On
comparing this with the Oriental name Djemschid (in
which the final syllabic, schid, is a mere addition of a
later age), we cannot fail to be struck by the resem-
blance.
comparing this with the Oriental name Djemschid (in
which the final syllabic, schid, is a mere addition of a
later age), we cannot fail to be struck by the resem-
blance.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
When this last-mentioned city, howev-
er, fell under the Spartan power, Perinthus was com-
pelled to follow its example. It subsequently suffered
from the attacks of the 1'hracians, but principally from
those of Philip of Macedon, who besieged and vig-
orously pressed the city, but was unable to lake it.
The city was situate on a small peninsula, and the
isthmus connecting it with the mainland was only a
stadium broad, according to Ephorus, but Pliny (4,
11) makes it somewhat more. The place was built
along the slope of a hill, and afforded to one approach-
ing it the appearance of a theatre, the inner rows of
dwellings being overtopped by those behind. (Diud. ,
16, 76. ) Perinthus continued to be a flourishing city
even under the Homan power, and received a great
accession of power when its rival Byzantium fell un-
der the displeasure of the Emperor Sever us. The
case was altered, however, when Constantine trans-
ferred the seat of empire to Byzantium; and about
tb:s petiod we find Perinthus appearing with the addi-
tional name of Heraclea, without our being able to as-
certain cither the exact cause or period of the change.
Ptolemy, it is true, says "Perinthus or Heraclea," but
'. his is evidently the interpolation of some later scholi-
ast. The coins of this place reach upward to the time
of Aurelian: thoy bear no other name but that of Pe-
rinthus. With the writers of the fourth century, on
the other hand, the more usual name is Heraclea;
though they almost all add that the city was once
railed Perinthus, or else, like Ammianus Marcellinus,
(? mi both names together. Hence it would appear
that the change of appellation was a gradual one, and
not suddenly made, in accordance with the command
of any emperor, as in the case of Constantinople. Af-
ter this last-mentioned place Perinthus was the most
important city in this quarter of Thrr. ce. Justinian re-
built the ancient palace in it, and lepaired the aque-
ducts. (Procop , jEdtf. , 4, 9. ) It could not, indeed,
be an unimportant city, as all the main roads to By-
zantium from Italy and Greece met hero. The mod-
ern Erekli occupies the site of the ancient city. (Man-
ner/, Geogr. , vol. 7, p. 174, seqq. )
Peripatetici (Hrptirarqncot), a name given to the
followers of Aristotle. According to the common ac-
count, the sect were called by this appellation from
? ? the circumstance of their master's walking about as
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? PE*
PER
p>>rt, and envious of the fame and successes of hia
leader, he conspired against him, along with others of
bis officers. Sertorins was assassinated by the con-
spirators at a banquet, and Perpenna took the com-
mand of the forces; but he soon showed his utter inca-
pacity, and was defeated by Pompey and put to death.
(Phi. , Vit. Scrtor. )
PkkKH. txiA, a district of Thessaly. Strabo, in his
critical examination of the Homeric geography of
Thessaly, affirms, that the lower valley of the Pcncus,
it far as the sea, had been first occupied by the Per-
rhajbi, an ancient tribe, apparently of Pelasgic origin.
{Simtmid. a p. Strab. , 441. ) On the northern bank of
the great Thessalian river, they had peopled also the
mountainous tract borderinf on the Macedonian dis-
tricts of Elimiotis and Pieria, while to the south they
stretched along the base of Mount Ossa, as far as the
shores of Lake Bcebcis. These possessions were,
however, in course of time, wrested from them by the
Lapithsa, another Pelasgic nation, whose original abode
seems to have been in the vales of Ossa and the Mag-
nesian district. Yielding to these more powerful in-
vaders, the greater part of the Pcrrhsebi retired, as
Strabo informs us, towards Dolopia and the ridge of
Pindus; but some still occupied the valleys of Olym-
pus, while those who remained in the plains became
incorporated with the Lapith>>, under the common
nsme of Pelasgiotas. (Strab. , 439. ) The Perrhajbi
are noticed in the catalogue of Homer among the
Thessalian clans who fought at the siege of Troy. (//. ,
2, 794. ) Their antiquity is also attested by the fact
of their being enrolled among the Amphiclyonic states.
As thsir territory lay on the borders of Macedonia, and
comprised all the defiles by which it was possible for
an army to enter Thessaly from that province, or re-
turn from thence into Macedonia, it became a frequent
thoroughfare for the troops of different nations. The
country occupied by them seems to have been situa-
ted chiefly in the valley of the river Titaresius, now
Simula Poros. ( Cramer's Arte. Greece, vol. 1, p. 363,
segj. )
}'e<<sm, the inhabitants of Persia. (Vid. Persia. )
Persephone, the Greek name of Proserpina. (Vid.
Proserpina. )
Persep5i. is, a celebrated city, situate in the royal
province of Persis, about twenty stadia from the river
Araxes. It is mentioned by Greek writers after the
time of Alexander as the capital of Persia. The name,
however, does not occur in Herodotus, Ctesias, Xeno-
phon, or Nehemiah, who were well acquainted with the
other principal cities of the Persian empire, and make
frequent mention of Susa, Babylon, and Ecbatana.
Their silence may be accounted for by the fact that Per-
? epolis never appears to have been a place of residence
for the Persian kings, though we must conclude, from
the account of Arrian and other writers, that it was
from the most ancient times regarded as the capital of
the empire. The kings of Persia appear to have been
buried here or at Pasargads. There was at Persepo-
lis a magnificent palace, which, at the time of Alexan-
der's conquest, was full of immense treasures, that had
accumulated there since the time of Cyrus. (Diod.
Sic. , 17, 71. --Strab. , 729. ) We know scarcely any-
thing of the history of Persepolis. The palace of the
Persian kings was burned by Alexander (Arrian, 3, 18.
--Cart. , 5, 7. --Strab. , 729 -- Diod. Sic, 17, 70), and
Persepolis was plundered by the Macedonian soldiers
? ? in retaliation, according to Diodorus Siculus (17, 69),
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? PERSEUS.
PERSEUS.
Rated Andromeda from the sea-monster, and then
returned with the Gorgon's head to the island of Ser-
ipfcjs. This head he gave to Minerva, who set it in
iiie middle of her shield. The remainder of his his-
tory, up to the death of Acrisius, is given elsewhere.
(Vid. Danae, and Acrisius. ) After the unlooked-for
fulfilment of the oracle, in the accidental homicide of
his grandfather, Perseus, feeling ashamed to take the
inheritance ot one who had died by his means, pro-
posed an exchange of dominions with Megapcnthes,
the son of Proetus, and thenceforward reigned at Ti-
rvns. He afterward built and fortified Mycenae and
Midea. (Apollod. , 2, 4, 2, seqq. -- Schol. ad Apoll.
Rhod. , 4, 1091, 1515. -- Kcightlcy's Mythology, p.
415, seqq )--We now come to the explanation of the
whole legend. The Perseus of the Greeks is nothing
more than a modification of the Persian Mithras (Creu-
xcr, Symbolik, par G'-uigniaut, vol. I, p. 368, in no-
tis), and a piece of ancient sculpture on one of the
gates of the citadel of Mycena) fully confirms the an-
alogy. (Guigniaut, I. c. --Gcll, Specimens of Ancient
Sculpture, Lond. , 1810. -- Id. , Itinerary of Greece,
p. 35, seqq. --Knight, Carm. Homeric. Prolegom , 58,
p. 31. )^Perseus, however, if we consult his geneal-
ogy as transmitted to us by the mythographers, will
appear to have still more relation to Egypt than to
Asia. Descended from the ancient Inachus, the fath-
er of Phoroneus and lo, we see his family divide itself
at first into two branches. From Phoroneus sprang
Sparton, Apis-Serapis, and the Argive Niobe. The
anion of lo and Jupiter produced ? paphus, Belus, Da-
naiis, and, omitting some intermediate names, Acri-
sius, Danae, and the heroic Perseus. If we examine
closely the import of the names that form both branch-
es of this completely mythic genealogy, we shall dis-
cover an evident allusion to Mithriac ideas and sym-
bols. For example, Sparton has reference to the sow-
ing of seed; Apis, become Serapis, is the god-bull
upon or under the earth; lo is the lowing heifer, wan-
dering over the whole earth, and at last held captive;
Epaphus, another and Graecised name of Apis, is the
? acred bull, the representative of all the bulls in
Egypt; Belus is the Sun king both in Asia and Egypt,
&c. It is in the person, however, of Perseus that all
these scattered rays are in some degree concentrated.
The name of his mother Danae would seem to have
reference to the earth in a dry and arid state Ju-
piter, descending in a shower of gold, impregnating
and rendering her the mother of Perseus, is Mithras,
or the golden Sun, fertilizing the earth. Perseus,
coming forth from the court of the king of the shades
{Polyaectes, the "all-recipient;" iroXtif and iixofiai),
proceeds under the protection of the goddess Minerva,
holding in his hand the harpe (upnn), symbol of fertil-
ity, to combat in the West the impure and sleril Gor-
gons: after this, returning to the East, he delivers An-
dromeda from the sea-monster, and becomes the pa-
rent of a hero of light, another Perses, a son resem-
bling his sire. Having returned victorious to Argolis,
he builds, by the aid of the Cyclopes subterranean
workmen whom he leads in his train, a new city; My-
cenae, the name of which, according to different tra-
ditions, had reference either to the lowings of lo, or to
the Gorgons mourning for the fate of their sister (/tinn,
"lowing:" fiVKuriuai, -uiiat, "to low. " -- Mvicijvat).
Others, a<rain, derive the appellation from the scab-
bard (pvKnc) of the hero's sword, which fell upon the
? ? ? pot; and others, again, from a mushroom \jtVKnc) torn
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? KKKSEUS.
PER
llso worshipped, received its name from the impress
made by the fertilizing foot of Pegasus or Bellerophon,
who followed in the track of the high deeds achieved
by Perseus in Lower Asia, so the Chemmites pretend-
ed that Egypt was indebted for its fertility to the gi-
gantic sandal left by the demi-god upon earth at the
periods of hi* frequent visitations. (Herod. , 2, 91. )
They alone of the Egyptians celebrated games in hon-
? uv of this warlike hero of the Sun, this conqueror in
his celestial career, this worthy precursor of Hercules,
Sus grandson. --If we connect what has been here said
vriih the traces of Mithriac worship in Ethiopia and
j Egypt, as well as in Persia and Greece, we will be
tempted to conjocture, that these two branches of a
very early religion, the fundamental idea in which was
the contest incessantly carried on by the pure and fer-
tilizing principle of light against darkness and sterility,
unite in one parent trunk at the very centre of the
EasL. (Creuzer, Symbolik, par Guigniaut, vol. 3, p.
156, wCqq. )--II. Son of Philip V. , king of Macedonia,
began at an early age to serve in his father's army,
and distinguished himself by some successes against
the barbarous nations which bordered on Macedonia.
His younger brother Demetrius was carried away as
hostage by the consul Flamininus, at the time of the
peace between Rome and Philip, and, after remaining
several years at Rome, where he won the favour of the
senate, was sent back to Macedonia. After a time, he
was again sent by his father to Rome, on a mission, in
consequence of fresh disagreements which had sprung
up between the two states. Demetrius succeeded in
maintaining peace, but, after his return to Macedonia,
he was accused of ambitious designs, of aspiring to the
crown, a. id of being in secret correspondence with
Rome. Perseus, who was jealous of him, supported
the charges, and Philip doomed his younger son to
death; but, not daring to have him openly executed,
th: ough fear of the Romans, he caused him to be poi-
30 nil. It is said that, having discovered his inno-
cence, his remorse and his indignation against Perseus
hastened his death. Perseus ascended the throne B. C.
179. This monarch had been brought up by his father
with sentiments of hatred against the Romans, for the
humiliation which they had inflicted on Macedonia.
He dissembled his feelings, however, at the beginning
of his reign, and confirmed the treaty existing between
his father and the senate. Meanwhile he endeavoured,
by a prudent and diligent administration, to strengthen
brs power, and retrieve the losses which his kingdom
had sustained during the previous reign. But the Ro-
mans, who viewed with suspicion these indications of ri-
sing opposition, sought an early opportunity of crushing
their loe, before his plans could be brought to maturity.
Pretexts were not long wanting for such a purpose,
and war was declared, notwithstanding every offer of
concession on the part of Perseus. After a campaign
of no decisive result in Tbcssaly, the war was trans-
ferred to the plains of Pieria in Macedonia, where Per-
seus encamped in a strong position on the banks of the
river Enipeus. But the consul Paulus -l^imlius hav-
ing despatched a chosen body of troop; across the
mountains to attack him in the rear, he was compell-
ed to retire to Pydna, where a battle took place, which
terminated in his entire defeat, 20,000 Macedonians
having fallen on the field. This single battle decided
the fate of the ancient and powerful kingdom of Mace-
donia, after a duration of 530 years. Perseus fled al-
? ? most alone, without wailing for the end of the conflict.
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? PERSIA.
PERSIA.
remans, Axaifitft/c, Hepatic. Ammianus Marcelli-
nu;> (19, 2), in the common text of his history, gives
Aehamenium as equivalent, in the Persian tongue, to
"Rex regihus imperans;" but Valois (Valesius) cor-
rects tbe common reading by the substitution of Saan-
taan, which closely resembles the modern title of roy-
alty in Persia, Schaahinschaah. --The name Achamcma
comes ill reality from that of Achamcncs, the founder
of the royal line of Persia. In the word Achamencs,
the last two syllables (-cues) an: a mere Greek append-
age, owing their existence to the well-known custom,
on tbe part of the Greeks, of altering foreign, and par-
ticularly Oriental names, in such a way as to adapt
them to their own finer organs of hearing. (Compare
Jo3cphus. Anl. Jud. , \,6. --Plm. ,Ep. ,S,i ) We have,
then, Achaem ('Axatp) remaining. The initial letter
w merely the Oriental alif pronounced as a soft breath-
ing, and the root of the word is Ckaem (Xatft).
On
comparing this with the Oriental name Djemschid (in
which the final syllabic, schid, is a mere addition of a
later age), we cannot fail to be struck by the resem-
blance. And this resemblance will become still more
marked if we consider that Djcm(Djocmo in the Zend-
Avesta) begins properly with a species of sibilant G,
which, being pronounced more roughly in some dia-
lects than in others, approximates very closely to the
sound of C'h. Besides, all that the Greeks tell us of
Achsmenes corresponds very exactly with what the
East relates of its Djemschid. Achxmenes was the
founder of the royal line of Persia, and to him Cyrus,
Darius, and Xerxes were proud of tracing their origin.
With the Persians of the present day, the name of
Djemschid is held in the highest veneration as that of
the founder of Pcrsepolis, and a great and glorious
monarch. --Herodotus (7, 61) states that the Persians
were anciently (-u? . at) called by the Greeks Ccphcnct
{Knty'/vee;). but by themselves and their neighbours Ar-
/<<i ('ApTaioi). As regards the name Cephenes, there
is an evident mistake on the part of the historian, and
the appellation beyond a doubt belongs only to certain
tribes of the ancient Northern Chaldsea, who actually
hore this name. With respect to the term Artia it
may be remarked, that it merely designates a brave
and warrior-people, being derived from the Persian art
or ard, "strong," " brave. " (Consult remarks at the
end of the article Artaxcrxes. )--One of the earliest
riam. -s of Persia and the Persian empire, and the one
mos'. usual with the Persians themselves up to the
present day, is Iran, while all the country beyond the
Oxus was denominated Turan. The former of these
appellations is identical with the Eericne of the Zend-
Avesta, and will be alluded to again in the course of
the present article. --The name Persia would seem to
have come from that of the province of Faarsi-stan or
Paarsi-stan, called also Faars or Paars, and the same
with the Persis (Tiipoic) of the Greeks. (Compare
the Scripture Paras already mentioned. ) In this prov-
ince we find the genuine race of Iranians; and it was
here that the magnificent city of Istakhar, which the
Greeks have made known to Europe by the name of
Perscpolis, was built by the monarchs of Iran. The
origin of the term Paars or Paars has been much dis-
puted by philologists (Vt'ahl, Vorder und Millel-Asien,
p. 235, scqq); the root is evidently to be sought for
in the term Aria or Eericne, and this would bring Iran
and Persia, as names of the same country, in close
approximation- ( Vid. Aria. ) One explanation of the
? ? name ? '? Persian" will be given farther on.
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? PERSIA.
PERSIA.
m generally conceded, however, that the Bactrians,
Medes, and Persians bore at first the common name
of Arii, which recalls to mind that of Iran; but with
respect to the primitive country of these Arii there is
little unanimity of opinion. Some make them to have
come from Caucasus; others seek for their earliest
settlement among the mountains to the northeast of
India, and, it must be confessed, with great proba-
bility. Gorres persists in his hypothesis of making
toe Assyrians, Medes, and Persians to have descend-
ed from the chain of Caucasus, speaking the same lan-
guage, and forming one and the same race; and to
cis race, thus combined, he assigns a great monarchy
Iran, extending from Caucasus to the Himmalayan
Mountains. He brings together and compares with
each other the names Iran, Aria, Aluria, Assyria,
Assur, dec, and appears to identify Shcm with Djem
or Djemschid, the first mythic chief of this early em-
pire. (Mythengesch. , vol. 1, p. 213, seqq. --Compare
Schah. Nameh, Einleil, p. vi. , seqq. ) Another sys-
tem has been more recently started by Rhode, and has
been developed with great ability. According to this
writer, the Bactrians, Medes, and Persians composed
the common and primitive Iran, speaking the Zend
language or its different dialects, and coming origin-
ally from Eeriene Veedjo, and from Mount Albordj,
which he finds near the sources of the Oxus and the
mountains to the north of India, the names of which
were transferred in a later age to Caucasus and Ar-
menia. The arguments adduced by this writer in
support of his hypothesis are drawn from the Zend
books, and in particular from the Vendidad, at the
commencement of which latter work an account is
given of the creation, or. as Rhode expresses it, of
the successive inhabitings of various countries, and in
the number of which we find, after Eeriene Veedjo,
Soghdo (Sogdiana), Moore (Merou), Bakhdi (probably
Balk), Neva (Nysa), Haroiou (Herat), <5cc. Rhode
sees in this enumeration an ancient tradition respect-
ing the migrations of a race, for a long period of no-
madic habits, who kept moving on gradually towards
the south, under the conduct of Djemschid, as far as
Vsr or Var, a delightful country, where they finally
established themselves, and where Djemschid built a
city and palace, Var-Djemsgherd, which Rhode, after
Herder, takes for Persia proper (Persis) or Pars,
with its capital Persepolis, identifying at the same
time Achsmenes with Djemschid. M. Von Hammer
adopts, in genersl, this opinion of Rhode in regard to
the geography of the Vendidad, with the exception of
. he last point. He thinks that Vcr and Var-Djcms-
chid cannot be Pars or Fars and Persepolis, but the
country more to the north, where are at the present
day Damaghan and Kanwin, and where stood in for-
mer days Hecatompylos, the true city of Djemschid.
The celebrated traveller and Orientalist, Sir W. Ouse-
ly, without identifying Var and Pars as Khode does,
inclines, nevertheless, to the belief that it is to Persep-
olis, its edifices, and the plain in which it is situated,
t'? at the Zend-Avesta refers under the names already
mentioned, as well as under that of Djcmkand. With-
out presuming to offer any opinion on this disputed
point, we may take the liberty of remarking, that the
Greeks themselves speak of the Arii as a large family
of nations, to which the Magi, and, in general, all the
Median tribes or castes were considered as belonging.
tfiayoi di xai jrdv ro 'Apetov yevoc. -- Damasc. ,ap.
? ? Wolf, Anecd. Grctc. 3, p. 289. --Compare Herod. , 7,
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? PERSIA.
PERSIA.
pets into four castes, and during three hundred years
reijrned in the utmost prosperity and power, until his
pride impelled him to revolt against the deity. Dzo-
hak' was at this time prince of the Tati, and held
communication with the evil genii. He collected to-
gether the subjects of Djemschid, who had abandoned
their sovereign since his altered course of conduct,
put himself at their head, dethroned Djemschid, and
deprived him of axistence after a reign of seven hun-
dred years. Dtohdk' reigned a thousand years. His
tyranny reduced Persia to the utmost wretchedness.
II? the malice of the evil spirits, two serpents sprang
from his shoulders and remained attached to them.
To appease their craving appetites, they had to be fed
every day with the brains of men. By an adroit strat-
agem, the cooks of the palace saved each day one of the
two persons destined thus to afford nourishment to the
serpents, and sent him to the mountains: it is from these
fugitives, say the traditions of Persia, that the Kurds
of the present day derived their origin. A dream fore-
warned the sanguinary Dzohak' of the lot that awaited
him, and of the vengeance that would be inflicted on him
by Feridoun, the son of one of his victims. He caused
diligent search to be made for the formidable infant,
but the mother of Feridoun, who had given him to the
divine cow Pour-maych to be nursed, saved herself
and her child by fleeing to Mount Albrouz, in the north
of India. There Feridoun was brought up by a Parsi.
Having attained tho age of sixteen years, he descend-
ed from the mountain and rejoined his mother, who
made him acquainted with the story of his birth and
misfortunes: for he was a member of the royal line,
which bad been driven from the throne of Persia by
the sanguinary Dzohak'. Burning with the desire of
avenging his wrongs, he seized the first opportunity
tl. at presented itself. A sedition broke out in Persia,
leaded by a smith, who affixed his apron to the point
of a spear, and made it the standard cf revolt. The
continued searches ordered by Dzohak' had apprized
the people both of the dream of the tyrar. t and the ex-
istence of the young prince whom he persecuted. The
Persians ran in crowds to their deliverer, who caused
the apron of the smith to be profusely adorned with
gold and precious stones, adopted it as the royal stand-
ard, and named it Dircfch-gawdny; and this standard
continued to be in after ages an object of the greatest
veneration throughout all the empire of Persia. Feri-
doun immediately marched against the tyrant, crossed
the Tigris where Bagdad now stands, proceeded to
Beit-ul-makaddes, the residence of Dzohak', conquered
his antagonist, and confined him wilh massive fetters
in a cavern of Mount Damtrucend. The two sisters of
Djemschid, Chehrnius and Amcvas, had been the fav-
ourite wives of Dzohak'. Feridoun found them, though
after the lapse of a thousand years, still young enough
to espouse. He had by them three sons, whom he
married to three princesses of Yemen. The eldest
was Sclm, the second Tour, and the youngest Iredj.
He divided the earth among them. Sclm received
Rnum and Khdwcr, that is lo say, Greece, Asia Minor,
and Egypt. Ttnir obtained Tourdn and Djitt, that is,
the country beyond the Oxus and China. Iredj be-
came master of Persia (Iran) and Arabia. Dissatis-
fied with this division, trie first two made an inroad, at
the head of an army, into Persif. ; ilew Iredj, who
bad come to their camp for the purpose of appeasing
them, and sent his head to Fcdoun. The afflicted
? ? father prayed the gods to p'jlong his life until he
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? PERSIA.
PERSIA.
? vertftrew the Assyrian empire. The Assyria i priuct s,
or Tasi, did not inhabit Jerusalem, as one might be
inclined to suppose from the name Bcit-ul-makaddcs,
"the holv dwelling," given by Firdousi to their resi-
dence, and which is that by which the Arabs designate
the capital of the Jews. The Persian poet himself
gives us the requisite information on this point, by
adding that Jieil-ulmakaddes also bore the Tasi name
of liamch-el-Harran. It was probably, therefore,
Harran, in Mesopotamia, in the region called Dior
Modzar. According to traditions still existing, this
city was built a short time after the deluge; and it is
regirdcd by the people of the East as one of the most
ancient in the world. Albrouz is the ancient name of
the great chain of mountains which commences on the
west of the Cimmerian Bosporus, borders the Cas-
pian Sea to the southeast and south, and, proceeding
eastward, joins the Himalayan chain which separates
Hitidoostan from Thibet. It comprehends, there-
fore, the Caucasus of our days, the mountains of Ghi-
Ian, Mount Damavend, the chain of Chorasan, and
'. he Paropamisus or Hendu-Khos. Feridoun, coming
from Media to found the new Median empire on the
ruins of the Assyrian, descended Mount Albrouz.
Eastern Persia, comprising Sedjcstan and Zaboulis-
Idn, which is the country of Ghiznch, was subject to
the schah, but governed under him by the princes of
the race of Sam. As to Kaloul, it was only tributary,
and belonged to a branch of the family of Dzohdk'.
that is, to princes of Assyrian origin who had treated
with the Medes. The third analogy between the
Greek and Persian traditions is found in the inroads
of barbarous tribes from Eastern Persia. The incur-
sions of the Scythian Noinades, mentioned by the
Greek writers, will agree very well with those of the
princes of Touran, coming from beyond the Djihoun
or Oxus. From the earliest periods, Persia has been
imposed to invasion from the tribes in the direction of
Jaucasus, the Caspian, and the Oxus. The Greeks
. ailed all these tribes Scythians, because they had no
other name by which to designate these barbarous
communities. The Persians call them Turan and
Djin ;Turks and Chinese), although at this lime (700
B. C. ) neither the one nor the other of the two last-
mentioned people were to be found on the eastern
borders of Persia. When, however, the Schah-nameh
was composed, the Persians knew only the Turks and
Chinese, and they gave their nameB to all those who
had at any time preceded them. The ancient enemies
of Persia, in this quarter, were probably Minnie and
Tudesc tribes, to whom, about the era of the Sassan-
ides, succeeded the Turks and Chinese. --The main
fact that results from a comparison of these traditions
is, that two empires followed in succession: one, com-
ing from Assyria, ruled over Media and ell Eastern
Asia; the other, coming from Media, reacted on the
first, and drove the Semitic communities across the
Tigris and Euphrates; and, finally, to these two great
revolutions were joined frequent inroads on the part of
the barbarous tribes coming from Caucasus, Scylhia,
and the banks of the Oxus. --To the Pischdadian suc-
ceeded the Kaianian dynasty. The recital of the
Sohah-nameh respecting this second dynasty is as dis-
figured by fable as that which treats of the first; and
it would be of no use to seek in it any exact coinci-
dences with the narratives of Xenophon and Herodo-
tus. The Dejoces of the latter historian was, like Kai
? ? ICobad, chosen king on account of his justice and
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? PERSIA.
PERSIA.
end subdued . his hereditary province, put him to death
with his family, on the pretext of avenging the blood
of his father. The general facts, that Koustem, a
powerful chief, slew Isfundeer, yet protected his son;
that a civil contest attended the accession of Arde-
cheer: and that it terminated in the massacre of Rous-
tem and his family, so far accord with what the Greek
historians state respecting the character and fate of
Anabanus, as to leave little doubt that both stories re-
late to the same personages. Of the identity of Ar-
decheer with Artazerxes Maxpo^cip or Longimanus,
there can be no doubt. His surname, Dirazdest
(" Long arms") is a full proof of this. The author of
the Tarikh Tabrce states, that under this monarch, to
whom he erroneously ascribes the overthrow of Bel-
shazzar, the Jews had the privilege granted them of
beiog governed by a ruler of their own nation; and the
favours they experienced, it is added, were owing to
the express orders of Bahmen, whose favourite lady
was of the Jewish nation. Josephus expressly affirms,
that Artaxerxes Longimanus was the husband of Es-
ther; and the extraordinary favour which he showed
to tho Jews strengthens this testimony. He would
seem, indeed, to have been the first monarch of Persia
who, strictly speaking, by the subjugation of Segistan,
"reigned from India even to Ethiopia, over a hundred
and twenty-seven provinces. " Persian historians as-
sign to this great monarch a reign of a hundred and
twelve years, but the Greek writers limit it to forty,
tnd his death is fixed in the year B. C. 424. He was
succeeded, according to the Persian annals, by his
daughter Homai, who, after a reign of thirty-two years,
resigned the crown to her son, Darab I. , the Darius
Nothus of the Greeks. . It is natural that no notice
should be taken of the ephemeral reigns of Xerxes II.
and Sogdianus, which together occupied only eight
months; and in Ptolemy's canon, Darius Ncthus is
made the immediate successor of Artaxerxes Longi-
manus, his reign extending from 424 B. C. to 405.
Homai appears to be the Parysatis whom the Greek
writers make to be the queen of her half-brother Da-
rius, and to whom they attribute a very prominent part
in the transactions of his reign. Her son Arsaces is
stated to have succeeded to the throne under tho title
of Artaxerxes, to which the Greeks added the surname
of Mncmon, on account of his extraordinary memory.
No sovereign, however, besides Longimanus or Di-
razdest, is ever noticed by Oriental writers under the
name of Ardccheer; it is therefore highly probable,
that Mnemon is the Darab 1. of the Persian annals,
and that he succeeded his mother Homai or Parysa-
tis, who might reign conjointly with Darius Noihus,
whether as her husband or her son. The banishment
of Queen Parysatis to Babylon, in the reign of her son
Artaxerxes. may answer to the abdication of Queen
Homai. This is a most obscure epoch in the native
annals. The Egyptian war which broke out in the
reign of Darius Nothus, the revolt of the Medes, and
the part taken by Persia in the Peloponnesian war, are
not referred to. Even the name of the younger Cyrus
is not noticed by any of the Oriental writers, nor is
the slightest allusion made to the celebrated expedi-
tion which has given immortality to its commander.
The pages of Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon
leave little room, however, for regret that these events
have not found an Oriental historian. With respect
>o the second Darab of the Persians, who is made the
? ? immediate successor of the first, his identity with the
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? PERSIA.
PERSIA.
ine mention of which falls naturally une'er the present
article, from the circumstance of the Parthians being
designated as Persians by many of the Roman writer*,
particularly the poets, although they were, in fact, of
Scythian rather than Persian origin. --Seleucus was
succeeded in his Asiatic empire by his son Antiochus
Soter; who reigned nineteen years, and left his throne
to his son Antiochus Theos. In bis reign (B. C. 250)
? man of obscure origin, whom some, however, make
to have been a tributary prince or chief, and the native
writers a descendant of one of the former kings of Per-
sia, slew the viceroy of Parthia, and raised the standard
of revolt. His name was Ashk, or Arsac. es, aa the
Western historians write it. After having slain the
viceroy, he fixed his residence at Rht'i, where he in-
vited all the chiefs of provinces to join him in a war
against the Seleucids; promising at the same time to
exact from them no tribute, and to deem himself only
the head of a confederacy of princes, having for their
common object to maintain their separate independ-
ence, and to free Persia from a foreign yoke.
er, fell under the Spartan power, Perinthus was com-
pelled to follow its example. It subsequently suffered
from the attacks of the 1'hracians, but principally from
those of Philip of Macedon, who besieged and vig-
orously pressed the city, but was unable to lake it.
The city was situate on a small peninsula, and the
isthmus connecting it with the mainland was only a
stadium broad, according to Ephorus, but Pliny (4,
11) makes it somewhat more. The place was built
along the slope of a hill, and afforded to one approach-
ing it the appearance of a theatre, the inner rows of
dwellings being overtopped by those behind. (Diud. ,
16, 76. ) Perinthus continued to be a flourishing city
even under the Homan power, and received a great
accession of power when its rival Byzantium fell un-
der the displeasure of the Emperor Sever us. The
case was altered, however, when Constantine trans-
ferred the seat of empire to Byzantium; and about
tb:s petiod we find Perinthus appearing with the addi-
tional name of Heraclea, without our being able to as-
certain cither the exact cause or period of the change.
Ptolemy, it is true, says "Perinthus or Heraclea," but
'. his is evidently the interpolation of some later scholi-
ast. The coins of this place reach upward to the time
of Aurelian: thoy bear no other name but that of Pe-
rinthus. With the writers of the fourth century, on
the other hand, the more usual name is Heraclea;
though they almost all add that the city was once
railed Perinthus, or else, like Ammianus Marcellinus,
(? mi both names together. Hence it would appear
that the change of appellation was a gradual one, and
not suddenly made, in accordance with the command
of any emperor, as in the case of Constantinople. Af-
ter this last-mentioned place Perinthus was the most
important city in this quarter of Thrr. ce. Justinian re-
built the ancient palace in it, and lepaired the aque-
ducts. (Procop , jEdtf. , 4, 9. ) It could not, indeed,
be an unimportant city, as all the main roads to By-
zantium from Italy and Greece met hero. The mod-
ern Erekli occupies the site of the ancient city. (Man-
ner/, Geogr. , vol. 7, p. 174, seqq. )
Peripatetici (Hrptirarqncot), a name given to the
followers of Aristotle. According to the common ac-
count, the sect were called by this appellation from
? ? the circumstance of their master's walking about as
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? PE*
PER
p>>rt, and envious of the fame and successes of hia
leader, he conspired against him, along with others of
bis officers. Sertorins was assassinated by the con-
spirators at a banquet, and Perpenna took the com-
mand of the forces; but he soon showed his utter inca-
pacity, and was defeated by Pompey and put to death.
(Phi. , Vit. Scrtor. )
PkkKH. txiA, a district of Thessaly. Strabo, in his
critical examination of the Homeric geography of
Thessaly, affirms, that the lower valley of the Pcncus,
it far as the sea, had been first occupied by the Per-
rhajbi, an ancient tribe, apparently of Pelasgic origin.
{Simtmid. a p. Strab. , 441. ) On the northern bank of
the great Thessalian river, they had peopled also the
mountainous tract borderinf on the Macedonian dis-
tricts of Elimiotis and Pieria, while to the south they
stretched along the base of Mount Ossa, as far as the
shores of Lake Bcebcis. These possessions were,
however, in course of time, wrested from them by the
Lapithsa, another Pelasgic nation, whose original abode
seems to have been in the vales of Ossa and the Mag-
nesian district. Yielding to these more powerful in-
vaders, the greater part of the Pcrrhsebi retired, as
Strabo informs us, towards Dolopia and the ridge of
Pindus; but some still occupied the valleys of Olym-
pus, while those who remained in the plains became
incorporated with the Lapith>>, under the common
nsme of Pelasgiotas. (Strab. , 439. ) The Perrhajbi
are noticed in the catalogue of Homer among the
Thessalian clans who fought at the siege of Troy. (//. ,
2, 794. ) Their antiquity is also attested by the fact
of their being enrolled among the Amphiclyonic states.
As thsir territory lay on the borders of Macedonia, and
comprised all the defiles by which it was possible for
an army to enter Thessaly from that province, or re-
turn from thence into Macedonia, it became a frequent
thoroughfare for the troops of different nations. The
country occupied by them seems to have been situa-
ted chiefly in the valley of the river Titaresius, now
Simula Poros. ( Cramer's Arte. Greece, vol. 1, p. 363,
segj. )
}'e<<sm, the inhabitants of Persia. (Vid. Persia. )
Persephone, the Greek name of Proserpina. (Vid.
Proserpina. )
Persep5i. is, a celebrated city, situate in the royal
province of Persis, about twenty stadia from the river
Araxes. It is mentioned by Greek writers after the
time of Alexander as the capital of Persia. The name,
however, does not occur in Herodotus, Ctesias, Xeno-
phon, or Nehemiah, who were well acquainted with the
other principal cities of the Persian empire, and make
frequent mention of Susa, Babylon, and Ecbatana.
Their silence may be accounted for by the fact that Per-
? epolis never appears to have been a place of residence
for the Persian kings, though we must conclude, from
the account of Arrian and other writers, that it was
from the most ancient times regarded as the capital of
the empire. The kings of Persia appear to have been
buried here or at Pasargads. There was at Persepo-
lis a magnificent palace, which, at the time of Alexan-
der's conquest, was full of immense treasures, that had
accumulated there since the time of Cyrus. (Diod.
Sic. , 17, 71. --Strab. , 729. ) We know scarcely any-
thing of the history of Persepolis. The palace of the
Persian kings was burned by Alexander (Arrian, 3, 18.
--Cart. , 5, 7. --Strab. , 729 -- Diod. Sic, 17, 70), and
Persepolis was plundered by the Macedonian soldiers
? ? in retaliation, according to Diodorus Siculus (17, 69),
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? PERSEUS.
PERSEUS.
Rated Andromeda from the sea-monster, and then
returned with the Gorgon's head to the island of Ser-
ipfcjs. This head he gave to Minerva, who set it in
iiie middle of her shield. The remainder of his his-
tory, up to the death of Acrisius, is given elsewhere.
(Vid. Danae, and Acrisius. ) After the unlooked-for
fulfilment of the oracle, in the accidental homicide of
his grandfather, Perseus, feeling ashamed to take the
inheritance ot one who had died by his means, pro-
posed an exchange of dominions with Megapcnthes,
the son of Proetus, and thenceforward reigned at Ti-
rvns. He afterward built and fortified Mycenae and
Midea. (Apollod. , 2, 4, 2, seqq. -- Schol. ad Apoll.
Rhod. , 4, 1091, 1515. -- Kcightlcy's Mythology, p.
415, seqq )--We now come to the explanation of the
whole legend. The Perseus of the Greeks is nothing
more than a modification of the Persian Mithras (Creu-
xcr, Symbolik, par G'-uigniaut, vol. I, p. 368, in no-
tis), and a piece of ancient sculpture on one of the
gates of the citadel of Mycena) fully confirms the an-
alogy. (Guigniaut, I. c. --Gcll, Specimens of Ancient
Sculpture, Lond. , 1810. -- Id. , Itinerary of Greece,
p. 35, seqq. --Knight, Carm. Homeric. Prolegom , 58,
p. 31. )^Perseus, however, if we consult his geneal-
ogy as transmitted to us by the mythographers, will
appear to have still more relation to Egypt than to
Asia. Descended from the ancient Inachus, the fath-
er of Phoroneus and lo, we see his family divide itself
at first into two branches. From Phoroneus sprang
Sparton, Apis-Serapis, and the Argive Niobe. The
anion of lo and Jupiter produced ? paphus, Belus, Da-
naiis, and, omitting some intermediate names, Acri-
sius, Danae, and the heroic Perseus. If we examine
closely the import of the names that form both branch-
es of this completely mythic genealogy, we shall dis-
cover an evident allusion to Mithriac ideas and sym-
bols. For example, Sparton has reference to the sow-
ing of seed; Apis, become Serapis, is the god-bull
upon or under the earth; lo is the lowing heifer, wan-
dering over the whole earth, and at last held captive;
Epaphus, another and Graecised name of Apis, is the
? acred bull, the representative of all the bulls in
Egypt; Belus is the Sun king both in Asia and Egypt,
&c. It is in the person, however, of Perseus that all
these scattered rays are in some degree concentrated.
The name of his mother Danae would seem to have
reference to the earth in a dry and arid state Ju-
piter, descending in a shower of gold, impregnating
and rendering her the mother of Perseus, is Mithras,
or the golden Sun, fertilizing the earth. Perseus,
coming forth from the court of the king of the shades
{Polyaectes, the "all-recipient;" iroXtif and iixofiai),
proceeds under the protection of the goddess Minerva,
holding in his hand the harpe (upnn), symbol of fertil-
ity, to combat in the West the impure and sleril Gor-
gons: after this, returning to the East, he delivers An-
dromeda from the sea-monster, and becomes the pa-
rent of a hero of light, another Perses, a son resem-
bling his sire. Having returned victorious to Argolis,
he builds, by the aid of the Cyclopes subterranean
workmen whom he leads in his train, a new city; My-
cenae, the name of which, according to different tra-
ditions, had reference either to the lowings of lo, or to
the Gorgons mourning for the fate of their sister (/tinn,
"lowing:" fiVKuriuai, -uiiat, "to low. " -- Mvicijvat).
Others, a<rain, derive the appellation from the scab-
bard (pvKnc) of the hero's sword, which fell upon the
? ? ? pot; and others, again, from a mushroom \jtVKnc) torn
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? KKKSEUS.
PER
llso worshipped, received its name from the impress
made by the fertilizing foot of Pegasus or Bellerophon,
who followed in the track of the high deeds achieved
by Perseus in Lower Asia, so the Chemmites pretend-
ed that Egypt was indebted for its fertility to the gi-
gantic sandal left by the demi-god upon earth at the
periods of hi* frequent visitations. (Herod. , 2, 91. )
They alone of the Egyptians celebrated games in hon-
? uv of this warlike hero of the Sun, this conqueror in
his celestial career, this worthy precursor of Hercules,
Sus grandson. --If we connect what has been here said
vriih the traces of Mithriac worship in Ethiopia and
j Egypt, as well as in Persia and Greece, we will be
tempted to conjocture, that these two branches of a
very early religion, the fundamental idea in which was
the contest incessantly carried on by the pure and fer-
tilizing principle of light against darkness and sterility,
unite in one parent trunk at the very centre of the
EasL. (Creuzer, Symbolik, par Guigniaut, vol. 3, p.
156, wCqq. )--II. Son of Philip V. , king of Macedonia,
began at an early age to serve in his father's army,
and distinguished himself by some successes against
the barbarous nations which bordered on Macedonia.
His younger brother Demetrius was carried away as
hostage by the consul Flamininus, at the time of the
peace between Rome and Philip, and, after remaining
several years at Rome, where he won the favour of the
senate, was sent back to Macedonia. After a time, he
was again sent by his father to Rome, on a mission, in
consequence of fresh disagreements which had sprung
up between the two states. Demetrius succeeded in
maintaining peace, but, after his return to Macedonia,
he was accused of ambitious designs, of aspiring to the
crown, a. id of being in secret correspondence with
Rome. Perseus, who was jealous of him, supported
the charges, and Philip doomed his younger son to
death; but, not daring to have him openly executed,
th: ough fear of the Romans, he caused him to be poi-
30 nil. It is said that, having discovered his inno-
cence, his remorse and his indignation against Perseus
hastened his death. Perseus ascended the throne B. C.
179. This monarch had been brought up by his father
with sentiments of hatred against the Romans, for the
humiliation which they had inflicted on Macedonia.
He dissembled his feelings, however, at the beginning
of his reign, and confirmed the treaty existing between
his father and the senate. Meanwhile he endeavoured,
by a prudent and diligent administration, to strengthen
brs power, and retrieve the losses which his kingdom
had sustained during the previous reign. But the Ro-
mans, who viewed with suspicion these indications of ri-
sing opposition, sought an early opportunity of crushing
their loe, before his plans could be brought to maturity.
Pretexts were not long wanting for such a purpose,
and war was declared, notwithstanding every offer of
concession on the part of Perseus. After a campaign
of no decisive result in Tbcssaly, the war was trans-
ferred to the plains of Pieria in Macedonia, where Per-
seus encamped in a strong position on the banks of the
river Enipeus. But the consul Paulus -l^imlius hav-
ing despatched a chosen body of troop; across the
mountains to attack him in the rear, he was compell-
ed to retire to Pydna, where a battle took place, which
terminated in his entire defeat, 20,000 Macedonians
having fallen on the field. This single battle decided
the fate of the ancient and powerful kingdom of Mace-
donia, after a duration of 530 years. Perseus fled al-
? ? most alone, without wailing for the end of the conflict.
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? PERSIA.
PERSIA.
remans, Axaifitft/c, Hepatic. Ammianus Marcelli-
nu;> (19, 2), in the common text of his history, gives
Aehamenium as equivalent, in the Persian tongue, to
"Rex regihus imperans;" but Valois (Valesius) cor-
rects tbe common reading by the substitution of Saan-
taan, which closely resembles the modern title of roy-
alty in Persia, Schaahinschaah. --The name Achamcma
comes ill reality from that of Achamcncs, the founder
of the royal line of Persia. In the word Achamencs,
the last two syllables (-cues) an: a mere Greek append-
age, owing their existence to the well-known custom,
on tbe part of the Greeks, of altering foreign, and par-
ticularly Oriental names, in such a way as to adapt
them to their own finer organs of hearing. (Compare
Jo3cphus. Anl. Jud. , \,6. --Plm. ,Ep. ,S,i ) We have,
then, Achaem ('Axatp) remaining. The initial letter
w merely the Oriental alif pronounced as a soft breath-
ing, and the root of the word is Ckaem (Xatft).
On
comparing this with the Oriental name Djemschid (in
which the final syllabic, schid, is a mere addition of a
later age), we cannot fail to be struck by the resem-
blance. And this resemblance will become still more
marked if we consider that Djcm(Djocmo in the Zend-
Avesta) begins properly with a species of sibilant G,
which, being pronounced more roughly in some dia-
lects than in others, approximates very closely to the
sound of C'h. Besides, all that the Greeks tell us of
Achsmenes corresponds very exactly with what the
East relates of its Djemschid. Achxmenes was the
founder of the royal line of Persia, and to him Cyrus,
Darius, and Xerxes were proud of tracing their origin.
With the Persians of the present day, the name of
Djemschid is held in the highest veneration as that of
the founder of Pcrsepolis, and a great and glorious
monarch. --Herodotus (7, 61) states that the Persians
were anciently (-u? . at) called by the Greeks Ccphcnct
{Knty'/vee;). but by themselves and their neighbours Ar-
/<<i ('ApTaioi). As regards the name Cephenes, there
is an evident mistake on the part of the historian, and
the appellation beyond a doubt belongs only to certain
tribes of the ancient Northern Chaldsea, who actually
hore this name. With respect to the term Artia it
may be remarked, that it merely designates a brave
and warrior-people, being derived from the Persian art
or ard, "strong," " brave. " (Consult remarks at the
end of the article Artaxcrxes. )--One of the earliest
riam. -s of Persia and the Persian empire, and the one
mos'. usual with the Persians themselves up to the
present day, is Iran, while all the country beyond the
Oxus was denominated Turan. The former of these
appellations is identical with the Eericne of the Zend-
Avesta, and will be alluded to again in the course of
the present article. --The name Persia would seem to
have come from that of the province of Faarsi-stan or
Paarsi-stan, called also Faars or Paars, and the same
with the Persis (Tiipoic) of the Greeks. (Compare
the Scripture Paras already mentioned. ) In this prov-
ince we find the genuine race of Iranians; and it was
here that the magnificent city of Istakhar, which the
Greeks have made known to Europe by the name of
Perscpolis, was built by the monarchs of Iran. The
origin of the term Paars or Paars has been much dis-
puted by philologists (Vt'ahl, Vorder und Millel-Asien,
p. 235, scqq); the root is evidently to be sought for
in the term Aria or Eericne, and this would bring Iran
and Persia, as names of the same country, in close
approximation- ( Vid. Aria. ) One explanation of the
? ? name ? '? Persian" will be given farther on.
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? PERSIA.
PERSIA.
m generally conceded, however, that the Bactrians,
Medes, and Persians bore at first the common name
of Arii, which recalls to mind that of Iran; but with
respect to the primitive country of these Arii there is
little unanimity of opinion. Some make them to have
come from Caucasus; others seek for their earliest
settlement among the mountains to the northeast of
India, and, it must be confessed, with great proba-
bility. Gorres persists in his hypothesis of making
toe Assyrians, Medes, and Persians to have descend-
ed from the chain of Caucasus, speaking the same lan-
guage, and forming one and the same race; and to
cis race, thus combined, he assigns a great monarchy
Iran, extending from Caucasus to the Himmalayan
Mountains. He brings together and compares with
each other the names Iran, Aria, Aluria, Assyria,
Assur, dec, and appears to identify Shcm with Djem
or Djemschid, the first mythic chief of this early em-
pire. (Mythengesch. , vol. 1, p. 213, seqq. --Compare
Schah. Nameh, Einleil, p. vi. , seqq. ) Another sys-
tem has been more recently started by Rhode, and has
been developed with great ability. According to this
writer, the Bactrians, Medes, and Persians composed
the common and primitive Iran, speaking the Zend
language or its different dialects, and coming origin-
ally from Eeriene Veedjo, and from Mount Albordj,
which he finds near the sources of the Oxus and the
mountains to the north of India, the names of which
were transferred in a later age to Caucasus and Ar-
menia. The arguments adduced by this writer in
support of his hypothesis are drawn from the Zend
books, and in particular from the Vendidad, at the
commencement of which latter work an account is
given of the creation, or. as Rhode expresses it, of
the successive inhabitings of various countries, and in
the number of which we find, after Eeriene Veedjo,
Soghdo (Sogdiana), Moore (Merou), Bakhdi (probably
Balk), Neva (Nysa), Haroiou (Herat), <5cc. Rhode
sees in this enumeration an ancient tradition respect-
ing the migrations of a race, for a long period of no-
madic habits, who kept moving on gradually towards
the south, under the conduct of Djemschid, as far as
Vsr or Var, a delightful country, where they finally
established themselves, and where Djemschid built a
city and palace, Var-Djemsgherd, which Rhode, after
Herder, takes for Persia proper (Persis) or Pars,
with its capital Persepolis, identifying at the same
time Achsmenes with Djemschid. M. Von Hammer
adopts, in genersl, this opinion of Rhode in regard to
the geography of the Vendidad, with the exception of
. he last point. He thinks that Vcr and Var-Djcms-
chid cannot be Pars or Fars and Persepolis, but the
country more to the north, where are at the present
day Damaghan and Kanwin, and where stood in for-
mer days Hecatompylos, the true city of Djemschid.
The celebrated traveller and Orientalist, Sir W. Ouse-
ly, without identifying Var and Pars as Khode does,
inclines, nevertheless, to the belief that it is to Persep-
olis, its edifices, and the plain in which it is situated,
t'? at the Zend-Avesta refers under the names already
mentioned, as well as under that of Djcmkand. With-
out presuming to offer any opinion on this disputed
point, we may take the liberty of remarking, that the
Greeks themselves speak of the Arii as a large family
of nations, to which the Magi, and, in general, all the
Median tribes or castes were considered as belonging.
tfiayoi di xai jrdv ro 'Apetov yevoc. -- Damasc. ,ap.
? ? Wolf, Anecd. Grctc. 3, p. 289. --Compare Herod. , 7,
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? PERSIA.
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pets into four castes, and during three hundred years
reijrned in the utmost prosperity and power, until his
pride impelled him to revolt against the deity. Dzo-
hak' was at this time prince of the Tati, and held
communication with the evil genii. He collected to-
gether the subjects of Djemschid, who had abandoned
their sovereign since his altered course of conduct,
put himself at their head, dethroned Djemschid, and
deprived him of axistence after a reign of seven hun-
dred years. Dtohdk' reigned a thousand years. His
tyranny reduced Persia to the utmost wretchedness.
II? the malice of the evil spirits, two serpents sprang
from his shoulders and remained attached to them.
To appease their craving appetites, they had to be fed
every day with the brains of men. By an adroit strat-
agem, the cooks of the palace saved each day one of the
two persons destined thus to afford nourishment to the
serpents, and sent him to the mountains: it is from these
fugitives, say the traditions of Persia, that the Kurds
of the present day derived their origin. A dream fore-
warned the sanguinary Dzohak' of the lot that awaited
him, and of the vengeance that would be inflicted on him
by Feridoun, the son of one of his victims. He caused
diligent search to be made for the formidable infant,
but the mother of Feridoun, who had given him to the
divine cow Pour-maych to be nursed, saved herself
and her child by fleeing to Mount Albrouz, in the north
of India. There Feridoun was brought up by a Parsi.
Having attained tho age of sixteen years, he descend-
ed from the mountain and rejoined his mother, who
made him acquainted with the story of his birth and
misfortunes: for he was a member of the royal line,
which bad been driven from the throne of Persia by
the sanguinary Dzohak'. Burning with the desire of
avenging his wrongs, he seized the first opportunity
tl. at presented itself. A sedition broke out in Persia,
leaded by a smith, who affixed his apron to the point
of a spear, and made it the standard cf revolt. The
continued searches ordered by Dzohak' had apprized
the people both of the dream of the tyrar. t and the ex-
istence of the young prince whom he persecuted. The
Persians ran in crowds to their deliverer, who caused
the apron of the smith to be profusely adorned with
gold and precious stones, adopted it as the royal stand-
ard, and named it Dircfch-gawdny; and this standard
continued to be in after ages an object of the greatest
veneration throughout all the empire of Persia. Feri-
doun immediately marched against the tyrant, crossed
the Tigris where Bagdad now stands, proceeded to
Beit-ul-makaddes, the residence of Dzohak', conquered
his antagonist, and confined him wilh massive fetters
in a cavern of Mount Damtrucend. The two sisters of
Djemschid, Chehrnius and Amcvas, had been the fav-
ourite wives of Dzohak'. Feridoun found them, though
after the lapse of a thousand years, still young enough
to espouse. He had by them three sons, whom he
married to three princesses of Yemen. The eldest
was Sclm, the second Tour, and the youngest Iredj.
He divided the earth among them. Sclm received
Rnum and Khdwcr, that is lo say, Greece, Asia Minor,
and Egypt. Ttnir obtained Tourdn and Djitt, that is,
the country beyond the Oxus and China. Iredj be-
came master of Persia (Iran) and Arabia. Dissatis-
fied with this division, trie first two made an inroad, at
the head of an army, into Persif. ; ilew Iredj, who
bad come to their camp for the purpose of appeasing
them, and sent his head to Fcdoun. The afflicted
? ? father prayed the gods to p'jlong his life until he
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? vertftrew the Assyrian empire. The Assyria i priuct s,
or Tasi, did not inhabit Jerusalem, as one might be
inclined to suppose from the name Bcit-ul-makaddcs,
"the holv dwelling," given by Firdousi to their resi-
dence, and which is that by which the Arabs designate
the capital of the Jews. The Persian poet himself
gives us the requisite information on this point, by
adding that Jieil-ulmakaddes also bore the Tasi name
of liamch-el-Harran. It was probably, therefore,
Harran, in Mesopotamia, in the region called Dior
Modzar. According to traditions still existing, this
city was built a short time after the deluge; and it is
regirdcd by the people of the East as one of the most
ancient in the world. Albrouz is the ancient name of
the great chain of mountains which commences on the
west of the Cimmerian Bosporus, borders the Cas-
pian Sea to the southeast and south, and, proceeding
eastward, joins the Himalayan chain which separates
Hitidoostan from Thibet. It comprehends, there-
fore, the Caucasus of our days, the mountains of Ghi-
Ian, Mount Damavend, the chain of Chorasan, and
'. he Paropamisus or Hendu-Khos. Feridoun, coming
from Media to found the new Median empire on the
ruins of the Assyrian, descended Mount Albrouz.
Eastern Persia, comprising Sedjcstan and Zaboulis-
Idn, which is the country of Ghiznch, was subject to
the schah, but governed under him by the princes of
the race of Sam. As to Kaloul, it was only tributary,
and belonged to a branch of the family of Dzohdk'.
that is, to princes of Assyrian origin who had treated
with the Medes. The third analogy between the
Greek and Persian traditions is found in the inroads
of barbarous tribes from Eastern Persia. The incur-
sions of the Scythian Noinades, mentioned by the
Greek writers, will agree very well with those of the
princes of Touran, coming from beyond the Djihoun
or Oxus. From the earliest periods, Persia has been
imposed to invasion from the tribes in the direction of
Jaucasus, the Caspian, and the Oxus. The Greeks
. ailed all these tribes Scythians, because they had no
other name by which to designate these barbarous
communities. The Persians call them Turan and
Djin ;Turks and Chinese), although at this lime (700
B. C. ) neither the one nor the other of the two last-
mentioned people were to be found on the eastern
borders of Persia. When, however, the Schah-nameh
was composed, the Persians knew only the Turks and
Chinese, and they gave their nameB to all those who
had at any time preceded them. The ancient enemies
of Persia, in this quarter, were probably Minnie and
Tudesc tribes, to whom, about the era of the Sassan-
ides, succeeded the Turks and Chinese. --The main
fact that results from a comparison of these traditions
is, that two empires followed in succession: one, com-
ing from Assyria, ruled over Media and ell Eastern
Asia; the other, coming from Media, reacted on the
first, and drove the Semitic communities across the
Tigris and Euphrates; and, finally, to these two great
revolutions were joined frequent inroads on the part of
the barbarous tribes coming from Caucasus, Scylhia,
and the banks of the Oxus. --To the Pischdadian suc-
ceeded the Kaianian dynasty. The recital of the
Sohah-nameh respecting this second dynasty is as dis-
figured by fable as that which treats of the first; and
it would be of no use to seek in it any exact coinci-
dences with the narratives of Xenophon and Herodo-
tus. The Dejoces of the latter historian was, like Kai
? ? ICobad, chosen king on account of his justice and
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? PERSIA.
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end subdued . his hereditary province, put him to death
with his family, on the pretext of avenging the blood
of his father. The general facts, that Koustem, a
powerful chief, slew Isfundeer, yet protected his son;
that a civil contest attended the accession of Arde-
cheer: and that it terminated in the massacre of Rous-
tem and his family, so far accord with what the Greek
historians state respecting the character and fate of
Anabanus, as to leave little doubt that both stories re-
late to the same personages. Of the identity of Ar-
decheer with Artazerxes Maxpo^cip or Longimanus,
there can be no doubt. His surname, Dirazdest
(" Long arms") is a full proof of this. The author of
the Tarikh Tabrce states, that under this monarch, to
whom he erroneously ascribes the overthrow of Bel-
shazzar, the Jews had the privilege granted them of
beiog governed by a ruler of their own nation; and the
favours they experienced, it is added, were owing to
the express orders of Bahmen, whose favourite lady
was of the Jewish nation. Josephus expressly affirms,
that Artaxerxes Longimanus was the husband of Es-
ther; and the extraordinary favour which he showed
to tho Jews strengthens this testimony. He would
seem, indeed, to have been the first monarch of Persia
who, strictly speaking, by the subjugation of Segistan,
"reigned from India even to Ethiopia, over a hundred
and twenty-seven provinces. " Persian historians as-
sign to this great monarch a reign of a hundred and
twelve years, but the Greek writers limit it to forty,
tnd his death is fixed in the year B. C. 424. He was
succeeded, according to the Persian annals, by his
daughter Homai, who, after a reign of thirty-two years,
resigned the crown to her son, Darab I. , the Darius
Nothus of the Greeks. . It is natural that no notice
should be taken of the ephemeral reigns of Xerxes II.
and Sogdianus, which together occupied only eight
months; and in Ptolemy's canon, Darius Ncthus is
made the immediate successor of Artaxerxes Longi-
manus, his reign extending from 424 B. C. to 405.
Homai appears to be the Parysatis whom the Greek
writers make to be the queen of her half-brother Da-
rius, and to whom they attribute a very prominent part
in the transactions of his reign. Her son Arsaces is
stated to have succeeded to the throne under tho title
of Artaxerxes, to which the Greeks added the surname
of Mncmon, on account of his extraordinary memory.
No sovereign, however, besides Longimanus or Di-
razdest, is ever noticed by Oriental writers under the
name of Ardccheer; it is therefore highly probable,
that Mnemon is the Darab 1. of the Persian annals,
and that he succeeded his mother Homai or Parysa-
tis, who might reign conjointly with Darius Noihus,
whether as her husband or her son. The banishment
of Queen Parysatis to Babylon, in the reign of her son
Artaxerxes. may answer to the abdication of Queen
Homai. This is a most obscure epoch in the native
annals. The Egyptian war which broke out in the
reign of Darius Nothus, the revolt of the Medes, and
the part taken by Persia in the Peloponnesian war, are
not referred to. Even the name of the younger Cyrus
is not noticed by any of the Oriental writers, nor is
the slightest allusion made to the celebrated expedi-
tion which has given immortality to its commander.
The pages of Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon
leave little room, however, for regret that these events
have not found an Oriental historian. With respect
>o the second Darab of the Persians, who is made the
? ? immediate successor of the first, his identity with the
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? PERSIA.
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ine mention of which falls naturally une'er the present
article, from the circumstance of the Parthians being
designated as Persians by many of the Roman writer*,
particularly the poets, although they were, in fact, of
Scythian rather than Persian origin. --Seleucus was
succeeded in his Asiatic empire by his son Antiochus
Soter; who reigned nineteen years, and left his throne
to his son Antiochus Theos. In bis reign (B. C. 250)
? man of obscure origin, whom some, however, make
to have been a tributary prince or chief, and the native
writers a descendant of one of the former kings of Per-
sia, slew the viceroy of Parthia, and raised the standard
of revolt. His name was Ashk, or Arsac. es, aa the
Western historians write it. After having slain the
viceroy, he fixed his residence at Rht'i, where he in-
vited all the chiefs of provinces to join him in a war
against the Seleucids; promising at the same time to
exact from them no tribute, and to deem himself only
the head of a confederacy of princes, having for their
common object to maintain their separate independ-
ence, and to free Persia from a foreign yoke.
