474 



PERSIA (HISTORY.) 



which isat presenta monopoly of the government. The 

 commerce, which is considerable, is chiefly carried on 

 by caravans to India, Turkey, and Arabia. The navi- 

 gation of the Persian gulf is mostly in the hands of 

 BMtgnen. The navigation of the Caspian sea is 

 open to the Russians and Persians ; but the latter, 

 by the terms of the treaty of 1828, are excluded 

 from maintaining ships of war in its waters. Arts 

 and sciences 'are held in esteem, but are by no means 

 in a flourishing condition. The study of the Koran, 

 divination, astrology, a sort of ethics, medicine, and 

 poetry, are the chief departments of education. The 

 style of architecture is simple, sculpture almost un- 

 known, the music detestable. The government is 

 an absolute despotism; at the head of it is the shah, 

 with unlimited power. Jaubert estimated his income 

 at 2,250,000. The twelve provinces into which 

 the kingdom is divided are governed by khans. The 

 nomadic tribes enjoy a sort of independence under 

 their chiefs, and form the main body of the military 

 force. Abbas Miraa, the heir apparent, has endea- 

 voured to form troops with the European discipline. 

 Persia has no naval force, owing partly to a want of 

 ship-timber. The largest town is Ispahan, formerly 

 one of the principal cities of Asia, now much re- 

 duced. The capital is Teheran (50,000 inhabitants 

 in winter; 10,000 in summer.) 



History The history of Persia first emerges from 

 the obscurity of antiquity with Cyrus. The dynasty 

 of the Mahabads is mentioned by Oriental writers as 

 the first. It was followed by that of the Pishdadians 

 (coeval with our Assyrian empire). After the Pish- 

 dadians, the Kajanides ruled for 718 years. Gustasp 

 (Hystaspes), the Median Cyaxares, or his contempo- 

 rary, under whom Zerdusht (Zoroaster) lived, belongs 

 to the uncertain time before Cyrus. With Cyrus, 

 559 529 B. C., began the period of Persian power 

 in the West. By uniting the Persians and Medes 

 under his sceptre, he made them the ruling nation in 

 Western Asia; he conquered Crresus, took Babylon, 

 and reduced Asia Minor. He was succeeded by his 

 son Cambyses (529 522), who conquered Tyre, 

 Cyprus, and Egypt. After him, a Magian ruled for 

 a short time, who gave himself out as Smerdis, 

 brother of Cambyses. He was dethroned, and Da- 

 rius Hystaspes obtained the crown by lot, or the 

 choice of his colleagues (521 487 B. C.) He re- 

 duced the revolted kingdom of Babylon, and sub- 

 dued Thrace, Macedonia, (512 B.C.), and a small 

 part of India; but his attempt to conquer the Scy- 

 thians beyond the Danube was unsuccessful. He 

 reduced the Greek colonies in Asia Minor, which 

 had attempted to shake off the Persian yoke (501 

 B.C.) ; but he was unfortunate in his war against 

 the European Greeks, and Egypt revolted from him. 

 His son Xerxes (487467 B. C.) effected the sub- 

 mission of Egypt, but was defeated by the Greeks 

 on the field of Marathon and at Salamis, and was 

 obliged to defend himself against their attacks in a 

 disastrous war. Under Artaxerxes Longimanus, the 

 Ahasuerus of the Scriptures (until 425 B. C.), the 

 first symptoms of decline became visible. Egypt 

 again revolted, and was again conquered, after a 

 bloody struggle. The Greek war terminated disad- 

 vantageously in 449 B. C. (See Cimon.) Megabyzus 

 excited a dangerous insurrection. The wc;ik king 

 was governed by his mother and wife. The next 

 changes of government were rapid and violent. 

 Xerxes II., his only legitimate son, was murdered, 

 after a reign of forty-five days, by his natural brother 

 Sogdianus, who suffered the same fate six months 

 afterwards, by the hands of another illegitimate son 

 of Artaxerxes, Ochus, who assumed the name of 

 Darius II., and reigned until 404 B.C., under the 

 influence of his wile Parysatis. The revolts of his 



satraps hastened the decline of the empire, and thr 

 Persians were obliged to. acknowledge independent 

 kings in Egypt. But the internal troubles in Greece, 

 of which the Persians artfully took advantage, saved 

 them, for a time, from a united attack by the Greeks. 

 Artaxerxes II., Memnon, or Mnemon (until 361 

 B.C.), was entirely under the influence of his mother, 

 Parysatis. His brother Cyrus, supported by 10,000 

 Greeks under Xenophon, attempted to dethrone 

 him, (400 B. C.), but was defeated and killed. 

 Domestic dissensions obliged the Lacedaemonians 

 to abandon their advantages in Asia Minor, and to 

 conclude the disadvantageous peace of Antalcidas 

 (387 B. C.) Artaxerxes III., Ochus (until 338 

 B. C.), son of Mnemon, secured his throne by 

 putting to death his numerous brothers. He re- 

 covered Egypt (350 B. C.) ; but his eunuch, 

 Bagoas, poisoned him on account of his cruelty, 

 successively murdered all his sons, and gave the 

 crown to Darius Codomannus, a prince of the 

 blood, who was conquered by Alexander in three 

 decisive actions, on the Granicus, at Issus, and 

 Gaugamela, and lost his life (330 B. C.) ; after 

 which Alexander made himself master of the whole 

 empire (329 B. C.) On the dissolution of the 

 Macedonian empire, after the death of Alexander 

 (323), the Seleucides (see Seleucus) ruled over Persia 

 until 246 B. C. They were succeeded by the 

 Arsacides, who founded the empire of the Parthians, 

 which existed until 229 A. D. Ardshir Babekan 

 (Artaxerxes) then obtained the sovereignty of Cen- 

 tral Asia, and left it to his descendants, the Sassa- 

 nides, who ruled 407 years. With them begins, 

 according to Hammer, the romantic character of 

 Persian chivalry ; and the six most renowned rulers 

 of this dynasty, among whom are Behramgur, 

 Chosroes, Parwis, and Nushirvan, are the subjects 

 of Persian romances. Ardshir, son of Sassan, ruled 

 from 218 to 241. The wars which he carried on 

 with the Romans were continued under his successor, 

 Shapur (Sapor I., until 271), against Gordian and 

 Valerian (the latter of whom fell into the hands of 

 Sapor, and was treated in a most revolting manner), 

 and were not terminated until the peace of king 

 Narses with Diocletian (303). When Sapor the 

 Great (from 309 to 380) had become of full age, 

 the empire aga'n recovered strength. He punished 

 the Arabs for Uieir incursions, and took the king of 

 Yemen prisoner, and demanded from the emperor of 

 Constantinople the cession of all the country to the 

 Strymon, as Ardshir had once done. Constantine 

 the Great, Constantine II., and Julian resisted his 

 demands ; but Jovian purchased peace by a cession 

 of the five provinces in question and the fortress of 

 Nisibis. Sapor also extended his conquests into 

 Tartary and India. War and peace successively 

 followed, without any important events, .after the 

 death of Sapor. Under Artaxerxes II. (until 383), 

 Sapor III. (until 388), and Vararanes IV. (until 

 399), the empire flourished. Arabs, Huns, and 

 Turks successively appear on the field, as allies or 

 enemies of Persia. Yezdegerd I. (until 420), a friend 

 of the Christians, conquered Armenia in 412. In 

 the year 420, Vararanes V. ascended the throne by 

 the aid of the Arabs. He was victorious against 

 Theodosius II., defeated the Huns who invaded hig 

 empire, and conquered the kingdom of Yemen. He 

 was succeeded by Vararanes VI. (until 457) and 

 Hormisda* III. In the year 457, Firus (Pheroses) 

 ascended the throne by the assistance of the Huns, 

 but afterwards made war against them, and lost his 

 life in battle in 483. Valens, or Balash (from 488 to 

 491) was stripped of a part of his territories by the 

 Huns, and obliged to pay them a tribute for two 

 years. The Sassanides, however, soon regained 



