THE PERSIANS
THE RELIGION OF ZOROASTER
=Iran.=--Between the Tigris and the Indus, the Caspian Sea and the
Persian Gulf rises the land of Iran, five times as great as
France,[28] but partly sterile. It is composed of deserts of burning
sand and of icy plateaux cut by deep and wooded valleys. Mountains
surround it preventing the escape of the rivers which must lose
themselves in the sands or in the salt lakes. The climate is harsh,
very uneven, torrid in summer, frigid in winter; in certain quarters
one passes from 104 deg. above zero to 40 deg. below, from the cold of Siberia
to the heat of Senegal. Violent winds blow which "cut like a sword."
But in the valleys along the rivers the soil is fertile. Here the
peach and cherry are indigenous; the country is a land of fruits and
pastures.
=The Iranians.=--Aryan tribes inhabited Iran. Like all the Aryans,
they were a race of shepherds, but well armed and warlike. The
Iranians fought on horseback, drew the bow, and, to protect themselves
from the biting wind of their country, wore garments of skin sewed on
the body.
=Zoroaster.=--Like the ancient Aryans, they first adored the forces of
nature, especially the sun (Mithra). Between the tenth and seventh[29]
centuries before our era their religion was reformed by a sage,
Zarathustra (Zoroaster). We know nothing certainly about him except
his name.
=The Zend-Avesta.=--No writing from the hand of Zoroaster is preserved
to us; but his doctrine, reduced to writing long after his death, is
conserved in the Zend-Avesta (law and reform), the sacred books of the
Persians. It was a compilation written in an ancient language (the
Zend) which the faithful themselves no longer understood. It was
divided into twenty-one books, inscribed on 12,000 cow skins, bound by
golden cords. The Mohammedans destroyed it when they invaded Persia.
But some Persian families, faithful to the teaching of Zoroaster, fled
into India. Their posterity, whom we call Parsees, have there
maintained the old religion. An entire book of the Zend-Avesta and
fragments of two others have been found among them.
=Ormuzd and Ahriman.=--The Zend-Avesta is the sacred book of the
religion of Zoroaster. According to these writings Ahura Mazda
(Ormuzd), "the omniscient sovereign," created the world. He is
addressed in prayer in the following language: "I invoke and celebrate
the creator, Ahura Mazda, luminous, glorious, most intelligent and
beautiful, eminent in purity, who possessest the good knowledge,
source of joy, who hast treated us, hast fashioned us, and hast
nourished us." Since he is perfect in his goodness, he can create
only that which is good. Everything bad in the world has been created
by an evil deity, Angra Manyou, (Ahriman), the "spirit of anguish."
=Angels and Demons.=--Over against Ormuzd, the god and the creator, is
Ahriman, wicked and destructive. Each has in his service a legion of
spirits. The soldiers of Ormuzd are the good angels (yazatas), those
of Ahriman the evil demons (devs). The angels dwell in the East in the
light of the rising sun; the demons in the West in the shadows of the
darkness. The two armies wage incessant warfare; the world is their
battleground, for both troops are omnipresent. Ormuzd and his angels
seek to benefit men, to make them good and happy; Ahriman and his
demons gnaw around them to destroy them, to make them unhappy and
wicked.
=Creatures of Ormuzd and Ahriman.=--Everything good on the earth is
the work of Ormuzd and works for good; the sun and fire that dispel
the night, the stars, fermented drinks that seem to be liquid fire,
the water that satisfies the thirst of man, the cultivated fields that
feed him, the trees that shade him, domestic animals--especially the
dog,[30] the birds (because they live in the air), among all these the
cock since he announces the day. On the other hand everything that is
baneful comes from Ahriman and tends to evil: the night, drought,
cold, the desert, poisonous plants, thorns, beasts of prey, serpents,
parasites (mosquitoes, fleas, bugs) and animals that live in dark
holes--lizards, scorpions, toads, rats, ants. Likewise in the moral
world life, purity, truth, work are good things and come from Ormuzd;
death, filth, falsehood, idleness are bad, and issue from Ahriman.
=Worship.=--From these notions proceed worship and morality. Man ought
to adore the good god[31] and fight for him. According to Herodotus,
"The Persians are not accustomed to erect statues, temples, or altars
to their gods; they esteem those who do this as lacking in sense for
they do not believe, as the Greeks do, that the gods have human
forms."[32] Ormuzd manifests himself only under the form of fire or
the sun. This is why the Persians perform their worship in the open
air on the mountains, before a lighted fire. To worship Ormuzd they
sing hymns to his praise and sacrifice animals in his honor.
=Morality.=--Man fights for Ormuzd in aiding his efforts and in
overcoming Ahriman's. He wars against darkness in supplying the fire
with dry wood and perfumes; against the desert in tilling the soil and
in building houses; against the animals of Ahriman in killing
serpents, lizards, parasites, and beasts of prey. He battles against
impurity in keeping himself clean, in banishing from himself
everything that is dead, especially the nails and hair, for "where
hairs and clipped nails are, demons and unclean animals assemble." He
fights against falsehood by always being truthful. "The Persians,"
says Herodotus,[33] "consider nothing so shameful as lying, and after
falsehood nothing so shameful as contracting debts, for he who has
debts necessarily lies." He wars against death by marrying and having
many children. "Terrible," says the Zend-Avesta, "are the houses void
of posterity."
=Funerals.=--As soon as a man is dead his body belongs to the evil
spirit. It is necessary, then, to remove it from the house. But it
ought not to be burned, for in this way the fire would be polluted; it
should not be buried, for so is the soil defiled; nor is it to be
drowned, and thus contaminate the water. These dispositions of the
corpse would bring permanent pollution. The Persians resorted to a
different method. The body with face toward the sun was exposed in an
elevated place and left uncovered, securely fixed with stones; the
bearers then withdrew to escape the demons, for they assemble "in the
places of sepulture, where reside sickness, fever, filth, cold, and
gray hairs." Dogs and birds, pure animals, then come to purify the
body by devouring it.
=Destiny of the Soul.=--The soul of the dead separates itself from the
body. In the third night after death it is conducted over the "Bridge
of Assembling" (Schinvat) which leads to the paradise above the gulf
of inferno. There Ormuzd questions it on its past life. If it has
practised the good, the pure spirits and the spirits of dogs support
it and aid it in crossing the bridge and give it entrance into the
abode of the blest; the demons flee, for they cannot bear the odor of
virtuous spirits. The soul of the wicked, on the other hand, comes to
the dread bridge, and reeling, with no one to support it, is dragged
by demons to hell, is seized by the evil spirit and chained in the
abyss of darkness.
=Character of Mazdeism.=--This religion originated in a country of
violent contrasts, luxuriant valleys side by side with barren steppes,
cool oases with burning deserts, cultivated fields and stretches of
sand, where the forces of nature seem engaged in an eternal warfare.
This combat which the Iranian saw around him he assumed to be the law
of the universe. Thus a religion of great purity was developed, which
urged man to work and to virtue; but at the same time issued a belief
in the devil and in demons which was to propagate itself in the west
and torment all the peoples of Europe.
THE PERSIAN EMPIRE
=The Medes.=--Many were the tribes dwelling in Iran; two of these have
become noted in history--the Medes and the Persians. The Medes at the
west, nearer the Assyrians, destroyed Nineveh and its empire (625).
But soon they softened their manners, taking the flowing robes, the
indolent life, the superstitious religion of the degenerate Assyrians.
They at last were confused with them.
=The Persians.=--The Persians to the east preserved their manners,
their religion, and their vigor. "For twenty years," says Herodotus,
"the Persians teach their children but three things--to mount a horse,
to draw the bow, and to tell the truth."
=Cyrus.=--About 550 Cyrus, their chief, overthrew the king of the
Medes, reunited all the peoples of Iran, and then conquered Lydia,
Babylon, and all Asia Minor. Herodotus recounts in detail a legend
which became attached to this prince. Cyrus himself in an inscription
says of himself, "I am Cyrus, king of the legions, great king, mighty
king, king of Babylon, king of Sumir and Akkad, king of the four
regions, son of Cambyses, great king of Susiana, grand-son of Cyrus,
king of Susiana."
=The Inscription of Behistun.=--The eldest son of Cyrus, Cambyses, put
to death his brother Smerdis and conquered Egypt. What occurred
afterward is known to us from an inscription. Today one may see on the
frontier of Persia, in the midst of a plain, an enormous rock, cut
perpendicularly, about 1,500 feet high, the rock of Behistun. A
bas-relief carved on the rock represents a crowned king, with left
hand on a bow; he tramples on one captive while nine other prisoners
are presented before him in chains. An inscription in three languages
relates the life of the king: "Darius the king declares, This is what
I did before I became king. Cambyses, son of Cyrus, of our race,
reigned here before me. This Cambyses had a brother Smerdis, of the
same father and the same mother. One day Cambyses killed Smerdis. When
Cambyses had killed Smerdis the people were ignorant that Smerdis was
dead. After this Cambyses made an expedition to Egypt and while he was
there the people became rebellious; falsehood was then rife in the
country, in Persia, in Media and the other provinces. There was at
that time a magus named Gaumata; he deceived the people by saying that
he was Smerdis, the son of Cyrus. Then the whole people rose in
revolt, forsook Cambyses and went over to the pretender. After this
Cambyses died from a wound inflicted by himself.
"After Gaumata had drawn away Persia, Media, and the other countries
from Cambyses, he followed out his purpose: he became king. The people
feared him on account of his cruelty: he would have killed the people
so that no one might learn that he was not Smerdis, the son of Cyrus.
Darius the king declares there was not a man in all Persia or in Media
who dared to snatch the crown from this Gaumata, the magus. Then I
presented myself, I prayed Ormuzd. Ormuzd accorded me his
protection.... Accompanied by faithful men I killed this Gaumata and
his principal accomplices. By the will of Ormuzd I became king. The
empire which had been stolen from our race I restored to it. The
altars that Gaumata, the magus, had thrown down I rebuilt to the
deliverance of the people; I received the chants and the sacred
ceremonials." Having overturned the usurper, Darius had to make war on
many of the revolting princes, "I have," said he, "won nineteen
battles and overcome nine kings."
=The Persian Empire.=--Darius then subjected the peoples in revolt and
reestablished the empire of the Persians. He enlarged it also by
conquering Thrace and a province of India. This empire reunited all
the peoples of the Orient: Medes and Persians, Assyrians, Chaldeans,
Jews, Phoenicians, Syrians, Lydians, Egyptians, Indians; it covered
all the lands from the Danube on the west to the Indus on the east,
from the Caspian Sea on the north to the cataracts of the Nile on the
south. It was the greatest empire up to this time. One tribe of
mountaineers, the last to come, thus received the heritage of all the
empires of Asia.
=The Satrapies.=--Oriental kings seldom concerned themselves with
their subjects more than to draw money from them, levy soldiers, and
collect presents; they never interfered in their local affairs.
Darius, like the rest, left each of the peoples of his empire to
administer itself according to its own taste, to keep its language,
its religion, its laws, often its ancient princes. But he took care to
regulate the taxes which his subjects paid him. He divided all the
empire into twenty[34] districts called satrapies. There were in the
same satrapy peoples who differed much in language, customs, and
beliefs; but each satrapy was to pay a fixed annual tribute, partly in
gold and silver, partly in natural products (wheat, horses, ivory).
The satrap, or governor, had the tribute collected and sent it to the
king.
=Revenues of the Empire.=--The total revenue of the king amounted to
sixteen millions of dollars and this money was paid by weight. This
sum was in addition to the tributes in kind. These sixteen millions of
dollars, if we estimate them by the value of the metals at this time,
would be equivalent to one hundred and twenty millions in our day.
With this sum the king supported his satraps, his army, his domestic
servants and an extravagant court; there still remained to him every
year enormous ingots of metal which accumulated in his treasuries.
The king of Persia, like all the Orientals, exercised his vanity in
possessing an immense treasure.
=The Great King.=--No king had ever been so powerful and rich. The
Greeks called the Persian king The Great King. Like all the monarchs
of the East, the king had absolute sway over all his subjects, over
the Persians as well as over tributary peoples. From Herodotus one can
see how Cambyses treated the great lords at his court. "What do the
Persians think of me?" said he one day to Prexaspes, whose son was his
cupbearer. "Master, they load you with praises, but they believe that
you have a little too strong desire for wine." "Learn," said Cambyses
in anger, "whether the Persians speak the truth. If I strike in the
middle of the heart of your son who is standing in the vestibule, that
will show that the Persians do not know what they say." He drew his
bow and struck the son of Prexaspes. The youth fell; Cambyses had the
body opened to see where the shot had taken effect The arrow was found
in the middle of the heart. The prince, full of joy said in derision
to the father of the young man, "You see that it is the Persians who
are out of their senses; tell me if you have seen anybody strike the
mark with so great accuracy." "Master," replied Prexaspes, "I do not
believe that even a god could shoot so surely."[35]
=Services Rendered by the Persians.=--The peoples of Asia have always
paid tribute to conquerors and given allegiance to despots. The
Persians, at least, rendered them a great service: in subjecting all
these peoples to one master they prevented them from fighting among
themselves. Under their domination we do not see a ceaseless burning
of cities, devastation of fields, massacre or wholesale enslavement of
inhabitants. It was a period of peace.
=Susa and Persepolis.=--The kings of the Medes and Persians, following
the example of the lords of Assyria, had palaces built for them. Those
best known to us are the palaces at Susa and Persepolis. The ruins of
Susa have been excavated by a French engineer,[36] who has discovered
sculptures, capitals, and friezes in enameled bricks which give
evidence of an advanced stage of art. The palace of Persepolis has
left ruins of considerable mass. The rock of the hill had been
fashioned into an enormous platform on which the palace was built. The
approach to it was by a gently rising staircase so broad that ten
horsemen could ascend riding side by side.
=Persian Architecture.=--Persian architects had copied the palaces of
the Assyrians. At Persepolis and Susa, as in Assyria, are flat-roofed
edifices with terraces, gates guarded by monsters carved in stone,
bas-reliefs and enameled bricks, representing hunting-scenes and
ceremonies. At three points, however, the Persians improved on their
models:
(1) They used marble instead of brick; (2) they made in the halls
painted floors of wood; (3) they erected eight columns in the form of
trunks of trees, the slenderest that we know, twelve times as high as
they were thick.
Thus their architecture is more elegant and lighter than that of
Assyria.
The Persians had made little progress in the arts. But they seem to
have been the most honest, the sanest, and the bravest people of the
time. For two centuries they exercised in Asia a sovereignty the least
cruel and the least unjust that it had ever known.
FOOTNOTES:
[28] That is, of about the same area as that part of the United States
east of the Mississippi, with Minnesota and Iowa. Modern Persia is not
two-thirds of this area.--ED.
[29] Most historians place Zoroaster before 1000 B.C.--ED.
[30] "I created the dog," said Ormuzd, "with a delicate scent and strong
teeth, attached to man, biting the enemy to protect the herds. Thieves
and wolves come not near the sheep-fold when the dog is on guard, strong
in voice and defending the flocks."
[31] Certain Persian heretics of our day, on the contrary, adore only
the evil god, for, they say, the principle of the good being in itself
good and indulgent does not require appeasing. They are called Yezidis
(worshippers of the devil).
[32] Herod., i., 131.
[33] i., 138.
[34] Herodotus mentions 20, but we find as many as 31 enumerated in the
inscriptions.
[35] Herod., iii., 34, 35. Compare also iii., 78, 79; and the book of
Esther.
[36] M. Dieulafoi.