Chap. IL 
ej the 'Empire of Persia. 
007 
i 
SECTION V. 
A Succinfit View of the Perfian Hiftory, from the earlieft Ac^counts 
down to the prelent Time ; in which is contained a concife Repre- 
lentation of the feveral remarkable Revolutions in that EmpifCj an- 
cient and modern, the Conquefts thereof by feveral Nations, and 
the Succeflion of their relpeilive Monarchs, lb far as is rfeceflary to 
illuftrate what has been delivered in the foregoing Sebfions. 
ColkBed as well from the Oriental Writers, as from the Greek and Latin Hijlorians, 
I. An IntroduSiory Account of the Nature and Defgn of the following View of the Perfian Hi /lory ^ and 
of the State of that Nation in the ear lief Times, according to their own Hiforians. 2. Of the Perfian 
Empire, confidered as the fecond of the four great Monarchies, from the Origin thereof under Cyrus, 
to its DeflruBion by the Greeks. 3. Of the Invafion and Conquef of Perfia by the Macedonians, and 
of the Situation of Affairs after the Death of Alexander the Great. 4. Of the Revival of the Per- 
fim or Parthian Empire by Schapour or Sapores, to the intire DeftriiSiion of the ancient Perfians, un^ 
der the Reign of Jefdegerde Shehriar, the laf of their Monarchs. 5. The Conquef of Perfia by the 
Arabs or Saracens, under their Caliph Moavia ; and of the Time they pofeffed this great Country, down 
to the lafKhalif 3^ Bagdad. 6. The Conquef of Perfia by the Mogul Tartars, and the Succeffon of their 
Princes, fo long as they pofefjed or claimed this Country. 7. The great Irruption of that Tribe of Tuvco^ 
mans, difinguijhed by the Title Kara Kiiyonlu, i. e. of the Black-Sheep, and of the Time they remained in 
Fofejjion of Perfia. 8 . Of another Tribe of Turcomans, fiiled Aku Kuyonlu, i.e. of the White-Sheep, 
and of their Dominion in this Country. 9. Of Shah Ifhmael Sefi, the Fomider of the late Imperial 
Family, and the Succeffon of his Defendants down to Shah Abbas III. who was crowned in his Cradle 
by Thamas Kouli Kan. 10. A brief Account of the Hidory of Shah Nadir, from his firf Appearance 
in the JVorld to the Time of his being murdered. 1 1. An Account of Ali Kuli Kan, now filed Adi 
Shah, the prefent P off e for of the Perfian Monarchy, with fome Remarks on the principal Events that 
fall within the Compafs of this Sediion. 
1. ^ M ^PIE ancient Hiftories of all Nations are, 
§ generally fpeaking, intermix’d with Fables, 
P notwithftanding which the Knowledge of 
-jM.- them is of great Ufe, becaufe the Anti- 
quities of every Country are grounded upon thefe tradi- 
tional Hiftories, and without being competently verfed 
in them, even modern Relations are full oi Doubts and 
Difficulties •, and this we know experimently, not only 
by the Perufal of Greek and Roman Authors, but from 
our own Hiftory, which, how obfcure foever in its Ori- 
ginal, has notwithftanding been efteemed worth know- 
ing, and even worth the Pains of being fifted thoroughly 
by the moft learned and intelligent Perfons. It is very 
true, that the modern Perfian Hiftorians are of a very 
late Date, in Comparifon of thofe Times to which 
their Hiftories refer •, but then it is to be confidered, that 
they tranfcribe from their Neighbours the Tartars, who 
though it may found harffi in our Ears, have always had 
amongft them very ancient and authentick Records, and 
from the Books of the Perfees, or primitive Inhabitants 
of Perfia, whofe Writings deferve as much Credit as 
thofe of any Eaflern Nation whatever. According to 
them the moft ancient Monarchy of this Country began 
in the Province of Aderleijan, or Media, where the 
People, weary of enduring thofe Evils that are infepara- 
ble from Anarchy, made choice of Kayomars for their 
Sovereign. This Kayomars, if we may depend upon 
their Accounts, was the Son of Aram, the Son of Sbem, 
the Son of Noah, and confequently his Monarchy began 
at no great Diftance of Time from the Flood. If there 
was nothing in their Hiftory more extravagant than this, 
it might perhaps be well enough defended 5 but all that 
they relate afterwards, of the Succeffion of his Defen- 
dants, whom they reckon Eleven in Number, is fo fidi- 
tious, that little or no Credit can be given to it *, they 
ftile this their firft Dynafly, the Pifchdad'ians from Houf- 
chenk, the fecond Monarch, Grandfon of Kayomar, who 
from his ftriCt Regard to Juftice, had the Sirname of 
Pifhdad, which is to fay, the Juft, or rather the great 
Diftributer of Juftice. The laft Monarch of this Line 
was Guflash, which is the fame Name that the Greeks 
call Byftafpes ; it is not eafy to give any Account of 
thefe ancient Monarchs, fo as to reconcile them with 
other Hiftories, but in general it may be affirmed with- 
out Prejudice to the Truth, that under this firft Race of 
their Monarchs, the ancient Perfians comprehended all 
the Princes that ruled in their Country, before the Age 
in which Cyrus was born ; fo that this may be properly 
filled, the fabulous or obfcure Age in the Perfian Hil- 
tory, taking in all the Time, from the Flood to the 
Empire of the Medes, who as other Hiftories better 
known to us record, had once the Sovereignty over 
Alia. 
2. The fecond Race of the Perfian Monarchs is, by 
by their Hiftorians called, the Dynatiy of the Kanites ; 
and this is, ftridly fpeaking, that Race of the Perfian 
Kings, recorded by the Greek Hiftorians, who reckon up 
twelve, and allow them to have reigned all together 
two hundred and fix Years, that is, from Cyrus, who 
began his Reign five hundred thirty fix Years befortii 
Chrift, to Darius Codomanus, who ended his three hun- 
dred and thirty Years before Chrift. It muft be allow- 
ed, that there is a very wide and almoft irreconcilea- 
ble Difference between the Greek and Perfian Hiftori- 
ans, with Regard to this Period of Time, and the Ac- 
tions of thefe Princes, as the inquifitive Reader may dif- 
cover, by perufing their Accounts diftinclly ftated in 
the Univerfal Hiftory, the nobleft and moft comprehen- 
five Work of its kind, that has appeared in our own, 
or in any other Language. 
The only Fabt in which thefe two Hiftories feem to- 
lerably to accord, is in the Appearance of the great 
Perfian Legifiator, whom in their Language, they call 
Zerdulht, and whom the Greeks ftile Zoroafler : He 
flourifhed, according fo both Hiftories, under the Reign 
of Guftasb or Darius Hyjiafpes, who began his Reign 
in the Year before Chrift P'lve hundred and twenty 
two. It was this -great Man Zerdufiht, who modelled 
and, 
