676 
PER 
new ones, the refult of experience. The kingdom 
becomes great and profperous; and it is in this reign 
that it probably reaches the utmoft elevation it is deftined 
to attain. The third monarch of the dynafty, born to a 
throne, and enervated by fenfual delights, retains the 
civil polity of his anceftors, but delegates to others the 
ruder talk of fighting his battles. He is ufually a great 
patron of literature, and aims at a different fort of fame. 
If bis talents he conliderable, his manners popular, and 
the ftate of the circumjacent countries favourable to tran¬ 
quillity, he too is fucceeded by his fon, who is probably 
the laft of the race who mounts the throne; and thefe Sa¬ 
turnian years roll round again. Such is the brief outline 
of an eaftern dynafty, on the fuppofition mod favourable 
to peace, viz. that the authority of a defpot furvives him 
long enough to regulate the fuccefiion. 
Perfia continued to be fubjeft to the Arabs till the de¬ 
cline of the Saracen empire, when it was feized by various 
ufurpers, till the time of Gengis Khan, who conquered it 
as well as almoft all the reft of Afia, See the article Hin- 
doostan, vol. x. p. 17—21. After his death, which hap¬ 
pened in the year 1226, Perfia, together with the neigh¬ 
bouring countries, w’ere governed by officers appointed 
by his fucceft’ors, who reigned at Kserakorom, in theeaft- 
ern parts of Tartary, till the year 1253, when it became 
once more the feat of a mighty empire under Hulaku the 
Mogul, who in 1256 abofifhed the caliphate, by taking 
the city of Bagdad, as related under that article, vol. ii. 
p. 618. After the death of Hulaku, his fon Abaka fuc¬ 
ceeded to his extenfive dominions; and his firft care was 
to Unit up all the avenues of his empire againft the other 
princes of the race of Gengis Khan, who reigned in dif¬ 
ferent parts of Tartary. His precautions, however, were 
of little avail; for in the very beginning of his reign he 
was invaded by Barkan Khan, of the race of Jagaty the 
fon of Gengis Khan, from Great Bukharia, with an army 
of 300,000 men. Abaka was but indifferently prepared to 
oppofefuch a formidable power ; but, happily for him, his 
antagonift died before the armies carne to an engagement, 
upon which the invaders difperfed and returned to Tar¬ 
tary. In the year 1264, Armenia and Anatolia were ra¬ 
vaged by the Mamalukes from Egypt; but they were ob¬ 
liged to fly from Abaka, who thus feemed to be eftabliflied 
in the pofieffion of an empire almoft as extenfive as that 
of the ancient Perfian kings. His tranquillity, however, 
was of fhort duration ; for, in 1268, his dominions were 
invaded by Borak Khan, a prince likewife of the race of 
Jagaty, with an army of 100,000 men. He quickly reduced 
the province of Chorafan, where he met with little oppo- 
fition, and in 1269 advanced as far as Aderbijan, where 
Abaka had the bulk of his forces. A bloody battle en¬ 
dued ; in which Abaka was victorious,and Borak obliged 
to fly into Tartary, with the lofs of all his baggage and 
great part of his army. Abaka died in 1282, after a reign 
of feventeen years, not without fufpicion of being poi- 
foned ; and was fucceeded by his brother Ahmed Khan. 
He was the firft of the family of Gengis Khan who em¬ 
braced Mahometanifm ; but neither he nor his fuccefiors 
appear to have been in the leaft verfed in the arts of go¬ 
vernment; for the Perfian hiftory, from this period, be¬ 
comes only an account of infurreCtions, murders, re¬ 
bellions, and poifonings, till the year 1335, when it fplit 
all to pieces, and was poflefled by a great number of petty 
princes ; all of whom were at perpetual war with each 
other till the time of Timour the Lame, or Tamerlane, 
who once more reduced them all under one jurifdiCtion. 
See the article Mogul, vol. xv. p. 615. 
The chief of the exploits of Tamerlane are related un¬ 
der Hindo6stan, vol. x. p. 23-32. His conquefts, in¬ 
deed, were fo numerous and extenfive, that in a w'ork of 
this kind it is impoflible they can be comprifed in one 
article. This moft celebrated of oriental conquerors, was 
born in the village of Sebzar, in the territory of Cafti, 
forty miles to the fouth of Samarcand, in the year 1336. 
His anceftors were the hereditary chiefs of that diftriH, 
S I A. 
and derived their defcent from a family related to the im¬ 
perial throne of Gengis Khan. At the time of his birth, 
anarchy prevailed in that part of the eaft; and, after a fe- 
ries of domeftic feuds, the khans of Caftigar, with an army 
of Getes, or Calmucks, invaded the kingdom of Tranf- 
oxiana. In 1357, Timour, having lately loft his father, 
put himfelf at the head of his followers for the purpofeof 
delivering his country, in which at length he fucceeded ; 
and was then, at a general diet, in 1370, feated on the 
throne of Zagatai, at the city of Balk ; after which he re¬ 
paired to Samarcand, which he made the feat of his em¬ 
pire. But this elevation, fo far from fatisfying his am¬ 
bition, only opened farther profpefts to it. In fome fuc- 
ceeding yeat;s he reunited to Zagatai its former depen - 
dencies, Charizm and Candahar. He next turned his 
attention to the kingdom of Iran, or Perfia, then divided, 
as we have juft remarked, among feveral ufurpers. He 
firft reduced to fubmiflion Tbrahim prince of Shirwan. 
He then attacked Shah Manfour, prince of Fars, or Perfia 
Proper, whom he defeated in a bloody battle under the 
walls of Shiraz, in which Manfour was flain ; and the ex¬ 
tirpation of all his male progeny fecured the conqueft. 
From Shiraz his troops advanced to the Perfian gulf, and 
the rich city of Ormuz efcaped deftruftion by the payment 
of a large contribution. Tamerlane then pafled as a con¬ 
queror through the whole courfe of the Tigris and Eu¬ 
phrates from their mouth to their fources; entered Edefla, 
and reduced the Chriftians in the mountains of Georgia. 
He now refolved to retaliate upon the Getes their invafion 
of his native country ; and, paffing the Sihoon, he fubdued 
the kingdom of Caftigar, and marched feven times into 
the heart of their territory. In his expeditions he pene¬ 
trated to the diftance of 480 leagues to the north.eaft of 
Samarcand, and his emirs crofted the river Irtifh into Si¬ 
beria. Kipzak, or Weftern Tartary, was another great 
fcene of his actions. ToCIamifti, a fugitive prince of that 
country, had been entertained in his court, and was fent 
back with an army which eftabliflied him in the Mogul 
empire of the north. After a reign of ten years he turned 
againft his benefactor, and with a mighty army entered 
Perfia through the gates of Derbend, pafled the Sihoon, 
burnt the palaces of Tamerlane, and obliged him to con¬ 
tend for his capital and empire. ToCiamilh was defeated, 
and his infult was retaliated by two invafions of Kipzak, 
with fuch mighty liofts that the wings of Tamerlane’s 
army w'ere thirteen miles afunder. After a march of five 
months through traCfs in which the footfteps of man were 
rarely beheld, ToCtamifh was again encountered and 
routed. The purfuit carried the conqueror into the tri¬ 
butary provinces of Rulfia; and a duke of the reigning fa¬ 
mily was made captive in the ruins of Yeletz, his capital. 
In 1398, his infatiable ambition inftigated him to the 
invafion of the rich country of Hindooftan, where the 
loubahs of the provinces were in a ftate of rebellion 
againft the weak fultan Mahmood. He advanced to 
Dehli, overthrew the oppofing army of Mahmood with its 
elephants, and made a triumphal entry into that capital, 
which he defolated with pillage and maflacre. He had 
already made prodigious facrifices of infidels and idolaters 
to his religious zeal; but, refolving ftill further to merit 
the rewards due to viCtors in a holy war, he advanced a 
hundred miles to the north-eaft of Dehli, palled the 
Ganges, and in various addons flaughtered great numbers 
of the Guebres, or fire-worfhippers. 
When on the banks of the Ganges, he was informed of 
great difturbances on the confines of Georgia and Ana¬ 
tolia, of the revolt of the Chriftians, and of the ambitious 
projects of the Turkilh fultan Bajazet. He thereupon 
gave orders to his commanders to return in feparate bo¬ 
dies by the routes marked out for them, diftributed rich 
prefents among them and the Indian lords who had ac¬ 
companied him, and, quitting the main army, baftened 
back to Samarcand. After lome months of repofe, he 
proclaimed a feven-years’ expedition to the weftern parts 
of Afia, granting to thofe who had ferved in India their 
option 
