ANCIENT HISTORY.

HISTORY

THE PERSIANS.

ROLLIN, AND OTHER AUTHENTIC SOURCES,

BOTH ANCIENT AND MODERN.

WITH TWO MAPS.

'*S" OF THE * ^UHIVERSIT

THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY;

Instituted 1799.

SOLD AT THE DEPOSITORY, 56, PATERNOSTER ROW, AND 65, ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD;

AND BY THE BOOKSELLERS.

Vs.

v^v

42*f"

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

THE PHYSICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA.

PAGE

i. Western Provinces 2

IX. Central Provinces,

3

in. Eastern Provinces 3

Gedrosia".

4

Carmania 4

Drangiana 5

Arachosia 5

Paropami8us 5

Hyrcania 6

Bactriana 7

Aria 7

Parthia 8

Persis 8

Susiana 8

Mountains 8

Rivers..

10

Lakes 11

Climate 11

Productions 12

CHAPTER II.

TOPOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA.

Persepolis 14

Pasagardae 21

Susa 21

Aria 23*

Zarang 2'

Maracanda 24

Nisaea 24

Zadracarta 24

Hecatompylos 24

CHAPTER III.

HISTORY OF THE POLITY OF PERSIA.

PAGE

The Kingly Power 25

The Seven State Counsellors 29

The Administrative Power 30

The Government of the Provinces 31

Revenue of the Khalif al Mamoun 33

The Military Power 35

The Priestly Power 38

Artificers 45

Husbandmen 45

Commerce 45

CHAPTER IV.

THE KINGDOM OF PERSIA.

PERSIAN KINGS.

Cyrus .(45

Cambyses, or Lohorasp53

Smerdis Magus55

Darius Hystaspes, or Gushtasp56

Xerxes"3

Artaxerxes Longimanu* ?4

Xerxes n77

Soj;diau*|~~. ""anus n.....rJU"..... "

1 Mnemorftt 78

1L1S OUiUS, Ul Parab i 86

Arses86

Darius Codomannus, or Darab il87

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER V.

THE KINGDOM OF PERSIA.

^

SASSANIAN KINGS.

PAGE

Artaxeres, tfr Ardshir Ben Babek. or Babegan 103

Shabour, or Sapor 104

Hormouz, or Hormisdas 105

Varanes I., or Baharam i 106

Varanes n., or Baharam n 106

Varanes in., or Baharam in 106

Narses, or Narsi 106

Misdates, or Hormouz 106

Sapor ii., or Schabour Doulaktaf 107

Artaxerxes, or Ardschir..................

108

PAGE

Sapor in., or Schabour Ben Schabour 108

Varanes iv., or Kerman Schah 108

Isdegertes, or Jezdegard al Athim 108

Varanesv., or

Baharam Gour, or Jur 108

Varanesvi., or Jezdegerd Ben Baharam 109

Peroses, or Firouz no

Valens, or Balasch Ben Firouz m

Cavades, or Cobad,

m

Chosroes, or Nouschirvan \\2

Hormisdas ex., or Hormouz Ben Nouschirvan 115

Chosroesn., or

Chosru Parviz ne

Siroes, or Shironieh 119

Ardesir, or Ardeschir Ben Schirouieh 119

Hormisdas, or Jezdegerd Ben Scheheriah 119

A brief sketch of the modern history of Persia 122

Dynasties of the Persiansw" "....^....

124

'TJHI

THE HISTORY

THE PERSIANS.

CHAPTER I.

THE PHYSICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA.

Persia, called in the Old Testament Paras,and by Arabic and Persian writers, Fars, orFarsistan,is used in two significations: first,itis applied to the country originallyinhabitedby the Persians; and, secondly,to the variousAsiatic countries included in the Persian em-pire

founded by Cyrus, which empire extendedfrom the Mediterranean to the Indus, and fromthe Black and Caspian Seas to the Persian Gulfand the Indian Ocean.

Herodotus says, that the Persians were oncecalled Cephenes by the Greeks, but by them-selves

and their neighbours Artsei, or heroes ;which is a proof of that national vanity in whichpeople of different countries are prone to in-dulge.

The latter-word, probably,contains the

same root as Arii, the originalname of theMedes, and Arya, by which the followers of theBrahminic religionare designated in Sanscrit.The same root occurs in Aria and Ariana,fromthe latter of which the modern Persian nameIran, seems to be derived.

Commentators on the Sacred Scripturesaregenerallyagreed that Elam is the Scripturename of Persia till the days of the prophetDaniel. Modern historians also write to thiseffect. Ancient historians and geographers,however, distinguishElam or Elymais fromPersia, and Media, and even Susiana ; and it isdifficultto reconcile this with their opinionwhohold that Elam and Persia are the same, andthat wherever we meet, in Scripture,with thename Elam, it signifiesPersia. Besides, fromXenophon's account, before the time of Cyrus,Persia was comparativelyan insignificantandthinlypopulatedregion,containingonly 120,000men fit for war, which would not make the

populationmore than half a million of persons.The Scriptureaccount of Elam represents it as apowerfulmonarchy in ages before the empires ofNineveh and Babylon had begun to rise. How

can these accounts be reconciled ? The invasionand conquest of Elam is noticed Jer. xxv. 25,26 ; xlix. 34 " 39, the latter of which propheciesis very remarkable, and reads thus :"

" The word of the Lord that came to Jere-miahthe prophet againstElam in the beginning

of the reignof Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,Thus saith the Lord of hosts ;

" Behold, I will break the bow of Elam,The chief of their might.And upon Elam will I bring the four windsFrom the four quarters of heaven,And will scatter them toward all those winds ;And there shall be no nation

Whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their

enemies;And before them that seek their life:And I will bring evil upon them,Even my fierce anger, saith the Lord ;And I will send the sword after them,Till I have consumed them :And I will set my throne in Elam,And will destroy from thenceThe king and the princes, saith the Lord.But it shall come to pass in the latter days,That I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith

the Lord."

" Here," says a modern writer,*" the disper-sionof the Elamites is foretold,and their event-ual

restoration. But who are these,outcasts, andwhen is their restoration to be dated ?" It is a

questiontoo difficultfor solution,but it is certainthat it does not refer to the Persians. This willbe manifest upon a review of its confirmation bythe prophet Ezekiel. That prophet,enumerat-ing

the various nations conqueredby Nebuchad-nezzar,as, the Egyptianswith Pharaoh-Hophra,

or Apries, Meshech, Tubal, and all her multi-tude,Edom with her kings and princes,the

princes of the north and the Sidonians,says ofElam :"

" There is Elam, and all her multitude round about hergrave,

All of them slain,fallen by the sword,

" See the " Captivity of the Jkws," published bythe Religious Tract Society.

B

HISTORY OF THE PERSIANS.

Which are gone down uncircumcised into the nether

parts of the earth,Which caused their terror in the land of the living;Yet have they borne their shame with them that go

down to the pit.They have set her a bed in the midst of the slainWith all her multitude : her graves are round about

him:All of them uncircumcised,slain by the sword :Though their terror was caused in the land of the living,Yet have they borne their shame with them that go

down to the pit:He is put in the midst of them that be slain."

Ezek. xxxii. 24,25.

Now, the former of these nations was con-quered

by the united forces of Nebuchadnezzarand Cyaxares. Elam, therefore,was either aprovinceof the Assyrianempire,and, therefore,also became the prey of the conquerors, or itwas an independentkingdom, which fell beforethese conquerors, and became a province ofMedia, in conformityto Jeremiah's prediction.But the passage in Ezekiel does not harmonizewith Xenophon's account of the Persians beforethe days of Cyrus,nor with that of Herodotus,who representsCambyses,the father of Cyrus,though descended from an ancient Persianfamily,as inferiorto a Mede of the middle rank.Then again,by Daniel the prophet,Shushan thepalace,and the river Ulai,are placedin the pro-vince

of Elam ; or, in other words, in'Susiana.And in the Acts of the Apostles,the Elamitesare mentioned alongwith the Parthians,Medes,and the dwellers in Mesopotamia,(chap.ii.9,)in a sense which conveys the idea that theydwelt to the west of the Medes. It would, per-haps,

be safer,therefore,to understand by Elam,not Persia,but the provinceof Elymais,whichextended to the south and south-east of Ecba-

tana, as far as Susiana, or the whole mountainous

regionof south -western Media, of which Cor-bienno, or the Carbiana of Strabo, now calledKhorremabad, was the capital.Strabo makesMassabatica,Gabiana, and Cyrbiana provincesof the Elymeans, and conjoinsElymais withSusiana on the north and north-west. He also

says that Elymais was joinedto Media, and wasa very mountainous country,and that the Ely-means were great robbers. This descriptionagrees with the mountaineers of the modernLooristaun,in the south of Media, and harmo-nizes

with sacred history,which representsChedorlaomer the Elamite, making a preda-tory

inroad, with other rulers,as robbers, asearly as the patriarchalera. According toPliny, Elymais was inhabited by the Uxii,Mizaei, Parthusi,Mardi, Saitae,Hyi, Cossaei,Paraetaceni, and Messabatae. The Cossaeihere are representedas inhabitingpartof Media,but by the ancients,generally,they were con-sidered

as a peopleof Media. The Messabatae,also,inhabited the district of Mesobatene, whichis a Greek appellation,meaning the midlandcountry, or tract between Media and Susiana,and which is probablyderived from the ChaldeeMisa, or middle.The facts respectingElymaisand the Elymeans

appear to be these : that a number of tribes wereincluded togetherunder that denomination, asbeingeither the principaltribe that gave nameto the tract so called,or that they were collec-tively

thus denominated, and that it(Elymais)

included the whole south-west part of the mo-dernIrac Ajemi,bounded by the alluvial dis-trictSusiana on the south, and comprehending

all the mountain ranges, called the Looristanand Bactiari mountains, a tract almost unknownto Europeans,and terminated by Fars or Persiaon the south-east. The terms Elymais and Ely-means, do not occur in the writingsof ancienthistorians till after the Macedonian conquest,when they are spoken of as an independentandferocious nation,neither subjectto the Syro-Macedonians,nor the Parthians,and altogetherdistinctfrom the Persians properlyso termed.

Persia proper was bounded on the north andnorth-west by Media or Irak Ajemi; on thesouth by the Persian Gulf; on the east by Car-mania or Kerman ; and on the west by Susianaor Khusistan. The extent of this country, ac-cording

to Chardin's estimate,is as large asFrance : this,however,forms but a small por-tion

of what is now denominated Persia.This extent of country contained the tribes of

the Persae,Pasagardae,Arteatae,Maraphii,andMaspians. Of these the Pasagardaewere thenoblest,and to the chief clan of which, calledthe Achaemenidae,the royalfamilyof Persia be-longed.

In addition to these tribes,Herodotusmentions three agriculturaltribes,called thePanthialae,Derusiae,and Germanii; and fournomadic tribes,denominated the Dai, Mardi,Dropici,and Sangartii.The Persae and Pasa-gardae

inhabited the middle part,or what Strabohas happilydenominated Cava, or Hollow Per-sia,

correspondingto the vale of Istaker,and thecelebrated plainof Shiraz. It is not known whatpart the Arteatae inhabited,but the agriculturaltribes probablyinhabited the quarter near Ker-man

or Carmania; the others were mountaintribes.

Such was Persia proper : the empireof Persia,as before stated,was of far greaterlimits. Howgreat itwas will be seen in the followingmas-terly

geographicalarrangement of the Western,Middle, and Eastern provincesof the empire,byMajor Rennell,who compiledit from a curiousoriginaldocument, furnished by Herodotus. Init will be discerned,also,the annual revenue ofthis once potent empire, an empire that wasmaster of almost all the then known world.

L WESTERN PROVINCES.

S. Talents

1. The Ionians and Magnesiansof Asia,the iEolians,Carians,Lycians,Melyeans,*and Pamphylians f400

These occupiedan extent of 450 geogra-phicalmiles of sea coast in Asia Minor, from

the Gulf of Adramyttium, and the Troade,on the north,round by Cnidus to Ciliciaonthe east.

2. The Mysians, Lydians, Alysonians,Cabalians,and Hygennians

. ..

500

The greatnessof the tribute paidby this,the smallest of the twenty satrapies,was theresult of the goldand silvermines of Lydia,

* These peoplewere probably the same with the Mily-ans, of whom Herodotus speaks. Sometimes they werecalled Minyans, from Minos, king of Crete.

t Reckoning each talent at 193 J. 15*. See p. 4.

HISTORY OF THK PERSIANS.

360

500

350

700

300

S. Talents

and the gold sands of the river Pactolus.The riches of Croesus were proverbial.

3. On the east side of the Hellespont,thePhrygians and the Thracians of Asia, thePaphlagonians,Maryandinians,*and Syri-ans

or Cappadocians4. The CiliciansThese four provincescomposed the whole

of Asia Minor.5. Phenicia,the SyrianPalestine,and the

isleof Cyprus ; from the cityof Posidaeum,on the frontiers of Cilicia and Syria,as faras Mount Casius and the Sirbonic Lake,borderingon Egypt .....

6. Egypt,and the Africans,borderingonEgypt,as far as Cyrene and Barcae .

This tribute was exclusive of the produceof the fisheryof the lake Mceris,amountingto 240 talents per annum, which was a per-quisite

to the queen of Persia,says Diodo-

rus, for dress and perfumes; and also of 700talents,for the value of Egyptian corn, tosupply 120,000 Persian and auxiliarytroops,in garrisonat Memphis, etc.

7. [9.t]Babylon,includingAssyriaPro-per,and Mesopotamia. . . . .1000

This was one of the most extensive,as itwas the richestof the provincesof the em-pire.

Before the time of Cyrus, it wasreckoned,in pointof revenue, equalto thethird partof Asia.

8. Susa,and Susiana,or Chusistan .Next to the Lydiansatrapy,this was the

smallest of the whole ; but it contained

Susa,at that time the capitalof the empire,where the king'streasures were deposited.

II. CENTRAL PROVINCES.

9. [10.]Ecbatana, the rest of Media, theParycanii,and the Orthocorybantes . . 450

Media Proper occupiesthe midland andelevated tract between the CaspianSea andthe Persian Gulf. It was then the central

partof the great Persian empire,and fromclimate,verdure, and richness of soil,themost beautiful of its provinces.It is nowthe most western provinceof modern Per-sia,

Mount Zagros forming the commonboundarybetween Persia and Turkey. Is-pahan,

the present capital,is situate in thenorth-east corner of ancient Media.

10. [11.]The Caspians,Pausicae,Pan-timithi,and Daritse,(includingHyrcania) 200

11. [18.]The Matieni,Saspirians,andAlarodians 200

The Saspiriansoccupiedthe eastern partof Armenia.

12. [13.]Pactyica,the Armenians, etc. 400

* These people lived on the coast of Bithynia, wherewas said to be the Achcrusian cave, through which Her-cules

dragged Cerberus up to the light,whose foam thenproducedaconite.

" That sacred plain,where, as the fable tells,The growlingdog of Pluto, strutrglinghardAgainst the grasp of mighty Hercules,With dropping foam impregnatingthe earth,Produced a poisonto destroymankind." "

Dionysius Periegetes.t The numbers included in the brackets were the

originalnumbers of Herodotus

S. Talents.

The Armenia of Herodotus extendedwestward to the Euphrates,and southwardto Mount Masius in Mesopotamia,includ-ing

the sources of the Euphratesnorthwards,and Mount Ararat eastwards. This pro-vince,

though mountainous, abounded inmines of gold and silver,copper and iron,at Argana and Kebban, which will accountfor itshigh tribute.

13. [19.] The Moschi, Tibareni,Ma-crones, Mosynaeci,and Mardians . . 300

This satrapy is a narrow stripof land,between the Armenian mountains of Cau-casus

and the Euxine Sea. It abounds iniron mines.

III. EASTERN PROVINCES.

14. The Sangartians,Sarangaeans,(ofSigistan,)the Thamanoeans, Utians, andMencians, (ofCarmania,)with the islandsof the Red Sea, or Persian Gulf,to whichthe king banished state offenders

..

600

The intermediate country of Persia pro-per,whose principaltribes were the Arteatae,

Persae, Pasagardae,Maraphii,and Mas-pians,were not compelledto pay any spe-cific

taxes,but onlypresenteda regulargra-tuity.

15. [16.] The Parthians,Chorasmians,Sogdians,and Arians 300

These occupied the mountainous tractbetween Hyrcania,Margiana,Asia,and thedesert of Chorasmia.

16. [7.]The Sattagydians,the Gandarii,Dadicae,and Assaryteeof Margiana . .170

17. [12.]The Bactrians,as far as Agios 360Or from Balk to Khilan or Ghilan.18. [15.]The Sacae and Caspii,(or,ra-ther,

Casians of Kashgur)....

250

19. [17.]The Paricanii,and long-hairedEthiopiansof Asia 400

These were the Oritae of Alexander andNearchus, and inhabited Haur, Makran, andother provincesin the south-east angleofPersia towards India.

The sum total 7740

20. The Indians.These inhabited the extensive provincesof

Kabul, Kandahar, and Scindia, west of theIndus, and the Panjab,that rich stripeof coasteast of the Indus. They paid (600) 360 talentsin gold ingots,differing,in this respect, fromthe other satrapies,whose payments were insilvertalents.

Such was the extent of the empireof ancientPersia,which is now no more. It spreadterrorto, and worked desolation in the nations around ;but those who wielded its power have longsincemouldered in the grave.

Concerning the financial statement in theforegoingextract, Dr. Hales remarks after He-rodotus

:" If the standard of the Babylonian

talent,in which the tribute from the first nine-teenprovinceswas paid,be reduced to the

standard of the Euboic talent,the amount willbe 9880 silver talents. And if the tribute fromthe Indians,of 360 goldtalents,be estimated at

HISTORY OF THE PERSIANS.

thirteen times the value of the silver,it willamount to 4680 Euboic talents more. So that

the sum total of the tribute paid to Darius was14,560 Euboic talents."

This number of talents,reckoningwith Ar-buthnot,the Euboic or Attic talent at 193/.15s.,would amount to 2,821,000/.,which was a verymoderate sum for so extensive an empire.Therewere, however, a few minor tributes,both fromthese provincesand other nations,which Hero-dotus

did not reckon : probablythese might havemade the sum total 3,000 000/. sterling,which isstilla moderate sum compared with the revenuesof modern states.

This leads to a review of the several provincesinto which the country of Persia was ancientlydivided, as mentioned by Strabo, Pliny, andother writers,and as marked on the best modern

maps. Geographers,indeed,at the present day,from the frequentchangesof the limits of theprovincesof modern Persia,preserve the ancientdivision,though, in this respect, also, somechangeshave been introduced. In our notice ofthese provinces,much information concerningthe condition they are now in,will be blendedwith that in which they once were.

GEDROSIA.

Gedrosia,or Mekran, includingthe districtofthe Oritse,extends from the eastern range of theBrahooick mountains that separateitfrom Sindeto Cape Iask on the frontiers of Laristaun,or,from the sixty-eighthdegree east longitude,tothe fifty-eighthdegree of the same, a spacejcontaining120,000 miles. In the eastern partthis provincedoes not exceed 100 miles,it beingseparatedbetween 62 3 and 66" e. longitudefromthe desert of Beloochistaun by the northernbranch that projectsfrom the Brahooick moun-tains

in 28 n. latitude,called Wushutee, and,also,Much, or the Palm, as that tree grows in

great abundance there. The northern extre-mityof the Kohistaun may be called a northern

inland projectionof this province,reachingto30" n. latitude. This northern districthas thedesert of Beloochistaun on the east,that of Ker-uran on the west, and the sandy waste of Bun-poor on the south-west. This seems to be the

onlysandy waste in Gedrosia,but it is of con-siderableextent It is of an oval form, and is

155 miles longby eightyin itsgreatestbreadth.The mountainous district of Bushkurd, to theeast of Laristaun,is also of an oval form, being110 miles long by eighty-fivein its greatestbreadth. There does not appear to be any rivers

of note in Gedrosia: there are some torrents,deepand rapidin the rainyseason, but almost all dryin summer.

Gedrosia may be divided into the coast and.the interior;the former being a narrow tract,varyingin breadth,and running the whole wayto Cape Iask,in a waveringdirection,but neverrecedingfurther inland than 100 miles. Thisprovinceis representedas very barren. Ptolemyplaceshere a celebrated emporium,called," TheHaven of Women," which Arrian says was socalled because it was firstgoverned by a wo-man.

He also mentions two islands dependenton thisprovince,Astea and Codane.

CARMANIA.

Carmania, now Kerman, occupiesthe south-easternpart of Persia, extending along the

Persian Gulf, from Cape Iask to a placeoppositethe island of Kishm, and thence north-ward

to the borders of the desert,of which theadjacent southern part is considered as in-cluded

in this province,and is denominatedKerman, or Carmania the Desert. This part ofthe provinceis sandy, and impregnatedwithsalt,being occasionallyintersected by shortridges. The remainder of this province,ex-tending

more than 200 miles from south tonorth,but less from east to west, is nearlyun-known,

except the tract along the shores ofthe Gulf, and another tract in the interior,between 29" and 30 n. latitude. That part ofthe coast east of 57" e. longitude,which liesalong the narrow entrance of the Gulf, is ex-tremely

mountainous,and the rocks approachthe sea, where they form a loftycoast. Thevalleysamong these mountains are well watered,and afford fine pasturage for the flocks. Theycontain also fine plantationsof date and otherfruit trees. This is more especiallythe casewhere the coast runs south and north,betweenthe modern towns of Sereek and Mi nab, orMinaw. Between these two places,the moun-tains

recede from the shores,and thus a plainisformed, which, for itsfertility,is termed by thenatives the Paradise of Persia. The mountainsthen run northward, and form as it were a largegulf,recedingabove fiftymiles from the sea, andthen returningto it to the north of BunderAbassi,or Gombroon. The plainthus formedresembles the sandy tracts called Gurmsir,beingsterile,and producing nothing except dates.That portionof the interior of Kerman whichhas been visited by modern travellers compre-hends

the Nurmanshur, a district about ninetymiles in length,and from twenty to thirtymileswide, in which are extensive cultivated groundsand comparativelysmall sterile tracts. Twomountain ranges enclose this district on the |south and the north,the former of which is ofconsiderable elevation,and covered with snowduring the greaterpart of the year. Betweenthe Nurmanshur and the town of Kerman is a

desert,with a few oases of moderate extent :about the town itself there is a largetract offertilecountry. West of the town, reachingtothe boundary of Farsistan,there are numerousrocky ridgeswith difficult passes, but they aresurrounded with much cultivated ground. Inthe unknown country,between Kerman and theharbour of Gombroon, and on the road connect-ing

these two towns, there is said to be a largeplacecalled Sultan-abad. In the more cultivatedparts of Kerman there are several rivers,par-ticularly

the Andanis, mentioned by Pliny andPtolemy. According to the accounts of theancients,its mountains have mines of copper andiron. Pomponius Mela said that the provinceof Carminia did not sustain any cattle ; at the

present day,however, it is remarkable for pro-ducingsheepwhich bear some of the finest wool

in the world.

Dependent on this provinceis the small,butfamous island of Orniuz, which lies at the en-

HISTORY OF THE PERSIANS.

trance of the Persian Gulf, near 27" n. lati-tude,and 56" 30 e. longitude. The form of

this island is nearlycircular,and its appearancefrom the sea is broken and rugged. The wholeis a mere barren rock,without the slightesttraceof vegetation.The surface exhibits the singularstratification of the island ; and the conical shapeand isolatedpositionof the various small hills ofwhich the island consistswould convey the ideathat it owes its originto volcanic agency. Thehills alongthe eastern shores of the island arecovered from their base upward with an incrust-ation

of salt,in some placestransparent as ice.In other places,the surface is covered with a thinlayerof dusky red-coloured earth,which owesits colour to the oxide of iron with which theentire surface of the island is impregnated.Thevery sand on the sea-shore is composed of thefinest particlesof iron pulverizedby the waves.The island contains no fresh water springs,toremedy which,the inhabitants use tanks to col-lect

the rain water as it distils from the clouds.Tavernier says that the air in summer was sosultrythat the inhabitants were forced to live ingrots,and lie in water. Anciently,it seems onlyto have served as a placeof retreat to the in-habitants

of the adjacentshores in times of in-vasionor civil commotion. At the presentday,

there is a fortressgarrisonedby 100 men, underthe direction of the imam of Muskat,who farmsthe island from the king of Persia. His reve-nues

are derived from the salt,which he exportsin large quantities.The fortress is situatedabout 300 yardsfrom the shore,on a projectingpoint of land, separated from the island bya moat.

DRANGIANA.

This province,in the days of itsprosperity,was one of the richest inland tracts in thewhole Persian empire,being a vast hollowspace, surrounded by mountains and hills;having on the east those of Arachosia ; on thenorth, the mountains and tracts of Sebzwar "

probablythe Mons Bagous of Ptolemy" in theancient Aria ; on the south,a district of ancientGedrosia,now the eastern part of Kerman, fromwhich it is partedby a chain of loftymountains,covered with perpetualsnow, and which is de-nominated

by Ptolemy Montes Becii; on thewest, ithas the greatdesert of Kerman. In thecentre of this alluvial hollow is the celebratedlake of Durrah, which in the Persian books issometimes called the sea of Loukh, and by theinhabitants,the sea of Zoor, or Khanjek. Ac-cording

to Elphinstone,this lake is 150 miles incircuit,but Rennell and other geographersmakeit 100 miles long,and twenty broad. In itscentre stands an insulated hill,called the CoheeZoor, which tradition declares to have been

ancientlya fort,and which, as it is steep andlofty,and surrounded by a ditch of greatdepth,is stilla placeof refugefor some of the inhabit-ants

of the oppositeshores.The edges of the lake of Durrah are for a

considerable breadth choked with rushes andreeds. The shores,also,are overgrown withthis kind of vegetation; and beingliable to inun-dation,

they are full of miry placesand poolsofstandingwater. Immediatelybeyond these woods

of reeds and rushes, the country produces grass,and grain,and tamarisks. The same may besaid of the narrow valleythrough which theHelmund flows. The rest of the country is nowalmost a desert,affordingonlyforagefor camels,and here and there a well for the wanderingBelochees, who tend these animals. For themost part,this country issurrounded by wide anddismal deserts,whence every wind bringscloudsof a lightshiftingsand, which destroys thefertilityof the fields,and graduallyoverwhelmsthe villages.From this cause, the once rich andalluvial tract of Drangiana,which comprehendeda surface double that of ancient Susiana,isreduced to a small compass ; and it may beasserted that in process of time the lake will bedried up, and the whole of Drangianabe mergedin the growing desert.

This province,which was denominated Dran-gianaby Ptolemy,Pliny,and Strabo ; Drangini,

and its inhabitants,Drangi,by Diodorus Siculus ;was called Zarang, and its inhabitants Saran-gaens, by Herodotus, in his account of the Per-sian

Satrapies.Subsequentlyitwas called Nim-rooze, and itis now called Sigistan,a term derivedfrom the Sacse,as Sacastana signifiesthe regionofthe Sacse,who possessedit about the time whenthe Scythianspassed the Jaxares and the Oxus,and overthrew the Greek empireof Bactria,about150 years B.C.

ARACHOSIA.

Respectingthe positionof this province,littleis known, except that it layto the south of Can-dahan, and the valleyof the Urghundaub, andthe Turung, or Turnuk ; it is impossible,there-fore,

to say what were its physicalor politicallimits. The accounts of ancient writers onthis subject,and the researches of moderngeographers,are alike meagre, vain,and unsatis-factory.

PAROPAMISUS.

The Paropamisus,Parapamisus,Parapanisus,and Paropanisusof the ancients,is the Paropa-nis of the Sanscrit ; signifyingthe mountain 8fsprings,or rills,compounded of Pahar, a hill,andPanir, or Pan, water. The provincetook itsname from these mountains, by which it wasbounded.

Accordingto Ptolemy,the provinceof Paro-pamisusextended east from Aria or Heraut, to

the Indus,having Arachosia to the south. Theancients,indeed,generallyextended Persia to theIndus,and made the provincesof Paropamisus,Arachosia,and Gedrosia extend in a meridionalline alongthe western bank of that stream. Pa-ropamisus

was bounded north by Bactria,and onthe east by the dominions of the Mogul. Ancientwriters relate,that when Alexander passedthiscountry in his celebrated march, he found the

country for the most part open and plain,desti-tuteof trees, and covered with snow, from the

reflection of which the Macedonians were ex-posed

to greatinconvenience,itgrievouslyaffect-ingtheir eyes; many of them, it is also said,

perishedfrom the excessive cold,which seizedthose who walked slowly,or ventured to sit downto rest. This descriptionaccords with the ele-vated

upland of Ghazna, to which Rennell inhis map conducts the conqueror. Elphinstone

HISTORY OF THE PERSIANS.

says of this climate," Ascending the valleyof

the Turnuk from Candahar, the cold increasesat every stage, and the heat of the summer di-minishes

in the same proportion.Even at Ke-lauti Ghiljee snow falls often and lies long,and the Turnuk is often frozen so as to hear

a man. Now this placeis in n. lat. 32" 30',and Kelautee is in the lowest part of the valleyof the Turnuk. In the high tract south ofthat valley,the cold appears to he as great asin any partof Afghanistaun.At Kelaue Abdorr-chem the snow lies four months annually,andall that time the rivers are frozen,so as to heara man. Ascendingstillhigher,we at last reachthe level of Ghuznee, or Ghazna, which is gene-rally

mentioned as the coldest partof the plaincountry in the Caubul dominions. The cold ofGhuznee isspoken of as excessive,even by theinhabitants of the cold countries in itsvicinity.For the greatestpart of the winter,the peopleseldom quittheir houses ; and even in the cityof Ghuznee the snow has been known to liedeepfor some time after the vernal equinox. Tradi-tions

prevailof the cityhaving been twice de-stroyedby fallsof snow, in which all the people

were buried."

HYRCANIA.

Hyrcania,now called Mazanderan, compre-hendsthe largestand widest portionof the low

plainalong the shores of the CaspianSea. It isone of the most fertileprovincesof the Persianempire,whether the mountains or the plainsare considered. Travellers passingthroughtheforests of Mazanderan, pass through thicketsof sweetbriar and honeysuckle; and are sur-rounded

with acacias,oaks, lindens,and chest-nuttrees. The summits of the mountains are

crowned with cedars, cypresses, and various

speciesof pines.So beautiful is this district,thatin the hyperbolicallanguage of the orientals itis styled,Belad-al-Irem,or, the Land of the Ter-restrial

Paradise. Sir W. Ouseley relates,thatKaikus, the Persian king,was fired with ambi-tion

to conquer so fine a country,through theinfluence of a minstrel,who exhausted all his

powers of music and poetry in the praiseof itsbeauties : his strains read thus :"

" Let the king consider the delightsof Mazan-deran,and may that country flourish duringall

eternity; for in itsgardensroses ever blow, andeven its mountains are covered with hyacinthsand tulips.Its land abounds in all the beautiesof nature ; itsclimate issalubrious and temperate,neither too warm nor too cold ; it is a regionofperpetualspring:there,in shady bowers, thenightingaleever sings; there the fawn and ante-lope

incessantlywander among the valleys; everyspot,throughoutthe whole year, is embellishedand perfumed with flowers ; the very brooks ofthat country seem to be rivulets of rose water,so much does this exquisitefragrancedelightthesoul. During the winter months, as at all otherseasons, the ground is enamelled,and the banksof murmuring streams smile with variegatedflowers ; every where the pleasuresof the chasemay be enjoyed; all placesabound with money,fine stuffs for garments, and every other articlenecessary for comfort or luxury. There all theattendants are lovelydamsels, wearing golden

coronets ; and all the men illustriouswarriors,whose girdlesare studded with gold; and no-thing

but a wilful perversityof mind, or corporealinfirmity,can hinder a person from being cheer-ful

and happy in Mazanderan."Such were the delightsthe oriental poet held

out to his rulers in Mazanderan,in all the forceof oriental exaggeration.The province of Hyr-cania

or Mazanderan was doubtless a delightfulprovince; but there appear to have been some.drawbacks upon its loveliness. Strictlyspeaking,Hyrcaniacomprehended the small tract denomi-nated

Gurgan in ancient Persia,which signifies,the land of wolves,from the superabundanceofthese animals. From this word D'Anville sup-poses

the Greeks to have formed the name of

Hyrcania. Sir W. Ouseleystates that on enter-ingMazanderan, he was informed that he would

find a babr, tiger; a guraz, boar ; rubah,foxes ;shegkal,jackals; and a gurg, or wolf. According-ly,

the very firstthingthat he saw, on enteringa villageof Hyrcania,was the carcase of a, largewolf,which had been shofjusthalf an hour be-fore

his arrival,and which looked terrible indeath," grinninghorriblya ghastlygrin;" thusprovingthe truth of the poet,that," every wherethe pleasuresof the chase may be enjoyed,"ifsuch may be termed pleasures.In ancient times,Hyrcaniawas infested with panthersand tigers,so fierce and cruel,as to giverise to a proverbconcerningfierce and unrelentingmen, that theyhad sucked Hyrcanian tigers.The poet Virgilrefers to this in his iEneid. RepresentingDidochidingiEneas, he puts into her mouth thesewords:

" False as thou art, and more than false,forsworn,Not sprung from noble blood, nor goddess born,But hewn from harden'd entrails of a rock !And rough Hyrcanian tigersgave thee suck !"

Strabo,who extends Hyrcania as far north asthe river Ochus, says from Aristobulus thatHyrcaniawas a woody region,producingoaksand pines,but not the pitchpine,which aboundedin India. It has been mentioned as a curious

circumstance,that in Mazanderan an axe usedfor cuttingis called tabr. Now the Tapyri,orTabari,inhabited a districtin Hyrcania,and ifthis name be derived from tabr,an axe, itwillsignifyhatchet-men, or wood-cutters, a namevery appropriateto the inhabitants of a countrycovered with forests like Hyrcania,and, thoughrestricted by the Greeks to the western inhabit-ants

of that province,is equallyapplicabletothose of the eastern part. According to Sir WOuseley,the name of the partin which the Tabari.lived,namely,Tabristan,or Tabaristan,signifiesthe country of wood.

Accordingto Morier,Mazanderan is a modernPersian phrase,signifying," Within the bound-ary

or limit of the mountain." This is con-firmedby Sir W. Ouseley,who says, from Ham-

dallah, an eminent Persian geographer,that Ma-zanderanwas originallynamed Mawz-anderan,

or within the mountain Mawz. He says, " TheCoh-Alburz is an immense mountain adjacenttoBab-al-abwab, (Derbend,)and many mountainsare connected with Alburz ; so that from Tur-kestan

to Hejas,it forms a range extendinginlength 1000 farsangs,about 130 miles,more orless ; and on this account some regardit as the

HISTORY OF THE PERSIANS.

mountain of Kaf, (Caucasus.) Its western side,connected with the mountains of Gurjestan,(Georgia,)is called the Coh Lagzi,(Daghestan,)and the Sur a lakaeim relates,that in the CohLagzi there are various races of people; so thatabout seventy differentlanguagesor dialects areused among them ; and in that mountain aremany wonderful objects; and when it reachesShemshat and Malatiah,(Samosata Melitene,)itis called Kali Kala. At Antakia and Sakeliah,(Antioch and Seleucia,)it is called Lekam ; thereit divides Sham (Syria)from Room, (AsiaMinor.) When itreaches between Hems (Emesa)and Demishk, (Damascus,)it is called Lebnan,(Lebanon,)and near Mecca and Medina it iscalled Arish. Its eastern side,connected withthe mountains of Arran (Eastern Armenia) andAderbijan,it is called Keik, and when it reachesto Ghilan,(theGelae and Cadusians,)and Irak,(Media,) it takes the name of Terkel-diz-cuh ; itis called Mauz when it reaches Kurnish and

Mazanderan ; and originallyMazanderan wasnamed Mawz-enderan ; and when Alburz reaches

Khorassan, it is called Lurry." From this itappears that Mazanderan signifiesall the regionwithin the mountain Mawz and the CaspianSea,which lies east of Ghilan and the Kizil Ozan.

Unlike the rest of Persia, Mazanderan iswatered by numerous rivers,or mountain tor-rents,

all runningfrom the mountains to the sea.The German traveller Gmelin, who visited thiscountry a. d. 1771,says that in the space of eightmiles,on the road from Resht to Amot, 250 ofsuch streams are to be seen, many of them beingso exceedinglybroad and deep,that the passageacross is sometimes impracticablefor weekstogether.In this respectMazanderan furnishesa strikingcontrast to the waste and barren shoresof southern Persia,where for many hundredmiles there is not a stream to be met with deepenough to take a horse above the knee. Hencearisesthe fertilityof Mazanderan. So mild andhumid, indeed, is the climate of Mazanderan,that it permitsthe growth of the sugar cane, andthe productionof good sugar, and that in per-fection

four months earlier than in the WestIndies. From the lack of art and care, however,this giftof nature is not turned to account bythe inhabitants of that province.

BACTRIANA.

The province of Bactriana comprehendedwhat is now called Eastern Persia, or Kho-rassan,

in addition to the country beyondthe Paropamisus. Khorassan, or "the risingsun," extends over a large part of the greatdesert,and nearlythe whole of the mountainousregionnorth of it. According to the Persiangeographers,it once comprehended the whole ofnorthern Persia,as far as the neighbourhoodof the Indus ; that is,nearlythe whole of thecountry subjectto the King of Afghanistan.Atthe present time,itseastern boundary lies near62" east longitude; and even the town of Heratis subjectto the Afghans,who, however, acknow-ledge

that it belongs to Persia, and annuallysend a present to Teheran in token of this

acknowledgment. In that portionof the desertwhich lies between Herat and Yezd, many oasesoccur, some of which are of considerable extent,

and contain large towns. The wide valleyswhich liebetween the desert and the declivitiesthat form the descent between the table-land ofIran to the low sandy plainsof Turan, possessa considerable degreeof fertility.This isprovedby the existence of numerous and populousvillages,which are frequentlyravaged by theTurkomans and Kurds. The latter people aresettled in a very wide and fertilevalley,extendingfrom the town of Mushed in a north-westerndirection for more than 100 miles,for the purposeof protectingthe country againstthe invasion ofthe Turkomans ; but notwithstandingthis,theyfrequentlythemselves lay waste the most fertileportionof Khorassan. The vicinityof Heratsuppliesassafoetida,saffron,pistachionuts,mastic,manna, a gum called birzund,a yellowdye calledispiruck,and carroway seeds. The wide andfertilevalleywhich runs from Mushed north-wards,

and which is in the possessionof theKurds,is also well cultivated,and contains someplacesof note. Westward of Mushed, nearNishapoor,is the celebrated fortress of KelatNadiree," the fortress of Nadir." This fortressissituated,accordingto Frazer,in a valleyfromfiftyto sixtymiles in length,by twelve or fifteenin breadth, surrounded by mountains so steepthat a littleassistance from art has rendered themimpassable; the rocks being scarped into theform of a giganticwall. A small river runsthroughthis valley,and the onlypointsof accessoccur where the stream leaves it,and these arefortifiedby towers and walls,which form nomean barrier.

Aria is the modern Heraut,sometimes pro-nouncedwithout the aspirate.This province

layto the east of Parthia and the desert of Ker-man, to the north of Drangiana,to the south ofthe western prolongationof the Paropamisaniange, called the mountains of SaraphibyPtolemy,and to the west of the provinceof Paro-pamisus.

This province is sometimes calledAxiana, but whether this latter name includedmore than the provinceof Aria isby no meansagreed among geographers. The situation ofAria correspondsto that of the modern Sejestan,and the southern part of Khorassan. Strabocalls this provinceand Margiana,the best in thewhole country. They are, he says, watered bythe rivers Arios and Margos ;the former of whichis described by Arrian as a river not less thanthe Peneios of Thessalia,yet losingitselfin theground,and which answers to the present Heri-Rud. Strabo also remarks that Aria isabout 160miles in length,and twenty-fivein breadth ; butthis can only be understood as applyingto theprincipalpart of the province,or probablythevalleyof the river Arios,which seems tohavebeen earlycelebrated for its fertility.In thisplainHeraut is situated,and captainGrant,whospent a month there in 1810, describes it aswatered by an ample stream, as covered withvillages,and as teemingwith corn. " The richlandscape,"he says, " receives additionalbeautyand varietyfrom the numerous mosques, tombs,and other edificesby which it isembellished,andthe mountain slopesby which it is surrounded."The country of Aria is not mentioned by Hero^-

HISTORY OF THE PERSIANS.

dotus,but he enumerates the Arii with others,asconstitutingthe sixteenth satrapy into whichDarius divided the Persian empire. See page 3.

PARTHIA.

It is difficultto define the boundaries of

Parthia proper, as they differed at various times.In the days of Strabo,however, it extendedon the west as far as Rhagse and the Tapuri,to the Caspianpasses, and included the districtsof Komisene (Kumis) and Choarene (Khuar.)Accordingto Pliny,it was bounded on the eastby the Arii, on the south by the Carmaniiand Ariani,on the west by the Pratitae Medi,and on the north by the Hyrcanii. In this latterstatement Ptolemy agrees. But the originalParthia, as described by Herodotus, was muchless than that described by Plinyand Ptolemy.It contained, indeed, nothing more than themountainous tract that lay south of Chorasmiaand Margiana,east of Hyrcania,and north ofthe districtsof Meschid and Naisabour. After-wards

it included the district of Comisene,mentioned by Ptolemy,in which districtHeca-tompylos,its capital,was built,and which issupposed to be the modern Damghan. Nasr-oddin-al-Tossi,and other Persian writers ascited by Golius in his notes on Al-Fargan,state,that this is a vast plainencompassed by moun-tains,

and watered by a multitude of brooks ofclear salubrious water, which issue from thesemountains. These streams were called the watersof Khosru, because that monarch caused themto be conveyed by aqueductsinto the city,andwould drink no other water in any part of his

empire. In the orchards and gardensof Dam-ghanapplesare produced,which, from their

beauty,size,fragrance,and taste,were placedonthe tables of the Parthian sovereigns.

It is supposedby some writers that the ancientParthia correspondsto the modern Irak Ajemi.But this is erroneous. Irak Ajemi correspondsto the ancient Media Magna, and is at present themost western provinceof the Persian empire,Aderbigan and Persian Armenia excepted. Itis a largerprovincethan the ancient Parthia,occupyingthe middle space between the CaspianSea and the Persian Gulf. Orosius says that theMedia of Scripturewas that country generallycalled Parthia.

PERSIS.

This province,which is the modern Fars orFarsistan,comprehends almost one half of theDushtistan,or " stony district,"a low,hot,sandystripextendingalongthe shores of the PersianGulf, the northern portionof the mountainregion of Faristan and Kerman, and the hillyplainwhich extends north-eastward to the lakeof Bakhtegan and the greatdesert. AccordingtoPtolemy,it was ancientlybounded on the northby Media, on the west by Susiana, and on thesouth by the Persian Gulf, now called Phars.The mountain ranges, which separatethe table-land

of Iran from the Persian Gulf, are littlemore than thirtyor fortymiles wide, but theyare exceedinglysteeptowards the sea. BetweenKazerun and Shiraz,the Kotuls Dokhter andPirazun are to be traversed ; for though Kazerunis situated on this table-land,several ridgesofconsiderable elevation intervene,especiallyin

the northern districts. That portionof the table-landwhich lies southward is less mountainous,

and contains several salt lakes. For the most

part,this province,thoughcontainingmany well-cultivated districts,is nearlya desert,especiallytowards the north. Near the boundary line ofKhusistan is an extensive and highly-cultivatedplain. Ainsworth says of the plainof Shiraz.that itischieflyformed of siltand mud, depositedby waters of inundation.

SUSIANA.

This provincewas bounded on the north byAssyria,on the west by Chaldea, on the east byPersia,and on the south by the Persian Gulf.Thus defined,Susiana nearlycorrespondswiththe modern Khuzistan, which comprehends thesouthern part of the mountains of Kurdistan,and that partof the plainof the Tigrisbelongingto Persia, and which is, therefore,naturallydivided into two portions.The plain,which isin the possessionof the wandering Arab, con-tains

good pasturagein the northern and westerndistricts,on which the Bedouin feeds his cattle.The southern and eastern portionof the districtis a sandy desert,occasionallyintersected byextensive morasses, and onlycultivated in someplaceson the banks of the rivers,where rice,wheat, and barley are raised. There are alsosome plantationsof date trees. The mountainouspart of the country contains several plainsandextensive valleys,among which the valleyofRam Hormuz, which is fortymiles long,andfrom six to eightmiles in breadth,isdistinguishedfor its fertilityand picturesquebeauty. Allthese valleysand plainsare fertile,but they areonly partiallycultivated. Between the higherranges of the mountains and the level plainthereis a hillytract several miles wide,which containsthe most fertile soil in the province; only theborders of the river,however, are under culti-vation.

The highmountain ranges in the easternpart of Khuzistan are in the possessionof Lurishtribes,which cultivate the ground very exten-sively,

growinglargequantitiesof tobacco.

There were two other provincesof ancientPersia,namely,Curdistan and Schirwan ; but asthe former correspondsto the ancient Assyria,and the latter to Media, the reader is referred tothose histories for their geographicaldetails.

MOUNTAINS.

There is no country more mountainous thanthat of Persia. From the one end of it to the

other,these stupendousmonuments of the om-nipotenceof Jehovah pointtheir summits toward

the skies. Some of these have passed undernotice in the descriptionof the several pro-vinces

; for the rest we refer the reader tothe map, whereon they are distinctlydelineated.It will be sufficientto state here, that manyof them are situated on the frontiers,and serveas natural ramparts to this vast region,and thatit is very probablethey may contribute in theinterior to make the country wholesome, byshelteringthe valleysunder them from exces-sive

heat. At the same time,they are far frombeing advantageous ; for many of them yieldneither springsof water nor metals,and but a

HISTORY OF THE PERSIANS.

few are shaded with trees. Besides,they maketravellinga most laborious and difficult task.This may be seen by the followingpassage fromPottinger'sJournal,which refers to a branch ofthe Brahooick mountains. " Being unprovidedwith a barometer,"he says, " or other instrumentcalculated to mark the perpendicularheightofKelat,as the most elevated spot of the Brahooickmountains, it is only by a comparison of factsthat I am prepared to offer my sentiments on thishead. Althoughthe obliquitybe not visibleinthe immediate vicinityof that capital,yet to thesouthward we found a very marked one in placesamounting to steep denies and hills for a day'sjourneyat a time,(afterascendingthe Kohunwat,or southern pass from Luz to Kelat,passingbyKhosdar and Soheraub,)until we reached Rodinjo,twenty-fivemiles south of Kelat. Hence toGurruck,seven miles north of Kelat,the slopeis undistinguishable.But in travellingfromGurruck to Nooshky north-west,we crossed sixloftylukhs,or passes, whose descent to the north-ward

was invariablydouble,and, on one or twooccasions,fourfold the ascent on the southernface. The accumulated differences of thesealone would be equalto a very great declension ;and yet after we had got to the bottom of them,and came in sightof the great sandy desert,wefound ourselves prodigiouslyelevated above itssurface,and a seventh lukh,or pass, remained tobe descended,the declivityof which was appa-rently

double to that of all the others. Even

then we were on an elevated plain,(when arrivedat the foot of this last pass,)the waters of which,when augmented by the rains or melted snowsamongst the neighbouringmountains, escape to-wards

the sea by various outlets in the provinceof Mekran (the ancient Gedrosia)with exces-sive

velocity.The temperature of Kelat, also,serves to prove its amazing elevation. Thatcity,and the neighbouring district,thoughscarcelymore than five degreesand a half re-moved

from the summer solstice,or the torridzone, are subjectedto a most rigorouswinter,and snow lies,even in the vales,from the end ofNovember tillthe beginningof February. Snowhas been known to fallfifteen days successivelyin the month of March at this place. Rice,andcertain other vegetableproductionsthat requirewarmth of climate,will not thrive here; andwheat and barleydo not ripenso soon as in theBritish isles. From a philosophicalestimationof all these concurrent particulars,it is inferiblethat the extreme altitude of the Brahooickmountains is not inferiorto that of some rangesesteemed the highestin Europe. Recent dis-coveries

teach us to look to Asia as the seat ofthe most sublime and stupendouspileson the faceof the globe. Judgingfrom the eye of the lukh.or pass, nearest the sandy desert,and comparingitsapparent altitude,length,and steepness, withsome of the ghauts,or passes of India,of whoseascertained heightI am apprised,I should pro-nounce

its heightto be 5000 feet above the sandydesert If we add to this one half for the othersix passes between that spot and the cityofKelat, and grant the desert,as the base of thewhole, to be elevated of itself500 feet above thelevel of the sea, it will produce an aggregate of8000 feet." From this the reader will gatheran

idea of the great altitude of Persia. Pottingersays that it is here 8000 feet,but there are othergeographerswho think his estimate too low, andadd 2000 more, making it 10,000 feet above thelevel of the sea. Nor does this appear to be

exaggeration,for 500 feet of descent, at least,should be allowed for each of the six passes, andthat number is by far too low an estimate for thelevel of the desert.

Another passage from Pottinger'sJournaloffers itselfas stillmore illustrativeof the moun-tainous

features of Persia. " After quittingGurruck," says he, " seven miles north-west ofKelat,our road laythrough a mountainous andbarren country,and we ascended two lukhs,ordefiles,one of them particularlyhazardous,therugged path not exceedingtwo feet wide,and,on the left,an abyssat least a quarter of a miledeep. Next day,we passed a miserable nightfrom the cold,which was so intense,that,unpro-vided

as we were with warm clothingor beds,itwas impossibleto sleep; and we were unableto make the least attempt to move, until nineo'clock,when the sunbeams began to operate,and, literallyspeaking,renovated us. We thenmounted, and by five o'clock had proceededthirty-onemiles, the intermediate countrybeing,if possible,more bleak and barren thanthat we had passed yesterday,and the pathequally winding. We had several lukhs, orpasses, to surmount, the last of which I conceive

worthy of a minute detail,as it would seem,from its situation,on the edge of the desert, tohave been intended by nature as an insurmount-able

barrier to these elevated regions,and is,beyond all comparison,the most difficultdefile Ihave ever seen in any country. It is separatedon the south-east side from Kelat,or from theother mountains,by a deep and narrow ravine,the sides of which are solid black rock, andnearlyperpendicular.Emerging from this partby a rugged path,we ascended the south-westface of the pass, from the top of which the desertburst upon our view, extendingas far as the eyecould reach,with the resemblance of a smooth

ocean, from the reflection of the sun on the sand.The emotions of my fellow-traveller and myselfwere, at this instant,of the most enviable nature.On descendingthe north-western side of thelukh, which cost us nearlyfive hours, it beingeleven miles long,and extremelysteep,we en-tered

the bed of a river between the mountains,and on a level with their bases,which led us outinto the desert by innumerable mazes. The lasthalf mile of our route was throughthe bed of theriver Kyser,which,thoughdeepand rapidduring,the rains, is often quitedry in the hot months ofMay, June, and July. At this time, when we jcrossed it,itwas from two to three feet deep,andsix or seven yardsacross. The onlyshrubs wesaw to-daywere some scraggy bushes of the Far-nesian mimosa, here called the babool tree, andin the river great quantitiesof tamarisk. Oneof the mountains which we crossed was literallystudded with bulbous roots, similar to those of

tulips,that were beginningto bud, whose fra-grance,as I was assured,would, in another

month, be perceptibleto a greatdistance. Thegrass called by the natives kusheput,or desertgrass,also abounds here, and is collected by the

10 HISTORY OF THE PERSIANS.

Brahooes,as winter food for their cattle. It growsin bunches, or tufts,with thick coarse stalks,leaves longand serrated,and is very sweet andnutritious. The camel-thorn,called by the Per-sians

khare shootoor,is also to be seen here,butnot so plentifullyas in the lower tracts."

Ainsworth, speakingof the generalgeologicalfeatures of the rocks in Persia,says : " The mostremarkable feature in the rocks of Kurdistan is,the invariable compactness and hard texture ofthe limestone rocks ; but this only obtains in themountain districts ; for,as the indurated lime-stone

of Rum-Kalah, on Euphrates,becomes asoftchalk,with many fossils,so the limestone ofthe westerlyranges of the Persian Apenninesbecomes, on the plainof Musul, soft,pliable,andredolent with the shells of TrachelopodousMol-lusca,and Menomyairous,and DimyairusConch-ifera."

Persia,it has been said, is subjectto twogreat inconveniences,which more than coun-terbalance

the excellence of itsclimate,and thefertilityof its soil;namely,the want of trees andwater. There is not a navigableriver in thewide range of country between the Tigrisandthe Indus,and, in many parts,even a well is arare and valuable possession.The table-land ofIran,with the mountain ranges which surroundit on the north and south, is very sparinglywatered. The southern mountain ranges are toobare and low to attract sufficientmoisture to form

perennialstreams, except in a few places. Thenorthern mountains giverise to a great numberof water courses ; but as soon as they enter theplain,the small volume of water which theypour down is absorbed in irrigation,and only afew streams reach the desert,where they arequicklylost in the dry and thirstysoil. It isonlyin the table-land of Azerbigan,and in themountains of Kurdistan, that there is a goodsupplyof water. The rivers of Ghilan and Ma-zanderan are very limited in their courses. Themost considerable river in Azerbiganis the SefiRud, or White River, which is also known bythe Turkish name of Kizil Ozien. This riverriseswithin the mountains of Kurdistan,south of36" n. lat,and traverses the most mountainousdistrictof Azerbigan; running a circuitouscourse, firsteast-north-eastfor about one hundredmiles,and then about the same distance north-ward.

When near 37" 30' n. lat,itbreaks throughthe western chain of the mountains of Massula,and turns to the south-east for about eightymiles,drainingthe valleybetween the two rangesof the Massula mountains. At the western ex-tremity

of the Elburz range, it is joinedby theriver Shahrud, which drains the valleysin thewestern portionof the Eiburz mountains, andflows onward about one hundred miles. Afteritsjunctionwith this river,the Kizil Ozien flowsabout thirtymiles in the narrow valleyseparatingthe Elburz mountains from the Massula rangeson the east, and enters the plainof Ghilan,throughwhich it passes to the Caspiansea. Onthe table-land of Azerbigan,the bed of the KizilOzien is generallymany hundred feet,and some-times

a thousand feet below the adjacentcountry :hence its streams can nowhere be used for the

purposes of irrigation.Besides this river,theAji and the Jaghatu demand a passingnotice.These rivers,each running about one hundredmiles,fallinto the lake of Urumiyeh. Both ofthem are extensivelyused in the irrigationof thevalleysthrough which they flow, and also theplain of Urumiyeh. There are many riverswhich drain the mountains of Kurdistan,and itsnumerous valleys.Three of these,the Diayalah,which joinsthe Tigrisbelow Bagdad,the Kerk-hah, which falls into the Shat-el-Arab,and theKaroon or Kuran, flowinginto the same, runbetween two and four hundred miles. "Therivers,"says Ainsworth,"which may be con-sidered

as forming the hydrographicalbasin ofKhusistan are, the Kerah, the Ab-i-zal,theKuran, the Jerahi, and the Indigan. Theserivers,however, are, like most of the rivers ofPersia,insignificantwhen compared with theTigris,or Euphrates. They were but as poolsof water, thinlyscattered over the landscape."

To remedy this defect,as necessityis themother of invention,extraordinaryefforts weremade in ancient times to irrigatethe lands byartificialmeans. Wheels were so constructed asto draw up the water from such streams as laynearest, and conveyed it over the fields : and aningeniouscontrivance was formed of connectingsuccessive wells by subterranean conduits,calledkhanats in Persia,and cauraizees in Affghanis-tan. Polybius says of such, as constructed inMedia : " There are rivulets and springsunder-ground

; but no one except those that know the

country can find them." But the frequentrevo-lutionsto which Persia has been subjected,have

from time to time demolished these useful con-trivances; and these water courses, of which

there were not less than 15,000 in the inner dis-trictof Nishapoor,are now in a state of compa-rativeneglect. Zoroaster's precepts to plant

" useful trees,"and to " convey water to the drylands,"have longbeen unheeded, though he an-nexed

salvation to the pursuit." He," says thisfounder of the Magian faith,"who sows theground with care and diligenceacquiresa greaterstock of religiousmerit than he could gain byrepeatingten thousand prayers." This it wasthat inspiredthe ancient Persians, under theSassanian dynasty,to performthese greatworks,the result of which was a flourishingstate ofagriculture,and greatnational prosperity,as re-corded

by Curtius,Ammianus Marcellinus,andother ancient writers. But the Mohammedanfaith,under which the Persians now live,incul-cates

far different principlesto these. Under itswitheringinfluence,the Persians,like other Mo-hammedans,

are satisfiedwith what good thingsthey find,and care not to labour for posterity.They look upon life,it has been said,as a greatroad,wherein men ought to be contented withsuch thingsas fall in their way, Reposing incarnal ease, theyforgetthe duties of life: andhence it is,that the flourishingstate of agricul-ture

which once existed in Persia is nowhere tobe traced at the present day ; so much depends,even in temporalmatters, upon the principlesofthe religiona nation professes.Chardin thinks,that if the Turks were to inhabit this country,itwould soon be more impoverishedthan it is ;whereas, if the Armenians or Parsees were to

HISTORY OF THE PERSIANS.

become its masters, it would be restored to itsancient fertility.

The manner in which these subterraneouswater courses were constructed,may be dis-cerned

in the followingaccount which Elphin-stone givesof those in Affghanistan,which arepreciselythe same as in Persia : " The next con-trivance

for obtainingwater," he says, " is thesort of conduit which is called a cauraiz,or cah-rees. It is known by the same name in Persia,but is there most frequentlycalled a kaunat, orkhanat. It is thus made : " The spot where thewater is to issue must be alwaysat the foot of aslopeextendingto a hill,and the ground must beexamined, to ascertain whether there are springs,and in what direction they lie. When the spotisfixed,a very shallow well issunk, and anotherof greaterdepthis made at some distance up theslope. A succession of wells is made in thismanner, and connected by a subterraneous pas-sage

from well to well. The wells increase in

depthas the groundascends,but are so managed,that the passage which connects them, has a de-clivity

towards the plain. Many springsarediscovered duringthis process, but the workmanstopsthem up, that they may not interrupthisoperations,until he has finished the last well,when he opens the springs,and the water rushesthrough the channel,rises in the wells to theheightof its source, and ispoured out from thelowest into a water course, which conducts itover the fields. When the cauraiz,or conduitis completed,the wells are of no further use ex-cept

to allow a man to descend occasionallytoclear out the channel. The distance betweenthe wells varies from ten yardsto 100. It isusuallyabout fifty. The dimensions of thechannel are generallyno more than necessary toallow the water to work, but some are muchlarger. I have heard of one near Subzewaur,in Persian Khorassan,throughwhich a horsemanmight ride with a lance over his shoulder. Thenumber of wells,and,consequently,the lengthofthe cauraiz,depend on the number of springsmet with, as the chain is generallycontinued,either tillwater enough has been obtained,ortillthe wells become so deep as to render it in-convenient

to proceed. I have heard of variouslengths,from two miles to thirty-six,but Ishould suppose the usual length was under theshortestof these measures. It may be supposedthat the expanse of so laborious a structure mustbe great; but the rich are fond of laying outtheir money on these means of bringingwasteland into cultivation,and it is by no means un-common

for the poor to associateto make a cau-raiz,and to divide the land which it irrigates

amongst them. Cauraizees are common in allthe west of the country,and their numbers areon the increase. I know but of one on the eastof the range of Solimaun,which is at Tuttore,inDamaun. They are in use over all Persia,astheyhave been in Toorkistaun ; but theyare nowneglectedin the latter country,even their nameis not known in India."

LAKES.

The most considerable of the lakes of Persiais that of Urumiyeh, or Shahee, which is morethan eightymiles long,and about twenty-sixin

extreme breadth. The water, in the deepestpart,is four fathoms,but the average depth isonly two fathoms. The shores of this lakeshelve so gradually,that this depth is rarelyat-tained

within two miles of the land. The wateris much salter than that of the ocean, and its

specificgravityis such,that a vessel of 100 tonsburden is said not to draw more than from threeto four feet. A gale of wind, moreover, raisesthe waves only a few feet,and they subsideinto a calm as soon as the storm has passed.This lake receives many streams, but it has nooutlet.

Besides the lake of Urumiyeh,there isanotherof great note, namely, that of Bakhtegan. Bysome geographers,the lake of Bakhtegan is con-founded

with the salt lake of Shiraz,whereas thewestern extremityof the Bakhtegan lake is fullthirty-sixmiles north-east of the south-east ex-tremity

of that of Shiraz. The lake of Bakhte-ganis the reservoir of all the streams of Hollow

Persia,or those that irrigatethe vales of Mor-gaub,Istaker,and Kurbal. At the present day,it is generallycalled Deria Niriz,or Lake ofNiriz : by ancient geographersit was called thelake of Bakhtegan,from a ruined villageeast ofKheir. Ebn Haukel says of it: " Among theseis the lake of Bakhtegan. Into this flows theriver Kur, which is near Hhekan, or Khefan, anditreaches nearlyto Zahek in Kirman (Carma-nia.) The extent of this lake is twenty far-sangs, nearly eightmiles, in length; and thewater of it isbitter,and on the borders are wildbeasts of various kinds,such as lions,leopards.,or tigers,and others ; and the regionof this lake,which belongsto the kuveh (district)of Istakr,(Persepolis,)comprisesseveral villages."Ham-dallah Mastowfi says, that in its vicinityaretracts of soil impregnated with salt; that itslengthis twelve, its breadth seven, and its cir-cumference

thirty-fourfarsangs. These ac-countswere written about a. d. 950. To the

ancient writers the lake seems to have been un-known,for it is neither mentioned by Strabo nor

Curtius,nor others who mention the expeditionof Cyrus ; nor is it spoken of by the Greek orRoman geographers. On this account it ismarked on some of the maps of ancient coun-tries

as" unknown to the ancients." The same

may be said of the lake of Shiraz,or, as it iscalled by Hamdallah Cazvini,Mahluiah. Thislatter lake,itmay be added, extends to within sixmiles south-east of Shiraz,beingfrom twenty totwenty-fivemiles long,and twelve parasangs,or nearlyforty-eightmiles in circumference.

As might be expected, in so vast an extent ofcountry as Persia,the climate is very varied :some parts,indeed,are wintrycold,while othersare parched with heat at the same time of theyear. The plainof Ghilan and Mazanderanpossesses a climate peculiarto itself.This arisesfrom the circumstances that it is below the sealevel ; that it has a vast expanse of water to thenorth ; and that it is enclosed on the south by ahighrange of mountains. The plainhas a rainyand dry season. In the month of September,heavy galescommence, which impel the cloudsagainstthe mountain wall of Elburz,and the rain

12 HISTORY OF THE PERSIANS.

descends in torrents, accompaniedby appallingthunder-storms. The rain continues in the

plainto the middle of January,but on the slopesof the mountains it is converted into snow aboutthe beginningof November, and the quantitythat fallsis enormous. It is said to rise in manyplacesfrom one to two fathoms, and to carryaway houses and even villages.In summer,though rains are not so frequent,the air is verymoist, and the plainis generallyenvelopedinvapour and fogs,which engenderfevers and otherdiseases. The heat at this season is oppressive.One very remarkable feature in the climate ofthis plainis,that sometimes in winter a hotsoutherlywind springsup, which changes thetemperature in an instant to such a degree,thatwood and other inflammable substances are dried

up, so as to render them liable to ignitefrom thesmallest spark. Sometimes thiswind lasts onlya quarterof an hour,but,generally,twenty-fourhours. It is followed by a galefrom the north-east,

which bringssnow and rain ; by the nativesitis called the Bagdad wind. It is probablytothis air that Tavernier alludes,when he assertsthat the Persians are sometimes destroyedin-stantly

by a hot burningsouth wind.But notwithstandingthis climate is so extra-ordinary,

itproducesa luxuriance of vegetation,rarelymet with even between the tropics.Theswampy tracts along the shores of the Caspiansea abound with saline plantsand canes, whichare employed in buildingand for domestic pur-poses.

Not far from the shores begin the fo-rests,which cover the whole plain,and extend

to a considerable elevation up the slopesof thehills. These forestsare surrounded byorchards,plantationsof mulberrytrees,and fields of rice.The orchards produce figs,peaches,apricots,pears, apples,plums,and cherries. The vine isalso cultivated hare, and the pomegranate treegrows wild. The principaloccupationsof thepeasantsof Ghilan are the raisingof silk,and thecultivation of rice.

The climate of the low sandy tract alongthePersian Gulf is distinguishedfor its great heatand aridity.On this account it abounds withdate trees,which only bear eatable fruitwherethese circumstances concur. During the sum-mer

heat,it isextremelyunhealthy. So oppres-siveis the heat,indeed,that the inhabitants ge-nerally

retire to the adjacentmountains,leavingonly a few poor creatures to watch their effects,who do so at the expense of their health.

In the interior of the table-land of Persia,theclimate is hot in summer, and cold in winter.In thispart however, the air is dry,and the skycloudless. This producesgreat purityof ele-ment,

which is the chief blessingthe Persiansenjoyin this part of the country. They derivefrom thence a clear and florid complexion,andan excellent habit of body. In the summer, itseldom rains; but the heat is mitigatedby abrisk wind, which blows during the night,sothat the traveller may proceed on his journeybythe lightof the glitteringstars without inconve-nience.

In the winter,the air is not so dry inthese parts. A considerable quantityof snowfalls; and yet not so much as to render the soilfit for maintainingconstant vegetation.Nearthe mountain ranges the fall of snow is much

greater,which is supposed to occasion the su-periorfertilityof those districts,especiallywhere

the vegetationcan be promoted by irrigation.The lack of this moisture renders the centralpart of the table-land of Persia a desert, andfrom this cause, the oases within the desert aremore fit for plantationsof fruit trees,than forthe cultivation of grain.* The plainsurround-ing

Teheran, which is near the northern edge ofthe table-land,and not far from the foot of theElburz range, was, when Frazer visited it inNovember, covered with snow ; and when Mo-rier was there in March, ice was stillto be seen.The mild weather does not commence beforeApril,when the transition from cold to heat isvery sudden. At sunrise the thermometerstands between 61" and 64",but at noon it risesto 75",and in the afternoon a hot south-easternwind generallyblows, which renders the heatoppressive.

The great drynessof the air in this part ofPersia exempts it from thunder and earth-quakes.

In the spring,indeed, occasionallyshowers of hail fall,but theydo not appear tobe common, or of a severe nature. The rain-bow,

that grand ethereal object,that" Shoots up immense, and every hue unfolds,

In fair proportion,running from the redTo where the violet fades into the sky,"

Thomson,

israrelyseen in Persia,because there are notvapours sufficient to form it. By night,how-ever,

there are seen the phenomena of rays oflightshootingthrough the firmament, and fol-lowed

by apparent trains of smoke. The winds,though frequentlybrisk, seldom swell intostorms, but they are sometimes extremelyinfec-tious

on the shores of the Gulf.

PRODUCTIONS.

Much may be gatheredfrom the foregoingpages concerningthe productionsof Persia : as,however, many have not yet been mentioned, itis deemed desirable to enumerate the whole, asfar as our information extends,under their dif-ferent

kinds.Trees. " The fruit trees of Persia are managed

with considerable skill,and in many placestheyare distinguishedfor their excellent fruit,whichfurnishes no mean article of internal trade.These fruits are apricots,peaches,apples,plums,pears, nectarines,quinces,figs,pomegranates,mulberries,currants,cherries,almonds, walnuts,and pistachionuts. Vine plantationsare exten-sive,

but wine is only made by the Christianpopulation.Dates ripenonly in Gurmsir, andsome of the lower valleysin the mountains ofKerman. Forest trees do not occur, except onthe northern declivityof the Elburz mountains.The oak covers largetracts of the mountains of

* Tavernier remarks, that the Persians are so sensibleof the fertilizinginfluence of the snow, that they examinevery curiouslyhow high it rises every year. This is doneby settinga stone on the top of a mountain four leaguesfrom Spauhawn, between two and three feet high, overwhich if the snow rises it causes much joy. The peasantwho first brings the news of such an event to court, isrewarded for his pains by a considerable present.

14 HISTORY OF THE PERSIANS.

their abandonment Iron is abundant in manyplaces,especiallyin Hyrcania,but it is not muchworked. Chardin representsitas not worth above

sixpencea hundred weight,and he says, that itis so full of sulphur,that if filingsof it be castinto the fire,they make a report like powder.Too fierce a fire will also destroythe substancealtogether.Copper has been discovered in Azer-bigan,and other places; but,like the iron,itisof little use unless it is mingled with copperfrom the mines of other countries,as Swedenand Japan. Rock salt is very abundant in Per-sia,

and largetracts of the plainare covered withsalt incrustations. In some placesit is said tobe as firm and hard as fire stone, and to be usedas such in Carmania Deserta,in the erection ofhouses. In Hyrcania,and Mazanderan, naphthaof two kinds is met with,black and white. Therichestmine in Persia,however, is the torquoise.There are also two kinds of this preciousstone ;one in Khorassan, the other between Hyrcaniaand Parthia in Mount Phirous,which mountainderived its name from an ancient king of Persia.Other mines of this preciousstone have, at alater date,been discovered,but they are by nomeans so valuable,the stone beingless beautifulin colour,and waning by degrees,till at lengthit is colourless. Marble, free stone, and slateare found in great quantitiesabout Hamadan.This marble is of four colours,white, or sta-tuary,

black,red and black,and white and black.The best is discovered about Taurus. This isalmost as transparent as crystal; its colour iswhite, mingled with a pale green, but it is sosoft that some have doubted whether it is astone. In the neighbourhoodof Hamadan, azureisfound,but it is not equalto that of Tartary,and therefore is not held in repute.

Such was and is Persia. Ancientlyit pos-sessedthe blessingsof this lifein rich abundance,

and even now its inhabitants can rejoicein thegiftsof nature. But Persia has ever lacked therichest blessingthat can be bestowed on a coun-try,

that of the Christian religion.For manyan age they were led astray by the Magianfaith,and now they bend under the yoke of thearch impostorMohammed. But

" The groans of nature in this nether world,Which Heaven has heard for ages, have an end.Foretold by prophets,and by poets sung,Whose fire was kindled at the prophet'slamp,The time of rest, the promised sabbath comes."

Then shall

" The dwellers in the vales and on the rocksShout to each other,and the mountain topsFrom distant mountains catch the flyingjoy,Till nation after nation, taught the strain,Earth rolls the rapturous hosanna round.See Salem built,the labour of a God !Bright as a sun, the sacred cityshines.All kingdoms, and all princes of the earthFlock to that light; the glory of all landsFlows into her; unbounded is her joy,And endless her increase. Thy rams are there,Nebaioth, and the flocks of Kedar there.The looms of Ormus, and the mines of Ind,And Saba's spicy groves pay tribute there.Praise is in all her gates; upon her walls,And in her streets,and in her spacious courts,Is heard salvation. Eastern Java, there,Kneels with the native of the furthest west ;And ^Ethiopiaspreads abroad the hand,And worships. Her reporthas travelled forth

Into all lands. From every clime they comeTo see thy beauty, and to share thj joy,Oh Sion ! An assembly such as earthSaw never, such as heaven stoops down to see."

COWPER.

CHAPTER II.

TOPOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF PERSIA.

In the various provincesof the vast empire ofPersia,there were a greatnumber of importantcitiesand towns ; but concerningmany of them,no detailed information has been handed downto us by ancient writers. All,therefore,that canbe done in these pages, is to notice those of which

any account, and any remains, have survivedthe wreck of ages, and which were of the greatestnote. Among these stands pre-eminentlyfor-ward,

the cityof

PEBSEPOLIS,

which stood within the provinceof Persis.The cityof Persepolisismentioned by Greek

writers,after the era of Alexander, as the capitalof Persia. The name, however, does not occurin the writingsof Herodotus, Ctesias,Xenophon,or Nehemiah, who were well acquaintedwiththe other principalcitiesof the Persian empire,and who make frequentmention of Susa,Baby-lon,

and Ecbatana. But this may be accountedfor by the fact,that Persepolisnever appears tohave been a placeof residence for the Persiankings,though it was regardedas the capitaloftheir empirein the remotest ages.

There has been much disputerespectingthePersian name of Persepolis.Accordingto ori-ental

historians,it was Istakher,or Estekhar ;and many modern authors suppose that Perse-polis

and Pasagardse,the common burial-placesof the kingsof Persia,are onlydifferent namesfor the same place,and that the latter word isthe Greek translation of the former. Theirviews do not seem to be correct: there are

strong reasons, indeed,for believingthat theyare differentplaces.

The cityof Persepoliswas situated in an ex-tensiveplain,near the union of the Araxes

(Bendemir) and Cyrus (Kur.) In the time ofAlexander, there was at Persepolisa magnifi-cent

palace,full of immense treasures, which hadbeen accumulating from the time of Cyrus.Littleis known of itshistory.When Alexander,however, subverted the Persian empire,Perse-polis

fell a prey to the maddened rage of the

conqueror. Instigatedby a courtezan, he issuedfrom a banquet,and accompaniedby a band ofother bacchanals,as cruel and as mad as himself,with flaming torches in their hands, like somany furies,they firedthe palaceof the Persianmonarch, after which his army plunderedanddevastated the city.

But it was not Alexander alone that reduced

Persepolisto its present mournful state. It ex-isted,but not in its pristineglory,in the days of

Ammianus Marcellinus ; and in the Greek chro-nicleof Tabri,who flourished in the ninth cen-tury,it is said,that Pars, or Persia,composed a

number of districts,each governed by a pettyking, one of whom ruled in Istakher. The

HISTORY OF THE PERSIANS. 16

chronicle further states,that Artaxerxes Babe-

gan commenced his ambitious career by puttingto death the king of Istakher,after which herendered himself master not onlyof Pars, butof Kirman, and finallybecame ruler of all Iran,or Persia,by the defeat and death of Adavan.The same authoritystates, that Shapoor n.,having recovered Nisibin,in Diyarbekr,he sent12,000 families from Istakher to reinhabit thedeserted city. About a.d. 639, the Arabs madean unsuccessful attempt on Istakher,and twoyears after the decisive battle of Nehavend wasfought,the result of which was, the future cap-ture

of Persepolis,or Istakher. This battle,also,decided the fate of Persia,and the religionofZoroaster. The blaze of the eternal fire wasextinguishedby the superiorradiance of thecrescent ; and the sceptre of empire,wielded bythe successors of Artaxerxes for more than four

centuries,dropped from the hands of the unfor-tunateYasdijerd,while the sun of the house of

Sassan went down to rise no more. Persepolisunderwent another vicissitude in 644, when theArabs, under the command of Abu Musa alAshari,defeated Shahreg,who lost his life andthe cityof Istakher,which paid a contributionof 200,000 silver dirhems to obtain a respite.In 648, the inhabitants of Istakher revolted,andslew the Arabian governor, in consequence ofwhich the khalif Othman sent Abdallah EbmAmer with troops from Basrah to Istakher,where they encountered the Persians,com-manded

by Mahek, son of Shahreg,who hadbeen slain by Abu Musa al Ashari " from thedawn of day tillthe time of the meridian prayer."Mahek fled,and the,cityof Istakher was takenby storm ; after which the citydeclined daily,so that in 950 it was not above a mile in length,and was finallydestroyedin 982 by the DilemiteprinceSamsa'm Ad'doulah. It exists only,saysHamdallah Oazvini,who wrote in 1339,underthe reduced form of a village.

It has been well said,in deprecationof thedestruction of cities,which historylauds as thework of heroes," How many monuments of'lite-rature

and science,of taste and genius,of utility,splendour,and elegance,have been destroyedbythe ruthless hands of sanguinaryheroes,whohave leftnothingbut ruins as the monuments oftheir prowess." The ruins of Persepolisrespondto these sentiments,while at the same time,inthe ear of reason, they discourse of the muta-bility

of allthingsbelow the skies.The ruins of Persepolis,which are usually

called by the inhabitants," Tchil-Minar,"(thefortypillars,)and sometimes "Hesa Suture,"(thethousand columns,)are very grand.

The pilesof fallen PersepolisIn deep arrangement hide the darksome plain.Unbounded waste ! the moulderingobelisk,Here, like a blasted oak, ascends the clouds.Here Parian domes their vaulted halls disclose,Horrid with thorn,where lurks the' unpitying thief,"Whence flits the twilight-lovingbat at eve,And the deaf adder wreaths her spottedtrain,The dwellings once of elegance and art !Here temples rise,amid whose hallowed bounds,Spiresthe black pine ; while throughthe naked street,Once haunt of tradeful merchants,springsthe grass.Here columns, heap'don prostrate columns, tornFrom their firm base, increase the mouldering mass.Far as the sight can pierce,appear the spoils

Of sunk magnificence ! A blended sceneOf moles, fanes,arches,domes, and palaces,Where, with his brother Horror, Ruin sits."

Warton.

Those who have visited the ruins of Persepolisconcur in one unanimous verdict,that the cityrepresentedby them, must have been the mostmagnificentever seen on earth; and thatthe Persian empire, in all its glory,could notboast of any thing more grand, nor have leftto wonderingposterityany thingmore astonish-ing,

than these venerable ruins. The presentinhabitants of the vale of Merdasht, the plainofPersepolis,ignorantof the gloriesof their an-cestors,

deem them the work of demons, or ofthe Prseadamite sultans,now immured in therocky caverns of the mighty Caucasus, or of thegreat Solomon, the son of David, who, in easternromance, is said to have had all the demons andgeniiunder his control. Unconscious that he istreadingon classic ground,the wandering Ihattends his flock amid the tenantless waste; andthe music that once called up the spiritof mirthin the breast of monarchs, is exchanged for thehowl of wild beasts. In the halls of a Xerxes,in the palaceof Chosroes,the fox takes up hisabode, and the spiderweaves her web ; whilefrom the towers of Istakher the screech owl

nightlytakes up its doleful note. Such is theend of human greatness!

The plainwhere these awful representativesof Persepolisstand,is one of the most extensivein Persia,and the finest in the east. Accordingto Chardin, it extends eighteenleaguesfromeast to west, by a diversified breadth of fromsix,to twelve,and eighteenmiles. It iswateredby the Araxes, and many minor streams. It isbounded on the north by the western branch ofthe Kur-aub ; on the south by the south branchof the Kur-aub ; and on the west by the Araxes,thus describingan oval figure. On the north-west

is the junctionof the Parwaub and theAraxes; and on the north-east is the pointwherethe Kur-aub divergesinto the two brancheswhich bound itstwo sides On every side itissurrounded with mountains, which giveas muchnatural grandeurto the vale, as the cityitcon-tained

could receive from industryand art ; nay,more, for the works of the Creator far surpassthose of the creature.

The principalruins of Persepolisare those ofthe Takht-i-Jemschid, which is identifiedwiththe palaceset on fire by Alexander, and whichstands at the base of the abruptlyrisingrock ofIstakher. The firstobjectthat meets the eye ofthe traveller is the platform,which is an artificialplainof a very irregularshape,but facingthefour cardinal points,like the bases of the Egyptianpyramids. The dimensions of the three facesof the platformare these ; to the south 802 feet ;to the north 926 ; and to the west 1425 feet. Thelevel of the buildingat this date is very uneven,which is occasioned by the increasingaccumula-tion

of fallingruins,and the soil,which, fromvarious causes, successivelycollects over theseheaps. On the north-west,largemasses of thenative rock show themselves without incum-brance,

still retainingmarks of the originalhammers and other instruments by which thehigherportionsof the rock had been cut down to

16 HISTORY OF THE PERSIANS.

the requiredlevel. Beyond the face of the plat-form,the rock protrudes in vast abrupt cliffs;

and in deeper cavitiesthe progress of a quarry isvisible,partof the rock beinghalf hewn through,and in other placeslying in completed slabs,readyfor removal. This would indicatethat theStructure was not considered complete. It wasthe work of ages, and every succeedingmonarchadded to its grandeur. What, however, hadbeen done could scarcelybe exceeded. Its steepfaces are formed of dark grey marble, cut intohuge square blocks, and exquisitelypolished.These are fittedto each other with such closenessand precision,that when firstcompleted,the plat-form

must have appeared as part of the solidmountain itself,levelled to become the foundationfor a palace. The heightof the platformis evi-dently

considerablylower than it once was, owingto the masses of ruin and vegetativematter atits base. These have raised hillocks againstall the sides,making rough slopes; whereasoriginallythey were perpendicular.Ker Portersays he measured them, and that he found, at aspot near the group of columns,the perpendiculardepth to be thirtyfeet; but he adds,that wereall the rubbish to be cleared away, an additionaldepthof twenty feet would be discovered. Thesouth side does not exceed twenty feet,and tothe north itvaries from sixteen to twenty-sixfeet. The platformembraces three terraces.The firstand lowest embraces the southern face,by 183 feet broad; the second is more elevated,and the third more elevated still. Along theedge of the lowest terrace there are masses ofstone which apparentlyare fragmentsof a parapetwall ; and on the edge of the third,or highestterrace, to the south,are decided remains of astrong stone railing,or range of palisades.These cease at the top of the staircaseconnectingthis with the lower terrace. At the top of thisflightof steps,are two largeholes cut deeplyintothe stone, which received the pivotsof the gatesthat closedthis ingress.There isonly one wayby which this platformcan be ascended, andthat isby a staircasesituated on itswestern side.A double flightof stairsrises very gentlynorthand south,the base of which issixty-sevenfeetby twenty-two. On ascendingthese,there is anirregularlanding-placeof thirty-sevenfeet byforty-four,whence springsa second flightofsteps