PERSIA. 
656 
limits of Shuragil and between the village of Mifteri, un¬ 
til it reaches the river Arpachai. 
This empire, or kingdom, is one of thofe which poflefs 
the double intereft of ancient and modern celebrity. Si¬ 
tuated near, if not actually embracing, the cradle of the 
human race, Perfia was, according to the concurrent tef- 
timony of tradition and hiftory, at an early period of the 
world a powerful empire. The ineffectual ftruggles of 
its defpotic rulers to enflave the independent republics of 
Greece, and its rapid fubjugation by the Macedonian con¬ 
queror, occupy a very prominent place in the annals of 
antiquity: while its reduction by the difciples of Maho¬ 
met, the many fubfequent inyafions of barbarous marau¬ 
ders, its frequent hoftilities with Turkey, and the com¬ 
mercial relations which long fubfilled between Perfia and 
l’ome of the European States, have in more recent ages 
rendered it an objeCt of curiolity and attention. Little, 
however, was done, till near the clofe of the feventeenth 
century, towards making the weftern world acquainted 
with a country, with the name of which all that is moll; 
attractive, elegant, and tender, in oriental literature, ro¬ 
mance, and poetry, is intimately alfociated. The work 
of the accurate Chardin then removed much of the pro¬ 
found obfcurity in which the character and manners of 
the Perfians were enveloped. That writer continued to 
be the only authority on thofe fubjeCts till the commence¬ 
ment of the prefent century ; lince which the adiduity 
bellowed by our countrymen on the Itudy of the lan¬ 
guage and letters of Perfia, our frequent interconrfe with 
that country, the repeated embattles fent to its fovereign, 
and the travels, refearches, and labours, of Oufeley, Mal¬ 
colm, Morier, Kinnier, Scott Waring, and Ker Porter, 
have furnilhed nearly as complete notions refpeCting the 
government, laws, manners, cultoms, and character, of the 
people of this empire, as we polfefs relative to thofe of 
any European nation. The reader will naturally con¬ 
clude, that, in thecompilation'of this article, the valuable 
fources of information enumerated above have not been 
negleCted. But we confefs ourfelves alfo very greatly in¬ 
debted, particularly for correCt engravings of coltume 
and character, to a work publilhed at Paris in 1814, in 
five fmall volumes, entitled “ La Perse ; ou, Tableau de 
PHiltoire, du Gouvernement, de la Religion, de la Litte- 
rature, etc. de cet Empire ; des Mceurs et Coutumes de 
fes Habitans. Par Am. Jourdain. Ouvrage orne de 
Gravures failes d'apres des Peintures Per/anes 
GENERAL HISTORY. 
From the earliest Records to the Subjugation 
of the Empire by Alexander the Great. 
The foundation of the kingdom of Iran, or Perfia, 
dates back beyond the hiltoric ages of Alia, and confe- 
quently of the whole world. Though we cannot fix with 
any degree of certainty the period of the eftablifhment of 
the four fire-worfhipping dynaities anterior to the invafion 
of the Mufl’ulmans, ftill it feems indubitable, from docu¬ 
ments recently difcovered in various Perfian hiftorians, 
that thofe dynaities were preceded by feveral others. Not- 
withftanding the obfcurity in which this fubjeCt is en¬ 
veloped, there is every reafon to fuppofe, that under thefe 
moll ancient dynaities the Perfians maintained a clofe in- 
tercourfe with the inhabitants of Upper Hindooftan, or 
even fent a colony to that country: for it would appear 
that the Perfians and Hindoos then had the fame political 
fyllem, profelfed the fame religion, aijd (poke the fame 
language. Hence, doubtlefs, arife the numerous coin¬ 
cidences that are to be found between the Zend, or an¬ 
cient Perfian language, and the Sanjkrit, the facred lan¬ 
guage of the Brahmins. 
According to the Perfians, the appellation of Iran is as 
ancient as the reign of Feridoun, one of their earlieft 
monarchs. This great prince, whofe empire had no other 
bounds than the globe, divided his dominion among his 
three foils, Salem, Touran, and Iradj. To the firft he 
allotted Alia Minor, Africa, and Europe ; to the fecond. 
the countries lying beyond the Djihoun; to the third, 
who was his favourite, the fpace comprifed between the 
Djihoun and the Euphrates, the Indian Ocean, and the 
Cafpian Sea. Thefe different kingdoms were named after 
their princes ; and Perfia was called Iran, either after 
Iradj, who was alfo named Tran, or after his motherlran- 
dokt. The countries beyond the Oxus received the de¬ 
nomination of Touran. Such is the origin of the names 
of Iran and Touran which fo frequently occur in oriental 
authors. This partition bears a ftriking refemblance to 
that of Noah, who divided the earth between his three 
fons, Shem, Ham, and Japhet. 
Whatever hand the imagination or the national vanity 
of the Perfians may have had in this etymology, fo much 
at lead is certain, that the term Iran is of very high anti¬ 
quity : it occurs in the Safianian infcriptions on the mo¬ 
numents of Nakfhee Rouftam, in the facred books of the 
Perfees, where it is fometimes w’ritten Earaneh, and is 
probably the Elam of the Bible, a name which feems to 
defignate Perfia. 
Herodotus calls its inhabitants Cephenes; and in very 
ancient times the people are faid to have called themfelves 
Artcei, and the country wdiere they dwelt Artcea. In the 
books of Daniel, Efdras, See. it is called by the names of 
Pars, Pharas, or Ears, whence the modern name of 
Perjla; but whence thofe names have been derived, is 
now uncertain. 
That Perfia was originally peopled by Elam the fon of- 
Shem, has been very generally admitted ; but the truth 
is, that of the ancient hiftory of this diftinguiflied empire 
very little is perfectly known. For this ignorance, which 
at firft feems ftrangeffatisfaftory reafons may eafily be af- 
figned; of which the principal are the fuperficial know¬ 
ledge of the Greeks and Jews, and the lofs of Perfian ar¬ 
chives or hillorical compofitions. “ That the Grecian 
writers before Xenophon had no acquaintance with Perfia, 
and that their accounts of it are wholly fabulous, is a pa¬ 
radox too extravagant to be ferioufly mentioned ; but 
(fays fir William Jones) their connexion with it in war 
or peace had been generally confined to bordering king¬ 
doms under feudatory princes; and the firft Perfian em¬ 
peror, whofe life and character they feem to have known 
with tolerable accuracy, was the great Cyrus.” Our 
learned author, however, is fo far from confidering Cyrus 
as the firft Perfian monarch, that he thinks it evident a 
powerful monarchy had fubfifted in Iran for ages before 
the acceflion of that hero; that this monarchy was called 
the Mahehedian dynafty ; and that it was in faff the oldeft 
monarchy in the world. The evidence upon which he 
refts this opinion, is the work of a Mahometan traveller, 
compiled from the books of fuch Perfians as fled from 
their country upon the innovation in religion made by 
Zoroafter : and if thefe books, of which a few ftill remain, 
be genuine,and the Mahometan a faithful compiler, fa«5ts 
of which fir William has not the fmalleft doubt, the evi¬ 
dence is certainly fufficient to bear the fuperftrudture 
which he has raifed upon it. 
If the Perfian monarchy was thus ancient, it is natural 
to fuppofe that Perfia, or Iran, was the original feat of 
the human race, whence colonies w'ere fent our, or enf- 
grated of themfelves, to people the reft of the habitable 
globe. This fuppofition is actually made by our inge¬ 
nious author, who ftrongly confirms it by remarks on the 
raoft ancient language of Perfia, which he (hows to have 
been the parent of the Sanfcrit, as well as of the Greek, 
Latin, and Gothic. He therefore holds, as a propofition 
firmly eftabliftied, “that Iran, or Perfia in its largeft 
fenfe, was the true centre of population, of knowledge, 
of languages, and of arts; which inftead of travelling 
weftward only, as it has been fancifully fuppofed, or eaft- 
ward, as might with equal reafon have been aflerted, 
were expanded in all directions to all the regions of the 
world.” He thinks it is from good authority that the 
Saxon Chronicle brings the firft inhabitants of Britain 
from Armenia; that the Goths have been concluded to 
come 
3 
