lO 



NA TURE 



[January 24, 1901 



Himalayas. Streams of migrations have passed through this 

 district, tt» be caught up into ethnological eddies of which 

 written history is incompetent, by itself, to unravel their intricate 

 movements and blendings. 



There is insufficient evidence concerning the physical type or 

 types of the ancient inhabitants of Persia, but one predominant 

 primitive Persian type resembled that of the ancient Hindus, 

 that is, both were long-headed (dolichocephalic), narrow-faced 

 (leptoprosop), with long, thin noses (leptorhine). They also 

 had skulls of but slight height, which were flattened above. In 

 all these respects these Persians of the time of the Achaemenian 

 dynasty resembled the Macedonians of the time of Alexander the 

 Great, and these traits are also represented on Greek coins of 

 the archaic style. 



Nearly two hundred years later we again meet with this 

 ancient form of skull, but with slight modifications. On the 

 very beautiful sarcophagus from Sidon is represented a battle 

 (? of Arbele) between Macedonians led by Alexander and 

 Persians under Mazaios, one of the bravest of the generals of 

 Darius. The main differences between the physical characters 

 of these two nations consist in the head of the Persians being 

 higher and the forehead broader and more vertical than that of 

 the Macedonians. The latter were still characterised by a 

 rather low, flat head, by a rather retreating forehead, and often 

 with prominent supra-ciliary ridges and a well-marked nasal 

 notch. The nose of the Persian is very delicate, but inclined to 

 be arched. Their beautiful eyes are more sunken, but less widely 

 open than those of the Greeks. This superb monument has the 

 inestimable advantage of retaining some of its original coloration, 

 and all the Persians, like the Macedonians, had fair or red 

 hair. 



Fig. t.— Coin of Kadphises II., King of the Kushans ; circ. 55 a.d. 



On the road from Nineveh to Ecbatana is a most interesting 

 bas-relief, carved on the face of a rock by Darius to commemorate 

 his victories over ten kings and princes, whose portraits are 

 carved, and we have portraits of Semites, Persians, a Mede, 

 Magian, Armenian and Sacian. Behind Darius are represented 

 two Achaemenian Persians, who have a gently-curved cranial 

 vault, a high forehead and a curved nose with a slightly 

 flattened tip. The Magian, who is also a Western Persian, is 

 broad-headed. Dolichocephalism is predominant among the 

 Iranians of this period, and more so among the Eastern 

 Iranians. 



A gradual transformation of the Persian type was accom- 

 plished in the interval between the downfall of the dynasty of 

 the Achaemenids and the accession of that of the Sassanids {i.e. 

 from 328 B.C. to 240 A.D. ). The heightening and shortening of 

 the head, amongst other characters that affected the old Iranian 

 type, was due either to the slow substitution by a very brachy- 

 cephalic pre-existing population or to infiltration from neigh- 

 bouring countries. Ujfalvy points out that the first of these 

 hypotheses is without any historical foundation, although one 

 would expect to find representatives of the alpine race in Iran at 

 that period, so for the present we must rely on the second alter- 

 native. We know, from de Sarzec's excavations, that in Babylon 

 in very remote limes there was a mixture of races in which a 

 "Turanian" (Ujfalvy) element was present. This transforma- 

 tion of the Iranian type was helped by the arrival of the 

 Arsacian Parthians, wh© brought heterogeneous peoples in 

 their train. 



A study of the coins of the Parthian kings of the dynasty of 

 the Arsaces also reveals an interesting series of changes. The 

 aryanised tatar type of the first three Arsaces was transformed 

 in the fifth Arsace (Mithridates I., 174-136 B.C.) by a mixture 

 of races of which we have historical evidence, and the skull 

 became elongated and flattened ; but we find Mithridates III. 

 (Arsace XI.), 60-56 B.C., with a very short and excessively high 

 skull, which was retained till the end of the dynasty in 227 a.d. 

 Nevertheless, all through the series the face was practically un- 

 changed. The Chinese annalist, Ma-touan-lin, says of the A-si 

 (Parthians), "they marry their elder and younger sisters and 

 even their m.others in the same manner as animals," and Lucian 

 uses an identical phrase. 



Other alterations of the physiognomy of the Persians were 

 shown in the very aquiline nose, widely open, sunken and 

 almond-shaped eyes. One very typical characteristic of some of 

 the Sassanidan warriors is the great height of the chin, which is 

 still to be seen among the Hadjemis of Persia. 



Among the living Tadjiks and Sarts of Central Asia, as among 

 some stocks of Afghanistan and Western Himalaya, we meet, 

 after some 2000 years, with individuals in whom the facial char- 

 acteristics, and in some cases their crania, remind one of the 

 portrait heads of the Grecian kings of Bactria and India. The 

 low height of the head among the Afghans, of the natives of 

 Kafiristan and of the Dards, the noble profile of the Pandits of 

 Kashmir, are all heirlooms from a remote time. Also the long, 

 well-formed nose of the Tadjiks, their wavy beard and crafty 

 expression of face recall the typical coins of Persian satraps. 

 These latter, as well as the Arsaces and Sassanids, appear to have 

 been leptoprosopic brachycephals, as the unmixed survivors of the 

 old Persians in India are to this day, for, after twelve centuries of 

 exile, the Parsis of Bombay retain these ancestral traits. 



When the portrait coins of the Greek kings of Bactria and 

 India are compared, there is no difficulty in seeing a racial resem- 

 blance. In the first Bactrian princes the head is low like that 

 of the typical Macedonians, in the later kings it is higher till 

 eventually the head was almost high. The prominent brow 

 ridge of the Macedonians was very persistent, but il, too, was 

 diminished in the last Bactrian kings ; the same held good for the 

 marked notch between the forehead and the nose. The pro- 

 minent, delicate nose of the early Greco-Bactrian kings became 

 short and thick ; these princes were almost exclusively leptorhine, 

 and only, last of all, became mesorhine, but were never platy- 

 rhine. The chin of the Greco-Bactrian princes was round and 

 full, but less prominent than in the Macedonians or Syrians. 

 There is a fairly regular gradation among the Greco-Bactrian 

 kings when placed in chronological order, not only in the increase 

 of the height of the head, but also in the decrease of the head- 

 length. The face, too, had a tendency to broaden and shorten, 

 for while leptoprosopy was the rule, chamaeprosopy was sporadic 

 and was found in only a few of the later Greco-Bactrian kings. 

 Thus it is evident that the purity of the royal family had been 

 impaired by marriages with women of a different stock. 



Allusion has been made to Scythians. Certain Asiastic so- 

 called Scythian nations have played an important part m 

 Western Asia, and we must now see what light monuments and 

 coins can throw on the relationships of these much-discussed 

 peoples. The three Scythian groups known as the Sacae, 

 Kushans and Epthalites constitute an instructive series. 



At the time of the Achaemenian kings, the Sacians (Sakas) 

 occupied all the regions between the lower course of the Silis 

 (laxarles) and Lake Balkash. " They," says Herodotus, " were 

 in truth Amyrgian Scythians, but the Persians called them 

 Sacae, since that is the name which they give to all the Scythians." 

 They were renowned for their bravery and wealth and were 

 recognised tributaries of Persia, and formed the advance guard 

 of the empire against the east, as they were settled in the plains 

 of Turkestan almost at the. confines of China. 



It would appear that even at this time the Sacae were a mixed 

 race, as, according to the Chinese Annals, the Sse or Sek (who 

 are identified with the Sacae) originally inhabited Southern 

 China, but they occupied Sogdiana and Transoxiana at the 

 establishment of the Greco-Bactrian monarchy. Towards 

 165 B.C. they were dislodged from Sogdiana by the Yue-tchi, 

 who themselves were flying before the Hiung-nu. The Sse 

 thus dispersed invaded Bactriana, chased in their turn from 

 Bactriana by the Yue-tchi in 120 B.C., the Sacians passed over 

 the Paropamisus (Hindu Kush) and directed their steps towards 

 Southern Afghanistan, occupying Sakastan (Seistan to 

 Arachosia) ; but a century later they were again harassed by 



NO. 1630, VOL. 63] 



