Next to
Carmania
is Persis.
Strabo
A pyre was raised, and a golden couch placed
upon it. He laid down upon it, and covering himself up, was burnt to
death.
Others say, that a chamber was constructed of wood, which was filled
with the leaves of trees, and a pyre being raised upon the roof, he was
shut up in it, according to his directions, after the procession, with
which he had been accompanied, had arrived at the spot. He threw himself
upon the pyre, and was consumed like a log of wood, together with the
chamber.
Megasthenes says, that self-destruction is not a dogma of the
philosophers, and that those who commit this act are accounted
fool-hardy; that some, who are by nature harsh, inflict wounds upon
their bodies, or cast themselves down precipices; those who are
impatient of pain drown themselves; those who can endure pain strangle
themselves; and those of ardent tempers throw themselves into the fire.
Of this last description was Calanus, who had no control over himself,
and was a slave to the table of Alexander. Calanus is censured, while
Mandanis is applauded. When Alexander’s messengers invited the latter to
come to the son of Jove, promising a reward if he would comply, and
threatening punishment if he refused, he answered, “Alexander was not
the son of Jove, for he did not govern even the smallest portion of the
earth; nor did he himself desire a gift of one who[399] was satisfied
with nothing. Neither did he fear his threats, for as long as he lived
India would supply him with food enough; and when he died, he should be
delivered from the flesh wasted by old age, and be translated to a
better and purer state of existence. ” Alexander commended and pardoned
him.
69. Historians also relate that the Indians worship Jupiter Ombrius (or,
the Rainy), the river Ganges, and the indigenous deities of the country;
that when the king washes his hair,[400] a great feast is celebrated,
and large presents are sent, each person displaying his wealth in
competition with his neighbour.
They say, that some of the gold-digging myrmeces (ants) have wings; and
that the rivers, like those of Iberia,[401] bring down gold-dust.
In processions at their festivals, many elephants are in the train,
adorned with gold and silver, numerous carriages drawn by four horses
and by several pairs of oxen; then follows a body of attendants in full
dress, (bearing) vessels of gold, large basins and goblets, an
orguia[402] in breadth, tables, chairs of state, drinking-cups, and
lavers of Indian copper, most of which were set with precious stones, as
emeralds, beryls, and Indian carbuncles; garments embroidered and
interwoven with gold; wild beasts, as buffaloes,[403] panthers, tame
lions, and a multitude of birds of variegated plumage and of fine song.
Cleitarchus speaks of four-wheeled carriages bearing trees with large
leaves, from which were suspended (in cages) different kinds of tame
birds, among which the orion[404] was said to possess the sweetest note,
but the catreus[405] was the most beautiful in appearance, and had the
most variegated plumage. In shape it approached nearest to the peacock,
but the rest of the description must be taken from Cleitarchus.
70. Opposed to the Brachmanes there are philosophers, called Pramnæ,
contentious people, and fond of argument. They ridicule the Brachmanes
as boasters and fools for occupying themselves with physiology and
astronomy. Some of the Pramnæ are called Pramnæ of the mountains, others
Gymnetæ, others again are called Townsmen and Countrymen. [CAS. 719]
The Pramnæ of the mountains wear deer-skins, and carry scrips filled
with roots and drugs; they profess to practise medicine by means of
incantations, charms, and amulets.
The Gymnetæ, as their name imports, are naked and live chiefly in the
open air, practising fortitude for the space of thirty-seven years; this
I have before mentioned; women live in their society, but without
cohabitation. The Gymnetæ are held in singular estimation.
71. The (Pramnæ) Townsmen are occupied in civil affairs, dwell in
cities, and wear fine linen, or (as Countrymen they live) in the fields,
clothed in the skins of fawns or antelopes. In short, the Indians wear
white garments, white linen and muslin, contrary to the accounts of
those who say that they wear garments of a bright colour; all of them
wear long hair and long beards, plait their hair, and bind it with a
fillet.
72. Artemidorus says that the Ganges descends from the Emoda mountains
and proceeds towards the south; when it arrives at the city Ganges,[406]
it turns to the east, and keeps this direction as far as
Palibothra,[407] and the mouth by which it discharges itself into the
sea. He calls one of the rivers which flow into it Œdanes,[408] which
breeds crocodiles and dolphins. Some other circumstances besides are
mentioned by him, but in so confused and negligent a manner that they
are not to be regarded. To these accounts may be added that of Nicolaus
Damascenus.
73. This writer states that at Antioch, near Daphne,[409] he met with
ambassadors from the Indians, who were sent to Augustus Cæsar. It
appeared from the letter that several persons were mentioned in it, but
three only survived, whom he says he saw. The rest had died chiefly in
consequence of the length of the journey. The letter was written in
Greek upon a skin; the import of it was, that Porus was the writer, that
although he was sovereign of six hundred kings, yet that he highly
esteemed the friendship of Cæsar; that he was willing to allow him a
passage through his country, in whatever part he pleased, and to assist
him in any undertaking that was just.
Eight naked servants, with girdles round their waists, and fragrant with
perfumes, presented the gifts which were brought. The presents were a
Hermes (i. e. a man) born without arms, whom I have seen, large snakes,
a serpent ten cubits in length, a river tortoise of three cubits in
length, and a partridge (? ) larger than a vulture. They were accompanied
by the person, it is said, who burnt himself to death at Athens. This is
the practice with persons in distress, who seek escape from existing
calamities, and with others in prosperous circumstances, as was the case
with this man. For as everything hitherto had succeeded with him, he
thought it necessary to depart, lest some unexpected calamity should
happen to him by continuing to live; with a smile, therefore, naked,
anointed, and with the girdle round his waist, he leaped upon the pyre.
On his tomb was this inscription,—ZARMANOCHEGAS,[410] AN INDIAN, A
NATIVE OF BARGOSA,[411] HAVING IMMORTALIZED HIMSELF ACCORDING TO THE
CUSTOM OF HIS COUNTRY, HERE LIES.
CHAPTER II.
ARIANA.
1. Next to India is Ariana, the first portion of the country subject to
the Persians, lying beyond[412] the Indus, and the first [CAS. 720] of
the higher satrapies without the Taurus. [413] On the north it is bounded
by the same mountains as India, on the south by the same sea, and by the
same river Indus, which separates it from India. It stretches thence
towards the west as far as the line drawn from the Caspian Gates[414] to
Carmania,[415] whence its figure is quadrilateral.
The southern side begins from the mouths of the Indus, and from
Patalene, and terminates at Carmania and the mouth of the Persian Gulf,
by a promontory projecting a considerable distance to the south. It then
makes a bend towards the gulf in the direction of Persia.
The Arbies, who have the same name as the river Arbis,[416] are the
first inhabitants we meet with in this country. They are separated by
the Arbis from the next tribe, the Oritæ, and according to Nearchus,
occupy a tract of sea-coast of about 1000 stadia in length; this country
also is a part of India. Next are the Oritæ, a people governed by their
own laws. The voyage along the coast belonging to this people extends
1800 stadia, that along the country of the Ichthyophagi, who follow
next, extends 7400 stadia; that along the country of the Carmani as far
as Persia, 3700 stadia. The whole number of stadia is 13,900.
2. The greater part of the country inhabited by the Ichthyophagi is on a
level with the sea. No trees, except palms and a kind of thorn, and the
tamarisk, grow there. There is also a scarcity of water, and of food
produced by cultivation. Both they and their cattle subsist upon fish,
and are supplied by rain water and wells. The flesh of the animals has
the smell of fish. Their dwellings are built with the bones of large
whales and shells, the ribs furnishing beams and supports, and the
jaw-bones, door-ways. The vertebral bones serve as mortars in which
fish, which have been previously dried in the sun, are pounded. Of this,
with the addition of flour, cakes are made; for they have grinding mills
(for corn), although they have no iron. This however is not so
surprising, because it is possible for them to import it from other
parts. But how do they hollow out the mills again, when worn away? with
the same stones, they say, with which their arrows and javelins, which
are hardened in the fire, are sharpened. Some fish are dressed in ovens,
but the greater part is eaten raw. The fish are taken in nets made of
the bark of the palm.
3. Above the Ichthyophagi is situated Gedrosia,[417] a country less
exposed to the heat of the sun than India, but more so than the rest of
Asia. As it is without fruits and water, except in summer, it is not
much better than the country of the Ichthyophagi. But it produces
aromatics, particularly nard and myrrh, in such quantity, that the army
of Alexander used them on the march for tent coverings and beds; they
thus breathed an air full of odours, and at the same time more
salubrious.
The summer was purposely chosen for leaving India, for at that season it
rains in Gedrosia, and the rivers and wells are filled, but in winter
they fail. The rain falls in the higher parts to the north, and near the
mountains: when the rivers swell, the plains near the sea are watered,
and the wells are also filled. Alexander sent persons before him into
the desert country to dig wells and to prepare stations for himself and
his fleet.
4. Having separated his forces into three divisions, he set out with one
division through Gedrosia, keeping at the utmost from the sea not more
than 500 stadia, in order to secure the coast for his fleet; but he
frequently approached the sea-side, although the beach was impracticable
and rugged. The second division he sent forward under the command of
Craterus through the interior, with a view of reducing Ariana, and of
proceeding to the same places to which he himself was directing his
march. (The third division), the fleet he intrusted to Nearchus and
Onesicritus, his master pilot, giving them orders to [CAS. 721] take up
convenient positions in following him, and to sail along the coast
parallel to his line of march.
5. Nearchus says, that while Alexander was on his march, he himself
commenced his voyage, in the autumn, about the achronical rising of the
Pleiades,[418] the wind not being before favourable. The Barbarians
however, taking courage at the departure of the king, became daring, and
attempted to throw off their subjection, attacked them, and endeavoured
to drive them out of the country. But Craterus set out from the
Hydaspes, and proceeded through the country of the Arachoti and of the
Drangæ into Carmania.
Alexander was greatly distressed throughout the whole march, as his road
lay through a barren country. The supplies of provisions which he
obtained came from a distance, and were scanty and unfrequent, so much
so that the army suffered greatly from hunger, the beasts of burden
dropped down, and the baggage was abandoned, both on the march and in
the camp. The army was saved by eating dates and the marrow of the
palm-tree. [419]
Alexander however (says Nearchus), although acquainted with the
hardships of the enterprise, was ambitious of conducting this large army
in safety, as a conqueror, through the same country where, according to
the prevailing report, Semiramis escaped by flight from India with about
twenty, and Cyrus with about seven men.
6. Besides the want of provisions, the scorching heat was distressing,
as also the deep and burning sand. In some places there were sand-hills,
so that in addition to the difficulty of lifting the legs, as out of a
pit, there were ascents and descents. It was necessary also, on account
of the watering places, to make long marches of two, four, and sometimes
even of six hundred stadia, for the most part during the night.
Frequently the encampment was at a distance of 30 stadia from the
watering places, in order that the soldiers might not be induced by
thirst to drink to excess. For many of them plunged into the water in
their armour, and continued drinking until they were drowned; when
swollen after death they floated, and corrupted the shallow water of the
cisterns. Others, exhausted by thirst, lay exposed to the sun, in the
middle of the road. They then became tremulous, their hands and their
feet shook, and they died like persons seized with cold and shivering.
Some turned out of the road to indulge in sleep, overcome with
drowsiness and fatigue; some were left behind, and perished, being
ignorant of the road, destitute of everything, and overpowered by heat.
Others escaped after great sufferings. A torrent of water, which fell in
the night time, overwhelmed and destroyed many persons, and much
baggage; a great part even of the royal equipage was swept away.
The guides, through ignorance, deviated so far into the interior, that
the sea was no longer in sight. The king, perceiving the danger,
immediately set out in search of the coast; when he had discovered it,
and by sinking wells had found water fit for drinking, he sent for the
army: afterwards he continued his march for seven days near the shore,
with a good supply of water. He then again returned into the interior.
7. There was a plant resembling the laurel, which if eaten by the beasts
of burden caused them to die of epilepsy, accompanied with foaming at
the mouth. A thorn also, the fruit of which, like gourds, strewed the
ground, and was full of a juice; if drops of it fell into the eyes of
any kind of animal it became completely blind. Many persons were
suffocated by eating unripe dates. Danger also was to be apprehended
from serpents; for on the sand-hills there grew a plant, underneath
which they crept and hid themselves. The persons wounded by them died.
The Oritæ, it was said, smeared the points of their arrows, which were
of wood hardened in the fire, with deadly poisons. When Ptolemy was
wounded and in danger of his life, a person appeared in a dream to
Alexander, and showed him a root with leaves and branches, which he told
him to bruise and place upon the wound. Alexander awoke from his dream,
and remembering the vision, searched and found the root growing in
abundance, of which both he and others made use; [CAS. 723] when the
Barbarians perceived that the antidote for the poison was discovered,
they surrendered to the king. It is probable, however, that some one
acquainted with the plant informed the king of its virtues, and that the
fabulous part of the story was invented for the purpose of flattery.
Having arrived at the palace[420] of the Gedrosii on the sixtieth day
after leaving the Ori,[421] and allowed his army a short period of rest,
he set out for Carmania.
8. The position of the southern side of Ariana is thus situated, with
reference to the sea-coast, the country of the Gedrosii and the Oritæ
lying near and above it. A great part of Gedrosia extends into the
interior until it touches upon the Drangæ, Arachoti, and Paropamisadæ,
of whom Eratosthenes speaks in the following manner: we cannot give a
better description. “Ariana,” he says, “is bounded on the east by the
Indus, on the south by the Great Sea, on the north by the Paropamisus
and the succeeding chain of mountains as far as the Caspian Gates, on
the west by the same limits[422] by which the territory of the Parthians
is separated from Media, and Carmania from Parætacene and Persia.
The breadth of the country is the length of the Indus, reckoned from the
Paropamisus as far as the mouths of that river, and amounts to 12,000,
or according to others to 13,000, stadia. The length, beginning from the
Caspian Gates, as it is laid down in Asiatic Stathmi,[423] is estimated
in two different ways. From the Caspian Gates to Alexandreia among the
Arii[424] through Parthia is one and the same road. Then a road leads in
a straight line through Bactriana, and over the pass of the mountain to
Ortospana,[425] to the meeting of the three roads from Bactra, which is
among the Paropamisadæ. The other branch turns off a little from Aria
towards the south to Prophthasia in Drangiana; then the remainder leads
as far as the confines of India and of the Indus; so that the road
through the Drangæ and the Arachoti is longer, the whole amounting to
15,300 stadia. But if we deduct 1300 stadia, we shall have the remainder
as the length of the country in a straight line, namely, 14,000 stadia;
for the length of the coast is not much less, although some persons
increase this sum by adding to the 10,000 stadia Carmania, which is
reckoned at 6000 stadia. For they seem to reckon it either together with
the gulfs, or together with the Carmanian coast within the Persian Gulf.
The name also of Ariana is extended so as to include some part of
Persia, Media, and the north of Bactria and Sogdiana; for these nations
speak nearly the same language. [426]
9. The order in which these nations are disposed is as follows. Along
the Indus are the Paropamisadæ, above whom lies the mountain
Paropamisus; then towards the south are the Arachoti; then next to these
towards the south, the Gedroseni, together with other tribes who occupy
the sea-coast; the Indus runs parallel along the breadth of these
tracts. The Indians occupy [in part][427] some of the countries situated
along the Indus, which formerly belonged to the Persians: Alexander
deprived the Ariani of them, and established there settlements of his
own. But Seleucus Nicator gave them to Sandrocottus in consequence of a
marriage contract, and received in return five hundred elephants.
The Arii are situated on the west, by the side of the Paropamisadæ and
the Drangæ[428] by the Arachoti and Gedrosii. The Arii are situated by
the side of the Drangæ both on the north and west, and nearly encompass
them. Bactriana adjoins Aria on the north, and the Paropamisadæ, through
whose territory Alexander passed when he crossed the Caucasus on his way
to Bactra. Towards the west, next to the Arii, are the Parthians, and
the parts about the Caspian Gates. Towards the south of Parthia is the
desert of Carmania; then follows the remainder of Carmania and Gedrosia.
10. We shall better understand the position of the places about the
above-mentioned mountainous tract, if we further examine the route which
Alexander took from the Parthian territory to Bactriana, when he was in
pursuit of Bessus. He came first to Ariana, next to the Drangæ, where he
put to death Philotas, the son of Parmenio, having detected his
traitorous intentions. He despatched persons to Ecbatana[429] also
[CAS. 725] to put the father to death as an accomplice in the
conspiracy. It is said that these persons performed in eleven days, upon
dromedaries, a journey of 30 or 40 days, and executed their business.
The Drangæ resemble the Persians in all other respects in their mode of
life, except that they have little wine. Tin is found in the
country. [430]
Alexander next went from the Drangæ to the Euergetæ,[431] (to whom Cyrus
gave this name,) and to the Arachoti; then through the territory of the
Paropamisadæ at the setting of the Pleiad. [432] It is a mountainous
country, and at that time was covered with snow, so that the march was
performed with difficulty. The numerous villages, however, on their
march, which were well provided with everything except oil, afforded
relief in their distress. On their left hand were the summits of the
mountains.
The southern parts of the Paropamisus belong to India and Ariana; the
northern parts towards the west belong to Bactriana [towards the east to
Sogdiana * *[433] Bactrian barbarians]. Having wintered there, with
India above to the right hand, and having founded a city, he crossed the
summits of the mountains into Bactriana. The road was bare of everything
except a few trees of the bushy terminthus;[434] the army was driven
from want of food to eat the flesh of the beasts of burthen, and that in
a raw state for want of firewood; but silphium grew in great abundance,
which promoted the digestion of this raw food. Fifteen days after
founding the city and leaving winter quarters, he came to Adrapsa[435]
(Darapsa? ), a city of Bactriana.
11. Chaarene is situated somewhere about this part of the country
bordering upon India. This, of all the places subject to the Parthians,
lies nearest to India. It is distant 10,000 or 9000 stadia[436] from
Bactriana,[437] through the country of the Arachoti, and the
above-mentioned mountainous tract. Craterus traversed this country,
subjugating those who refused to submit, and hastened with the greatest
expedition to form a junction with the king. Nearly about the same time
both armies, consisting of infantry, entered Carmania together, and at a
short interval afterwards Nearchus sailed with his fleet into the
Persian Gulf, having undergone great danger and distress from wandering
in his course, and among other causes, from great whales.
12. It is probable that those who sailed in the expedition greatly
exaggerated many circumstances; yet their statements prove the
sufferings to which they were exposed, and that their apprehensions were
greater than the real danger. That which alarmed them the most was the
magnitude of the whales, which occasioned great commotion in the sea
from their numbers; their blowing was attended with so great a darkness,
that the sailors could not see where they stood. But when the pilots
informed the sailors, who were terrified at the sight and ignorant of
the cause, that they were animals which might easily be driven away by
the sound of a trumpet, and by loud noises, Nearchus impelled the
vessels with violence in the direction of the impediment, and at the
same time frightened the animals with the sound of trumpets. The whales
dived, and again rose at the prow of the vessels, so as to give the
appearance of a naval combat; but they soon made off.
13. Those who now sail to India speak of the size of these animals and
their mode of appearance, but as coming neither in bodies nor
frequently, yet as repulsed by shouts and by the sound of trumpets. They
affirm that they do not approach the land, but that the bones of those
which die, bared of flesh, are readily thrown up by the waves, and
supply the Ichthyophagi with the above-mentioned material for the
construction of their cabins. According to Nearchus, the size of these
animals is three and twenty orguiæ in length. [438]
[CAS. 726] Nearchus says that he proved the confident belief of the
sailors in the existence of an island situated in the passage, and
destructive to those who anchored near it, to be false.
A bark in its course, when it came opposite to this island, was never
afterwards seen, and some men who were sent in search did not venture to
disembark upon the island, but shouted and called to the crew, when,
receiving no answer, they returned. But as all imputed this
disappearance to the island, Nearchus said that he himself sailed to it,
went ashore, disembarked with a part of his crew, and went round it. But
not discovering any trace of those of whom he was in search, he
abandoned the attempt, and informed his men that no fault was to be
imputed to the island (for otherwise destruction would have come upon
himself and those who disembarked with him), but that some other cause
(and innumerable others were possible) might have occasioned the loss of
the vessel.
14. Carmania is the last portion of the sea-coast which begins from the
Indus. Its first promontory projects towards the south into the Great
Sea. [439] After it has formed the mouth of the Persian Gulf towards the
promontory, which is in sight, of Arabia Felix, it bends towards the
Persian Gulf, and is continued till it touches Persia.
Carmania is large, situated in the interior, and extending itself
between Gedrosia and Persia, but stretches more to the north than
Gedrosia. This is indicated by its fertility, for it not only produces
everything, but the trees are of a large size, excepting however the
olive; it is also watered by rivers. Gedrosia also differs little from
the country of the Ichthyophagi, so that frequently there is no produce
from the ground. They therefore keep the annual produce in store for
several years.
Onesicritus says, that a river in Carmania brings down gold-dust; that
there are mines of silver, copper, and minium; and that there are two
mountains, one of which contains arsenic, the other salt.
There belongs to it a desert tract, which is contiguous to Parthia and
Parætacene. The produce of the ground is like that of Persia; and among
other productions the vine. The Carmanian vine, as we call it, often
bears bunches of grapes of two cubits in size; the seeds are very
numerous and very large; probably the plant grows in its native soil
with great luxuriance.
Asses, on account of the scarcity of horses, are generally made use of
even in war. They sacrifice an ass to Mars, who is the only deity
worshipped by them, for they are a warlike people. No one marries before
he has cut off the head of an enemy and presented it to the king, who
deposits the scull in the royal treasury. The tongue is minced and mixed
with flour, which the king, after tasting it, gives to the person who
brought it, to be eaten by himself and his family. That king is the most
highly respected, to whom the greatest number of heads are presented.
According to Nearchus, most of the customs and the language of the
inhabitants of Carmania resemble those of the Persians and Medes.
The passage across the mouth of the Persian Gulf does not occupy more
than one day.
CHAPTER III.
1.
Next to Carmania is Persis. A great part of it extends along the
coast of the Gulf, which has its name from the country, but a much
larger portion stretches into the interior, and particularly in its
length, reckoned from the south, and Carmania to the north, and to the
nations of Media.
It is of a threefold character, as we regard its natural condition and
the quality of the air. First, the coast, extending for about 4400 or
4300 stadia, is burnt up with heat; it is sandy, producing little except
palm trees, and terminates at the greatest river in those parts, the
name of which is Oroatis. [440] Secondly, the country above the coast
produces everything, and is a plain; it is excellently adapted for the
rearing of cattle, and abounds with rivers and lakes.
The third portion lies towards the north, and is bleak and mountainous.
On its borders live the camel-breeders.
[CAS. 727] Its length, according to Eratosthenes, towards the north and
Media,[441] is about 8000, or, including some projecting promontories,
9000 stadia; the remainder (from Media) to the Caspian Gates is not more
than 3000 stadia. The breadth in the interior of the country from Susa
to Persepolis is 4200 stadia, and thence to the borders of Carmania 1600
stadia more.
The tribes inhabiting this country are those called the Pateischoreis,
the Achæmenidæ, and Magi; these last affect a sedate mode of life; the
Curtii and Mardi are robbers, the rest are husbandmen.
2. Susis also is almost a part of Persis. It lies between Persis and
Babylonia, and has a very considerable city, Susa. For the Persians and
Cyrus, after the conquest of the Medes, perceiving that their own
country was situated towards the extremities, but Susis more towards the
interior, nearer also to Babylon and the other nations, there placed the
royal seat of the empire. They were pleased with its situation on the
confines of Persis, and with the importance of the city; besides the
consideration that it had never of itself undertaken any great
enterprise, had always been in subjection to other people, and
constituted a part of a greater body, except, perhaps, anciently in the
heroic times.
It is said to have been founded by Tithonus, the father of Memnon. Its
compass was 120 stadia. Its shape was oblong. The Acropolis was called
Memnonium. The Susians have the name also of Cissii. Æschylus[442] calls
the mother of Memnon, Cissia. Memnon is said to be buried near Paltus in
Syria, by the river Badas, as Simonides says in his Memnon, a
dithyrambic poem among the Deliaca. The wall of the city, the temples
and palaces, were constructed in the same manner as those of the
Babylonians, of baked brick and asphaltus, as some writers relate.
Polycletus however says, that its circumference was 200 stadia, and that
it was without walls.
3. They embellished the palace at Susa more than the rest, but they did
not hold in less veneration and honour the palaces at Persepolis and
Pasargadæ. [443] For in these stronger and hereditary places were the
treasure-house, the riches, and tombs of the Persians. There was another
palace at Gabæ, in the upper parts of Persia, and another on the
sea-coast, near a place called Taoce. [444]
This was the state of things during the empire of the Persians. But
afterwards different princes occupied different palaces; some, as was
natural, less sumptuous, after the power of Persis had been reduced
first by the Macedonians, and secondly still more by the Parthians. For
although the Persians have still a kingly government, and a king of
their own, yet their power is very much diminished, and they are subject
to the king of Parthia.
4. Susa is situated in the interior, upon the river Choaspes, beyond the
bridge; but the territory extends to the sea: and the sea-coast of this
territory, from the borders of the Persian coast nearly as far as the
mouths of the Tigris, is a distance of about 3000 stadia.
The Choaspes flows through Susis, terminating on the same coast, and has
its source in the territory of the Uxii. [445] For a rugged and
precipitous range of mountains lies between the Susians and Persis, with
narrow defiles, difficult to pass; they were inhabited by robbers, who
constantly exacted payment even from the kings themselves, at their
entrance into Persis from Susis.
Polycletus says, that the Choaspes, and the Eulæus,[446] and the Tigris
also enter a lake, and thence discharge themselves into the sea; that on
the side of the lake is a mart, as the rivers do not receive the
merchandise from the sea, nor convey it down to the sea, on account of
dams in the river, purposely constructed, and that the goods are
transported by land a distance of 800 stadia[447] to Susa; according to
others, the rivers which flow through Susis discharge themselves by the
intermediate canals of the Euphrates into the single stream of the
Tigris, which on this account has at its mouth the name of Pasitigris.
[CAS. 729] 5. According to Nearchus, the sea-coast of Susis is swampy,
and terminates at the river Euphrates; at its mouth is a village, which
receives the merchandise from Arabia; for the coast of Arabia approaches
close to the mouths of the Euphrates and the Pasitigris; the whole
intermediate space is occupied by a lake which receives the Tigris; on
sailing up the Pasitigris 150 stadia is the bridge of rafts leading to
Susa from Persis, and is distant from Susa 60 (600? ) stadia; the
Pasitigris is distant from the Oroatis about 2000 stadia; the ascent
through the lake to the mouth of the Tigris is 600 (6000? ) stadia;[448]
near the mouth stands the Susian village (Aginis), distant from Susa 500
stadia; the journey by water from the mouth of the Euphrates, up to
Babylon, through a well-inhabited tract of country, is a distance of
more than 3000 stadia.
Onesicritus says that all the rivers discharge themselves into the lake,
both the Euphrates and the Tigris; and that the Euphrates, again issuing
from the lake, discharges itself into the sea by a separate mouth.
6. There are many other narrow defiles in passing out through the
territory of the Uxii, and entering Persis. These Alexander forced in
his march through the country at the Persian Gates, and at other places,
when he was hastening to see the principal parts of Persis, and the
treasure-holds, in which wealth had been accumulated during the long
period that Asia was tributary to Persis.
He crossed many rivers, which flow through the country and discharge
themselves into the Persian Gulf.
Next to the Choaspes are the Copratas[449] and the Pasitigris, which has
its source in the country of the Uxii. There is also the river Cyrus,
which flows through Cœle Persis,[450] as it is called, near Pasargadæ.
The king changed his name, which was formerly Agradatus, to that of this
river. Alexander crossed the Araxes[451] close to Persepolis. Persepolis
was distinguished for the magnificence of the treasures which it
contained. The Araxes flows out of the Parætacene,[452] and receives the
Medus,[453] which has its source in Media. These rivers run through a
very fruitful valley, which, like Persepolis, lies close to Carmania
and to the eastern parts of the country. Alexander burnt the palace at
Persepolis, to avenge the Greeks, whose temples and cities the Persians
had destroyed by fire and sword.
7. He next came to Pasargadæ,[454] which also was an ancient royal
residence. Here he saw in a park the tomb of Cyrus. It was a small
tower, concealed within a thick plantation of trees solid below, but
above consisting of one story and a shrine which had a very narrow
opening; Aristobulus says, he entered through this opening, by order of
Alexander, and decorated the tomb. He saw there a golden couch, a table
with cups, a golden coffin, and a large quantity of garments and dresses
ornamented with precious stones. These objects he saw at his first
visit, but on a subsequent visit the place had been robbed, and
everything had been removed except the couch and the coffin which were
only broken. The dead body had been removed from its place; whence it
was evident that it was the act not of the Satrap,[455] but of robbers,
who had left behind what they could not easily carry off. And this
occurred although there was a guard of Magi stationed about the place,
who received for their daily subsistence a sheep, and every month a
horse. [456] The remote distance to which the army of Alexander had
advanced, to Bactra and India, gave occasion to the introduction of many
disorderly acts, and to this among others.
Such is the account of Aristobulus, who records the following
inscription on the tomb. “O MAN, I AM CYRUS,[457] I ESTABLISHED THE
PERSIAN EMPIRE AND WAS KING OF ASIA. GRUDGE ME NOT THEREFORE THIS
MONUMENT. ”
Onesicritus however says that the tower had ten stories, that Cyrus lay
in the uppermost, and that there was an inscription in Greek, cut in
Persian letters, “I CYRUS, KING OF KINGS, LIE HERE. ” And another
inscription to the same effect in the Persian language.
8. Onesicritus mentions also this inscription on the tomb of Darius: “I
WAS A FRIEND TO MY FRIENDS, I WAS THE FIRST OF HORSEMEN AND ARCHERS, I
EXCELLED AS HUNTER, I COULD DO EVERYTHING. ”
[CAS. 730] Aristus of Salamis, a writer of a much later age than these,
says, that the tower consisted of two stories, and was large; that it
was built at the time the Persians succeeded to the kingdom (of the
Medes); that the tomb was preserved; that the above-mentioned
inscription was in the Greek, and that there was another to the same
purport in the Persian language.
Cyrus held in honour Pasargadæ, because he there conquered, in his last
battle, Astyages the Mede, and transferred to himself the empire of
Asia; he raised it to the rank of a city, and built a palace in memory
of his victory.
9. Alexander transferred everything that was precious in Persis to Susa,
which was itself full of treasures and costly materials; he did not,
however, consider this place, but Babylon, as the royal residence, and
intended to embellish it. There too his treasure was deposited.
They say that, besides the treasures in Babylon and in the camp of
Alexander, which were not included in the sum, the treasure found at
Susa and in Persis was reckoned to amount to 40,000, and according to
some writers to 50,000, talents. But others say, that the whole
treasure, collected from all quarters, and transported to Ecbatana,
amounted to 180,000 talents, and that the 8,000 talents which Darius
carried away with him in his flight from Media became the booty of those
who put him to death.
10. Alexander preferred Babylon, because he saw that it far surpassed
the other cities in magnitude, and had other advantages. Although Susis
is fertile, it has a glowing and scorching atmosphere, particularly near
the city, as he (Aristobulus? ) says. Lizards and serpents at mid-day in
the summer, when the sun is at its greatest height, cannot cross the
streets of the city quick enough to prevent their being burnt to death
midway by the heat. This happens nowhere in Persis, although it lies
more towards the south.
Cold water for baths is suddenly heated by exposure to the sun. Barley
spread out in the sun is roasted[458] like barley prepared in ovens. For
this reason earth is laid to the depth of two cubits upon the roofs of
the houses. They are obliged to construct their houses narrow, on
account of the weight placed upon them, and from want of long beams,
but, as large dwellings are required to obviate the suffocating heat,
the houses are long.
The beam made of the palm tree has a peculiar property, for although it
retains its solidity, it does not as it grows old give way downwards,
but curves upwards with the weight, and is a better support to the roof.
The cause of the scorching heat is said to be high, overhanging
mountains on the north, which intercept the northern winds. These,
blowing from the tops of the mountains at a great height, fly over
without touching the plains, to the more southern parts of Susis. There
the air is still, particularly when the Etesian winds cool the other
parts of the country which are burnt up by heat.
11. Susis is so fertile in grain, that barley and wheat produce,
generally, one hundred, and sometimes two hundred fold. Hence the
furrows are not ploughed close together, for the roots when crowded
impede the sprouting of the plant.
The vine did not grow there before the Macedonians planted it, both
there and at Babylon. They do not dig trenches, but thrust down into the
ground iron-headed stakes, which when drawn out are immediately replaced
by the plants.
Such is the character of the inland parts. The sea-coast is marshy and
without harbours; hence Nearchus says, that he met with no native
guides, when coasting with his fleet from India to Babylonia, for
nowhere could his vessels put in, nor was he able to procure persons who
could direct him by their knowledge and experience.
12. The part of Babylonia formerly called Sitacene, and afterwards
Apolloniatis,[459] is situated near Susis.
Above both, on the north and towards the east, are the Elymæi[460] and
the Parætaceni, predatory people relying for security on their situation
in a rugged and mountainous country. The Parætaceni lie more immediately
above the Apolloniatæ, and therefore annoy them the more. The Elymæi are
at war with this people and with the Susians, and the Uxii with the
Elymæi, but not so constantly at present as might be expected, on
account of the power of the Parthians, to whom all the inhabitants
[CAS. 732] of those regions are under subjection. When therefore the
Parthians are quiet, all are tranquil, and their subject nations. But
when, as frequently happens, there is an insurrection, which has
occurred even in our own times, the event is not the same to all, but
different to different people. For the disturbance has benefited some,
but disappointed the expectation of others.
Such is the nature of the countries of Persis and Susiana.
13. The manners and customs of the Persians are the same as those of the
Susians and the Medes, and many other people; and they have been
described by several writers, yet I must mention what is suitable to my
purpose.
The Persians do not erect statues nor altars, but, considering the
heaven as Jupiter, sacrifice on a high place. [461] They worship the sun
also, whom they call Mithras, the moon, Venus, fire, earth, winds, and
water. They sacrifice, having offered up prayers, in a place free from
impurities, and present the victim crowned. [462]
After the Magus, who directs the sacrifice, has divided the flesh, each
goes away with his share, without setting apart any portion to the gods;
for the god, they say, requires the soul of the victim, and nothing
more. Nevertheless, according to some writers, they lay a small piece of
the caul upon the fire.
14. But it is to fire and water especially that they offer sacrifice.
They throw upon the fire dry wood without the bark, and place fat over
it; they then pour oil upon it, and light it below; they do not blow the
flame with their breath, but fan it; those who have blown the flame with
their breath, or thrown any dead thing or dirt upon the fire, are put to
death.
They sacrifice to water by going to a lake, river, or fountain; having
dug a pit, they slaughter the victim over it, taking care that none of
the pure water near be sprinkled with blood, and thus be polluted. They
then lay the flesh in order upon myrtle or laurel branches; the Magi
touch it with slender twigs,[463] and make incantations, pouring oil
mixed with milk and honey, not into the fire, nor into the water, but
upon the earth. They continue their incantations for a long time,
holding in the hands a bundle of slender myrtle rods.
15. In Cappadocia (for in this country there is a great body of Magi,
called Pyræthi,[464] and there are many temples dedicated to the Persian
deities) the sacrifice is not performed with a knife, but the victim is
beaten to death with a log of wood, as with a mallet.
The Persians have also certain large shrines, called Pyrætheia. [465] In
the middle of these is an altar, on which is a great quantity of ashes,
where the Magi maintain an unextinguished fire. They enter daily, and
continue their incantation for nearly an hour, holding before the fire a
bundle of rods, and wear round their heads high turbans of felt,
reaching down on each side so as to cover the lips and the sides of the
cheeks. The same customs are observed in the temples of Anaïtis and of
Omanus. Belonging to these temples are shrines, and a wooden statue of
Omanus is carried in procession. These we have seen ourselves. [466]
Other usages, and such as follow, are related by historians.
16. The Persians never pollute a river with urine, nor wash nor bathe in
it; they never throw a dead body, nor anything unclean, into it. To
whatever god they intend to sacrifice, they first address a prayer to
fire.
17. They are governed by hereditary kings. Disobedience is punished by
the head and arms being cut off, and the body cast forth. They marry
many women, and maintain at the same time a great number of concubines,
with a view to a numerous offspring.
The kings propose annual prizes for a numerous family of children.
Children are not brought into the presence of their parents until they
are four years old.
Marriages are celebrated at the beginning of the vernal equinox. The
bridegroom passes into the bride-chamber, having previously eaten some
fruit, or camel’s marrow, but nothing else during the day.
18. From the age of five to twenty-four years they are taught to use the
bow, to throw the javelin, to ride, and to speak the truth. They have
the most virtuous preceptors, [CAS. 733] who interweave useful fables
in their discourses, and rehearse, sometimes with, sometimes without,
music, the actions of the gods and of illustrious men.
The youths are called to rise before day-break, at the sound of brazen
instruments, and assemble in one spot, as if for arming themselves or
for the chase. They are arranged in companies of fifty, to each of which
one of the king’s or a satrap’s son is appointed as leader, who runs,
followed at command by the others, an appointed distance of thirty or
forty stadia.
They require them to give an account of each lesson, when they practise
loud speaking, and exercise the breath and lungs. They are taught to
endure heat, cold, and rains; to cross torrents, and keep their armour
and clothes dry; to pasture animals, to watch all night in the open air,
and to eat wild fruits, as the terminthus,[467] acorns, and wild pears.
[These persons are called Cardaces, who live upon plunder, for “carda”
means a manly and warlike spirit. ][468]
The daily food after the exercise of the gymnasium is bread, a cake,
cardamum,[469] a piece of salt, and dressed meat either roasted or
boiled, and their drink is water.
Their mode of hunting is by throwing spears from horseback, or with
the bow or the sling.
In the evening they are employed in planting trees, cutting roots,
fabricating armour, and making lines and nets. The youth do not eat the
game, but carry it home. The king gives rewards for running, and to the
victors in the other contests of the pentathla (or five games). The
youths are adorned with gold, esteeming it for its fiery appearance.
They do not ornament the dead with gold, nor apply fire to them, on
account of its being an object of veneration.
19. They serve as soldiers in subordinate stations, and in those of
command from twenty to fifty years of age, both on foot and on
horseback. They do not concern themselves with the public markets, for
they neither buy nor sell. They are armed with a romb-shaped shield.
Besides quivers, they have battle-axes and short swords. On their heads
they wear a cap rising like a tower. The breastplate is composed of
scales of iron.
The dress of the chiefs consists of triple drawers, a double tunic with
sleeves reaching to the knees; the under garment is white, the upper of
a variegated colour. The cloak for summer is of a purple or violet
colour, but for winter of a variegated colour. The turbans are similar
to those of the Magi; and a deep double shoe. The generality of people
wear a double tunic reaching to the half of the leg. A piece of fine
linen is wrapped round the head. Each person has a bow and a sling.
The entertainments of the Persians are expensive. They set upon their
table entire animals in great number, and of various kinds. Their
couches, drinking-cups, and other articles are so brilliantly ornamented
that they gleam with gold and silver.
20. Their consultations on the most important affairs are carried on
while they are drinking, and they consider the resolutions made at that
time more to be depended upon than those made when sober.
On meeting persons of their acquaintance, and of equal rank with
themselves, on the road, they approach and kiss them, but to persons of
an inferior station they offer the cheek, and in that manner receive the
kiss. But to persons of still lower condition they only bend the body.
Their mode of burial is to smear the bodies over with wax, and then to
inter them. The Magi are not buried, but the birds are allowed to devour
them. These persons, according to the usage of the country, espouse even
their mothers.
Such are the customs of the Persians.
21. The following, mentioned by Polvcletus, are perhaps customary
practices:
At Susa each king builds in the citadel, as memorials of the
administration of his government, a dwelling for himself,
treasure-houses, and magazines for tribute collected (in kind).
From the sea-coast they obtain silver, from the interior the [CAS. 735]
produce of each province, as dyes, drugs, hair, wool, or anything else
of this sort, and cattle. The apportionment of the tribute was settled
by Darius [Longimanus, who was a very handsome person with the exception
of the length of his arms, which reached to his knees]. [470] The greater
part both of gold and silver is wrought up, and there is not much in
coined money. The former they consider as best adapted for presents, and
for depositing in store-houses. So much coined money as suffices for
their wants they think enough; but, on the other hand, money is coined
in proportion to what is required for expenditure. [471]
22. Their habits are in general temperate. But their kings, from the
great wealth which they possessed, degenerated into a luxurious way of
life. They sent for wheat from Assos in Æolia, for Chalybonian[472] wine
from Syria, and water from the Eulæus, which is the lightest of all, for
an Attic cotylus measure of it weighs less by a drachm (than the same
quantity of any other water).
23. Of the barbarians the Persians were the best known to the Greeks,
for none of the other barbarians who governed Asia governed Greece. The
barbarians were not acquainted with the Greeks, and the Greeks were but
slightly acquainted, and by distant report only, with the barbarians. As
an instance, Homer was not acquainted with the empire of the Syrians nor
of the Medes, for otherwise as he mentions the wealth of Egyptian Thebes
and of Phœnicia, he would not have passed over in silence the wealth of
Babylon, of Ninus, and of Ecbatana.
The Persians were the first people that brought Greeks under their
dominion; the Lydians (before them) did the same, they were not however
masters of the whole, but of a small portion only of Asia, that within
the river Halys; their empire lasted for a short time, during the reigns
of Crœsus and Alyattes; and they were deprived of what little glory they
had acquired, when conquered by the Persians.
The Persians, (on the contrary, increased in power and,) as soon as they
had destroyed the Median empire, subdued the Lydians and brought the
Greeks of Asia under their dominion.
upon it. He laid down upon it, and covering himself up, was burnt to
death.
Others say, that a chamber was constructed of wood, which was filled
with the leaves of trees, and a pyre being raised upon the roof, he was
shut up in it, according to his directions, after the procession, with
which he had been accompanied, had arrived at the spot. He threw himself
upon the pyre, and was consumed like a log of wood, together with the
chamber.
Megasthenes says, that self-destruction is not a dogma of the
philosophers, and that those who commit this act are accounted
fool-hardy; that some, who are by nature harsh, inflict wounds upon
their bodies, or cast themselves down precipices; those who are
impatient of pain drown themselves; those who can endure pain strangle
themselves; and those of ardent tempers throw themselves into the fire.
Of this last description was Calanus, who had no control over himself,
and was a slave to the table of Alexander. Calanus is censured, while
Mandanis is applauded. When Alexander’s messengers invited the latter to
come to the son of Jove, promising a reward if he would comply, and
threatening punishment if he refused, he answered, “Alexander was not
the son of Jove, for he did not govern even the smallest portion of the
earth; nor did he himself desire a gift of one who[399] was satisfied
with nothing. Neither did he fear his threats, for as long as he lived
India would supply him with food enough; and when he died, he should be
delivered from the flesh wasted by old age, and be translated to a
better and purer state of existence. ” Alexander commended and pardoned
him.
69. Historians also relate that the Indians worship Jupiter Ombrius (or,
the Rainy), the river Ganges, and the indigenous deities of the country;
that when the king washes his hair,[400] a great feast is celebrated,
and large presents are sent, each person displaying his wealth in
competition with his neighbour.
They say, that some of the gold-digging myrmeces (ants) have wings; and
that the rivers, like those of Iberia,[401] bring down gold-dust.
In processions at their festivals, many elephants are in the train,
adorned with gold and silver, numerous carriages drawn by four horses
and by several pairs of oxen; then follows a body of attendants in full
dress, (bearing) vessels of gold, large basins and goblets, an
orguia[402] in breadth, tables, chairs of state, drinking-cups, and
lavers of Indian copper, most of which were set with precious stones, as
emeralds, beryls, and Indian carbuncles; garments embroidered and
interwoven with gold; wild beasts, as buffaloes,[403] panthers, tame
lions, and a multitude of birds of variegated plumage and of fine song.
Cleitarchus speaks of four-wheeled carriages bearing trees with large
leaves, from which were suspended (in cages) different kinds of tame
birds, among which the orion[404] was said to possess the sweetest note,
but the catreus[405] was the most beautiful in appearance, and had the
most variegated plumage. In shape it approached nearest to the peacock,
but the rest of the description must be taken from Cleitarchus.
70. Opposed to the Brachmanes there are philosophers, called Pramnæ,
contentious people, and fond of argument. They ridicule the Brachmanes
as boasters and fools for occupying themselves with physiology and
astronomy. Some of the Pramnæ are called Pramnæ of the mountains, others
Gymnetæ, others again are called Townsmen and Countrymen. [CAS. 719]
The Pramnæ of the mountains wear deer-skins, and carry scrips filled
with roots and drugs; they profess to practise medicine by means of
incantations, charms, and amulets.
The Gymnetæ, as their name imports, are naked and live chiefly in the
open air, practising fortitude for the space of thirty-seven years; this
I have before mentioned; women live in their society, but without
cohabitation. The Gymnetæ are held in singular estimation.
71. The (Pramnæ) Townsmen are occupied in civil affairs, dwell in
cities, and wear fine linen, or (as Countrymen they live) in the fields,
clothed in the skins of fawns or antelopes. In short, the Indians wear
white garments, white linen and muslin, contrary to the accounts of
those who say that they wear garments of a bright colour; all of them
wear long hair and long beards, plait their hair, and bind it with a
fillet.
72. Artemidorus says that the Ganges descends from the Emoda mountains
and proceeds towards the south; when it arrives at the city Ganges,[406]
it turns to the east, and keeps this direction as far as
Palibothra,[407] and the mouth by which it discharges itself into the
sea. He calls one of the rivers which flow into it Œdanes,[408] which
breeds crocodiles and dolphins. Some other circumstances besides are
mentioned by him, but in so confused and negligent a manner that they
are not to be regarded. To these accounts may be added that of Nicolaus
Damascenus.
73. This writer states that at Antioch, near Daphne,[409] he met with
ambassadors from the Indians, who were sent to Augustus Cæsar. It
appeared from the letter that several persons were mentioned in it, but
three only survived, whom he says he saw. The rest had died chiefly in
consequence of the length of the journey. The letter was written in
Greek upon a skin; the import of it was, that Porus was the writer, that
although he was sovereign of six hundred kings, yet that he highly
esteemed the friendship of Cæsar; that he was willing to allow him a
passage through his country, in whatever part he pleased, and to assist
him in any undertaking that was just.
Eight naked servants, with girdles round their waists, and fragrant with
perfumes, presented the gifts which were brought. The presents were a
Hermes (i. e. a man) born without arms, whom I have seen, large snakes,
a serpent ten cubits in length, a river tortoise of three cubits in
length, and a partridge (? ) larger than a vulture. They were accompanied
by the person, it is said, who burnt himself to death at Athens. This is
the practice with persons in distress, who seek escape from existing
calamities, and with others in prosperous circumstances, as was the case
with this man. For as everything hitherto had succeeded with him, he
thought it necessary to depart, lest some unexpected calamity should
happen to him by continuing to live; with a smile, therefore, naked,
anointed, and with the girdle round his waist, he leaped upon the pyre.
On his tomb was this inscription,—ZARMANOCHEGAS,[410] AN INDIAN, A
NATIVE OF BARGOSA,[411] HAVING IMMORTALIZED HIMSELF ACCORDING TO THE
CUSTOM OF HIS COUNTRY, HERE LIES.
CHAPTER II.
ARIANA.
1. Next to India is Ariana, the first portion of the country subject to
the Persians, lying beyond[412] the Indus, and the first [CAS. 720] of
the higher satrapies without the Taurus. [413] On the north it is bounded
by the same mountains as India, on the south by the same sea, and by the
same river Indus, which separates it from India. It stretches thence
towards the west as far as the line drawn from the Caspian Gates[414] to
Carmania,[415] whence its figure is quadrilateral.
The southern side begins from the mouths of the Indus, and from
Patalene, and terminates at Carmania and the mouth of the Persian Gulf,
by a promontory projecting a considerable distance to the south. It then
makes a bend towards the gulf in the direction of Persia.
The Arbies, who have the same name as the river Arbis,[416] are the
first inhabitants we meet with in this country. They are separated by
the Arbis from the next tribe, the Oritæ, and according to Nearchus,
occupy a tract of sea-coast of about 1000 stadia in length; this country
also is a part of India. Next are the Oritæ, a people governed by their
own laws. The voyage along the coast belonging to this people extends
1800 stadia, that along the country of the Ichthyophagi, who follow
next, extends 7400 stadia; that along the country of the Carmani as far
as Persia, 3700 stadia. The whole number of stadia is 13,900.
2. The greater part of the country inhabited by the Ichthyophagi is on a
level with the sea. No trees, except palms and a kind of thorn, and the
tamarisk, grow there. There is also a scarcity of water, and of food
produced by cultivation. Both they and their cattle subsist upon fish,
and are supplied by rain water and wells. The flesh of the animals has
the smell of fish. Their dwellings are built with the bones of large
whales and shells, the ribs furnishing beams and supports, and the
jaw-bones, door-ways. The vertebral bones serve as mortars in which
fish, which have been previously dried in the sun, are pounded. Of this,
with the addition of flour, cakes are made; for they have grinding mills
(for corn), although they have no iron. This however is not so
surprising, because it is possible for them to import it from other
parts. But how do they hollow out the mills again, when worn away? with
the same stones, they say, with which their arrows and javelins, which
are hardened in the fire, are sharpened. Some fish are dressed in ovens,
but the greater part is eaten raw. The fish are taken in nets made of
the bark of the palm.
3. Above the Ichthyophagi is situated Gedrosia,[417] a country less
exposed to the heat of the sun than India, but more so than the rest of
Asia. As it is without fruits and water, except in summer, it is not
much better than the country of the Ichthyophagi. But it produces
aromatics, particularly nard and myrrh, in such quantity, that the army
of Alexander used them on the march for tent coverings and beds; they
thus breathed an air full of odours, and at the same time more
salubrious.
The summer was purposely chosen for leaving India, for at that season it
rains in Gedrosia, and the rivers and wells are filled, but in winter
they fail. The rain falls in the higher parts to the north, and near the
mountains: when the rivers swell, the plains near the sea are watered,
and the wells are also filled. Alexander sent persons before him into
the desert country to dig wells and to prepare stations for himself and
his fleet.
4. Having separated his forces into three divisions, he set out with one
division through Gedrosia, keeping at the utmost from the sea not more
than 500 stadia, in order to secure the coast for his fleet; but he
frequently approached the sea-side, although the beach was impracticable
and rugged. The second division he sent forward under the command of
Craterus through the interior, with a view of reducing Ariana, and of
proceeding to the same places to which he himself was directing his
march. (The third division), the fleet he intrusted to Nearchus and
Onesicritus, his master pilot, giving them orders to [CAS. 721] take up
convenient positions in following him, and to sail along the coast
parallel to his line of march.
5. Nearchus says, that while Alexander was on his march, he himself
commenced his voyage, in the autumn, about the achronical rising of the
Pleiades,[418] the wind not being before favourable. The Barbarians
however, taking courage at the departure of the king, became daring, and
attempted to throw off their subjection, attacked them, and endeavoured
to drive them out of the country. But Craterus set out from the
Hydaspes, and proceeded through the country of the Arachoti and of the
Drangæ into Carmania.
Alexander was greatly distressed throughout the whole march, as his road
lay through a barren country. The supplies of provisions which he
obtained came from a distance, and were scanty and unfrequent, so much
so that the army suffered greatly from hunger, the beasts of burden
dropped down, and the baggage was abandoned, both on the march and in
the camp. The army was saved by eating dates and the marrow of the
palm-tree. [419]
Alexander however (says Nearchus), although acquainted with the
hardships of the enterprise, was ambitious of conducting this large army
in safety, as a conqueror, through the same country where, according to
the prevailing report, Semiramis escaped by flight from India with about
twenty, and Cyrus with about seven men.
6. Besides the want of provisions, the scorching heat was distressing,
as also the deep and burning sand. In some places there were sand-hills,
so that in addition to the difficulty of lifting the legs, as out of a
pit, there were ascents and descents. It was necessary also, on account
of the watering places, to make long marches of two, four, and sometimes
even of six hundred stadia, for the most part during the night.
Frequently the encampment was at a distance of 30 stadia from the
watering places, in order that the soldiers might not be induced by
thirst to drink to excess. For many of them plunged into the water in
their armour, and continued drinking until they were drowned; when
swollen after death they floated, and corrupted the shallow water of the
cisterns. Others, exhausted by thirst, lay exposed to the sun, in the
middle of the road. They then became tremulous, their hands and their
feet shook, and they died like persons seized with cold and shivering.
Some turned out of the road to indulge in sleep, overcome with
drowsiness and fatigue; some were left behind, and perished, being
ignorant of the road, destitute of everything, and overpowered by heat.
Others escaped after great sufferings. A torrent of water, which fell in
the night time, overwhelmed and destroyed many persons, and much
baggage; a great part even of the royal equipage was swept away.
The guides, through ignorance, deviated so far into the interior, that
the sea was no longer in sight. The king, perceiving the danger,
immediately set out in search of the coast; when he had discovered it,
and by sinking wells had found water fit for drinking, he sent for the
army: afterwards he continued his march for seven days near the shore,
with a good supply of water. He then again returned into the interior.
7. There was a plant resembling the laurel, which if eaten by the beasts
of burden caused them to die of epilepsy, accompanied with foaming at
the mouth. A thorn also, the fruit of which, like gourds, strewed the
ground, and was full of a juice; if drops of it fell into the eyes of
any kind of animal it became completely blind. Many persons were
suffocated by eating unripe dates. Danger also was to be apprehended
from serpents; for on the sand-hills there grew a plant, underneath
which they crept and hid themselves. The persons wounded by them died.
The Oritæ, it was said, smeared the points of their arrows, which were
of wood hardened in the fire, with deadly poisons. When Ptolemy was
wounded and in danger of his life, a person appeared in a dream to
Alexander, and showed him a root with leaves and branches, which he told
him to bruise and place upon the wound. Alexander awoke from his dream,
and remembering the vision, searched and found the root growing in
abundance, of which both he and others made use; [CAS. 723] when the
Barbarians perceived that the antidote for the poison was discovered,
they surrendered to the king. It is probable, however, that some one
acquainted with the plant informed the king of its virtues, and that the
fabulous part of the story was invented for the purpose of flattery.
Having arrived at the palace[420] of the Gedrosii on the sixtieth day
after leaving the Ori,[421] and allowed his army a short period of rest,
he set out for Carmania.
8. The position of the southern side of Ariana is thus situated, with
reference to the sea-coast, the country of the Gedrosii and the Oritæ
lying near and above it. A great part of Gedrosia extends into the
interior until it touches upon the Drangæ, Arachoti, and Paropamisadæ,
of whom Eratosthenes speaks in the following manner: we cannot give a
better description. “Ariana,” he says, “is bounded on the east by the
Indus, on the south by the Great Sea, on the north by the Paropamisus
and the succeeding chain of mountains as far as the Caspian Gates, on
the west by the same limits[422] by which the territory of the Parthians
is separated from Media, and Carmania from Parætacene and Persia.
The breadth of the country is the length of the Indus, reckoned from the
Paropamisus as far as the mouths of that river, and amounts to 12,000,
or according to others to 13,000, stadia. The length, beginning from the
Caspian Gates, as it is laid down in Asiatic Stathmi,[423] is estimated
in two different ways. From the Caspian Gates to Alexandreia among the
Arii[424] through Parthia is one and the same road. Then a road leads in
a straight line through Bactriana, and over the pass of the mountain to
Ortospana,[425] to the meeting of the three roads from Bactra, which is
among the Paropamisadæ. The other branch turns off a little from Aria
towards the south to Prophthasia in Drangiana; then the remainder leads
as far as the confines of India and of the Indus; so that the road
through the Drangæ and the Arachoti is longer, the whole amounting to
15,300 stadia. But if we deduct 1300 stadia, we shall have the remainder
as the length of the country in a straight line, namely, 14,000 stadia;
for the length of the coast is not much less, although some persons
increase this sum by adding to the 10,000 stadia Carmania, which is
reckoned at 6000 stadia. For they seem to reckon it either together with
the gulfs, or together with the Carmanian coast within the Persian Gulf.
The name also of Ariana is extended so as to include some part of
Persia, Media, and the north of Bactria and Sogdiana; for these nations
speak nearly the same language. [426]
9. The order in which these nations are disposed is as follows. Along
the Indus are the Paropamisadæ, above whom lies the mountain
Paropamisus; then towards the south are the Arachoti; then next to these
towards the south, the Gedroseni, together with other tribes who occupy
the sea-coast; the Indus runs parallel along the breadth of these
tracts. The Indians occupy [in part][427] some of the countries situated
along the Indus, which formerly belonged to the Persians: Alexander
deprived the Ariani of them, and established there settlements of his
own. But Seleucus Nicator gave them to Sandrocottus in consequence of a
marriage contract, and received in return five hundred elephants.
The Arii are situated on the west, by the side of the Paropamisadæ and
the Drangæ[428] by the Arachoti and Gedrosii. The Arii are situated by
the side of the Drangæ both on the north and west, and nearly encompass
them. Bactriana adjoins Aria on the north, and the Paropamisadæ, through
whose territory Alexander passed when he crossed the Caucasus on his way
to Bactra. Towards the west, next to the Arii, are the Parthians, and
the parts about the Caspian Gates. Towards the south of Parthia is the
desert of Carmania; then follows the remainder of Carmania and Gedrosia.
10. We shall better understand the position of the places about the
above-mentioned mountainous tract, if we further examine the route which
Alexander took from the Parthian territory to Bactriana, when he was in
pursuit of Bessus. He came first to Ariana, next to the Drangæ, where he
put to death Philotas, the son of Parmenio, having detected his
traitorous intentions. He despatched persons to Ecbatana[429] also
[CAS. 725] to put the father to death as an accomplice in the
conspiracy. It is said that these persons performed in eleven days, upon
dromedaries, a journey of 30 or 40 days, and executed their business.
The Drangæ resemble the Persians in all other respects in their mode of
life, except that they have little wine. Tin is found in the
country. [430]
Alexander next went from the Drangæ to the Euergetæ,[431] (to whom Cyrus
gave this name,) and to the Arachoti; then through the territory of the
Paropamisadæ at the setting of the Pleiad. [432] It is a mountainous
country, and at that time was covered with snow, so that the march was
performed with difficulty. The numerous villages, however, on their
march, which were well provided with everything except oil, afforded
relief in their distress. On their left hand were the summits of the
mountains.
The southern parts of the Paropamisus belong to India and Ariana; the
northern parts towards the west belong to Bactriana [towards the east to
Sogdiana * *[433] Bactrian barbarians]. Having wintered there, with
India above to the right hand, and having founded a city, he crossed the
summits of the mountains into Bactriana. The road was bare of everything
except a few trees of the bushy terminthus;[434] the army was driven
from want of food to eat the flesh of the beasts of burthen, and that in
a raw state for want of firewood; but silphium grew in great abundance,
which promoted the digestion of this raw food. Fifteen days after
founding the city and leaving winter quarters, he came to Adrapsa[435]
(Darapsa? ), a city of Bactriana.
11. Chaarene is situated somewhere about this part of the country
bordering upon India. This, of all the places subject to the Parthians,
lies nearest to India. It is distant 10,000 or 9000 stadia[436] from
Bactriana,[437] through the country of the Arachoti, and the
above-mentioned mountainous tract. Craterus traversed this country,
subjugating those who refused to submit, and hastened with the greatest
expedition to form a junction with the king. Nearly about the same time
both armies, consisting of infantry, entered Carmania together, and at a
short interval afterwards Nearchus sailed with his fleet into the
Persian Gulf, having undergone great danger and distress from wandering
in his course, and among other causes, from great whales.
12. It is probable that those who sailed in the expedition greatly
exaggerated many circumstances; yet their statements prove the
sufferings to which they were exposed, and that their apprehensions were
greater than the real danger. That which alarmed them the most was the
magnitude of the whales, which occasioned great commotion in the sea
from their numbers; their blowing was attended with so great a darkness,
that the sailors could not see where they stood. But when the pilots
informed the sailors, who were terrified at the sight and ignorant of
the cause, that they were animals which might easily be driven away by
the sound of a trumpet, and by loud noises, Nearchus impelled the
vessels with violence in the direction of the impediment, and at the
same time frightened the animals with the sound of trumpets. The whales
dived, and again rose at the prow of the vessels, so as to give the
appearance of a naval combat; but they soon made off.
13. Those who now sail to India speak of the size of these animals and
their mode of appearance, but as coming neither in bodies nor
frequently, yet as repulsed by shouts and by the sound of trumpets. They
affirm that they do not approach the land, but that the bones of those
which die, bared of flesh, are readily thrown up by the waves, and
supply the Ichthyophagi with the above-mentioned material for the
construction of their cabins. According to Nearchus, the size of these
animals is three and twenty orguiæ in length. [438]
[CAS. 726] Nearchus says that he proved the confident belief of the
sailors in the existence of an island situated in the passage, and
destructive to those who anchored near it, to be false.
A bark in its course, when it came opposite to this island, was never
afterwards seen, and some men who were sent in search did not venture to
disembark upon the island, but shouted and called to the crew, when,
receiving no answer, they returned. But as all imputed this
disappearance to the island, Nearchus said that he himself sailed to it,
went ashore, disembarked with a part of his crew, and went round it. But
not discovering any trace of those of whom he was in search, he
abandoned the attempt, and informed his men that no fault was to be
imputed to the island (for otherwise destruction would have come upon
himself and those who disembarked with him), but that some other cause
(and innumerable others were possible) might have occasioned the loss of
the vessel.
14. Carmania is the last portion of the sea-coast which begins from the
Indus. Its first promontory projects towards the south into the Great
Sea. [439] After it has formed the mouth of the Persian Gulf towards the
promontory, which is in sight, of Arabia Felix, it bends towards the
Persian Gulf, and is continued till it touches Persia.
Carmania is large, situated in the interior, and extending itself
between Gedrosia and Persia, but stretches more to the north than
Gedrosia. This is indicated by its fertility, for it not only produces
everything, but the trees are of a large size, excepting however the
olive; it is also watered by rivers. Gedrosia also differs little from
the country of the Ichthyophagi, so that frequently there is no produce
from the ground. They therefore keep the annual produce in store for
several years.
Onesicritus says, that a river in Carmania brings down gold-dust; that
there are mines of silver, copper, and minium; and that there are two
mountains, one of which contains arsenic, the other salt.
There belongs to it a desert tract, which is contiguous to Parthia and
Parætacene. The produce of the ground is like that of Persia; and among
other productions the vine. The Carmanian vine, as we call it, often
bears bunches of grapes of two cubits in size; the seeds are very
numerous and very large; probably the plant grows in its native soil
with great luxuriance.
Asses, on account of the scarcity of horses, are generally made use of
even in war. They sacrifice an ass to Mars, who is the only deity
worshipped by them, for they are a warlike people. No one marries before
he has cut off the head of an enemy and presented it to the king, who
deposits the scull in the royal treasury. The tongue is minced and mixed
with flour, which the king, after tasting it, gives to the person who
brought it, to be eaten by himself and his family. That king is the most
highly respected, to whom the greatest number of heads are presented.
According to Nearchus, most of the customs and the language of the
inhabitants of Carmania resemble those of the Persians and Medes.
The passage across the mouth of the Persian Gulf does not occupy more
than one day.
CHAPTER III.
1.
Next to Carmania is Persis. A great part of it extends along the
coast of the Gulf, which has its name from the country, but a much
larger portion stretches into the interior, and particularly in its
length, reckoned from the south, and Carmania to the north, and to the
nations of Media.
It is of a threefold character, as we regard its natural condition and
the quality of the air. First, the coast, extending for about 4400 or
4300 stadia, is burnt up with heat; it is sandy, producing little except
palm trees, and terminates at the greatest river in those parts, the
name of which is Oroatis. [440] Secondly, the country above the coast
produces everything, and is a plain; it is excellently adapted for the
rearing of cattle, and abounds with rivers and lakes.
The third portion lies towards the north, and is bleak and mountainous.
On its borders live the camel-breeders.
[CAS. 727] Its length, according to Eratosthenes, towards the north and
Media,[441] is about 8000, or, including some projecting promontories,
9000 stadia; the remainder (from Media) to the Caspian Gates is not more
than 3000 stadia. The breadth in the interior of the country from Susa
to Persepolis is 4200 stadia, and thence to the borders of Carmania 1600
stadia more.
The tribes inhabiting this country are those called the Pateischoreis,
the Achæmenidæ, and Magi; these last affect a sedate mode of life; the
Curtii and Mardi are robbers, the rest are husbandmen.
2. Susis also is almost a part of Persis. It lies between Persis and
Babylonia, and has a very considerable city, Susa. For the Persians and
Cyrus, after the conquest of the Medes, perceiving that their own
country was situated towards the extremities, but Susis more towards the
interior, nearer also to Babylon and the other nations, there placed the
royal seat of the empire. They were pleased with its situation on the
confines of Persis, and with the importance of the city; besides the
consideration that it had never of itself undertaken any great
enterprise, had always been in subjection to other people, and
constituted a part of a greater body, except, perhaps, anciently in the
heroic times.
It is said to have been founded by Tithonus, the father of Memnon. Its
compass was 120 stadia. Its shape was oblong. The Acropolis was called
Memnonium. The Susians have the name also of Cissii. Æschylus[442] calls
the mother of Memnon, Cissia. Memnon is said to be buried near Paltus in
Syria, by the river Badas, as Simonides says in his Memnon, a
dithyrambic poem among the Deliaca. The wall of the city, the temples
and palaces, were constructed in the same manner as those of the
Babylonians, of baked brick and asphaltus, as some writers relate.
Polycletus however says, that its circumference was 200 stadia, and that
it was without walls.
3. They embellished the palace at Susa more than the rest, but they did
not hold in less veneration and honour the palaces at Persepolis and
Pasargadæ. [443] For in these stronger and hereditary places were the
treasure-house, the riches, and tombs of the Persians. There was another
palace at Gabæ, in the upper parts of Persia, and another on the
sea-coast, near a place called Taoce. [444]
This was the state of things during the empire of the Persians. But
afterwards different princes occupied different palaces; some, as was
natural, less sumptuous, after the power of Persis had been reduced
first by the Macedonians, and secondly still more by the Parthians. For
although the Persians have still a kingly government, and a king of
their own, yet their power is very much diminished, and they are subject
to the king of Parthia.
4. Susa is situated in the interior, upon the river Choaspes, beyond the
bridge; but the territory extends to the sea: and the sea-coast of this
territory, from the borders of the Persian coast nearly as far as the
mouths of the Tigris, is a distance of about 3000 stadia.
The Choaspes flows through Susis, terminating on the same coast, and has
its source in the territory of the Uxii. [445] For a rugged and
precipitous range of mountains lies between the Susians and Persis, with
narrow defiles, difficult to pass; they were inhabited by robbers, who
constantly exacted payment even from the kings themselves, at their
entrance into Persis from Susis.
Polycletus says, that the Choaspes, and the Eulæus,[446] and the Tigris
also enter a lake, and thence discharge themselves into the sea; that on
the side of the lake is a mart, as the rivers do not receive the
merchandise from the sea, nor convey it down to the sea, on account of
dams in the river, purposely constructed, and that the goods are
transported by land a distance of 800 stadia[447] to Susa; according to
others, the rivers which flow through Susis discharge themselves by the
intermediate canals of the Euphrates into the single stream of the
Tigris, which on this account has at its mouth the name of Pasitigris.
[CAS. 729] 5. According to Nearchus, the sea-coast of Susis is swampy,
and terminates at the river Euphrates; at its mouth is a village, which
receives the merchandise from Arabia; for the coast of Arabia approaches
close to the mouths of the Euphrates and the Pasitigris; the whole
intermediate space is occupied by a lake which receives the Tigris; on
sailing up the Pasitigris 150 stadia is the bridge of rafts leading to
Susa from Persis, and is distant from Susa 60 (600? ) stadia; the
Pasitigris is distant from the Oroatis about 2000 stadia; the ascent
through the lake to the mouth of the Tigris is 600 (6000? ) stadia;[448]
near the mouth stands the Susian village (Aginis), distant from Susa 500
stadia; the journey by water from the mouth of the Euphrates, up to
Babylon, through a well-inhabited tract of country, is a distance of
more than 3000 stadia.
Onesicritus says that all the rivers discharge themselves into the lake,
both the Euphrates and the Tigris; and that the Euphrates, again issuing
from the lake, discharges itself into the sea by a separate mouth.
6. There are many other narrow defiles in passing out through the
territory of the Uxii, and entering Persis. These Alexander forced in
his march through the country at the Persian Gates, and at other places,
when he was hastening to see the principal parts of Persis, and the
treasure-holds, in which wealth had been accumulated during the long
period that Asia was tributary to Persis.
He crossed many rivers, which flow through the country and discharge
themselves into the Persian Gulf.
Next to the Choaspes are the Copratas[449] and the Pasitigris, which has
its source in the country of the Uxii. There is also the river Cyrus,
which flows through Cœle Persis,[450] as it is called, near Pasargadæ.
The king changed his name, which was formerly Agradatus, to that of this
river. Alexander crossed the Araxes[451] close to Persepolis. Persepolis
was distinguished for the magnificence of the treasures which it
contained. The Araxes flows out of the Parætacene,[452] and receives the
Medus,[453] which has its source in Media. These rivers run through a
very fruitful valley, which, like Persepolis, lies close to Carmania
and to the eastern parts of the country. Alexander burnt the palace at
Persepolis, to avenge the Greeks, whose temples and cities the Persians
had destroyed by fire and sword.
7. He next came to Pasargadæ,[454] which also was an ancient royal
residence. Here he saw in a park the tomb of Cyrus. It was a small
tower, concealed within a thick plantation of trees solid below, but
above consisting of one story and a shrine which had a very narrow
opening; Aristobulus says, he entered through this opening, by order of
Alexander, and decorated the tomb. He saw there a golden couch, a table
with cups, a golden coffin, and a large quantity of garments and dresses
ornamented with precious stones. These objects he saw at his first
visit, but on a subsequent visit the place had been robbed, and
everything had been removed except the couch and the coffin which were
only broken. The dead body had been removed from its place; whence it
was evident that it was the act not of the Satrap,[455] but of robbers,
who had left behind what they could not easily carry off. And this
occurred although there was a guard of Magi stationed about the place,
who received for their daily subsistence a sheep, and every month a
horse. [456] The remote distance to which the army of Alexander had
advanced, to Bactra and India, gave occasion to the introduction of many
disorderly acts, and to this among others.
Such is the account of Aristobulus, who records the following
inscription on the tomb. “O MAN, I AM CYRUS,[457] I ESTABLISHED THE
PERSIAN EMPIRE AND WAS KING OF ASIA. GRUDGE ME NOT THEREFORE THIS
MONUMENT. ”
Onesicritus however says that the tower had ten stories, that Cyrus lay
in the uppermost, and that there was an inscription in Greek, cut in
Persian letters, “I CYRUS, KING OF KINGS, LIE HERE. ” And another
inscription to the same effect in the Persian language.
8. Onesicritus mentions also this inscription on the tomb of Darius: “I
WAS A FRIEND TO MY FRIENDS, I WAS THE FIRST OF HORSEMEN AND ARCHERS, I
EXCELLED AS HUNTER, I COULD DO EVERYTHING. ”
[CAS. 730] Aristus of Salamis, a writer of a much later age than these,
says, that the tower consisted of two stories, and was large; that it
was built at the time the Persians succeeded to the kingdom (of the
Medes); that the tomb was preserved; that the above-mentioned
inscription was in the Greek, and that there was another to the same
purport in the Persian language.
Cyrus held in honour Pasargadæ, because he there conquered, in his last
battle, Astyages the Mede, and transferred to himself the empire of
Asia; he raised it to the rank of a city, and built a palace in memory
of his victory.
9. Alexander transferred everything that was precious in Persis to Susa,
which was itself full of treasures and costly materials; he did not,
however, consider this place, but Babylon, as the royal residence, and
intended to embellish it. There too his treasure was deposited.
They say that, besides the treasures in Babylon and in the camp of
Alexander, which were not included in the sum, the treasure found at
Susa and in Persis was reckoned to amount to 40,000, and according to
some writers to 50,000, talents. But others say, that the whole
treasure, collected from all quarters, and transported to Ecbatana,
amounted to 180,000 talents, and that the 8,000 talents which Darius
carried away with him in his flight from Media became the booty of those
who put him to death.
10. Alexander preferred Babylon, because he saw that it far surpassed
the other cities in magnitude, and had other advantages. Although Susis
is fertile, it has a glowing and scorching atmosphere, particularly near
the city, as he (Aristobulus? ) says. Lizards and serpents at mid-day in
the summer, when the sun is at its greatest height, cannot cross the
streets of the city quick enough to prevent their being burnt to death
midway by the heat. This happens nowhere in Persis, although it lies
more towards the south.
Cold water for baths is suddenly heated by exposure to the sun. Barley
spread out in the sun is roasted[458] like barley prepared in ovens. For
this reason earth is laid to the depth of two cubits upon the roofs of
the houses. They are obliged to construct their houses narrow, on
account of the weight placed upon them, and from want of long beams,
but, as large dwellings are required to obviate the suffocating heat,
the houses are long.
The beam made of the palm tree has a peculiar property, for although it
retains its solidity, it does not as it grows old give way downwards,
but curves upwards with the weight, and is a better support to the roof.
The cause of the scorching heat is said to be high, overhanging
mountains on the north, which intercept the northern winds. These,
blowing from the tops of the mountains at a great height, fly over
without touching the plains, to the more southern parts of Susis. There
the air is still, particularly when the Etesian winds cool the other
parts of the country which are burnt up by heat.
11. Susis is so fertile in grain, that barley and wheat produce,
generally, one hundred, and sometimes two hundred fold. Hence the
furrows are not ploughed close together, for the roots when crowded
impede the sprouting of the plant.
The vine did not grow there before the Macedonians planted it, both
there and at Babylon. They do not dig trenches, but thrust down into the
ground iron-headed stakes, which when drawn out are immediately replaced
by the plants.
Such is the character of the inland parts. The sea-coast is marshy and
without harbours; hence Nearchus says, that he met with no native
guides, when coasting with his fleet from India to Babylonia, for
nowhere could his vessels put in, nor was he able to procure persons who
could direct him by their knowledge and experience.
12. The part of Babylonia formerly called Sitacene, and afterwards
Apolloniatis,[459] is situated near Susis.
Above both, on the north and towards the east, are the Elymæi[460] and
the Parætaceni, predatory people relying for security on their situation
in a rugged and mountainous country. The Parætaceni lie more immediately
above the Apolloniatæ, and therefore annoy them the more. The Elymæi are
at war with this people and with the Susians, and the Uxii with the
Elymæi, but not so constantly at present as might be expected, on
account of the power of the Parthians, to whom all the inhabitants
[CAS. 732] of those regions are under subjection. When therefore the
Parthians are quiet, all are tranquil, and their subject nations. But
when, as frequently happens, there is an insurrection, which has
occurred even in our own times, the event is not the same to all, but
different to different people. For the disturbance has benefited some,
but disappointed the expectation of others.
Such is the nature of the countries of Persis and Susiana.
13. The manners and customs of the Persians are the same as those of the
Susians and the Medes, and many other people; and they have been
described by several writers, yet I must mention what is suitable to my
purpose.
The Persians do not erect statues nor altars, but, considering the
heaven as Jupiter, sacrifice on a high place. [461] They worship the sun
also, whom they call Mithras, the moon, Venus, fire, earth, winds, and
water. They sacrifice, having offered up prayers, in a place free from
impurities, and present the victim crowned. [462]
After the Magus, who directs the sacrifice, has divided the flesh, each
goes away with his share, without setting apart any portion to the gods;
for the god, they say, requires the soul of the victim, and nothing
more. Nevertheless, according to some writers, they lay a small piece of
the caul upon the fire.
14. But it is to fire and water especially that they offer sacrifice.
They throw upon the fire dry wood without the bark, and place fat over
it; they then pour oil upon it, and light it below; they do not blow the
flame with their breath, but fan it; those who have blown the flame with
their breath, or thrown any dead thing or dirt upon the fire, are put to
death.
They sacrifice to water by going to a lake, river, or fountain; having
dug a pit, they slaughter the victim over it, taking care that none of
the pure water near be sprinkled with blood, and thus be polluted. They
then lay the flesh in order upon myrtle or laurel branches; the Magi
touch it with slender twigs,[463] and make incantations, pouring oil
mixed with milk and honey, not into the fire, nor into the water, but
upon the earth. They continue their incantations for a long time,
holding in the hands a bundle of slender myrtle rods.
15. In Cappadocia (for in this country there is a great body of Magi,
called Pyræthi,[464] and there are many temples dedicated to the Persian
deities) the sacrifice is not performed with a knife, but the victim is
beaten to death with a log of wood, as with a mallet.
The Persians have also certain large shrines, called Pyrætheia. [465] In
the middle of these is an altar, on which is a great quantity of ashes,
where the Magi maintain an unextinguished fire. They enter daily, and
continue their incantation for nearly an hour, holding before the fire a
bundle of rods, and wear round their heads high turbans of felt,
reaching down on each side so as to cover the lips and the sides of the
cheeks. The same customs are observed in the temples of Anaïtis and of
Omanus. Belonging to these temples are shrines, and a wooden statue of
Omanus is carried in procession. These we have seen ourselves. [466]
Other usages, and such as follow, are related by historians.
16. The Persians never pollute a river with urine, nor wash nor bathe in
it; they never throw a dead body, nor anything unclean, into it. To
whatever god they intend to sacrifice, they first address a prayer to
fire.
17. They are governed by hereditary kings. Disobedience is punished by
the head and arms being cut off, and the body cast forth. They marry
many women, and maintain at the same time a great number of concubines,
with a view to a numerous offspring.
The kings propose annual prizes for a numerous family of children.
Children are not brought into the presence of their parents until they
are four years old.
Marriages are celebrated at the beginning of the vernal equinox. The
bridegroom passes into the bride-chamber, having previously eaten some
fruit, or camel’s marrow, but nothing else during the day.
18. From the age of five to twenty-four years they are taught to use the
bow, to throw the javelin, to ride, and to speak the truth. They have
the most virtuous preceptors, [CAS. 733] who interweave useful fables
in their discourses, and rehearse, sometimes with, sometimes without,
music, the actions of the gods and of illustrious men.
The youths are called to rise before day-break, at the sound of brazen
instruments, and assemble in one spot, as if for arming themselves or
for the chase. They are arranged in companies of fifty, to each of which
one of the king’s or a satrap’s son is appointed as leader, who runs,
followed at command by the others, an appointed distance of thirty or
forty stadia.
They require them to give an account of each lesson, when they practise
loud speaking, and exercise the breath and lungs. They are taught to
endure heat, cold, and rains; to cross torrents, and keep their armour
and clothes dry; to pasture animals, to watch all night in the open air,
and to eat wild fruits, as the terminthus,[467] acorns, and wild pears.
[These persons are called Cardaces, who live upon plunder, for “carda”
means a manly and warlike spirit. ][468]
The daily food after the exercise of the gymnasium is bread, a cake,
cardamum,[469] a piece of salt, and dressed meat either roasted or
boiled, and their drink is water.
Their mode of hunting is by throwing spears from horseback, or with
the bow or the sling.
In the evening they are employed in planting trees, cutting roots,
fabricating armour, and making lines and nets. The youth do not eat the
game, but carry it home. The king gives rewards for running, and to the
victors in the other contests of the pentathla (or five games). The
youths are adorned with gold, esteeming it for its fiery appearance.
They do not ornament the dead with gold, nor apply fire to them, on
account of its being an object of veneration.
19. They serve as soldiers in subordinate stations, and in those of
command from twenty to fifty years of age, both on foot and on
horseback. They do not concern themselves with the public markets, for
they neither buy nor sell. They are armed with a romb-shaped shield.
Besides quivers, they have battle-axes and short swords. On their heads
they wear a cap rising like a tower. The breastplate is composed of
scales of iron.
The dress of the chiefs consists of triple drawers, a double tunic with
sleeves reaching to the knees; the under garment is white, the upper of
a variegated colour. The cloak for summer is of a purple or violet
colour, but for winter of a variegated colour. The turbans are similar
to those of the Magi; and a deep double shoe. The generality of people
wear a double tunic reaching to the half of the leg. A piece of fine
linen is wrapped round the head. Each person has a bow and a sling.
The entertainments of the Persians are expensive. They set upon their
table entire animals in great number, and of various kinds. Their
couches, drinking-cups, and other articles are so brilliantly ornamented
that they gleam with gold and silver.
20. Their consultations on the most important affairs are carried on
while they are drinking, and they consider the resolutions made at that
time more to be depended upon than those made when sober.
On meeting persons of their acquaintance, and of equal rank with
themselves, on the road, they approach and kiss them, but to persons of
an inferior station they offer the cheek, and in that manner receive the
kiss. But to persons of still lower condition they only bend the body.
Their mode of burial is to smear the bodies over with wax, and then to
inter them. The Magi are not buried, but the birds are allowed to devour
them. These persons, according to the usage of the country, espouse even
their mothers.
Such are the customs of the Persians.
21. The following, mentioned by Polvcletus, are perhaps customary
practices:
At Susa each king builds in the citadel, as memorials of the
administration of his government, a dwelling for himself,
treasure-houses, and magazines for tribute collected (in kind).
From the sea-coast they obtain silver, from the interior the [CAS. 735]
produce of each province, as dyes, drugs, hair, wool, or anything else
of this sort, and cattle. The apportionment of the tribute was settled
by Darius [Longimanus, who was a very handsome person with the exception
of the length of his arms, which reached to his knees]. [470] The greater
part both of gold and silver is wrought up, and there is not much in
coined money. The former they consider as best adapted for presents, and
for depositing in store-houses. So much coined money as suffices for
their wants they think enough; but, on the other hand, money is coined
in proportion to what is required for expenditure. [471]
22. Their habits are in general temperate. But their kings, from the
great wealth which they possessed, degenerated into a luxurious way of
life. They sent for wheat from Assos in Æolia, for Chalybonian[472] wine
from Syria, and water from the Eulæus, which is the lightest of all, for
an Attic cotylus measure of it weighs less by a drachm (than the same
quantity of any other water).
23. Of the barbarians the Persians were the best known to the Greeks,
for none of the other barbarians who governed Asia governed Greece. The
barbarians were not acquainted with the Greeks, and the Greeks were but
slightly acquainted, and by distant report only, with the barbarians. As
an instance, Homer was not acquainted with the empire of the Syrians nor
of the Medes, for otherwise as he mentions the wealth of Egyptian Thebes
and of Phœnicia, he would not have passed over in silence the wealth of
Babylon, of Ninus, and of Ecbatana.
The Persians were the first people that brought Greeks under their
dominion; the Lydians (before them) did the same, they were not however
masters of the whole, but of a small portion only of Asia, that within
the river Halys; their empire lasted for a short time, during the reigns
of Crœsus and Alyattes; and they were deprived of what little glory they
had acquired, when conquered by the Persians.
The Persians, (on the contrary, increased in power and,) as soon as they
had destroyed the Median empire, subdued the Lydians and brought the
Greeks of Asia under their dominion.
