The History of Antiquity Volume V Part 16

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 G.o.d 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, pa.s.ses 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 princ.i.p.al 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 n.o.ble 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 n.o.bles.

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 succ.u.mbs 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 p.r.o.nounces a blessing on Vistacpa, in Firdusi he p.r.o.nounces 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 Pa.r.s.ees: "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 succ.u.mbs, but by his success the victor has p.r.o.nounced 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 pa.s.s 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 n.o.bles in Mazanderan a.s.sume the name Div as a t.i.tle of honour. A large family of n.o.bles in Sejestan call themselves Kaanids, 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 pa.s.sed beyond Iran, and survives on the Malabar coast.

Every day the Pa.r.s.ees 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 Pa.r.s.ees 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 d.a.m.ned, 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 Pa.r.s.ee 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 Pa.r.s.ee must wash himself and p.r.o.nounce the prayer "Ahuna-vairya," and after eating, the prayer "King Ormuzd." When the Pa.r.s.ee 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 s.e.xual 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 Pa.r.s.ee 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] Flugel, "Mani," s. 407; Mohl, "Livre des Rois," Intro. Mordtmann, "Z. D. M. G." 19, 485 ff; Noldeke, "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 sh.o.r.es 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 surpa.s.ses 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 a.s.sume 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 n.o.ble 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 a.s.shur 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 G.o.ds 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 a.s.syria 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 surpa.s.sed 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-pa.s.s 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 G.o.ds, 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 t.i.tle under which the G.o.ds 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 G.o.ds, the name Bagistana means the abode of the G.o.ds. The district may have been held peculiarly sacred by the Medes, or the name may have been intended to express their grat.i.tude 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 a.s.shur, 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 a.s.syria (II. 3 ff). Herodotus'

account is as follows: "When the a.s.syrians 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 a.s.syrians, 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 p.r.o.nounce 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 a.s.sisted 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 a.s.syrians, 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 a.s.syria 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 a.s.shur, down to his thirty-sixth successor, Arbaces, the viceroy of Media, with Belesys, the viceroy of Babylonia, revolted from the a.s.syrian king. The kingdom of a.s.syria 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 a.s.shur.

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 a.s.syrian 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 a.s.syria 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 a.s.syrians, Herodotus tells us that Sennacherib marched against Egypt, and a.s.serts that for 75 years after the accession of Deioces, "the a.s.syrians 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 a.s.syrians 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 a.s.sign 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 mult.i.tude. 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 a.s.syria, 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 a.s.syria, _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 a.s.syrians 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 a.s.syrian 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 a.s.shur and Babel, restored the supremacy of a.s.syria 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 a.s.syrian 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 a.s.surbanipal, _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 a.s.syrian 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 a.s.shur (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 a.s.shur, went down into the land of Parsua, and laid tribute on the land of Parsua, "which did not worship a.s.shur," obtained possession of the cities, and sent their people and treasures into the land of a.s.syria.[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 a.s.syria; 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 a.s.syria 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 a.s.syria. In the year 713 B.C. he marched against Bit Dayauku, reduced the chief districts of Media, which had cast off the yoke of a.s.syria, and received tribute from forty-five Median chiefs; 4609 horses, a.s.ses, 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 a.s.shur; 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, a.s.ses, as rich booty to a.s.syria." "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 a.s.syria--them the fear of a.s.shur, 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. a.s.surbanipal, 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]