Then Astyages said that he was the
+most foolish and unjust of men; the most foolish because when he might
+have been king, if what had been done had been his doing, he had given
+up his power to another; the most unjust because in revenge for that
+banquet he had brought the Medes into slavery; if the throne must pass
+to another it would be more just that it should go to a Mede than a
+Persian, but now the innocent Medes were slaves instead of masters, and
+the Persians, who had previously been the servants of the Medes, were
+their masters. Thus Astyages lost the throne, after a reign of
+thirty-five years, and in consequence of his cruelty the Medes became
+subject to the Persians. Cyrus did no injury to Astyages, but kept him
+with him till his death."
+
+In the Persian history of Ctesias the narrative of the fall of Astyages
+occupied more than one book. But we only know that it contradicted the
+story of Herodotus, that the daughter of Astyages was not called Mandane
+but Amytis, that she was married to the Median Spitamas, not to the
+Persian Cambyses, and that it was not the Median Harpagus but the
+Persian Oebares who was Cyrus' counsellor.[531] The loss of these books
+of Ctesias is compensated by a fragment of Nicolaus of Damascus, which
+seems to give the narrative in a compressed form. It is only in a few
+unimportant points at the close that the fragment differs from the
+excerpt of Ctesias which has come down to us.
+
+"Astyages," so we are told in Nicolaus, "was the noblest king of the
+Medes after Arbaces. In his reign occurred the great revolution by which
+the dominion passed from the Medes to the Persians; and the cause was as
+follows:--It was a law among the Medes that a poor man who went to a
+rich man to gain a livelihood, and gave himself up to him, should be fed
+and clothed and kept as a slave; if the rich man did not do his duty in
+this respect, the poor man might go on to another. In this way a boy
+named Cyrus, a Mardian by birth, came to the servant of the king who was
+placed over the sweepers of the palace. He was the son of Atradates,
+whose poverty forced him to live by plunder, and Argoste his mother
+lived by keeping goats. He gave himself up to the servant for bread, and
+assisted in cleaning the palace, and as he was industrious the overseer
+gave him better clothing, and brought him from among those who swept
+outside to those who cleaned the interior, and put him under their
+overseer. This man was severe, and often whipped Cyrus. Cyrus left him,
+and went to the lighter of the lamps, who showed him kindness, and
+brought him nearer to the king by placing him among those who bore the
+lights. As Cyrus distinguished himself there also, he came to
+Artembares, the chief butler, who gave the king his wine. He gladly
+received Cyrus, and allowed him to wait on those who ate at the king's
+table. Ere long Astyages remarked how deftly Cyrus waited, and with what
+a stately air he handed the goblets, and asked Artembares whence the
+youth came who waited so well. 'O king,' he replied, 'he is thy slave, a
+Persian by race, of the tribe of the Mardians, who has given himself
+over to me in order to gain a livelihood.' Artembares was old, and once,
+when suffering from a fever, he entreated the king to be allowed to
+remain at home till he was cured; 'in my place the youth, whom thou
+didst praise, will hand the wine, and if he find favour in thy eyes as
+cupbearer, then will I, a eunuch, adopt him as my son.' Astyages
+consented, and Artembares gave much advice to Cyrus, as if to his own
+son. Cyrus now stood at the side of the king, and served him by day and
+by night, and showed much good sense and skill. And Astyages allowed him
+as the son of Artembares to receive his income, and gave him many gifts
+in addition, and Cyrus became great, and his name was heard everywhere."
+
+"Astyages had a very noble and beautiful daughter, whom he gave to
+Spitamas the Mede, adding the whole of Media as a dowry. Then Cyrus
+caused his father and mother to come from the land of the Medians, and
+they rejoiced at the greatness of their son, and his mother told him the
+dream which she had while he was yet an unborn child. She had fallen
+asleep in the sanctuary when tending her goats, and in her dream water
+flowed from her in such quantities that it became a great stream, and
+inundated all Asia, and flowed down to the sea. When the father heard
+this, he ordered the dream to be laid before the Chaldaeans in Babylon.
+Cyrus sent for the most skilful of them and laid the dream before him.
+He declared that the dream portended great good fortune for Cyrus, and
+the highest place in Asia; Astyages was to know nothing of it,
+'otherwise he will put you to death in some shameful manner, and me
+also,' the Babylonian said. They mutually swore to impart to no one this
+great and unparalleled vision. Cyrus afterwards came to yet greater
+honours, and made his father satrap of Persia, and his mother one of the
+first among the women in Persia in wealth and position."
+
+"The Cadusians were at enmity with Astyages. Their leader was
+Onaphernes, who was a traitor to his people in the interests of
+Astyages, and he despatched a messenger saying, that he must send a
+trusty person with whom to confer about the surrender. Astyages sent
+Cyrus to arrange everything with Onaphernes, bidding him be back again
+in Ecbatana on the fortieth day. The interpreter of dreams urged Cyrus
+to go to the Cadusians, and filled him with confidence. Cyrus, who was
+of a noble and ambitious nature, intended, with the help of heaven, to
+bring the Persians to revolt, to attempt the overthrow of Astyages, and
+place confidence in the Babylonian, who was better acquainted than
+others with the will of heaven. They consulted with each other; the
+Babylonian told Cyrus that it was destined that he should overthrow
+Astyages and his dominion, he knew this for certain; and Cyrus promised
+the Babylonian that if this turned out to be true and he became king, he
+would make him a great reward. Cyrus remembered how Arbaces had
+previously overthrown Sardanapalus, and obtained his dominion, and yet
+the Medes, by whom he was supported, were not stronger than the
+Persians. Arbaces was not stronger than himself, and to him, as to the
+other, his fortune had been foretold. With such thoughts Cyrus passed
+the boundaries of the land of the Cadusians. Here he was met by a man
+who had been whipped, and carried dung in a basket. Cyrus took this for
+a sign, and inquired of the Babylonian, who told him to ask the man who
+he was and whence he came. The man replied that he was a Persian of the
+name of Oebares. Then Cyrus was greatly pleased; for Oebares signifies
+one who brings good news. And the Babylonian told Cyrus that the other
+signs were most favourable--both that he was a countryman of Cyrus, and
+that he was carrying horse-dung, which portended dominion and power.
+Cyrus without delay took the man with him."
+
+"Then he came to Onaphernes, and when the treachery had been arranged by
+mutual concessions, he set out on the way back to Persia. He had given
+Oebares a horse and Persian clothing, and being convinced of his
+friendly disposition he often conversed with him. Once he said: 'How
+hard it is to see the Persians ill-treated by the Medes, and yet they
+are as good as they!' 'O Cyrus,' replied the other, 'there is no
+great-hearted, high-minded man, to put an end to the dominion of the
+Medes over better men than themselves.' 'Why should there not be such a
+man?' asked Cyrus. 'Perhaps there is such an one,' Oebares replied, 'but
+want of courage does not allow him to do it, though he could.' Cyrus
+pushed his questions further: 'If such a venturesome man should appear,
+how might he accomplish his aim?' 'The first step,' Oebares answered,
+'would be to unite with the Cadusians, who would be willing to join him,
+for they love the Persians, and hate the Medes; then he must rouse the
+Persians, who are about 40,000 in number, and arm them; their treatment
+by the Medes will prepare them for this. Their land also is most
+suitable, being full of mountains and rocks, and even if the Medes
+should invade it, they will be driven back with loss.' Then Cyrus asked:
+'Suppose that this man should appear, would you join in the danger with
+him?' Oebares replied: 'Most readily, if you were the man to take the
+matter in hand; your father is the ruler of Persia, so that you have
+the best place of refuge, and are the strongest. If not you, who is it
+to be?' As Cyrus saw from this that Oebares was a cautious and brave
+man, who placed all his hopes in him, he revealed his plan and consulted
+him. Oebares encouraged him, and gave him good counsel to guide him. He
+urged Cyrus to send to his father Atradates and entreat him to arm the
+Persians, apparently to aid the king against the Cadusians, but in truth
+to revolt against Astyages; then he must ask Astyages for permission to
+visit Persia for some days, in order to offer the sacrifice which he had
+vowed for the safety of the king, and at the same time for his father
+who was sick. If he obtained his request he must set manfully to work;
+when a man ventures in a great enterprise it is no hardship to venture
+his life, and if need be to lose it, for this happens even to those who
+do nothing. Cyrus was pleased at the man's resolute frame of mind, and
+now told him his mother's dream and the interpretation of the
+Babylonian. Oebares then inflamed his spirit yet more, but cunning as he
+was, he bade him take care that the Babylonian did not tell the dream to
+the king--'if you will not permit his death, which would be the safest
+thing.' 'That be far from me,' said Cyrus. Filled with alarm that the
+Babylonian would betray the dream to Astyages, Oebares gave out that
+according to ancestral custom he would offer sacrifice to the goddess of
+the moon at night, and obtained of Cyrus all that he required for the
+purpose--incense, wine, and pillows--and arranged that Cyrus should take
+no part in the sacrifice. In his tent he dug a deep trench, put thick
+pillows over it, and invited the Babylonian to a banquet, and made him
+intoxicated. When he sank down on the pillows, he threw him into the
+trench, and his servants with him. In the morning, Oebares went quietly
+on with Cyrus, who soon inquired for the Babylonian. Oebares
+acknowledged what he had done; he could find no other way of escape for
+Cyrus and his children. Cyrus was deeply distressed, and even more
+angry, and would not see Oebares any more, but at length he again placed
+his confidence in him."
+
+"When Cyrus was again with Astyages, Oebares reminded him of his advice.
+Cyrus followed it, sent to Persia, and when he found that all was ready,
+asked Astyages, under the pretext that Oebares had suggested, for
+permission to go to Persia. The king would not let him go. Then Cyrus
+betook himself to the most trusty of the eunuchs; when a favourable
+moment came, he was to obtain permission for the journey to Persia. One
+day when Cyrus found the king in the best of humours and cheered with
+wine, he gave the eunuch a sign, and the latter said to the king: 'Cyrus
+asks to perform the sacrifice, which he has vowed for thee in Persia,
+that thou mightest continue gracious to him, and for permission to visit
+his sick father.' The king called for Cyrus, and with a smile, gave him
+permission of absence for five months; in the sixth month he was to
+return. Cyrus bowed in gratitude before the king, appointed Tiridates as
+butler to the king during his absence, and early on the next morning he
+set out to Persia."
+
+"In vain had the wife of the slain Babylonian waited for his return to
+Ecbatana; Oebares told her that robbers had killed him. Then she became
+the wife of the brother of her husband, and when she heard that Cyrus
+had gone to Persia, she remembered that her first husband had once
+confided to her the dream of the mother of Cyrus, and its
+interpretation. She related this to her husband, who at once went to
+Astyages, told him all, and added that Cyrus had obviously gone to
+Persia with a view of preparing for the execution of that which the
+dream had portended. The king was seized with great anxiety, and the
+Babylonian advised him to put Cyrus to death as soon as he returned.
+Towards evening Astyages caused his concubines to dance and play before
+him while drinking wine. One of the players sang: 'The lion has let the
+boar which he had in his power go forth to the pasture. There he will
+become strong and give great trouble to the lion, and at length he, the
+weaker, will overcome the stronger.' Astyages applied this song to
+himself and Cyrus, and on the spot sent 300 horsemen to bring him back;
+if he would not obey they were to cut off his head and bring that. When
+the horsemen brought to Cyrus the commands of Astyages, he answered
+cunningly, perhaps on the advice of Oebares: 'Why should I not return as
+my lord summons me? To-day we will feast; to-morrow morning we will set
+out.' This met with their approval. After the manner of the Persians,
+Cyrus caused many oxen and other animals to be slain in sacrifice,
+feasted the horsemen, and made them intoxicated; at the same time he
+sent a message to his father to send at once 1000 cavalry and 5000
+foot-soldiers to the city of Hyrba which lay on the way, and to arm the
+rest of the Persians as quickly as possible in such a way that it should
+seem to be done by command of the king. His true aims he did not
+communicate to him. In the night he and Oebares took horse, just as they
+were, hastened to Hyrba, armed the inhabitants, and drew out those whom
+Atradates had sent in order for battle. When the horsemen of Astyages
+had slept off their debauch on the following morning, and found that
+Cyrus had disappeared, they pursued him and came to Hyrba. Here Cyrus
+first displayed his bravery, for with his Persians he slew 250 of the
+horse of Astyages. The remainder escaped, and brought the news to
+Astyages. 'Woe is me!' cried the king striking his thigh, 'that I, well
+knowing that we should not do good to the evil, have allowed myself to
+be carried away by clever speeches, and have raised up this Mardian to
+be such a mischief to me. Still, he shall not succeed.' He called his
+generals and bade them assemble the army, and led out against the
+Persians nearly 1,000,000 foot-soldiers, 200,000 horse, and 3000
+chariots."
+
+"Meanwhile the army under Atradates, who was now fully instructed, was
+collected: 300,000 infantry, 50,000 horse, and 100 chariots. Cyrus
+encouraged the Persians, and Oebares seized the passes of the mountain
+and the heights, built lines, and brought the people from the open
+cities into such as were well fortified. Astyages burned down the
+abandoned cities, summoned Atradates and Cyrus to submission, and
+taunted them with their former beggary. Cyrus replied that Astyages did
+not recognise the power of the gods, which forced them, goat-herds as
+they were, to accomplish what was destined to be done. As he had done
+them kindness, they bade him lead back the Medes, and give their freedom
+to the Persians who were better than the Medes. Thus it came to a
+battle. Astyages, surrounded by 20,000 of his body-guard, looked on:
+among the Persians Atradates had the right, and Oebares the left, wing;
+Cyrus, surrounded by the bravest warriors, was in the centre. The
+Persians defended themselves bravely, and slew many of the Medes, so
+that Astyages cried out on his throne: 'How bravely these
+"terebinth-eaters" fight!' But at length the Persians were overpowered
+by numbers, and driven into the city before which they fought. Cyrus
+and Oebares advised to send the women and children to Pasargadae, which
+is the loftiest mountain, and renew the battle on the next day: 'If we
+are defeated we must all die, and if that must be so it is better to
+fall in victory and for the freedom of our country.' Then all were
+filled with hatred and anger against the Medes, and when the morning
+came and the gates were opened, all marched out; Atradates alone
+remained with the old men in the city to defend the walls. But while
+Cyrus and Oebares were fighting in the field, Astyages caused 100,000
+men to go round and attack the Persian army in the rear. The attack
+succeeded. Atradates fell covered with wounds into the hands of the
+Medes. Astyages said to him: 'An excellent satrap are you; is it thus
+that you thank me, you and your son, for what I have done for you?'
+Atradates, almost at the last gasp, replied: 'I know not, O king, what
+deity has roused this frenzy in my son; put me not to the torture, I
+shall soon die.' Astyages had compassion on him and said: 'I will not
+put you to the torture; I know that if your son had followed your
+advice, he would not have done such things.' Atradates died, and
+Astyages gave him an honourable burial. Meanwhile Cyrus and Oebares
+after a brave struggle had been compelled to retire to Pasargadae. The
+mountain was very high and with steep sides, and the way to it led
+through narrow passes, which were here and there overtopped by high
+walls of rock. Oebares defended the passes with 10,000 heavy-armed men.
+As it was impossible to force a way through, Astyages gave command that
+100,000 men should go round the mountain, and seek for a pass there and
+climb the mountain. This movement compelled Cyrus and Oebares to seek
+shelter during the night on a lower hill for the army, together with
+the women and children. Astyages followed quickly, and his army was
+already between the two mountains, and bravely attacked that held by the
+Persians, the approach to which, lying through deep gorges, thick oak
+forests, and wild olive trees, was very difficult. The Persians fought
+still more bravely; in one place Cyrus dashed forward, and in another
+Oebares, who urged them not to let their wives, mothers, and old men be
+massacred and tortured by the Medes. So they rushed down with a cry, and
+when their javelins failed, they threw down stones in great numbers. The
+Medes were driven back, and Cyrus chanced to come to the house in which
+he once lived with his father as a boy, when he pastured goats. He
+kindled a fire of cypress and laurel-wood, and offered the sacrifice of
+the man who is distressed and in desperate circumstances. Then followed
+thunder and lightning, and when Cyrus sank down in prayer, birds of good
+omen settled on the roof, as a sign that he would again reach
+Pasargadae. So the Persians remained for the night on the mountain, and
+when on the following morning the Medes renewed the attack, they fought
+yet more bravely, relying on the happy omens. But Astyages placed 50,000
+men at the foot of the mountain behind those who were attacking, and
+bade them slay all who came down. Thus pressed, the Medes fought more
+zealously than on the previous day, and the Persians retired to the top
+of the mountain on which were their women and children. These ran to
+meet the fugitives, and cried out to them, 'Cowards, whither would ye
+fly, will ye creep back into the bosoms that bore you?' Seized with
+shame, the Persians turned, and in one onslaught drove the Medes down
+the mountain, and slew sixty thousand of them."
+
+"But Astyages did not retire from the siege of the mountain. Cyrus had
+still need of much cunning and bravery before he succeeded in defeating
+Astyages and taking the camp of the Medes. On that day, Cyrus went into
+the tent of Astyages, seated himself on his throne, and took the sceptre
+amid the acclamations of the Persians; and Oebares put the king's
+kidaris on his head with the words: 'Thou art more worthy to bear it;
+the gods give it to thee for thy virtue, and grant the Persians to rule
+over the Medes.' The treasures of Astyages, which the Persians found in
+the camp of the Medes, were brought to Pasargadae under the care of
+Oebares; but even those which they found in the tents of the other Medes
+were enormous. It was not long before the intelligence of the defeat and
+flight of Astyages spread abroad, and nations as well as individuals
+deserted him. First of all Artasyras, the chief of the Hyrcanians, came,
+with 50,000 men, and recognised Cyrus as king; afterwards came the
+chiefs of the Parthians, Sacae, Bactrians, and other nations, each
+seeking to arrive before the other. Only a few faithful men remained
+with Astyages, and when Cyrus marched against him he was easily
+overcome. Then Cyrus gained possession of Ecbatana. There the daughter
+of Astyages and her husband Spitamas were taken captive with their two
+sons. But Astyages could not be found; Amytis and Spitamas had hidden
+him in the palace in the woodwork of the roof. Then Cyrus commanded that
+Amytis, her husband, and her children should be tortured that they might
+confess where Astyages was, but he came forward of his own will to
+prevent the torture. Spitamas was beheaded, because he had lied, and
+said that he did not know the hiding-place of Astyages; Amytis Cyrus
+took for his wife. He loosed from Astyages the heavy chains which
+Oebares had put upon him, honoured him as a father, and made him satrap
+of the Barcanians."[532]
+
+According to Deinon, who wrote in the first half of the fourth century
+B.C., Cyrus was first governor of the staff-bearers of Astyages, and
+then of his body-guard. In a dream he had thrice seen the sun at his
+feet, and thrice stretched out his arms to grasp it, and the magicians
+had interpreted this dream to the effect that he would reign for thrice
+ten years. When Astyages had given Cyrus leave to go to Persia, and he
+had availed himself of it, the king sent for Angares, the most famous of
+the Median minstrels, in order to sing before him and his company at the
+banquet. After reciting the usual songs, Angares at last said: "The
+great beast of prey, more mighty than a wild boar, is let loose in the
+swamps; when he is master of his land, he will with ease fight against
+many." And when Astyages asked, "What wild beast is this?" Angares
+answered: "Cyrus the Persian." Then Astyages, regarding the suspicion as
+well-founded, sent to fetch Cyrus back, but failed to recover him.[533]
+
+The narrative of Pompeius Trogus has been preserved in excerpts only.
+Astyages had a daughter, but no male heirs. From her bosom, he saw, in a
+dream, a vine growing, of which the branches overshadowed all Asia. The
+interpreters of dreams declared that this vision portended the greatness
+of the grandson whom his daughter would bring forth, but it also
+involved the loss of the empire to him. To be rid of this fear, Astyages
+had not given his daughter to any eminent man, nor even to a Mede--that
+there might not be rank on the father's side as well as on the mother's,
+to excite the ambition of his grandson--but to Cambyses, a man of middle
+station, in the then unknown nation of the Persians. Even this did not
+remove the alarm of Astyages; when his daughter was pregnant he sent for
+her in order to have her child put to death before his eyes. When a boy
+was born he gave him to Harpagus, his trusted friend, to be put to
+death. But Harpagus, fearing that the daughter of Astyages if she should
+come to the throne would avenge on him the death of her son, gave the
+child to the herdman of the king, and bade him expose it. The herdman
+obeyed, but when his wife heard of the matter, she urged her husband to
+fetch the child and show it to her. Wearied by her entreaties, the
+herdman went back into the forest, and there found a dog beside the
+child, suckling it, and defending it from the beasts of prey. He took it
+up and carried it to his fold, while the dog followed in much distress.
+When the herdman's wife took it in her arms, the child smiled on her as
+though it had known her, and it was so full of life and sweet smiles
+that the woman induced her husband to expose her own child in place of
+the grandson of the king. After this the excerpt goes on to relate, like
+Herodotus, the game of the boys, the answer of Cyrus, the revenge of
+Astyages on Harpagus, the letter in the hare's belly, in which Harpagus
+imparts to Cyrus his plan for the desertion of the Medes to the
+Persians. When Cyrus had received and read this letter in Persepolis, a
+dream also urged the enterprise upon him, but at the same time bade him
+take as his associate the man whom he met first on the following day.
+Next day, before dawn, Cyrus went on a journey, and met a slave of the
+name of Oebares, belonging to the house of a Mede. When Cyrus found that
+he was a Persian by birth, he took his chains off and turned back with
+him to Persepolis. Cyrus then assembled the Persians. On the first day
+he made them cut down a wood on the way, and on the second he
+entertained them. Astyages sends Harpagus against them, and he passes
+over to their side with the army entrusted to him. Astyages now marches
+out in person, after summoning all his forces, against Persia. The
+struggle was severe. Astyages placed a portion of his army in the rear
+of his forces, and told the latter that they must try whether they could
+not break through the ranks of the enemy in battle more easily than
+through the ranks behind them in flight. The Medes attacked with great
+spirit; the Persians were forced back to their wives and children, by
+whom they were again driven into the battle with the cry: Would they fly
+for refuge into the bosoms of their mothers and wives? They put the
+Medes to flight. Here the excerpt of Justin breaks off, though he
+represents Astyages as having been taken prisoner in this battle after
+the rout. Cyrus merely took the government from him; he treated him as
+his grandfather, and made him satrap of the Hyrcanians; Oebares he made
+ruler of Persia, and gave him his sister in marriage.[534]
+
+Polyaenus repeats the narrative of Herodotus about the manner in which
+Cyrus induced the Persians to revolt. Then followed a war between the
+Medes and Persians, and Cyrus was three times defeated. As the women and
+children of the Persians were at Pasargadae, Cyrus was compelled to risk
+another battle in the neighbourhood of this place. The Persians were
+again put to flight; Oebares was retreating when the women met the
+fugitives, with the cry already quoted. The Persians halted; and as the
+Medes were pursuing without order, the Persians gained such a victory
+that no further battle was needed to decide the question of the
+throne.[535] Anaximenes of Lampsacus also relates that Cyrus had built
+Pasargadae at the place where he had overcome Astyages in battle. Strabo
+tells us: "Cyrus held Pasargadae in honour, for it was there that he
+conquered Astyages in the final battle, and became ruler of all Asia in
+his place, and he built a city and a palace in remembrance of the
+victory."[536] Plutarch tells us: When Cyrus revolted from Astyages and
+the Medes he was three times conquered in battle, and when the Persians
+fled into the city, the enemy had almost succeeded in forcing an
+entrance with them, when the women came out to meet them. The cry of the
+women brought about a change in the battle, and for this reason Cyrus
+made a law that as often as the king came into the city of Pasargadae,
+every woman should receive a piece of gold. Ochus marched past the city
+to evade the law; but Alexander twice entered Pasargadae, and gave
+double to all the women that were with child.[537] In all these
+narratives the land of the Persians is the scene of the decisive
+conflict.
+
+Only a few short fragments remain of the account given by Diodorus of
+the overthrow of Astyages. With him Cyrus is the son of Mandane, the
+daughter of Astyages, and Cambyses. His father brought him up as a king,
+and inflamed him with a desire for the mightiest achievements. As a
+young man he displayed a capacity in advance of his years, and clearly
+showed that he would undertake the most important enterprises. He was
+the first man of his time in bravery, wisdom, and all other virtues.
+Another fragment obviously comes after the defeat, which, according to
+Nicolaus, Astyages suffered in the final battle at Pasargadae. When
+defeated, Astyages, though he had himself disgracefully turned and fled,
+showed ferocious anger against his army. He deposed all the commanders
+and elected others in their place. Those who were to blame for the
+flight, he executed one and all, thinking that he should thus compel the
+others to show themselves brave men in danger. "For he was cruel and
+harsh in character. But he did not terrify the multitude by this
+severity; on the other hand, by the exasperation which such violence and
+caprice excited in every one, he roused them to a desire for revolution
+and deposition. The troops met in their divisions; treasonable speeches
+were uttered, and the majority urged each other to vengeance."[538]
+
+Xenophon, it is true, has not written a history of Cyrus, but has given
+a description of his life from his knowledge of the Persian life and
+character, and the conclusions he deduced therefrom, as to the possible
+origin of the empire, in order to explain and realise to the Greeks the
+difficulty which they found it so hard to solve--the manner in which
+great nations could form one community and be governed by one person.
+With him Cyrus is the son of Cambyses, who is the king of the Persians,
+and Mandane the daughter of Astyages of Media, whom Xenophon represents
+as reigning before Cyaxares. When Cyrus was twelve years of age, his
+mother went with him to Media, in order to show him to his grandfather,
+whom the boy astonished by his apt answers. At the age of sixteen, Cyrus
+performs his first deeds of arms. When Astyages died, he was succeeded
+on the throne by his son Cyaxares, the brother of Mandane. He entreats
+Cambyses to aid him against the Assyrians; Cambyses sends Cyrus, by
+whose services the Medes are defeated. After this he conquered the
+Lydians, who had come to aid the Assyrians against the Medes, and took
+Babylon; and his uncle Cyaxares, whom Xenophon does not describe as a
+pattern ruler, gives him his daughter in marriage, and Media as a dowry,
+for he was without male children. Cambyses and Mandane assented to this
+arrangement. After the death of Cambyses, Cyrus became king of Persia,
+and on the death of Cyaxares, Media also became his.
+
+The Armenians also narrate the fall of Astyages. Moses of Chorene (I.
+513) tells us that he only related the stories of the Persians to please
+his patron Sahak (Isaac) Bagratuni, and gave them a meaning which they
+did not possess. Biurasp Asdahag lived at the time of Nimrod, and the
+person whom the Persians in their stories call the child of Satan,
+served him; and with regard to the dragon, or the changing of Asdahag
+into a dragon, the truth was that he sacrificed men in infinite numbers
+to the dragon, till the multitude grew weary, overpowered him, and threw
+him into a trench filled with bitumen. Moses further tells us: The ninth
+descendant of Baroir of Armenia (I. 515), King Tigran, was the
+mightiest of all the princes of Armenia, and helped Cyrus to overthrow
+the kingdom of the Medes. Tigran was pledged by treaties to Asdahag
+(Astyages) the king of the Medians, and when he united with Cyrus,
+Astyages had an evil dream. He saw a high mountain surrounded by snow
+and ice, as in the land of the son of Haikhs (I. 513). On the summit of
+the mountain, a woman in purple, covered with a sky-blue veil, brought
+forth three heroes at once: one, carried on a lion, dashed toward the
+west; the second, on a leopard, to the north; the third, on a monstrous
+dragon, to Media. With this Asdahag fought in the dream: they shed a sea
+of blood, and pierced each other with their lances. Asdahag explained
+this dream to mean that he had to expect an attack from Tigran, the king
+of Armenia. To prevent this, and secretly to destroy Tigran, Asdahag
+sought Tigran's sister, Tigranuhi, in marriage, obtained her, and held
+her in great honour. Then he asked for a meeting with Tigran. But
+Tigranuhi had perceived the duplicity of Asdahag, and warned her
+brother. He collected the best warriors of great and little Armenia, and
+marched against the Medes. The war continued for four months, till
+Tigran in a hand-to-hand conflict pierced the iron armour of Asdahag
+with his lance. The death of Asdahag put an end to the battle and the
+war, and Tigran led his sister back to Armenia, where she became the
+ancestress of the race of Osdan. Anuish (Aryanis), the first wife of
+Astyages, and a number of young princesses and boys, more than 10,000 in
+all, Tigranes brought to Armenia, and settled there to the east of the
+great mountain, towards the land of Koghten, in the plain of Ajtnayan,
+as far as Nakhjevan. In the songs of the people of Koghten, the
+descendants of Astyages are spoken of in an allegorical manner, as the
+descendants of the dragon; for Astyages (Asdahag) in our language means
+the dragon.[539] As has been shown, the Armenians were closely allied to
+the people of Iran in language, character, and religious worship. It
+cannot therefore astonish us that the legends of Iran are known to them.
+What Moses tells us of Biurasp Asdahag and his serpents rests on the
+myth in the Avesta of the serpent Azhi dahaka, the Zohak of the later
+form of Iranian legend (p. 250). The epithet which Moses gives to
+Asdahag, Biurasp, is also of Iranian origin; Baevaracpa means the lord
+of 10,000 horses. That the descendants of Astyages are spoken of in the
+national legend of Armenia as the descendants of the dragon, shows that
+the Armenians had confounded Astyages of Media with Azhi dahaka or
+Zohak. The Armenians can only claim as their own the legend of King
+Tigran, who overcomes and slays Asdahag of Media. They ascribe to their
+princes the overthrow of the Medes. As already remarked, the Armenian
+legend of Tigran must come down from an early date. Xenophon makes
+Tigran the son of the king of Armenia, the most faithful helper and
+associate of Cyrus.[540]
+
+Leaving out of sight the romance of Xenophon, and the Armenian
+tradition, which involve special hypotheses, the accounts in the West of
+the fall of Astyages go back to two distinct versions, one of which we
+have in the narrative of Herodotus, the other in the narrative of
+Ctesias-Nicolaus, which is presupposed in Deinon and Polyaenus. In
+Trogus we have a third version, which combines the two. So far as
+Justin's excerpt allows us to form an opinion, this version, and the
+fragments of Diodorus, are based upon the Persian history of Deinon. The
+introduction is distinguished from the account of Herodotus by the fact
+that only one dream of Astyages is mentioned; that Cyrus is already
+exposed, and a dog is suckling him before the herdsman's wife, whose
+name was "dog," brings him up; then follows the story of Herodotus,
+including the letter, which Harpagus sends to Cyrus in the hare's belly.
+At this point Trogus passes into the account of Nicolaus; he represents
+Cyrus as receiving in a dream the exhortation to rise against Astyages,
+and to take the first man he meets as his associate. Cyrus meets
+Oebares, though not, it is true, on the borders of the Cadusians. The
+place of the horsemen, who in Nicolaus are first sent by Astyages, is
+taken in Trogus by the march of Harpagus, and his desertion to Cyrus;
+then follows the narrative of the war, which in the most essential
+traits agrees with the version of Ctesias-Nicolaus. From Deinon's
+fragments we shall add to the excerpt from Trogus, that Cyrus before his
+rebellion had served at the court of Astyages as overseer of the
+staff-bearers, and then of the body-guard; that Astyages was warned by
+Angares; and, finally, the defection of the Medes after the battle of
+Pasargadae, as given in the fragments of Diodorus.
+
+The detail and liveliness of the traits in the accounts of Herodotus and
+Ctesias-Nicolaus, in the fragment of Deinon, and the narrative of
+Trogus--the warnings and portents--the dialogues and speeches of the
+action--the letter:--all these point to poetical sources. We found that
+the accounts of Ctesias of the foundation, rise, and fall of Assyria,
+and of the rise of Media, were based upon poems, and here also, beyond
+doubt, poetic traditions form the groundwork. Herodotus, at the
+beginning of his narrative, tells us: "I write these matters from the
+accounts given by some of the Persians, who do not exaggerate the life
+of Cyrus, but wish to narrate the order of events; I am aware that three
+other different accounts of the life of Cyrus are in existence."[541]
+Xenophon tells us that Cyrus "is even now the theme of song among the
+barbarians."[542] In Deinon's fragment it is Angares, the most famous of
+the Median minstrels, who, while singing at the table of Astyages, warns
+him in a poetical figure against Cyrus (p. 354); in the account of
+Nicolaus it is one of the singing women, from whom, at the same time and
+in a similar figure, this warning comes. At the court of the Sassanids
+there were singing women who sang to the kings the achievements of old
+days. Ibn-al-Hareth brought women of this kind from the court of Chosru
+Nushirvan to the Koreishites, and they sang the deeds of Rustem.[543]
+According to these statements and indications we may regard it as
+certain that the elevation of Cyrus and the fall of Astyages was
+celebrated in song among the Persians and Medes. In spite of the
+differences between the three narratives, certain traits are common to
+all. In all dreams announce the future greatness of Cyrus; in Herodotus
+these appear to Astyages; in Nicolaus, to the mother of Cyrus; in Deinon
+and Trogus, to Cyrus also. In Herodotus Cambyses is rich in flocks, in
+Nicolaus the mother of Cyrus tends goats; in Herodotus Cambyses is of a
+quiet disposition, in Nicolaus he is driven by his son to revolt, and
+finally disowns the enterprise. All three narratives lay stress on the
+warnings given to Astyages against Cyrus, though in different ways; all
+mark strongly the early personal valour of Cyrus, which Xenophon also
+celebrates. Artembares the Mede is found both in Herodotus and Nicolaus,
+though in a different relation to Cyrus. In all three accounts a
+counsellor--Harpagus in the one case, Oebares in the other--exercises
+the greatest influence on the resolutions of Cyrus. Herodotus and
+Nicolaus mark the cunning of Cyrus as opposed to Astyages; in both Cyrus
+gives out that he is carrying out the king's orders in arming the
+Persians. In Herodotus Cyrus tells the Persians that he does not
+consider them worse men than the Medes, and they revolt "because they
+have now got a leader in Cyrus." In Nicolaus Cyrus asks whether there is
+not a leader who can put an end to the rule of the Medes over better men
+than themselves. In both the dominion of the Medes has long been hated
+by the Persians. In both before the beginning of the struggle Astyages
+commands Cyrus to appear before him. In Herodotus Astyages says, when
+Harpagus has passed over to Cyrus and the Median army has broken up,
+that "he shall not succeed;" and in Nicolaus he uses the same words
+after the first defeat of his horsemen. In Herodotus it is the cruelty
+of Astyages to Harpagus, and his severity towards the Medes, which cost
+him his throne; in Diodorus the army revolts, even after brave fighting,
+from Astyages because he cruelly revenges upon them the defeat at
+Pasargadae. In all three accounts Cyrus does no harm to Astyages after
+his victory.
+
+Let us set aside the poetical colours in the account of Herodotus in
+order to test its coherence. What alarm could Astyages, who was without
+male heirs, feel at the announcement that his daughter's son would one
+day rule over all Asia, _i.e._ would still further extend the dominion
+of the Medes? In the second dream, which portends no more than the
+first, a reason is given for the alarm; the interpreters declare that
+the dream signifies that Astyages will lose his throne. If Astyages had
+reason to fear the yet unborn child of his daughter, the obvious remedy
+was not to allow her to marry. Nevertheless she is married, not to a
+Mede, but to a man of the subject races, a Persian of a good family,
+_i.e._ of noble descent, wealthy, but "quiet in his disposition." This
+was equivalent to taking the Persian into the royal family, giving up to
+him or his son the right of succession, bringing the crown of Media into
+the possession of a stranger, and allowing the kingdom to pass from the
+Medes to the Persians. Even if such perversity could occur to Astyages
+the Medes were not likely to permit it, when the Magians tell Astyages,
+in Herodotus, how anxious they are that the dominion should not fall
+into the hands of a Persian. It is true that Herodotus represents
+Harpagus some twenty or thirty years later as persuading the chief
+Medes, and persuading them singly, that Astyages must be overthrown, and
+the Persian made king, but this is simply incredible. After this
+marvellous marriage of the heiress to the throne with a Persian,
+Cambyses is not brought to Ecbatana to the court, but remains in Persia,
+and no harm is done to the dreaded son of the marriage, even when his
+real origin has been discovered. Nay, more, the boy who at an early age
+discovers high aims, and a resolute will, is not even brought to the
+court to be under the eye of Astyages, but is sent back to Persia to his
+father, and by his means Harpagus is able to bring Persia to revolt. The
+letter hidden in the hare's belly obviously arose from an anticipation
+of the supervision of the great roads which was introduced at a later
+time by the Achaemenids. But what reason had Cyrus to cause the Persians
+to revolt? According to Herodotus Cambyses is the son-in-law, and hence
+the heir, of Astyages. Cyrus will succeed his father as heir to the
+Median throne, why then should he rebel against his aged
+grandfather?--why should he seek by hazard, danger, and bloodshed, a
+crown which by inheritance must soon come to Cambyses or Cyrus?[544]
+
+In the narrative of Herodotus Cyrus is no more than an instrument in the
+hands of Harpagus. The crime of Astyages against Harpagus; the
+well-merited punishment of this crime by his own imprisonment and loss
+of empire, form the hinge of the narrative, which at the same time
+brings into prominence the doctrine that no one, even though warned, can
+escape his doom. It is not probable that there were songs among the
+Persians or Medes, which illustrated Herodotus' view of the unavoidable
+_Nemesis_ which governs the actions and fortunes of men; or that Persian
+poems would represent Cyrus as the son of a Median mother. In them the
+Persians merely glorified the founder of their freedom and supremacy,
+of whom, as we know, they cherished the most grateful memories. But the
+Medes might possess poems in which the change of empire was treated from
+their point of view; they might attempt to make the loss of empire
+appear less painful, the dishonour of defeat by the Persians less
+degrading. To be overthrown by a man belonging to the subject race was
+bitter. Hence the Medes could avail themselves of a change frequent in
+the East, and represent Cyrus as a scion of their own royal house. The
+Egyptians maintained that Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, who reduced them
+to subjection, was the son of Cyrus and the daughter of their own
+Pharaoh Hophra.[545] This was mere invention; and the Medes must have
+found their version the more easy to maintain, because Cyrus spared
+Astyages after the defeat, and took his daughter into his harem. And if
+it was not the arms of the Persians, but rather the treachery of a
+distinguished Mede, the discontent of the chiefs of Media with a cruel
+king, that decided the struggle between the Persians and Medes, the
+submission became thus less intolerable to the pride of the Medes. If a
+distinguished Mede had been at variance with Astyages, and in the last
+moment of the battle had gone over to Cyrus,--much could be made of the
+desertion in Median poems. If after his victory Cyrus reposed great
+confidence in an eminent Mede, this might be made a ground for previous
+treachery to Astyages. A few years after his victory Cyrus entrusted to
+the Mede Harpagus, the leadership of the army, the subjugation and
+maintenance of far distant regions. If the legend of the Persians
+represented Achaemenes, the ancestor of their princely race, as being
+fed by an eagle (p. 327), their poems would speak of the founder of
+their dominion as distinguished by divine honours, and surround his
+birth and youth with happy omens of the future. These traits the Medes
+could use for their own purposes as warnings vouchsafed to Astyages. If
+the Persians represented Cyrus as suckled by a dog, the favoured
+creature of Auramazda, the Medes carried the subject further, and spoke
+of the exposing of Cyrus, which was then brought into combination with
+the enmity of Harpagus to Astyages; the origin of this was the refusal
+of Harpagus to put the Persian boy to death, which Astyages punished by
+the Thyestean banquet. Thus owing to the crime of Astyages, Harpagus
+their own countryman became filled with desire for vengeance; he is the
+counsellor of Cyrus, the author and leader of the revolt.
+
+Median poetry of this kind has been followed by Herodotus. He has told
+us already that he would narrate the life of Cyrus as it was given by
+the Persians, who had no desire to exaggerate their account, but these
+Persians are undoubtedly the Medes. The Median origin of his story is
+placed beyond doubt by the words which the captive Astyages addresses to
+Harpagus, and by the fact that with him it is a Mede who is the decisive
+counsellor and guide of Cyrus, while in the other version it is a
+Persian. Beside the reason given by Herodotus himself for choosing this
+version, others no doubt had influence. The Delphian oracle bade
+Croesus take to flight "whenever a mule should govern the Medes."
+According to the Medes Cyrus was the son of a Persian father and Median
+mother. The sufferings and acts of Harpagus formed the centre of the
+Median version, and he was only too well known to the Greeks on the
+west coast of Asia Minor. With the warning portents, and the exposure of
+Cyrus, the Median version brought Herodotus on the familiar ground of
+Greek legend, in which similar oracles, futile exposing of children, and
+deceptive explanations were common. Finally, the vengeance which
+overtook Astyages suits the ethical feeling of Herodotus. We may assume
+therefore that his narrative faithfully represents the contents of
+Median poems. These could already have changed the dog which was said to
+have suckled Cyrus into the herdman's wife, who was called by the name
+of "dog." But inasmuch as Herodotus does not "intend to exaggerate," as
+he observes that "the dog was everything in the mouth of Cyrus," and
+"his parents caught this up in order to represent the preservation of
+Cyrus as a work of the gods,"--as he further remarks "that Cyrus owing
+to his origin was regarded as more than human,"[546]--this rationalising
+turn may have proceeded from the historian himself. In the Persian
+tradition Cyrus was certainly suckled and guarded by the dog, and this
+trait is retained in the account of Deinon-Trogus, though united with
+the story of the exposure. But Deinon has at the same time proved the
+exposure impossible, for he states that Cyrus came to the throne in his
+fortieth year, and lived till his seventieth.[547] If this were true,
+the exposure and the command of Astyages respecting it would fall to the
+ground, for Cyrus would have seen the light in the year 599 B.C., _i.e._
+some years before the accession of Astyages, even if we allow the latter
+the longer reign which Eusebius assigns to him.
+
+If the story of Herodotus is governed by the conception of the
+unavoidable punishment of crime, the connecting clue in the story of
+Nicolaus is the rise of a beggar-boy of the lowest origin by skill and
+industry, by cunning and bravery, by endurance in the greatest danger,
+and final victory in the most severe struggles. Cyrus is the son of
+humble parents; his father is driven by want to robbery, his mother
+tends goats; they belong to the lowest tribe of the Persians, the
+marauding Mardians whom we have found in the mountains of south-western
+Persia (p. 323). Hunger drives the boy from the goat-pasture to
+Ecbatana. Beginning as a sweeper of the palace, he works his way step by
+step upwards by address and industry to the highest offices at the
+court, so that he can make his father satrap of Persia and his mother
+the most distinguished lady in Persia. Then the dream of his mother, and
+the interpretation given of it by the Babylonian, plant ambition in his
+soul, which is strengthened by the happy portent, vouchsafed to him on
+his mission to the chief of the Cadusians, and the advice of Oebares. He
+succeeds in persuading Astyages to grant him permission to visit his
+parents in Persia; when too late, Astyages is warned by the wife of the
+Babylonian, and the words of the singing-woman (Angares in Deinon). A
+fierce war breaks out. The father of Cyrus is taken captive, and in his
+last moments disavows the attempt of his son. Defeated again and again,
+the Persians in their last refuge at Pasargadae are reduced to the
+greatest distress. Then fortune turns; the Medes are driven back and
+defeated in numerous engagements, and Oebares can at length place the
+crown on the head of Cyrus in the tent of Astyages.
+
+If Xenophon in his book on Cyrus sought to make it clear to the Greeks,
+by what personal and material means Cyrus was able to conquer Asia,
+Ctesias or Nicolaus will show pragmatically how a beggar-boy rose step
+by step to be lord of the continent. He says nothing of the relationship
+of Astyages and Cyrus, or of the princely origin of Cyrus, or of his
+exposure, or of the dog: Cyrus owes his successes to himself and the
+gods. However impossible it may be that this introduction and the whole
+tendency of the narrative can be borrowed from the tradition of the
+Persians; however certain that Cyrus the beggar-boy is an invention of
+the Greeks, to point the contrast between beginning and end, and make
+the subject more interesting; yet if only we give another turn to the
+introduction, we have the Persian account before us in the narrative of
+Nicolaus, as we have the Median in the account of Herodotus--and a
+mixture of the two in the excerpt from Trogus. The Persian version is
+from the first marked in Ctesias and Nicolaus by the fact that they do
+not represent Cyrus as the descendant of Astyages. Moreover, the
+parallel between the fall of the Assyrians and the fall of the Median
+empire cannot be mistaken. "We must narrate the great change brought
+about by the transition of the dominion to the Persians"--such is the
+beginning of the account of Nicolaus. This parallel can only have arisen
+from Persian minstrels. They had to show that the task of Cyrus was
+great, and more difficult than that of Arbaces. They had to lay the
+greatest stress on the personal excellence of Cyrus in order to raise
+him above the level of Arbaces. The latter, guided by the advice of the
+viceroy of Babylon and aided by the Babylonians, had proved the
+conqueror. The arts of the Chaldaeans were certainly respected and used
+in Iran; they must have been sought after and employed as a poetic
+motive. It was to carry out the parallel that the Persian songs gave
+Cyrus a Babylonian adviser; yet they represent the counsel and influence
+of this Babylonian as entirely removed by a Persian of far greater
+importance, and utterly thrown into the shade. The emphasis which the
+Persian songs laid on the personal virtue of Cyrus misled the Greeks
+into making an attempt at the biography of the beggar-boy, and so
+rendered this change easier. Atradates, the name given by Nicolaus to
+the father of Cyrus, is no doubt taken from an epithet of Cyrus himself.
+Strabo tells us that Cyrus was originally called Atradates; the word is
+the old Persian _atriyadata_, old Bactrian, _ataredata_; the Avesta
+recommends the name as good and saving. The parents of Cyrus are said to
+belong to the tribe of the Mardians, but later on Nicolaus himself shows
+that Cyrus' ancestral home is at Pasargadae (p. 352). In contempt the
+Medes might unite the whole Persian nation under the name of their
+poorest tribes. "Why have I raised up these Mardians for such mischief?"
+Astyages asks in Nicolaus. The goat-tending of the mother of Cyrus is
+due to the same cause. In the account of Herodotus Cambyses is said to
+be rich in herds; among the Persians the care of flocks occupied a large
+place, and at a later time the tending and protection of the flocks was
+one of the means employed for strengthening and hardening the Persian
+youth. Cyrus himself, in the narrative of Nicolaus, calls himself and
+his father goat-herds. When Arsaces of Armenia visited the court of the
+Sassanid Shapur II. one of the first officers at the court of Shapur
+insolently said: "Will the king of the goats pasture on our
+slopes?"[548] Such traits as these in the Persian poems, connected with
+the poverty and simplicity of the life of the "terebinth-eating"
+Persians (which Nicolaus also, following the tradition, brings into such
+prominence), supplied the Greek revision with the necessary support for
+changing Cyrus into a Mardian goat-herd and beggar-boy. Yet the true
+position of the parents of Cyrus breaks through in the statement that
+the father of Cyrus was satrap of Persia, and his mother the first lady
+in the land, a position which also appears in the statement in Herodotus
+of the noble descent and wealth of Cambyses, and is even more plainly
+marked in other passages in which the taunt is hurled at Cyrus: that the
+son of Cambyses ought not to give way to a woman,--and traces the
+lineage of Cyrus back to Achaemenes, though in the account of the
+rebellion of Cyrus he calls his grandfather also Cyrus.
+
+The rise of Cyrus at the court of Astyages was borrowed from another
+trait in the Persian poems. The custom of the East, that the sons of
+distinguished princes and nobles should perform certain courtly and
+honourable services at the gate of the king, must have been current in
+Media also. The Persian poems must have proudly declared how Cyrus
+distinguished himself there in his youth in the duties of the court or
+of arms. This description was changed into the series of stages by which
+the beggar-boy rose to the highest office at the court of the king. The
+Persian account is obviously preserved here in Deinon's narrative--like
+the suckling and protection of Cyrus by the dog--in which Cyrus before
+the rebellion is chief of the staff-bearers and the body-guard of the
+king. When Cyrus had won the favour of Astyages, Nicolaus is obviously
+more true to the Persian account. In old days the chaff of horses
+announced his elevation to Arbaces, and to Cyrus it is announced by
+horse-dung, which is carried to him by a Persian, the slave of a Mede,
+who has been recently whipped; and as to Arbaces, so to Cyrus, a
+Babylonian announces that the throne is destined for him. As Arbaces is
+instigated and encouraged by Belesys, so is Cyrus by the interpreter of
+dreams from Babylon, and Cyrus promises him great rewards if he reaches
+the throne, as Arbaces had promised Belesys. The conversations of
+Arbaces with Belesys correspond exactly to the conversations of Cyrus
+with the Babylonian and Oebares. In Nicolaus Cyrus says, that Arbaces
+who overthrew Sardanapalus was not wiser than himself, nor were the
+Medes better warriors than the Persians. But if the Median empire was
+founded with the help of the Babylonian, the Persian must rise without
+such assistance. Arbaces had to concede to Belesys and his successors
+the hereditary dominion over Babylonia; on this occasion Oebares takes
+care that in the future empire of the Persians, Babylonia shall not be
+in the way as an hereditary monarchy given in reward of services; he
+removes the Babylonian against the wishes of Cyrus. If the Medes had
+formerly been able to conquer Assyria with the aid of the Babylonians,
+the Persians now defeat the Medes unaided, and if Sardanapalus was
+effeminate, Astyages, according to Nicolaus, is the bravest king of the
+Medes after Arbaces. To treat the struggle so briefly as Herodotus does
+was impossible for Nicolaus, as the object of his narrative was to bring
+out the valour of Cyrus. So we may assume that the Persian songs gave
+similar prominence to the contests before Nineveh and Pasargadae. Arbaces
+is thrice defeated before Nineveh, and inclined to retire. Astyages
+leads against Cyrus the whole forces of his kingdom--more than a million
+soldiers. In spite of the excellent arrangements of Oebares and the
+utmost bravery, Cyrus is three times defeated:--he is already reduced to
+extremities in the fourth conflict, when the cry of the women restores
+the fight. At length Oebares is able to place the Median crown on the
+head of Cyrus in the tent of Astyages. With such servants the throne and
+kingdom of the Persians is more firmly established than that of the
+Medes.
+
+This inquiry enables us to reconstruct in its main outlines the
+tradition of the Persians. Cambyses, the descendant of Achaemenes, was
+the chief of the Persians. Before the birth of Cyrus his wife had a
+dream that so much water came from her "that it was like a great river
+which inundated all Asia, and flowed into the sea." We know what
+reverence the Avesta pays to the dog, and the importance it ascribes to
+its glance (p. 207). The suckling of the boy Cyrus by a dog is the sign
+of the most bounteous favour and most secure protection on the part of
+the gods. Herodotus told us above that owing to his origin Cyrus counted
+himself as more than a man, and Xenophon represents him as begotten by
+gods, springing from a line of kings, and practised from his youth up in
+bravery and virtue.[549] In accordance with the custom of the Persians
+the son of the prince grows up among the flocks. Mithradates, which
+Herodotus gives as the name of the herdsman with whom the boy is brought
+up, means "given by Mithra;" the favourite of the god, who increases the
+flocks of the farms where men worship him, and gives victory in battles,
+is the protector of Cyrus. In the game of the boys he shows by
+cleverness and unbroken resolution the great destiny to which he was
+called. Then he goes into service at the court of the Median king;
+where the Persian poems have already shown us Parsondes at the time of
+Cyaxares, who subsequently made the Cadusians enemies of the Medes.[550]
+Eminent in every position, Cyrus wins the confidence of Astyages, and
+becomes the chief of his bodyguard. Then according to Deinon's fragments
+he sees the sun in a dream thrice inclining towards him. It was the
+brilliance or majesty of the king which Cyrus is represented as
+beholding. In the Avesta Thraetaona and Kerecacpa seize the majesty when
+it departs from Yima, and the Turanian Franghracyan seeks thrice to
+grasp the glance of the majesty.[551] Then a Persian, the slave of a
+Mede, brings a new sign of good fortune to Cyrus when far from his
+fatherland on the borders of the Cadusians. Oebares (Hubara, the good
+bearer) is the first Persian whom Cyrus liberates from the service of
+the Medes; and thus he has gained his most faithful helper. Angares the
+Mede, who warns Astyages, calls Cyrus "more mighty than a wild boar."
+The singing girl also calls Cyrus a "boar." We saw above that the
+victorious god Verethraghna appears in the form of a boar, and in that
+shape accompanies the chariot of Mithra.[552] The battle in the
+mountains of Persia, as described by Nicolaus, belongs in all essential
+traits to the Persian legend. It is precisely at Pasargadae, at the
+house of Cyrus, _i.e._ of Achaemenes, that the fortune of arms changes.
+The proclamation of Cyrus in the tent of Astyages, and his coronation by
+the Persians, which first made him a free man instead of a Median slave,
+is throughout in accordance with the meaning and tendency of the Persian
+legend. The gentleness of Cyrus towards Astyages is the counterpart of
+the generosity which the Median king who conquered Nineveh once
+displayed towards Belesys. Oebares undoubtedly belongs to the Persian
+Epos; he is the faithful servant who upholds the interest of the kingdom
+even against the will of the king, and sacrifices himself for it. The
+Persians of the best time held it a duty to sacrifice themselves for the
+king.
+
+The overthrow of the Parthian empire is explained in the same way as the
+overthrow of the Medes. Papak, the prince of Fars, sees in a dream the
+sun illuminating the world from the head of his herdman Sassan. His
+daughter brings forth Ardeshir to Sassan; Ardeshir serves at the court
+of the Parthian king Artaban, and shoots wild asses better than anyone
+else. On an announcement of the interpreters of stars, Ardeshir flies
+from the court and arms the Persians. Artaban abuses him as an impudent
+Kurd, and sends the prince of Susiana to fetch him, but this prince, and
+then Artaban himself, are overcome. Shapur, the son of Ardeshir, is
+restored to life against his command, and his grandson Auharmazdi is
+brought up secretly, and recognised by his conduct in the play of the
+boys. In both, dreams and letters and the inborn majesty of the royal
+children play their part.[553]
+
+Astyages, who ascended the throne in the year 593 B.C., ruled over the
+Median empire for more than 30 years; he had already reached a great age
+when the Persians rebelled against him. Aristotle remarks that his
+effeminate life and the carelessness of his government inspired Cyrus
+with courage.[554] The daughter of Alyattes of Lydia, whom he had
+married in his youth, had brought him no son; both the Median version of
+Herodotus, and the Persian in Trogus and Ctesias, allow Astyages a
+daughter only--Mandane in the one case, in the other Amytis, the name of
+the sister of Astyages, whom Nebuchadnezzar married. This daughter,
+according to Ctesias and Nicolaus, Astyages marries to Spitamas, the
+Mede (Cpitama, _i.e._ the excellent) and at the same time gives him "all
+Media as a dowry." Marriage with the heiress to the throne gave her
+husband the claim and right to succession. The daughter of the king bore
+two sons to Spitamas: Spitaces and Magabernes.[555] About the origin of
+Cyrus there is no doubt. He was the son of Cambyses, the grandson of
+Teispes, the great-grandson of Achaemenes, who united the Persian tribes
+under his leadership, and recognised the sovereignty of Phraortes the
+Median king. As Cyaxares and Astyages followed Phraortes on the throne
+of Media, so did Teispes and Cambyses follow Achaemenes as his viceroys
+or vassal kings over Persia. It may have been the case that, as already
+remarked, after the consolidation of the Median empire, the sovereignty
+became more oppressive for the Persians, and the links of their
+dependence were drawn closer. According to the previous custom, the
+viceroyalty of Persia would descend, at the death of Cambyses, to his
+son Cyrus. If the custom which subsequently prevailed in the Persian
+kingdom was current among the Medes, and the sons of the satraps or
+princes of the subject lands had to wait at the king's gate, and perform
+courtly or martial service as hostages for the fidelity of their
+fathers, and at the same time to learn obedience and submission in order
+to find favour with the king when in his immediate presence and covered
+by the splendour of his power--Cyrus must also have served at the court
+of Astyages, and may have filled the office of the staff-bearer,
+body-guard, or of butler, an honourable position at the court of the
+Medes and Persians. In Ecbatana he had no doubt an opportunity of
+comparing the simple manners, the capacity and vigour of his Persians,
+with the splendour of the court, and the luxurious life of the Median
+chiefs. Moreover, the great advantage which Spitamas had gained by
+marriage with the daughter of the king must have excited the jealousy
+and ambition of other Medes who considered themselves to have a better
+claim, or even raised their eyes to the throne. In the account of
+Herodotus, Harpagus is said to be akin to the family of Astyages. It is
+possible that Cyrus contemplated a breach between Persia and Media on
+the death of Astyages, when he would find his opportunity in a contested
+and previously disputed succession. It may be a fact that Astyages had
+his suspicions, that he summoned Cyrus who had already left the court
+before him, and Cyrus was thus compelled to break with him sooner than
+he intended. It seems more certain that Cambyses was still alive, than
+that the Persians took up arms against Astyages at the instigation of
+Cyrus, who was, as we have remarked, at that time in his fortieth
+year.[556]
+
+It follows from the position of affairs that the Persians awaited the
+attack of the Medes in their own country. It was only in the defence of
+the passes of their mountains that they could hope to make a stand
+against the overwhelming power of their enemies. In this we may put
+confidence in the Persian tradition, as well as in all that it has to
+say of a character unfavourable to the Persians; above all, in the fact
+that the war was long and severe. As a fact the Medes appear to have
+twice penetrated into the heart of the Persian land. Not only Nicolaus,
+Pompeius Trogus, and Polyaenus tell us that the struggle took place at
+first in Persia, and that the battle which saved the country was fought
+at Pasargadae, but also an authority of importance, Anaximenes of
+Lampsacus, the contemporary of Aristotle and Strabo (p. 357). "In reward
+for the services which the women rendered in that battle," says
+Nicolaus, "the women of Persia each received, when the king came to
+Pasargadae, a gold coin of the value of twenty Attic drachmas."
+Plutarch, as has been observed,[557] confirms this statement, on the
+ground of the accounts of the companions of Alexander, in a very
+definite way. We must assume, therefore, that Cyrus maintained the
+independence of Persia in a very severe struggle. When success had been
+obtained, he went on to attack Media, whether it was that he did not
+consider the freedom of Persia secure without the overthrow of that
+country, or that he at once formed the most ambitious designs. After a
+battle in Media had given Cyrus the victory in this new war, the chiefs
+of the nations subject to the Medes, the Hyrcanians, Parthians, Sacae,
+and Bactrians, and finally a part of the Medes, must have abandoned
+Astyages, who, after a second defeat, fell into the hands of Cyrus
+either in the encounter itself or at the capture of Ecbatana. The walls
+of Ecbatana and the seven rings round the citadel could not avert his
+fate (558 B.C.).[558]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[529] Herod. 1, 98, 99.
+
+[530] Herod. 1, 112, [Greek: pistotatous ton doryphoron], while in the
+recapitulation, 1, 117, we have [Greek: pistotatous ton eunouchon].
+
+[531] Ctesias, "Fragm. Pers." 2, 5.
+
+[532] Nicol. Damasc. fragm. 66; Ctes. "Fragm. Pers." 2, 5; Tzetz.
+"Chil." 1, 1, 82 ff.
+
+[533] Athen. p. 633; Cic. "de Divin." 1, 23.
+
+[534] Justin, 1, 4-7; cf. 44, 4.
+
+[535] Polyaen. "Strat." 7, 6; 7, 45. But he also explains the change of
+fortune at Pasargadae in another way. When Cyrus fled to that place
+after his retreat, and many Persians deserted to the Medes, he spread
+abroad a report that on the following day 100,000 enemies of the Medes
+(Cadusians?) would come to his assistance; every man was to prepare a
+bundle of faggots for the allies. The deserter told this to the Medes,
+and when Cyrus in the night caused all the bundles to be lighted, the
+Medes, thinking that the Persians had received substantial assistance,
+deserted.
+
+[536] Strabo, p. 727, 730. Steph. Byzant. [Greek: Passargadai].
+
+[537] "De mulier. virtute," 5.
+
+[538] Diod. "Ex. de virt. et vit." p. 552, 553 (= 9, 24); cf. 4, 30.
+
+[539] Moses Choren. 1, 24-30, and appendix to the first book, according
+to Le Vaillant's translation.
+
+[540] The form and explanation of the legend of Asdahag in Moses, as
+well as the mention of Rustem Sakjig, who has the strength of ten
+elephants (2, 8), _i.e._ of Rustem of Sejestan, prove that the
+East-Iranian legend, as we find it in Firdusi, must have been current in
+Western Iran in the fourth century at the latest, if it came into
+Armenia in the fifth century. I do not think it probable that Moses took
+the legend of Tigran from Xenophon's narrative. The vision in a dream
+and the duel point to Armenian tradition.
+
+[541] 1, 95.
+
+[542] "Cyri Instit." 1, 2, 1.
+
+[543] J. Mohl, "Livre des rois," Introd. p. 29.
+
+[544] It has been objected to this analysis that the marriage with the
+heiress may not have conveyed the throne _ipso facto_ to the husband; it
+may have been open to the chieftains to elect a king out of the members
+of the royal family. This may be correct for the election of the Afghan
+chiefs at the present day by the heads of the families. How the
+succession to the throne was arranged among the Medes we do not know in
+any detail, or whether their chiefs had any importance at all; but we do
+see that the crown went from father to son from Deioces downwards. In
+any case, even under that hypothesis, the husband of the heiress had a
+nearer claim.
+
+[545] Herod. 3, 2. So Deinon and Lyceas of Naucratis in Athenaeus, p.
+560.
+
+[546] Herod. 1, 207; 3, 75; 7, 11.
+
+[547] Cicero, "de Divin." 1, 23.
+
+[548] St. Martin on Lebeau, "Bas Empire," 2, 221.
+
+[549] "Cyri instit." 7, 3, 24.
+
+[550] Above, p. 299 ff.
+
+[551] Above, p. 34, 35, 36, 256.
+
+[552] Above, p. 110. Cf. Windischmann, "Zoroastrische Studien," s. 277.
+
+[553] Noeldeke, "Tabari," p. 12; Karnamak, s. 68.
+
+[554] "Politic." 5, 10, 24.
+
+[555] If Astyages was married to the daughter of Alyattes in the year
+610 B.C. he must have been 18 or 20 years old at that time; between 610
+and 558 the year of his fall there are 52 years. Moreover, according to
+Ctesias, Astyages outlived his fall at least ten years ("Fragm. Pers."
+5). If this were the case, and Astyages did not die till 548, he cannot
+well have been born before 630 B.C. In Herodotus and Pompeius Trogus it
+is expressly said that Astyages had no son, and this is the motive which
+induces Harpagus not to put Cyrus to death, as he would in that case
+expose himself to the vengeance of the mother, the heiress to the
+throne. In Nicolaus also the daughter comes distinctly forward, and in
+Ctesias she is also the heiress (_e.g._ "Pers." 2); in the history of
+the overthrow and the death of Astyages, we hear of her constantly. At
+the death of Cyrus, her sons by the first marriage receive satrapies. In
+Ctesias, it is true, a brother of Amytis is incidentally mentioned, on
+the occasion of a later war of Cyrus ("Pers." 3). But as Ctesias is here
+following a Median version, and after the death of Astyages the husband
+of Amytis and not her supposed brother is removed out of the way, no
+importance can be attached to this.
+
+[556] Above, p. 369.
+
+[557] Above, p. 357. Nicol. Dam. Fragm. 66; Plut "Alex." c. 69; Plut.
+"De Mul. virt." 5.
+
+[558] According to the canon of Ptolemy, Cyrus dies 529 B.C. We arrive
+at the same year if we reckon back from the death of Darius. This took
+place five years after the battle of Marathon (Herod. 7, 1-4), _i.e._
+485 B.C. Darius reigned 36 years according to Herodotus and the canon of
+Ptolemy. An Egyptian pillar gives the year 34, a demotic contract the
+year 35 of his reign: he ascended the throne therefore in 521 B.C.
+Before him the Magian reigned for seven months, Cambyses for seven years
+and five months (Herod. 3, 66, 67). The canon of Ptolemy omits the
+Magian and gives Cambyses eight years, because it reckons by complete
+years; hence Cambyses ascended the throne in 529. As Cyrus, according to
+Herodotus, reigned 29 years after his accession (1, 214), the beginning
+of his reign over Media must be placed in 558. If Ctesias gives Cyrus a
+reign of 30 years ("Pers." 8), like Deinon (p. 369), and Justin (1, 8),
+and Eusebius a reign of 31 years, these statements may be reconciled by
+the fact that Cyrus may have taken up arms against Media 30 or 31 years
+before his death, and reigned 29 years after the overthrow of Astyages.
+Diodorus puts the beginning of Cyrus: Olymp. 55, 1 = 560 B.C. Africanus
+in Euseb. "Praep. Evang." 10, p. 488.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE RISE OF THE PERSIAN KINGDOM.
+
+
+The Median empire was not of long duration. Little more than a century
+had passed since Phraortes succeeded Deioces in the government of the
+land of Ecbatana, little more than eighty since Phraortes had united the
+tribes of the Medes under his leadership, about sixty since Cyaxares had
+expelled the Scythians, and not quite fifty since Nineveh had succumbed
+to the arms of the Medes and Babylonians.
+
+In the overthrow of so mighty a power, Cyrus had achieved a great, and,
+so far as we can tell, an unexpected, success. Scanty as our information
+is, we can still perceive that he used the victory with circumspection
+and moderation. Herodotus told us that he did no injury to the captive
+Astyages, and kept him with him till his death. Ctesias relates that at
+the command of Cyrus, the heavy chains, which Oebares had put on
+Astyages, were quickly taken off; that he honoured him as a father; and
+entrusted him with the government of the Barcanians. According to the
+statement of Pompeius Trogus, Cyrus allowed him to be viceroy of the
+Hyrcanians. The same nation may be meant by these two names; in the
+inscriptions of Darius Hyrcania is called Varkana, in the Avesta
+Vehrkana.[559] Ctesias further tells us that Cyrus put to death the
+Mede Spitamas, whom Astyages had married to his daughter Amytis, and
+then made his successor, and that after treating Amytis for some time as
+his mother he subsequently made her his wife. No harm was done to
+Megabernes and Spitaces, the sons of her marriage with Spitamas; on the
+contrary, the first was placed by the wish of Cyrus in the satrapy of
+the Barcanians, the second in the satrapy of the Derbiccians.
+
+Cyrus must have made it his object to reconcile the Medes to their
+defeat and loss of empire. If he could make the house of Astyages his
+own, and take his daughter to wife, the edge of the change was softened,
+and the more apparent it was that this marriage had the consent of
+Astyages, the more legitimate would his rule be in the eyes of the
+Medes, the less could they regard it as the dominion of a stranger. It
+was of importance to gain the assent of the Medes to the new kingdom,
+and support this if possible on the united power of Medes and Persians.
+Moreover, the relations of alliance in which Astyages stood to the
+princely houses of Lydia and Babylonia made it advisable to deal
+carefully with Astyages and his kindred. Astyages was still alive in 549
+B.C.,[560] according to Herodotus and Ctesias. Whatever may be the case
+as to the connection of Cyrus with Amytis, his legitimate wife was
+Cassandane, the daughter of the Persian Pharnaspes, who according to
+Herodotus was an Achaemenid, and was in fact one of the six tribal
+princes. Cassandane bore Cyrus two sons, Cambyses and Bardiya, whom
+Herodotus calls Smerdis; Ctesias, Tanyoxarkes; and Xenophon, Tanaoxares.
+The death of Cassandane was a great grief to Cyrus; he caused the whole
+kingdom to go into mourning for her.[561]
+
+With respect to the position which Cyrus took up in regard to the royal
+family of Media, and Amytis more especially, Ctesias has preserved a
+somewhat incredible story. This narrative, which again is obviously
+taken from a poetical source, ascribes the death of Astyages to Oebares,
+to whom, according to Trogus, Cyrus had given the government of Persia
+and his sister in marriage, as a reward for his services, who in the
+beginning of his reign had been his associate in all his dangers, and
+whom, according to Ctesias, he had afterwards to thank for the capture
+of Sardis. The motive of this act, according to the drift of these
+poems, can only have been anxiety on the part of Oebares lest the
+influence of Astyages and his friends should endanger the succession of
+the house of Cyrus in the Persian kingdom and the dominion of the
+Persians. Oebares had previously murdered the Babylonian who possessed
+the secret which controlled the future of Persia, against the wishes and
+without the knowledge of Cyrus (p. 347), and he now acts in a similar
+manner towards Astyages. Cyrus, so we are told in our excerpt,[562]
+after the Lydian war sent the eunuch Petesaces to bring Astyages from
+the Barcanians, as both he and Amytis wished to see him. Oebares advised
+Petesaces to abandon Astyages on the way in some desert place, to perish
+by starvation. This was done. The crime was revealed by dreams, and
+Cyrus, on the repeated entreaty of Amytis, gave Petesaces up to her for
+punishment. She caused him to be blinded, flayed, and crucified.
+Oebares, fearing that a similar lot was in store for him, though Cyrus
+assured him that he should not permit anything of the kind, refused all
+nourishment for ten days, and so put an end to his life. The corpse of
+Astyages received a splendid burial. Lions had guarded it in the desert
+place in which it had been abandoned, until Petesaces returned and
+carried it away. In the poem in which the singing woman warns Astyages
+against Cyrus he is compared to a lion (p. 349). Whether the lions
+performed this service to the corpse of Astyages in the source from
+which Ctesias copied--it could scarcely by such an incident exhibit him
+as a man favoured by heaven--or whether the lions dealt with the corpse
+in a manner more in accordance with the views of Eastern Iran, we must
+leave out of the question. What is more certain is, that the most
+zealous Persian could have no real reason for putting Astyages to death,
+for after the Lydian war he would be in his eightieth year. The
+importance ascribed to Amytis points to a Median version; the death of
+Oebares is accounted for in a manner suitable to his life and his
+fidelity.
+
+In Herodotus the Persians, on the instigation of Artembares, one of
+their tribesmen, say to Cyrus: "Since Zeus gives the sovereignty to the
+Persians, and above all to thee, Cyrus, who hast overthrown Astyages, so
+let it be thy care that we leave our land and obtain a better, for our
+country is small and wild. Many better regions are close at hand, many
+at a distance, and if we gain one of them, we shall be more admired in
+the eyes of men. To do this is proper for men who possess the dominion,
+and when can it be done better than now, when we have so many men, and
+rule over all Asia?" When Cyrus heard this he expressed no astonishment,
+but said simply: they might do so, but they must be prepared to be
+rulers no longer, but subjects; the same land could not produce the
+noblest fruits and warlike men. The Persians saw that Cyrus' view was
+the better, and chose to inhabit and rule over a scanty land, rather
+than be the slaves of others.[563] The distinct opposition of Cyrus and
+Artembares seems to carry us back to Persian poems, otherwise the
+narrative is less likely to belong to the tradition of Persia than to
+arise out of the necessity which the Greeks felt for explaining how the
+Persians succeeded in founding so mighty an empire from a mountain
+country so moderate in extent.
+
+In any case the Persians, after the overthrow of Media, were far from
+possessing the dominion over Asia. In Nicolaus, it is true, when the
+news is spread abroad that Astyages has retired from Persia and has fled
+before Cyrus in the first battle in Media, the chief of the Hyrcanians
+comes with 50,000 men, to pay homage to Cyrus as king; he is followed by
+the chiefs of the Parthians, Sacae, and Bactrians, and then by the
+remaining nations. But as a fact the course of things seems to have been
+different. If the princes and natives who were subject to the Medes were
+ready to throw off their dominion as soon as they were defeated by the
+Persians, they were hardly inclined to recognise Cyrus as sovereign in
+the room of Astyages. Herodotus tells us that Cyrus subjugated the
+Bactrians and Sacae, and Upper Asia, one nation after the other, and puts
+these conquests after the Lydian war.[564] Xenophon represents the
+Hyrcanians as joining Cyrus at an early date, and the Cadusians follow
+their example, which harmonises with the view taken in the Persian poems
+of the hatred of the Cadusians to the Medes. In Xenophon and Ctesias the
+Sacae are the allies of Cyrus as early as 549 B.C.[565] If Astyages
+receives the satrapy of the Hyrcanians in Justin, this nation and the
+Parthians, who were still nearer neighbours of Media, must have been
+among those who were subject to Cyrus.
+
+In Ctesias, Cyrus after the conquest of Astyages marches against the
+Bactrians; the battle was undecided. But when they found that Astyages
+was the father and Amytis the wife of Cyrus, the Bactrians voluntarily
+submitted to Amytis and Cyrus. Then Cyrus conquered the Sacae, and took
+their king Amorges captive. We remember that, according to Herodotus'
+statement, the proper name of the Sacae was Amyrgians, and in the
+inscriptions of Darius we found the Caka Humavarka. The name Amorges
+seems to be borrowed from the Amyrgians. When Amorges had been defeated
+and taken captive by Cyrus, his wife Sparethra, as she is called in
+Ctesias, collected the Sacae and took the field with them. Zarinaea, a
+princess of the Sacae, had previously fought with great bravery against
+the Medes, but her achievements are far surpassed by those of Sparethra.
+With 300,000 men and 200,000 armed women, she went against the Persians,
+and defeated Cyrus, taking many captives, among whom were Medes of
+distinction. As a ransom for these Amorges was restored to Sparethra,
+and there was friendship between Cyrus and the king of the Sacae, and the
+latter marched with him to the war against the Lydians. Strabo also
+speaks of a battle in which Cyrus was defeated by the Sacae. Being hard
+pressed on his retreat he abandoned his camp with large stores of every
+kind, especially of wine. When the Sacae had enjoyed their spoil, Cyrus
+fell upon them and massacred nearly all.[566]
+
+Trogus following Deinon tells us that the nations who were subject to
+the Medes did not submit to Cyrus. Hence arose many wars. The greater
+part of these nations he had already overpowered, before he marched
+against the Lydians, _i.e._ in the first eight years after the overthrow
+of Astyages. We may assume that Cyrus, immediately after the
+dethronement of Astyages, was occupied with bringing the neighbours of
+Media on the east, north, and west into obedience to the new kingdom. So
+long as the Parthians, Hyrcanians, Armenians, were independent or in
+arms against Cyrus, the Medes must be strongly tempted to recover their
+lost dominion. The Cadusians in Ghilan were subjects of Cyrus; at any
+rate the name of the city Cyropolis on the Caspian Sea, on the coast of
+the Cadusians, is a proof that Cyrus placed a fortress there, in order
+to keep them or their neighbours in check; and under the successors of
+Cyrus the Cadusians are always mentioned as subjects.[567] Then he took
+the same line towards the west, on which Cyaxares of Media had advanced
+sixty years previously after driving out the Scythians; he gained
+Armenia and Cappadocia, and made the Halys the border of his kingdom
+towards Lydia. In his narrative of the events of the year 549 B.C.,
+Herodotus remarks that the Cappadocians were subject to Cyrus, having
+previously been subjects of the Medes. It is clear from repeated
+statements that at this time the Halys was the western border of the
+empire of Cyrus.[568] Xenophon reckons the subjugation of the Armenians,
+who had been subjects of the Medes, among the earliest achievements of
+Cyrus; he tells the story in his own manner, and places after this the
+subjection of the neighbours on the south, the Chaldaeans (Gordyaeans) who
+dwelt in the mountains which separate the table-land of Armenia from the
+hilly country of Assyria. The legends of the Cappadocians conceal their
+subjugation to Cyrus under supposed links of alliance; Cambyses, the
+father of Cyrus, had given his own sister Atossa in marriage to
+Pharnaces, the king of the Cappadocians.[569] The extension of the
+Persian dominion to the east over Parthia and Hyrcania, the subjugation
+of the Drangians, Gedrosians, and Arachoti, must, in consideration of
+the observation of Herodotus, that in 548 B.C. Cyrus was intent on
+military preparations against the Bactrians and Sacae, and the urgent
+difficulties which at that time summoned him to the east, be placed in
+the later years of his reign; in fact, they cannot come earlier than the
+second decade; which does not, however, make it impossible that Cyrus
+should have fought against the Bactrians and Sacae in the first
+decade.[570]
+
+Cyrus must have arranged his court and state after the pattern of Media,
+which in its turn was a copy of the court of the kings of Asshur and
+Babylon. Ctesias asserts that Petesaces, the eunuch, and after his death
+Bagapates, another eunuch, had great influence with Cyrus.[571] The
+abode of Achaemenes, Teispes, and Carabyses, the ancient place of
+assembly and metropolis of the tribe of the Pasargadae, was changed by
+Cyrus into a city and fortress; there he built his palace, in which he
+deposited the spoil of his wars, and collected his treasures.[572] The
+new kingdom rested on the power of the Persians; they alone had to pay
+no tribute to the king; they formed the nucleus of the army; the leaders
+and satraps were mainly chosen from them. But Cyrus was obviously
+anxious to reconcile the Medes, next to the Persians, with the change in
+affairs, and win their aid. This design lay at the base of his treatment
+of Astyages and the marriage with his daughter, and scarcely ten years
+after the fall of the Median kingdom, we find Medes at the head of the
+army of Cyrus. The clemency of Cyrus towards the other subject nations
+is also extolled. Herodotus vouches for the fact that he laid no fixed
+tribute upon them, but left it to themselves to fix the amount of their
+yearly contributions. Of all men, Xenophon says, Cyrus made the largest
+presents, and exhibited the greatest liberality towards those who had
+done him good service, and in this the subsequent kings of Persia
+followed his example.
+
+According to Xenophon's description, Cyrus was of a kindly disposition,
+eager to instruct himself, and so ambitious that he shrank from no
+effort and no danger.[573] With the Greeks he passes not only for the
+founder of the dominion of the Persians, but for the author of excellent
+arrangements in the kingdom. From this point of view Xenophon wrote his
+treatise on Cyrus. By his example he wished to prove to the Greeks how
+the empire over nations could be gained, how a great kingdom could be
+founded and maintained, how a ruler could command obedience even among
+those who had never seen him and were separated by great distances. It
+is a historical romance which he has written on Cyrus; but he knew the
+Persian empire, and could not advance anything absolutely in
+contradiction to the current opinion of the Greeks about Cyrus.
+According to him the relation of Cyrus to the Persians rested on a kind
+of compact. When his son had subjugated the nations far and wide,
+Cambyses collected the elders of the Persians and the officers who held
+the highest places, and told them the Persians had elected Cyrus to be
+their general, and given him the army; Cyrus had extended their power
+over Asia, and gained glory among all men; he had made the bravest men
+in the army rich, and found pay and food for all the soldiers. If this
+relation were maintained it would be for the advantage of both parties;
+if, on the other hand, Cyrus sought to rule over the Persians with the
+same caprice as over other nations, or the Persians should attempt to
+take the command from him, each would do the greatest harm to the other.
+Let Cyrus, therefore, undertake to protect Persia and uphold the Persian
+laws, and the Persians to render Cyrus any service that he needed
+against rebellion and enemies. "After me," Cambyses concludes, "Cyrus
+will be king, and whenever he comes to Persia he will offer for you the
+sacrifice which I am offering now. If he is in a foreign land, it will
+be best for the noblest of our family to offer sacrifices to the gods."
+"What Cambyses proposed was approved by Cyrus and the Persians with
+invocations to the gods, and the arrangement is still observed on both
+sides."[574] Plato even puts Cyrus on the same level as Lycurgus, the
+founder of the constitution of Sparta. He gives Dion the choice of
+rivalling the ancient Lycurgus or Cyrus, or any one else who may be
+distinguished by moral excellence and political wisdom.[575] According
+to the Laws, Cyrus, brought up from his youth in the camp and surrounded
+by danger, became a skilful general, and as a ruler kept before his eyes
+the prosperity of the state. In the same book we are told that the
+monarchical form of government attained its most complete state among
+the Persians, and the democratic among the Athenians. But as the Persian
+state pursued absolute dominion, and the Attic uncontrolled freedom,
+neither discovered the correct limit; though in ancient times they had
+observed due moderation. At the time of Cyrus the Persians were midway
+between slavery and freedom. At first they were free, then they became
+the lords of others. But while ruling they had given the subjects a
+share in freedom, and treated them on an equal footing. For this reason
+the warriors were devoted to their general and ready to plunge into
+danger. And if an intelligent man appeared, who could give wise counsel,
+Cyrus gave him liberty to speak; and as he honoured those who knew how
+to give advise, every opinion was made use of for the common good, and
+the Persians of that day succeeded in everything by freedom, concord,
+and common deliberation.[576]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[559] Ctes. "Pers. Ecl." 5; Tzetz. "Chil." 1, 1, 83; Justin, 1, 6. Yet
+Diodorus mentions the Barcanians together with the Hyrcanians (2, 2);
+Curtius (3, 2) represents the Barcanians as providing 12,000 men for the
+last Darius; Stephanus of Byzantium ([Greek: Barkanioi]) puts them
+beside the Hyrcanians. Yet all these statements may rest on the same
+misconception.
+
+[560] Herod. 1, 73; above, p. 378, _note_.
+
+[561] Herod. 2, 1; 3, 2; 7, 11.
+
+[562] Ctesias, "Pers." 8. The narrative of the death of Astyages follows
+the narrative of the wars against the Bactrians and Sacae, and against
+Croesus, and precedes the wars against the Derbiccians.
+
+[563] Herod. 9, 122.
+
+[564] Herod. 1, 177.
+
+[565] "Cyri instit." 5, 3, 22.
+
+[566] Strabo, p. 512.
+
+[567] Ptolem. 6, 2; Ammian, 23, 6. The rebellion of the Cadusians at a
+later time was mentioned by Xenoph. "Hellen." 2, 1, 13; Plut.
+"Artaxerx." 24; Diod. 15, 8; Justin, 10, 3. They fought with the last
+Darius at Arbela; Arrian, "Anab." 3, 11.
+
+[568] Croesus, when he has crossed the Halys, is at once in Persian
+territory; Herod. 1, 72, 73.
+
+[569] Xenoph. "Cyri instit." 3, 1; 3, 2, 1, 2; 7, 2, 5; Diod. 31, 19.
+
+[570] The serious difficulty of Cyrus is shown by his rapid march back
+from Sardis with much the larger part of his army before the Greek
+cities, the Lycians and Carians were reduced. Cp. Vol. VI. chapters 8
+and 9.
+
+[571] "Persic." 9.
+
+[572] Strabo, p. 730; Curt. 5, 6, 10; Arrian, "Anab." 3, 16, 18. The
+observation in Xenophon ("Cyri instit." 5, 2, 1), that Cyrus whenever he
+trod the soil of Persia gave a piece of gold to each Persian man and
+woman, may have arisen from the presents to the women of Pasargadae.
+
+[573] "Cyri instit." 1, 2, 1.
+
+[574] "Cyri instit." 8, 5, 21 ff.
+
+[575] Plato, "Epp." 4, p. 320. Cf. "Menexen." p. 239.
+
+[576] "Legg." p. 693, 694. Cicero, ("de Republ." 1, 27, 28), calls Cyrus
+the most just, wise, and amiable of rulers.
+
+
+
+END OF VOL. V.
+
+
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