554 
FIFTH BAS-RELIEF. 
Ardashir, the son of Babeck, is recorded (Desatir B. of Shet 
Sassan,) to have restored the Kaianian race, or line of Cyrus, by 
his descent from Isfundeer, the celebrated Xerxes. Khond-emir 
gives this account of the genealogy of Ardashir : “ Sassan, the 
brother of Artaxerxes (Longimanus), and therefore son to Is¬ 
fundeer, on some family jealousy, left his native country, and 
retired into the mountains of Hinde, there to pass his life in 
seclusion. One of his sons, wishing to see the land of his father, 
besought his permission to visit it; and when there, he became 
so attached to it, that he entered into the service of a Persian 
nobleman called Babeck, who governed a province under the 
Parthian king, Ardavan. The governor finding the youth full 
of spirit and bravery, gave him his daughter in marriage; the 
fruit of the union was Ardashir; who, in gratitude to his ma¬ 
ternal grandfather, took the surname himself of Babigan; but 
in honour of his paternal grandfather Sassan, by whose blood 
the ancient royal race was renewed, the dy nasty assumed the 
title of the Sassanian line.” 
Ardashir (who was known to the Bomans by the name of Ar¬ 
taxerxes) revolted from Ardavan (Artabanes), and by his defeat 
and death destroyed the last of the Parthian kings. He like¬ 
wise reinstated the religion of Zerdusht in its original purity; 
the Parthians having much debased it by the introduction of the 
Grecian rites and deities. This circumstance, of mingling reli¬ 
gions, may account for the change in the name of the same god, 
in these inscriptions; in one of them the word A<oj being sub¬ 
stituted for that of Ormuzd. This divine being, according to 
the doctrine of the Magi, is the Spirit of Good , created by the 
Supreme God, the All-controuling Power beyond Jupiter him¬ 
self, which the Greeks and Romans denominated Fate. It is 
