Chapter XXII Conclusion
Summary — Priestly Rule — Russian Oppression
We have now passed in review the principal features of a great literature from its early mythology to the time when the rule of priestcraft, combined with political tyranny, seems to have quenched the fire of Persian genius.
The empire gathered to herself the culture of ancient Nineveh and the poetic dreams of Chaldea, but, not content with the heritage which she received from more ancient kingdoms, she developed, from resources peculiarly her own, a literature which is rich in all that pertains to Oriental fancy. Her mythology, like that of other Āryan races, is traceable to the system of sensual idolatry which flourished in the valley of the Euphrates; the origin of her myths was found in the “sacred groves of Baal,” and around the altars of Ashtaroth.
Merodach and Nebo, Moloch and Chemosh reappeared in later times in other lands, and under different names, but still with the same characteristics which they had in the land of their birth.
We have seen the gradual growth of her Zend-Avesta with the inauguration of her system of worship, and noted the fact there was originally a close connection between the Veda and the Zend-Avesta, although the Persian work was of later origin.
Some of the Hindū gods bear the same names in the Avesta that were applied to them in the Sanskṛit poems, although in the later books they may appear as evil spirits, and the same god is sometimes represented as an angel, and again as a fiend.
Indra, the storm-king of the Veda, was the god of war, for whom the Ṛishis made and drank the intoxicating Soma, while in the Vendīdad288 he is expressly mentioned in the list of evil spirits, and is second only to Ahriman, the arch-fiend of the Avesta. But another name for Indra in the Vedic songs is Vṛitrahā, and this name is recognized as that of the angel Verethragna; hence it follows that under one name the god is cursed and feared as a fiend, while under another he is worshipped as an angel.
The name of Deva in the Vedas, and in all Brāhmanical literature, is applied to divine beings who are still worshipped by the Hindūs, while in the Avesta, from the earliest to the latest texts, and even in modern Persian literature, Deva is a name applied to a fiend. The word Asura, although used in a good sense in the early songs of the Rig-veda, becomes, in the later portions of that literature, as well as in the Brāhmaṇas and Purāṇas, a term which is applied only to evil spirits; they are represented as the constant enemies of the Hindū gods, always making attacks upon the sacrifices offered by devotees. In the Avesta, Asura, in the form of Ahura, becomes a component part of Ahura Mazda, which is the name of God among the Pārsīs, whose faith is called “the Ahura religion”289 in order to distinctively indicate its opposition to the Deva religion.
The Vedic god, Vāyu (the wind), is readily recognized in the spirit Vāyu in the Avesta, who is supposed to be roaming everywhere.
Another instance of a deity who is scarcely changed in any way is Mithra, the Sanskṛit form of which is Mitra. In the Ṛig-veda “Mitra calls men to their work; Mitra is preserving earth and heaven; Mitra looks upon the nations always without shutting his eyes.” In the Avesta he is also the lord of the morning, the god of day, and the object of profound adoration.
These are but a few out of many similarities, and the careful student of the Veda and the Avesta will also notice the identity of many terms referring to priestly functions. The very name of “priest” in the Zend-Avesta is atharva, and it is merely another form of atharvan, which is the term applied to the priest of fire and Soma, in the Vedas.290
These and many other similarities do not necessarily prove that the Zend-Avesta was partially copied from the Veda, but they do prove that “the Veda and the Zend-Avesta are two rivers flowing from one fountain head; the stream of the Veda is the fuller and purer, and has remained truer to its original character; that of the Zend-Avesta has been in various ways polluted, has altered its course, and cannot, with certainty, be traced back to its source.”291 Nevertheless, their common origin must be assigned to the early Indo-Īraniān traditions.
Besides the official copy of the sacred books, which was burned by Alexander with the palace of the Persian king at Persepolis, there were other copies, or at least portions of them, and these the first Sassanian kings collected, and compiled from them, as far as possible, their sacred literature. For more than five centuries after Alexander, the empire of Persia suffered from foreign despotism and internal dissensions, but during this long period of political unrest, the Sassanian kings were able to collect a large proportion of the old writings, even though the literature which was thus restored consisted chiefly of fragments; it appears, however, that some portion of nearly every book was recovered by the zeal of these monarchs, and therefore the total disappearance of some of them must be assigned to more recent times.
A still greater disaster awaited the books of the Persians at the hand of the Moslem invader, when the Arabian horde swept over the hills and valleys of Persia like a simoon from the desert. Every tree and flower seemed to feel the withering touch of the barbarian, and the authority of the Korān was enforced with the logic of the sword. “Ye know your option, ye Christian dogs; the Korān, tribute, or the sword,” was the dictum of the conqueror wherever the Moslem flag was triumphant, and at last the Star and Crescent floated over the land of “the Lion and the Sun”—her nationality was humiliated and crushed, while her treasures of literature were again destroyed by a foreign foe. The kingdom of Persia now entered upon the long night of Mohammedan rule. Her sacred books were swept from the land, the Korān became the successor of the Zend-Avesta, and many of the Pārsīs went into voluntary exile, finding upon the shores of India that freedom which was denied them upon their native soil. Even the Persian tongue was placed under a ban, and Arabic became the legal language of court and council hall.
The Persians were conquered, but not subdued; the national spirit still lived in their hearts, and in more than one instance the conquest was repeated—for, in the defence of their nationality and their faith, they rebelled in different portions of the country and fought desperately against the hated Arab. They were subjugated at last, and, to a certain extent, accepted even the religion of the invader, but the vitality of the Persian character was not destroyed.
After a time, a few of the subordinate rulers, who were natives, rebelled against the tyranny of the Arabic tongue, and succeeded in establishing the Persian language to a great extent in its rightful domain. The national spirit again rallied, Persian poets were encouraged, traditions of the empire were once more collected, and the composition of a great national epic became possible. The Shāh Nāmah, which was written under royal patronage, has lived through the vicissitudes of more than eight hundred years, and is still the most popular Persian classic. Other centuries followed, bearing the names of distinguished poets and scholars, the cities of Bokhāra, Samarcānd and Bagdad became great literary centers, their colleges and libraries being celebrated throughout the East.
But again the power of brute force was destined to sweep away the bulwarks of civilization, and Genghis Khān, the Tartar chief, came down like a mountain storm upon the fairest provinces of the Orient. The principal cities were pillaged and burned by the Tartar horde, colleges were destroyed, and the most valuable books in the libraries were thrown into the Tigris.
These were times which tried the hearts of men, for more than two hundred thousand lives were sacrificed to the cruelty of the invading host. Scholars were driven to various places of refuge, and the science of letters received an almost fatal blow.
There are, however, a few illustrious names upon the records of the Persian literati, even after the close of the thirteenth century, and such was the intellectual vitality of the people that lyric poetry and rhetoric were well developed during these stormy times in the political and military world, for the empire had still many men of culture, and also boasted of one literary king.
Priestly Rule
Nations, as well as individuals, have their periods of growth, prosperity and decay. It is seldom that they arise from an age of great prostration and regain their former strength and brilliancy.
History, however, furnishes bright exceptions to this general rule, and Persia has repeatedly recovered herself from the ravages of foreign conquest. Three times her territory has been invaded when the design of the conqueror has apparently been the extermination of the science of letters, and three times she has rallied bravely from the shock and rebuilded her institutions of learning, founding a new national literature upon the ruins of the old.
Her literature of to-day is profuse in quantity, consisting largely of the various forms of romance,292 but the best works of Persian authors belong to the centuries past. Perhaps she might rally even the fourth time, and resume her old position in the world of letters, but she is held in a state of lethargy by the benumbing influence of a Mohammedan priesthood. Even the Shāh rules only by the permission of this power, being looked upon as the vicegerent of the prophet, and the laws of the nation are subject to the dictation of the priests.
They stand in the way of all progress, as even a railway cannot be laid without their permission, much less can institutions of learning be carried on outside of their control. Official corruption, which seems to threaten the very existence of some of the Eastern nations, gathers new power from the influence of these Mohammedan mollāhs, and a large share of the money which is appropriated for public improvement eventually finds its way into the coffers of the king’s ministers.
There is little hope of intellectual growth under this baneful influence. At the beginning of the present century Īrānian poetry assumed a dramatic form, but, like the Greek drama, and the “Mysteries” of the Middle ages, it is the offspring of a religious ceremony, and the great attraction of the Persian stage is a Moslem passion play,293 even the drama of the empire being under the control of her conquerors.
Russian Oppression
Not only is the nation firmly held in the chains of priestly rule, but her political position is far from enviable. Upon her northern border stands the most unscrupulous power among the nations of the East. The black eagles of the Czar are ever watching for an opportunity to invade her dominions, ever looking for some unusual sign of internal weakness which may throw her completely into their power. Russia has justly earned a reputation which, for political treachery, is unequaled among the children of men. She makes treaties and signs the most solemn pledges of national co-operation, apparently with the utmost sincerity, and then breaks them, without even a word of apology, whenever she can gain a point or a province by so doing.
For centuries Russia has coveted Constantinople as the key of the East. For centuries she has looked with envious eyes upon the wealth of India, and she has hesitated at no policy which might advance her interests by extending her boundary line.
Great Britain stands as the strongest bulwark in the world of nations against the insidious diplomacy of the Muscovite, which seems to be the enemy of all civilization, and therefore in every move that is made in the political world of either Europe or Asia, Russia is ever on the alert to defeat the plans of England, and the coming conflict in the Old World will doubtless be led by these two great powers. Intending some day to wrest India from the hand of Great Britain, she finds Persia standing in the way of her design, and it must therefore be conquered or absorbed. By the most unscrupulous methods known to nations, she has already acquired much of Persian territory, and the process of absorption is renewed whenever the opportunity offers.
She hesitates at no oppression, and has already ruined Persian commerce, as far as lay in her power, by permitting the transportation of goods across her territory, only under restrictions which are practically prohibitory. Flattering promises are carefully combined with threats in order to promote her designs, and the emissaries of Russia are abundant in Persia, and even in Northern India, where their mission is to educate a public sentiment by constantly instilling into the minds of the people false ideas of the magnificence and generosity of Russia. These men are not Russians, for they would attract attention and arouse public apprehension, but they are Asiatics, who are kept at work by Russian gold, making lavish promises of Muscovite benevolence when northern barbarism shall succeed English civilization.
While engaged in thus duping the Asiatic tribes, she is pushing her railway as rapidly as possible toward India, and preparing for war on a greater scale than ever before in her history.
The record of her political policy proves that she will fasten her iron hand upon the vitals of a nation, and crush out, as far as possible, every effort toward progress, until the crippled empire falls into her fatal embrace. Persia has little hope of escaping the Russian policy of oppression and absorption, unless either English or German troops are allied with her native forces against the common foe. There is no longer, therefore, a hope that Persian literature may be revived, and the intellectual resources of the empire again developed, unless the civilized nations of Europe come to her rescue. The yoke of Mohammedan rule must be broken, and the tyranny of the northern barbarian removed, before the Persian mind and heart can be stimulated to intellectual and moral activity.
Footnotes
1. Accad is first mentioned as one of the beginnings of the kingdom of Nimrod in Genesis x, 10.
2. Mr. Theo. G. Pinches, in his notes on this chapter, says: “The Sumerians are generally regarded as of the same race as of the Accadians. Sumerian is a dialect of Akkadian. Sumer and Akkad both contained Semitic and non-Semitic inhabitants.”
3. Decouvertes en Chaldee par E. de Sarzec, Plate No. 29.
4. The catalogue of the astronomical works in the library of Sargon I instructs the reader to write down the number of the book that he needs, and the librarian will thereupon give him the tablet required.—Sayce, Bab. Lit., p. 9.
5. Diodorus, Sec. 23.
6. The word Nineveh is made up of signs which mean city, coach and Nana respectively, all of which means the resting place of the chief god, Nana. (E.A. Budge.) The great commerce of Nineveh—the fact that her merchants were greatly “multiplied”—is illustrated by the large collection of contract tablets in the British Museum.
7. The problem of the relative value of gold and silver had been solved to a certain extent in this ancient kingdom, a silver shekel being one-tenth the value of a gold shekel, and the silver half shekel one twentieth of the value of the gold shekel. The drachma, or silver half shekel, is supposed to be the most ancient type of the English shilling, as one-twentieth of the English gold sovereign.
8. For the empire of Nebuchadnezzar, the records of the Egebi family are invaluable—dated deeds extending, year by year, from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar to the close of that of Darius Hystaspes.—Sayce, An. Emp., p. 105.
9. Sayce—An. Emp., p. 195.
10. Astarte or Ashtaroth.
11. Jer. li, 47; Isa. xxi, 2-9.
12. Ezekiel xxvii, 10; xxxviii, 5.
13. The Persians called wine Zeher-e-kushon, or “delightful poison.”
14. Scarcely a century has elapsed since the burnished shields and helmets of ancient Persian royalty were laid aside for the lighter military accoutrements of modern Europe.
15. Ezra vi, 1.
16. 226 A.D.
17. Darmesteter, Sa. Bks. of the E., Vol. IV, Int., p. 3.
18. These appear to have been written upon the face of the Behistun rock about 515 B.C.
19. Max Müller—Chips, Vol. I, p. 91.
20. The Dihkans were the landed nobility of Persia. They kept up a certain independence, even under the sway of the Mohammedan Khalifs.
21. About 570 A.D. See Quartremére.
22. 1000 A.D.
23. 870 A.D.
24. In Persian mythology the earth is surrounded by a mountain range of pure emerald.
25. “The Ausindom mountain is that which, being of ruby, of the substance of the sky, is in the midst of the sea Vouru-Kasha.”—Zend-Avesta—Tir Yast, VI, 32, n.
26. Cuneiform means “having the form of a wedge,” and is especially applied to the wedge-shaped or arrow-headed characters of ancient inscriptions.
27. Collection de Clercq, Pl. 5. No. 46.
28. 4-34.
29. Deluge Tablets in British Museum, Records of the Past, 1-133.
30. Marked K 3657 in British Museum. Trans. by Geo. Smith.
31. Inscriptions of Western Asia, Vol. 19. Trans. by Prof. Sayce, Records of Past, 11-119.
32. Brit. Mus. Ins., Plates 37-42. Trans. by Rawlinson.
33. Annals, Col. 3, line 24. Also 2 Chron. xxxii, 5.
34. These deeds are attested by the seal impressions, or in lieu thereof by the nail marks of the parties to whom they belonged. Many of them have been translated.—W. St. Chad Boscawen.
35. Concerning the statue of Bel, see Daniel, chap. iii; Herodotus, bk. I; Strabo, XIV; Pliny, VI, chap. xxvi; Q. Curtius, lib. V; Arrianus, lib. VII.
36. The mythology of Nebuchadnezzar’s inscriptions will be briefly treated in the following chapter.
37. This devastation was accomplished during Sennacherib’s campaign of 694 to 692 B.C.
38. The city of Babylon was founded in very early times. It became the capital under Khammuragas (about 1700 B.C., who built a temple to Merodach there), and held this position for twelve hundred years. It was conquered by Tukulti-Ninip, 1271 B. C.; by Tiglath-Pileser II, 731 B.C.; by Merodach Baladan, 722 B.C.; by Sargon, 721 B.C. It was sacked and destroyed by Sennacherib, 692 B.C.: restored by Esarhaddon, 675 B.C.; captured by Assur-bani-pal, 648 B.C.; rebuilt in great splendor by Nebuchadnezzar during his long reign, and taken at last by the Medes and Persians about 539 B.C.—Ernest A. Budge, Trans. Vic. Ins., V. 18, p. 147.
39. Nebuchadnezzar reigned from about 605 to 562 B.C.
40. 2 Kings xxiv, 7. In the tablets the river Euphrates is called “the river of Sippara.”
41. Dan. iv, 30.
42. Translated by Fox Talbot, F.R. S., Records of the Past, I, 69-73.
43. Translated by Fox Talbot, F.R. S., Records of the Past, 1-133.
44. Jerusalem captured 587 B.C. See also Jer. xxxix, 1, 2; 2 Kings xxv.
45. 572 B.C.
46. Jer. 1, 38.
47. 547 B.C.
48. 549 B.C.
49. W. St. Chad Boscawen, Trans. Vic. Ins., Vol. XVIII, No. 70, p. 117.
50. Western Asia Inscriptions, Vol. I, pl. 68, col. lines 19.
51. Jeremiah li, 39-57; also Daniel v, 1.
52. The newly acquired evidence of the tablets seems to indicate that Gobyras, who commanded the armies of Cyrus, was Darius the Median, who acted as the viceroy of Cyrus on the throne of Babylon. Gobyras, the Ugbaru of the inscriptions, being formerly prefect of Gutium, or Kurdistan, was ruler of a district which embraced Ecbatana, the Median capital, and the province of the Medes, and was also, as his name indicates, a Proto-Mede, or Kassite, by birth. Xenophon states that the capture of Babylon was effected by Gobyras, and that his division was the first to reach the palace. Cyrus himself did not enter Babylon until later in the year, namely, on the third day of Marchesvan, four months after, when he “proclaimed peace, to all Babylon, and Gobyras his governor, and governors, he appointed.”
53. W. St. Chad Boscawen, Trans. Vic. Ins., Vol. XVIII, page 131.
54. Herodotus, I, 107, 122.
55. Darius Hystaspes reigned from 549 to 486 B.C.
56. Column I, line 3. Achæmenes was the last king independent of Persia, and therefore the kings after Cyrus declared that they were his descendants. It is supposed that he was superseded by Phraortes, the Median king (657-635) as it was he who first subdued the Persians. Phraortes was the great grandfather of Cyrus, who was born 599 B.C.
57. Col. I, line 7.
58. The name of this province appears to be derived from Susun, signifying a “lily.”
59. Col. III, line 41.
60. This list of nations and provinces found at Persepolis is of great importance. It was executed after the first expedition of Darius to the Greek nations 496, B. C, or still later, and many Hellenic nations are enumerated as being subdued to the Persian power.
61. If Dr. Oppert’s version is correct this text gives us the first mention of the name of Ahriman to be found in the inscriptions, although the warring of the evil elements against the good is introduced in a Chaldean legend of the creation, which will be noticed in the following chapter.
62. Commentaire sur le livre d’Esther, p. 4.
63. The Chaldean mythology represented by the worship of Baal and Ashtaroth appears to have been an organized system demanding the erection of a temple to Merodach, as early as the seventeenth century B.C., while the earliest songs of the Vedas are ascribed to the period between 1500 to 1000 B.C. and the greater portion of Hindu mythology appears only in much later works.
64. Sayce, Rec. of P., Vol. I, pp. 123-130.
65. Assur-bani-pal, king of Assyria, who reigned from 668 to 625 B.C.
66. Hindu Literature, Chaps. ii and iii.
67. Joshua xix, 38.
68. There is an Assyrian bas-relief now in the British Museum which represents Tīamat with horns and claws, tail and wings.
69. Eridu—the Rata of Ptolemy, was near the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris, on the Arabian side of the river. It was one of the oldest cities of Chaldea.
70. Cun. Ins. West Asia, Vol. IV, plate 15. Records of the Past.
71. This is one of the numerous bilingual texts, written in the original Accadian, with an interlinear Assyrian translation, which have been brought from the library of Assur-bani-pal at Nineveh.
72. Rimmon-Nirari III. Records of Past, Vol. IV, p. 88.
73. Ins. of Shalmanesar II. Records of P., Vol. IV, p. 66.
74. It is thought that the worship of Hea or Ea may have been a corruption of the worship of the God of Abraham, as Ea is another form of El, and the early followers of Ea were evidently monotheists.
Mr. Hormuzd Rassam, the eminent archæologist, who is a native of Assyria, claims that the early Assyrians worshipped the true God, but under peculiar names and attributes, and that instead of practicing the revolting sacrifices which were made by other gentile nations “they imitated the sacrifices of the Jewish rites.” He bases his proof largely upon his discovery of the bronze gate of Shalmanesar II, with its sculptured presentation of the sacrifice of rams and bullocks, and he says that “the same king, Shalmanesar, took tribute from Jehu, king of Israel, as an act of homage.”
Trans. Vic. Ins., Vol. XIII, pp. 190 and 214, also Vol. XXV, pp. 121.
75. This tablet is almost three inches long and two inches wide. It weighs about three drams (Troy). The inscription was translated by Dr. Oppert.
76. These inscriptions contain an account of a lunar eclipse mentioned by Ptolemy, which took place March 19th, 721 B.C. Sargon II probably ascended the throne about the year 722 B.C.
77. The fact that the “men of Cuth” worshipped Nergal is confirmed by 2 Kings xvii, 30.
78. An allusion to the destruction of the image of Merodach is found in Jeremiah: “Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces. Her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.” (Jeremiah 1, 2.)
79. 4th Col., lines 1-6.
80. Col. 10.
81. This portion of Nebuchadnezzar’s inscription is confirmed by the following statement in the book of Daniel: “And the Lord gave the King of Judah into his (Nebuchadnezzar’s) hand with part of the vessels of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god.“ (Daniel i, 2.)
82. Col. 3. lines 43-45.
83. Nebo is alluded to as one of the heathen gods in Isaiah xlvi, 1, and kindred passages.
84. Compare Judges xvi, 23; also 1 Samuel v.
85. Tablets of Tel-El-Armana, “Dispatches from Palestine in the century before the Exodus,” Rec. of P. Vol. I, p. 64.
86. Babylonian Literature, p. 64.
87. Compare Lev. xx, 2; Deut. xii, 31, and kindred passages.
88. The Moabite stone was about three feet and nine inches long, two feet and four inches in breadth and fourteen inches thick. The inscription contained many incidents concerning the wars of King Mesha with Israel; see also 2 Kings, 3d chap. The literature connected with this stone is very great, no less than forty-nine Orientalists having written in various languages upon this fascinating theme, and although many of these productions are merely papers or brochures, there are at least eight different volumes upon this subject.
The characters are Phœnician, and form a link between those of the Baal-Lebanon inscription of the tenth century B.C. and those of the Siloam text.
89. Chemosh, who is called “the abomination of the Moabites,” is alluded to in Numb. xxi, 29; also Jer. xlviii, 7, and various other passages.
90. Tablet K 4902 of the British Museum Collection, translated by Ernest A. Budge.
91. “They have builded also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal,” etc. (Jeremiah xix. 5. See also many kindred passages.)
92. This inscription was translated by Dr. Oppert, and Esmunazar is supposed to have lived in the fourth century B.C.
93. 2 Kings xvii. 16, and kindred passages.
94. Western Asia Inscriptions, Vol. IV. p. 32.
95. The prophet Ezekiel speaks of the fact that “there sat women weeping for Tammuz,” as even a “greater abomination” than burning incense to idols. (See Ezekiel viii, 13-14.)
96. The worship of Ashtaroth, which represented the grossest licentiousness and demanded human sacrifices, is strongly condemned in Judges ii, 12-13, and many other passages.
97. Annals of Assur-bani-pal, Cylinder B, Column 5.
98. Pliny, Nat. Hist., Vol. II, p. 619.
99. Pausanius, III, 25.
100. Literally “blue stone;” it was a brilliant dark blue.
101. The eagle, the lion, the horse, the king and the workman are supposed to represent the numerous bridegrooms of this treacherous goddess.
102. Inscriptions Western Asia, Vol. IV, p. 48, published by the British Museum, and translated by H. Fox Talbot, F.R. S.
103. Ovid’s Metamorphoses, VII, 234.
104. The great celebrity of this fable is well illustrated by the fact that Ovid in his Metamorphoses (III, 206), has preserved the individual names of all the dogs, thirty-five in number.
105. “Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?” (Acts xix, 35.) This question of the town clerk is strangely illustrated by an inscription found by Chandler near the aqueduct at Ephesus, which states that “It is notorious that not only among the Ephesians, but also everywhere among the Greek nations, temples are consecrated to her,” etc.
106. Anthon’s Class. Dict.
107. A principal seat of Ishtar’s worship.
108. The end of this line, and all the remaining lines of Column I, are lost, but some mutilated fragments indicate that Namtar is commanded to afflict Ishtar with dire diseases of the eyes, the feet, the heart, the head, etc.
109. A sign of violent grief in the East, forbidden in Deut. xiv, 1; also Lev. xix, 28.
110. Nabonidus says in his inscription (Col. II, 17) Oh, sun, protect this temple, together with the moon, thy father.
111. A genius often mentioned, who here acts the part of a judge, pronouncing the absolution of Ishtar.
112. Tablet K, 162, British Museum, translated by H. Fox Talbot, F.R. S. Records of the Past, Vol. I, 1st Series.
113. The statement of Herodotus concerning the attack upon the sacred bull is probably correct, even though the Egyptian monuments claim that Cambyses, and also the Roman emperors, bowed down to the Egyptian gods. We may conclude that Cambyses, in doing reverence to the gods of Egypt, was following in the footsteps of his cool and politic father (Cyrus), and was guided in these acts by the precedent which his father had set in reference to the gods of Babylonia.
114. Hindu Literature, p. 59.
115..sp 1
“Let down our golden everlasting chain,
Whose strong embrace holds heaven and earth and men;
I fix the chain to great Olympus height,
And the vast world hangs trembling in my sight.”—Il.viii, 19-26.
116. Isa. xiv, 13.
117. Ninth tablet of the Epic of Gisdhubar.
118. Hindu Literature, pp. 126-148.
119. Anderson—Norse Mythology, pp. 104-434.
120. Hindu Literature, p. 126.
121. Alborz, being changed into Elburz, became the name of a mountain range on the southern shore of the Caspian sea, and Mount Demavend, its highest peak, is looked upon as the home of the Simurgh, and it is also the scene of many mythical adventures.
122. xxi.
123. Trans. by Paul Guieysse. Rec. of P., Vol. III, p. 48. The belief in the celestial origin of the Nile survived in Egypt as lately as the time of Joinville. (Histoire de Saint Louis, Chap. II.)
124. Hel, the world of the dead, irrespective of character.
125. The first record of the worship of Ardvi Sura is in a cuneiform inscription by Artaxerxes Mnemon (404-361), in which her name is corrupted into Anahata. Artaxerxes Mnemon appears to have been an eager promoter of her worship, as he is said to have first erected the statues of Venus-Anahita in Babylon, Suza, and Ecbatana, and to have taught her worship to the Persians, the Bactrians, and the people of Damas and Sardes (Clemens Alexandrians, Protrept. 5, on the authority of Berosus; about 260 B.C.).
126. Hindu Literature, p. 39.
127. Vendidad, xxi.
128. Sayce, Lec. Rel. Babylonians, pp. 293-299.
129. Hymn to Osiris on the stele of Amon-em-ha. Translated by D. Mallet. Rec. of P., IV, 21.
130. Hindu Literature, p. 267.
131. Anderson—Norse Mythology, pp. 75-190.
132. Bahram Yast, vii.
133. Bahram Yast, xiii.
134. Minokhirad—62 and 87. Trans. by West.
135. Rig-veda Sanhita—Wilson’s Trans., Vol. V, p. 102
136. Yast, x.
137. See the Bundehesh.
138. This word is frequently spelled Daeva.
139. Yast, viii.
140. Chinvat, the popular orthography of this word, is adopted as it represents the pronunciation.
141. History of Vartan by Elisaeus (Newman’s trans.), p. 9.
142. Gibbon, Chap. 23.
143. Yast, x.
144. Hindu Literature, p. 27.
145. Chips, Vol. I, p. 82.
146. Prof. Darmesteter and M. de Harlez claim that the Zend was the language of Aryan Media.
147. See page 20.
148. Haug’s Rel. of Parsis, p. 123.
149. Diodorus (xvii, 72) and Curtius (v. 7) declare that Alexander burned the citadel and royal palace at Persepolis in a drunken frenzy at the instigation of the Athenian courtezan Thais, and in revenge for the destruction of the Greek temple by Xerxes. Arrian (Exped. Alex., iii, 18) also speaks of his burning the royal palace of the Persians.
150. Sacred Books of the East, Vol. IV, Int., p. 39.
151. This is a literal rendering of the passage, the meaning of all the words being certain, except the four which are written in italics.
152. In the Elamite and Babylonian versions Avesta is simply rendered “law” or “laws.”
153. Shapur II ascended the throne about A.D. 309.
154. Sa. Books of East, Vol. IV. Int., p. 2.
155. About 1754.
156. Chips, Vol. I, p. 119.
157. 1829-1843.
158. 1850.
159. 1851.
160. 1852-1854.
161. About 1826.
162. Codex numbered 5.
163. Dastur Jamaspji Minocheherji Jamasp Asana, Ph. D. of Tübingen, Hon. D.C. L. Oxon. Dr. L.H. Mills applied to the Dastur for the loan of his manuscript to enable him to complete a critical edition of the Zend and Pahlavi texts of the Gathas, and Dastur Jamaspji not only loaned it to Dr. Mills, but most generously presented it to the University of Oxford.
164. See page xx.
165. 382 folios.
166. Clement, who is supposed to have written in the first century of the Christian era, claims that the original name was Nebrod, but that “the magician being destroyed by lightning, his name was changed to Zoroaster by the Greeks on account of the living Ζωσαν stream of the star (ἀστέρος) being poured upon him.”—Clementine Homilies, IX, Chap. 5.
167. Masudi, the noted Arabian historian and traveler who wrote about A.D. 950, remarks that “according to the Magi, Zoroaster lived two hundred and eighty years before Alexander the Great,” or about 610 B. C, in the time of the Median king Cyaxares.
168. Dr. Haug, while maintaining the personality of Zarathustra Spitama, claims that after his death, and possibly during his life, the name of Zarathustra was adopted by a successive priesthood. (Essays, p. 297).
169. Vendidad, Farg. xix, 4.
170. Rig-veda, ii, 30, 40.
171. The bird Karsipta dwells in the heavens. Were he living on the earth he would be the king of birds. He brought the law into the Var of Yima, and recites the Avesta in the language of birds (Bund. xix and xxiv). As a bird, because of the swiftness of his flight, was often considered an incarnation of lightning, and as the thunder was supposed to be the voice of a god speaking from above, so the song of a bird was often thought to be the utterance of a god.
172. Chips, Vol. I, p. 167.
173. Clas. Dict., p. 1015.
174. Clement says: “The Persians, first taking coals from the lightning which fell from heaven, preserved them by ordinary fuel, and honoring the heavenly fire as a god, were honored by the fire itself, with the first kingdom, as its first worshippers. After them the Babylonians, stealing coals from the fire that was there, and conveying it safely to their own home and worshipping it, they themselves also reigned in order. And the Egyptians, acting in like manner, and calling the fire in their own dialect Phthaë, which is translated Hephaistus or Osiris, he who first reigned amongst them is called by its name.”—Clementine Homilies, IX, Chap. vi.
175. Chips, Vol. I, pp. 162-177.
176. Sa. Bks. of the East, Vol. IV, Int., pp. 56, 83.
177. Sa. Bks. of the East, Vol. XXXI, pp. 6-194.
178. Having an especial Yast.
179. The first month is called Fravisha, and indicates the particular time of this celebration. Fravisha also means the departed souls of ancestors, and these angels or protectors are numberless. Every being of the good creation, whether living, dead or still unborn, has its own Fravisha or guardian angel, who has existed from the beginning.
180. Haug was the first to call attention to this striking coincidence with Hindu mythology; in the Aitareya, and Satapatha Brahmanas, in the Atharva-veda, and in the Ramayana, the gods are numbered at thirty-three.
181. Yasna, xvi.
182. See Yasna, xix.
183. This expression probably points to an immigration of Zarathustranism.
184. Yasna, xlii.
185. Yasna, lvii.
186. From the fifth to the twelfth.
187. When a dog dies his spirit passes to Ardvi Sura, the goddess of the living waters that pour into the celestial sea. The penalty for frightening a pregnant dog was from ten to two hundred stripes.
188. As the symbol and instrument of sovereignty. He reigned supreme by the strength of the ring and of the poniard.
189. Spenta Armaiti is a general name for heavenly counsellors, and they represent also the genii of the earth and waters. Under Ahura were six Amesha Spentas, which were at first mere personifications of virtues and moral powers, but as their lord and father ruled over the whole world, in later times they took each a part of the world under especial care. The dominion of the trees and waters was vested in Haurvatad and Ameretad, or Health and Immortality; here we find the influence of the old Indo-Iranian formulæ, in which waters and trees were invoked as the springs of health and life. Perfect Sovereignty had molten brass for his emblem, as the god in the storm established his empire by means of that “molten brass,” the fire of lightning, and he thus became the king of metals in general. Asha Vahista, the holy order of the world, as maintained chiefly by the sacrificial fire, became the genius of fire. Armaiti seems to have become a goddess of the earth as early as the Indo-Iranian period, and Vohu-mano, or Good Thought, had the living creation left to his superintendence. These Amesha Spentas projected, as it were, out of themselves as many demons who were hardly more than inverted images of the gods they were to oppose; for instance. Health and Immortality were opposed by Sickness and Decay, but these very demons were changed into the rulers of hunger and thirst when they came in contact with the genii of the waters and the trees. Vohu-mano, or Good Thought, was reflected in Evil Thought, and after these came the symmetrical armies of numberless gods and fiends.—Darmesteter in Sa. Bks. E.
190. According to the hymns of the Rig-veda, “Yama the king, the gatherer of the people, has descried a path for many which leads from the depths to the heights; he first found out a resting place from which nobody can turn out the occupants; on the way the forefathers have gone, the sons will follow them.”—Rig-veda, X, 14, 1, 2.
191. The Druj went back to hell in the shape of a fly. The fly that came to smell of a dead body was thought to be a corpse-spirit that came to take possession of the dead in the name of Ahriman.
192. Rig-veda, X, 18, 1.
193. Hindu Literature, p. 35.
194. Strabo XV, 14; Herod. I, 138.
195. The Mosaic law mentions only seventeen crimes as being worthy of capital punishment.
196. Blackstone’s Commentaries, IV, 4. 15, 18.
197. Says Prof. Darmesteter: “It may be doubted whether the murder of a water-dog could actually have been punished with ten thousand stripes unless we suppose that human endurance was different in ancient Persia from what it is elsewhere; in the time of Chardin the number of stripes inflicted on the guilty never exceeded three hundred; in the old German law, two hundred; in the Mosaic law, forty.”—Sa. Bks. E., Vol. IV, p. 99, Int.
198. The penalties for uncleanness in men were far more severe upon woman; after giving birth to a child she was forbidden to taste of water, as her touch would defile the element, and at times her food was handed to her upon a long-handled spoon. Woman was made a creature of contract, and disposed of by a bill of sale; like land or cattle, she was classed under “the fifth contract,” being considered more valuable than cattle, but far cheaper than real estate. They were sometimes sold in the cradle and often when only two or three years of age.—See Dosabhoy Framjee’s work on The Parsis, p. 77.
199. Every one has a noose cast around his neck; when a man dies, if he is righteous, the noose falls from his neck; but if wicked, they drag him with that noose down to hell.—(Farg., V, 8.)
200. Fargard, xix, 27-32.
201. Visparad, II, V, XVI, XXII.
202. Isaiah xlv, 6.
203. Sir M. Monier-Williams, Trans. Vic. Ins., Vol. XXV, p. 10.
204. The word Qur’an, a reading, comes from the verb qara’a, “to read.” It is also called El Forqān, “the discrimination,” a word borrowed from the Hebrew. It is also designated by the words El Mus-haf, volume, or El Kitāb, the book.
205. The chronology of this conquest is in many points uncertain, as the accounts differ. The most important event, however, in the long war was the battle of Nehāwend, which took place probably about A.D. 641.
206. Chap. II, v. 100.
207. It was probably about A.D. 571.
208. Chap. liii, v. 19-20.
209. It took place on June 16, A.D. 622.
210. A.D. 624.
211. About A.D. 629.
212. A.D. 629.
213. June 8, A.D. 632.
214. A.D. 660.
215. Koran, Chaps. 56, 67, 76, Palmer’s Trans. The more sensuous portions of these descriptions are necessarily omitted.
216. Chap. vii, v. 88, 56, 67.
217. Chap. xiv, v. 95.
218. Chap. viii, v. 15.
219. Chap. xv.
220. Chap. iv, v. 1.
221. Chap. iv, v. 24.
222. Koran, iv, v. 15-20.
223. Koran, iv, v. 38.
224. Chap. iv, v. 59.
225. About A.D. 570.
226. Canopus was a star which stood at the right in the heavens when the observer was looking from Hirat, and consequently it lay in the direction of Arabia, which the prophet claimed as the home of wisdom, and therefore wisdom was represented by Canopus.
227. Translated by Almokaffa about A.D. 770.
228. See preface, Eastwick’s version, p. 10.
229. The planet Mars.
230. From Sir Wm. Jones’ revision of the Hitopadesa.
231. Sometimes called Pilpay.
232. That there were historic materials of great antiquity, we have the testimony of Herodotus and Ctesius, and also of the book of Esther—“On that night the king could not sleep and he commanded to bring the books of records of the chronicles, and they were read before the king.”—Esther vi, 1. Also it is written. “And all the acts of his power and his might and the declaration of the greatness of Mordecai, are they not written in the books of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia?”—Esther x, 2.
233. A.D. 636.
234. A.D. 837.
235. The name of Firdusi is said to have been given him by the Governor of Tus, because his garden, which was called Ferdus (Paradise), was looked after by the father and brother of the poet, and it was in this delightful spot that he began the versification of the great national epic, the Shah Namah.
236. The sacred well at Mecca, the waters of which are claimed to have wondrous healing power.
237. In addition to the Shah Namah, Firdusi composed a poem of nine thousand couplets on the loves of Yusuf and Zulaikha, that abounds in elegant and spirited diction, but it is inferior to the greater epic, partly in consequence of his adoption of the same metre which he used in the Shah Namah, and which was well adapted to that martial poem, but not at all appropriate for the expression of the gentle strains of a love song.
238. Kaiumers is represented as the grandson of Noah.
239. About A.D. 636.
240. See Hindu Literature, Chapters II and III.
241. Unless otherwise indicated, the poetical quotations in this legend will be from Atkinson’s Translation.
242. The Anka of the Arabians.
243. Iliad, B. 24.
244. The Narcissus, to which the beautiful eyes of Eastern women are often compared.
245. Called the “Serpent King” because he at one time allowed an evil creature to kiss his shoulder, and from the spot two fearful serpents sprang that required human brains for their food. The king used to select the victims by lot, and when the blacksmith Kaveh found his name upon the fatal register he tore the document in pieces, and
“On his javelin’s point
He fixed his leathern apron for a banner,
And lifting it high he went abroad
To call the people to a task of vengeance.”
The multitude of rebels joined a foreign foe, and the hated Zohak was destroyed, and then the leathern banner was splendidly adorned with gold and jewels, and it is said that this legend gave rise to the blacksmith’s apron as the royal ensign of Persia.
246. It appears to have been not unusual amongst the secluded women of the East to fall deeply in love with men of whom they knew very little. Josephus claims that the king’s daughter betrayed the city of Sava in Ethiopia into the hands of Moses, having fallen in love with his valor and bravery as she saw him from the walls of the city gallantly leading the Egyptian host. Dido was won merely by the fame of Æneas, and Kotzebue has pictured Elvira as enamored of the glory of Pizarro; but when at last she discovered the savage and merciless disposition of the conqueror, she taunted him with being a fraud. The lovely Desdemona affords another instance:
Oth.—“Her father loved me; oft invited me;
Still questioned me the story of my life.
* * * * * *
“I ran it through, even from my boyish days,
Wherein I spoke of most disastrous chances.
* * * * * *
“She loved me for the dangers I had passed,
And I loved her that she did pity them.”
(Othello, Act. 1, Sc. 3)
247. This picture is highly suggestive of the Demon King of Ceylon, who is so prominent in Hindu mythology, especially in the Ramayana.
248. Firdusi thought proper to bestow upon his hero a gigantic stature and marvelous physical powers, but other classic writers have done the same. It will be remembered that Hercules had but completed his eighth month before he strangled the serpents that Juno sent to devour him, and Homer says of Otus and Ephialtes:
“The wondrous youths had scarce nine winters told,
When high in air, tremendous to behold,
Nine ells aloft they reared their towering heads,
And full nine cubits broad their shoulders spread.
Proud of their strength and more than mortal size,
The gods they challenge and affect the skies.”
Odyssey XI, 310.
249. The blacksmith’s apron.
250. Herodotus speaks of a people confederated with the army of Xerxes who employed the noose.
251. Kai-kaus, the second Persian king belonging to the dynasty of Kainanides.
252. In the Shah Namah, where so much fiction is founded upon so little historic fact, we find, as in Hindu literature, an active race of demons. These are generally defined as being in human shape, with horns, long ears, and sometimes with tails, like the monkeys in the Ramayana. Again, they assume the characteristics of the Rakshasas in Hindu mythology, and appear as enchanters, sorcerers, etc.—(Compare Hindu Literature, pp. 189-232.)
253. The gor is the onager, or wild ass of the East, and in its native wilds is a very dangerous foe to encounter. Its flesh is often used for food when the hunter is driven to extremity.
254. It was evidently the custom, even among the Greeks also, to harangue their horses, for Homer repeatedly puts these speeches into the mouths of his heroes. Hector addresses his horses in the Eighth Book:
“Be fleet, be fearless, this important day.
And all your master’s well-spent care repay.
Now swift pursue, now thunder uncontroll’d,
Give me to seize rich Nestor’s shield of gold.”
And in the Nineteenth Book, Achilles reproaches his horses with the death of Patrocles, when
“The generous Xanthus as the words he said
Seemed sensible of woe and drooped his head;
Trembling he stood before the golden wain,
And bowed to dust the honors of his mane,”
before he makes a spirited reply foretelling his master’s death.
255. This “tiger skin” is supposed to be a magic garment which had the power of resisting the impression of every weapon. It was proof against fire, and would not sink in water. According to some classic authorities, he received it from his father, Zal; others say it was made from the skin of an animal which Rustem killed on the mountain of Sham. It will be remembered that the heroes of ancient poets frequently wore the skins of animals. Hercules wore the skin of the Nemæan lion. The skins of panthers and leopards were worn by the Greek and Trojan chiefs, and Virgil says of Alcestes:
“Rough in appearance, with darts, and a Libyan bearskin around him,
Whom once a Trojan mother had borne to the river Cremisus.”
(Æn., Book V, 36.)
256. Compare Shakespeare—
“Here in her hairs
The painter plays the spider—and hath woven
A golden mesh to entrap the hearts of men
Faster than gnats in cobwebs: but her eyes.”
—Merchant of Venice, iii, 2.
257. In Virgil there is a similar scene, where Dido bids her sister erect a pile to burn the arms and the presents of Æneas.
258. There is a tradition that Gushtasp was Darius Hystaspes, and that his son Isfendiyar was Xerxes.
259. Compare the wooden horse that caused the fall of Troy, also the fall of Arzestan, which the Saracen general conquered by smuggling into the city a portion of his troops in chests, having obtained leave of the governor to deposit there some old lumber which impeded his march.
260. Pichula, used anciently for Persian arrows. During the rainy season it blooms profusely on the banks of the rivers, where it is interwoven with twining Asclepias.—Sir W. Jones in “Botanical Observations.”
261. About A.D. 1200.
262. Born A.D. 1141, and died A.D. 1203.
263. Kais was the proper name of the lover, but he received the cognomen of Majnun on account of his madness.
264. Except the desert scene, the poetical extracts in this chapter are from Atkinson’s translation.
265. Zemzem is the sacred well enclosed by the temple at Mecca, and even a stone dipped in its waters is thought to possess marvelous virtues.
266. Born at Balkha, A.D. 1297.
267. A.D. 1176.
268. Some authorities say that he died at the age of one hundred years, while others claim that he lived to be one hundred and sixteen.
269. Journal Asiatique, Jan., 1843.
270. From Davies’ version.
271. From Gladwin’s Translation.
272. A.D. 1388.
273. It is claimed that he used ninety thousand human heads in erecting pyramids to illustrate his horrible triumph.
274. Timur was also of Mongol origin, and a descendant of Genghis Khan.
275. Khizer was the prophet who, according to Oriental tradition, discovered and drank of the Fountain of Life, and it was he who bore the nectar to the waiting poet.
276. Most of the Asiatic poets are Sufis, and claim to prefer the meditations of mysticism to the pleasures of the world. Their fundamental tenets are that nothing exists, absolutely, except God, and that the human soul is an emanation from his essence, and will finally be restored to him.
277. Sidrah—Tree of Paradise.
278. Bichnel’s Trans.
279. Finished about A.D. 1575.
280. A.D. 1611.
281. A.D. 1430.
282. Haji Luft Ali.
283. A.D. 1556-1605.
284. A.D. 1585-1628.
285. Herodotus IX.
286. Ousley, Biog. Pers. Poets, p. 202.
287. A very popular style of decoration in Persia is the kainah-karree; while the plaster is yet soft, the surface is inlaid with minute mirrors of every conceivable shape. The amount of work and skill necessary to inlay a room in this style is almost incalculable, and although the materials are comparatively cheap, the immense amount of labor required make the work very expensive. The effect, however, is one of bewildering splendor as if the light were flashed from the polished facets of millions of gems.—Benjamin, Persia and Persians, p. 279.
288. Ven., XIX, 43.
289. Yasna, XII, 9, p. 174.
290. Dr. Haug, Essays, p. 2. 67
291. Prof. Roth, Tubingen. Chips, p. 85.
292. There are also many so-called historical works, which, although deficient in sound criticism, and to a greater or less extent unreliable, still furnish some curious and noteworthy data. They have translations of the Maha-bharata, the Ramayana and other standard works of Sanskrit literature, but the original fire of Persian genius appears to be hopelessly crushed.
293. The Tazieh is the outgrowth of a ceremony which, for centuries, the Persians have annually performed in the holy month Moharrem. At this time they celebrate the tragic death of Hossein, the grandson of the Prophet who perished with all his house at the hands of a rival for the honors of a caliphate. The month of mourning is largely occupied with the recitals and ceremonies pertaining to the event; halls being especially constructed for these rhapsodies, as after more than seven hundred years, the terrible scenes of the tragedy were dramatized and placed upon the Persian stage. In the royal Takieh, or theatre, the great drama is unfolded for ten successive days, during the month of mourning, while in all other portions of the empire it is reproduced with more or less power, at the same time.
| 10.21 | to Baal-Moloch[.]” | Added. |
| 17.6 | tropical in its luxuriance and gorgeous in its decor[r]ations. | Removed. |
| 37.18 | from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates.[”] | Added. |
| 48.19 | and the Maka.[”] | Added. |
| 59.16 | Hea was the god of ch[oa/ao]s or the deep | Transposed. |
| 45.22 | The casts of the S[c]ythic version | Inserted. |
| 65.9 | the[,] god of day, | Removed. |
| 76.n105 | which fell down from Jupiter?[”] | Added. |
| 99.9 | the As[u/ū]ra is represented as a black demon | Replaced. |
| 102.5 | We sacrifice unto Tiśt[yr/ry]a | Transposed. |
| 113.20 | are writ[t]en in the old Āryan metre | Inserted. |
| 116.19 | were also enthus[i]astic students | Inserted. |
| 120.10 | which Ah[u/ū]ra gave him | Replaced. |
| 147.28 | the seed of all animal and vegetable life[./,] and | Replaced. |
| 158.14 | [“]She makes the soul of the righteous one | Added. |
| 192.26 | [“]With a view to the universal diffusion | Added. |
| 201.14 | With home and friends perpetual pleasures reign.[”] | Removed. |
| 205.18 | And gnawing dil[l]igently away | Removed. |
| 249.12 | against their mon[o/a]rch’s insane idea | Replaced. |
| 249.28 | the columns came near to Mazinder[a/ā]n | Replaced. |
| 278.7 | Rustem sat [n/u]pon Rakush | Inverted. |
| 293.11 | The generous No[n/u]fal was not content | Inverted. |
| 341.21 | even during their early chi[l]dhood | Inserted. |
| 345.15 | in the richest mos[ia/ai]cs | Transposed. |
| 358.23 | she could the coming peril[,/.] | Replaced. |
| 377.7 | she knew so well[.] | Added. |
| 384.28 | what portion of Persia [t]he new comers | Added. |
| 408.21 | boasted of one literary king[,/.] | Replaced. |
| 416.2.39 | Ba[b]ylonian, | Inserted. |