_Situation and Size of Persia. General Character of the Country and
Climate. Chief Products. Characteristics of the Persian People, physical
and moral. Differences observable in the Race at different periods._
Persia Proper was a tract of country lying on the Gulf to which it has
given name, and extending about 450 miles from north-west to south-east,
with an average breadth of about 250 miles. Its entire area may be
estimated at about a hundred thousand square miles. It was thus larger
than Great Britain, about the size of Italy, and rather less than half
the size of France. The boundaries were, on the west, Elymais or Susiana
(which, however, was sometimes reckoned a part of Persia); on the north,
Media; on the east, Carmania; and on the south, the sea. It is nearly
represented in modern times by the two Persian provinces of Farsistan
and Laristan, the former of which retains, but slightly changed, the
ancient appellation. The Hindyan or Tab (ancient Oroatis) seems towards
its mouth to have formed the western limit. Eastward, Persia extended
to about the site of the modern Bunder Kongo. Inland, the northern
boundary ran probably a little south of the thirty-second parallel, from
long. 50° to 55°. The line dividing Persia Proper from Carmania (now
Kerman) was somewhat uncertain.
The character of the tract is extremely diversified. Ancient writers
divided the country into three strongly contrasted regions. The first,
or coast tract, was (they said) a sandy desert, producing nothing but a
few dates, owing to the intensity of the heat. Above this was a fertile
region, grassy, with well-watered meadows and numerous vineyards,
enjoying a delicious climate, producing almost every fruit but the
olive, containing pleasant parks or “paradises,” watered by a number
of limpid streams and clear lakes, well wooded in places, affording an
excellent pasture for horses and for all sorts of cattle, abounding
in water-fowl and game of every kind, and altogether a most delightful
abode. Beyond this fertile region, towards the north, was a rugged
mountain tract, cold and mostly covered with snow, of which they did not
profess to know much.
In this description there is no doubt a certain amount of truth; but it
is mixed probably with a good deal of exaggeration. There is no reason
to believe that the climate or character of the country has undergone
any important alteration between the time of Nearchus or Strabo and the
present day. At present it is certain that the tract in question answers
but very incompletely to the description which those writers give of it.
Three regions may indeed be distinguished, though the natives seem now
to speak of only two; but none of them corresponds at all exactly to the
accounts of the Greeks. The coast tract is represented with the nearest
approach to correctness. This is, in fact, a region of arid plain, often
impregnated with salt, ill-watered, with a poor soil, consisting either
of sand or clay, and productive of little besides dates and a few
other fruits. A modern historian says of it that “it bears a greater
resemblance in soil and climate to Arabia than to the rest of Persia.”
It is very hot and unhealthy, and can at no time have supported more
than a sparse and scanty population. Above this, towards the north, is
the best and most fertile portion of the territory. A mountain tract,
the continuation of Zagros, succeeds to the flat and sandy coast region,
occupying the greater portion of Persia Proper. It is about two hundred
miles in width, and consists of an alternation of mountain, plain,
and narrow valley, curiously intermixed, and hitherto mapped very
imperfectly. In places this district answers fully to the description
of Nearchus, being, “richly fertile, picturesque, and romantic almost
beyond imagination, with lovely wooded dells, green mountain sides, and
broad plains, suited for the production of almost any crops.” But it is
only to the smaller moiety of the region that such a character attaches;
more than half the mountain tract is sterile and barren; the supply of
water is almost everywhere scanty; the rivers are few, and have not much
volume; many of them, after short courses, end in the sand, or in small
salt lakes, from which the superfluous water is evaporated. Much of the
country is absolutely without streams, and would be uninhabitable were
it not for the _kanats_ or _kareezes_--subterranean channels made by art
for the conveyance of spring water to be used in irrigation. The
most desolate portion of the mountain tract is towards the north and
north-east, where it adjoins upon the third region, which is the worst
of the three. This is a portion of the high tableland of Iran, the great
desert which stretches from the eastern skirts of Zagros to the Hamoon,
the Helmend, and the river of Subzawur. It is a dry and hard plain,
intersected at intervals by ranges of rocky hills, with a climate
extremely hot in summer and extremely cold in winter, incapable of
cultivation, excepting so far as water can be conveyed by _kanats_,
which is, of course, only a short distance. The fox, the jackal, the
antelope, and the wild ass possess this sterile and desolate tract,
where “all is dry and cheerless,” and verdure is almost unknown.
Perhaps the two most peculiar districts of Persia are the lake basins
of Neyriz and Deriah-i-Nemek. The rivers given off from the northern
side of the great mountain chain between the twenty-ninth and
thirty-first parallels, being unable to penetrate the mountains, flow
eastward towards the desert; and their waters gradually collect into two
streams, which end in two lakes, the Deriah-i-Nemek and that of Neyriz,
or Lake Bakhtigan. The basin of Lake Neyriz lies towards the north. Here
the famous Bendamir, and the Pulwar or Kur-ab, flowing respectively from
the north-east and the north, unite in one near the ruins of the ancient
Persepolis, and, after fertilizing the plain of Merdasht, run eastward
down a rich vale for a distance of some forty miles into the salt lake
which swallows them up. This lake, when full, has a length of fifty or
sixty miles, with a breadth of from three to six. In summer, however,
it is often quite dry, the water of the Bendamir being expended in
irrigation before reaching its natural terminus. The valley and plain of
the Bendamir, and its tributaries, are among the most fertile portions
of Persia, as well as among those of most historic interest.
The basin of the Deriah-i-Nemek is smaller than that of the Neyriz, but
it is even more productive. Numerous brooks and streams, rising not far
from Shiraz, run on all sides into the Nemek lake, which has a length
of about fifteen and a breadth of three or three and a half miles. Among
the streams is the celebrated brook of Hafiz, the Rocknabad, which still
retains “its singular transparency and softness to the taste.” Other
rills and fountains of extreme clearness abound, and a verdure is the
result, very unusual in Persia. The vines grown in the basin produce
the famous Shiraz wine, the only good wine which is manufactured in the
East. The orchards are magnificent. In the autumn “the earth is covered
with the gathered harvest, flowers, and fruits; melons, peaches, pears,
nectarines, cherries, grapes, pomegranates; all is a garden, abundant in
sweets and refreshment.”
But, notwithstanding the exceptional fertility of the Shiraz plain
and of a few other places, Persia Proper seems to have been rightly
characterized in ancient times as “a scant land and a rugged.” Its area
was less than a fifth of the area of modern Persia; and of this space
nearly one half was uninhabitable, consisting either of barren stony
mountain or of scorching sandy plain, ill supplied with water and often
impregnated with salt. Its products, consequently, can have been at no
time either very abundant or very varied. Anciently, the low coast tract
seems to have been cultivated to a small extent in corn, and to have
produced good dates and a few other fruits. The mountain region was, as
we have seen, celebrated for its excellent pastures, for its abundant
fruits, and especially for its grapes. Within the mountains, on the
high plateau, assafoetida (silphium) was found, and probably some other
medicinal herbs. Corn, no doubt, could be grown largely in the plains
and valleys of the mountain tract, as well as on the plateau, so far as
the _kanats_ carried the water. There must have been, on the whole, a
deficiency of timber, though the palms of the low tract, and the oaks,
planes, chenars or sycamores, poplars, and willows of the mountain
regions sufficed for the wants of the natives. Not much fuel was
required, and stone was the general material used for building. Among
the fruits for which Persia was famous are especially noted the peach,
the walnut, and the citron. The walnut bore among the Romans the
appellation of “royal.”
Persia, like Media, was a good nursery for horses. Fine grazing grounds
existed in many parts of the mountain region, and for horses of the Arab
breed even the Deshtistan was not unsuited. Camels were reared in some
places, and sheep and goats were numerous. Horned cattle were probably
not so abundant, as the character of the country is not favorable
for them. Game existed in large quantities, the lakes abounding with
water-fowl, such as ducks, teal, heron, snipe, etc.; and the wooded
portions of the mountain tract giving shelter to the stag, the wild
goat, the wild boar, the hare, the pheasant, and the heathcock, fish
were also plentiful. Whales visited the Persian Gulf, and were sometimes
stranded upon the shores, where their carcases furnished a mine of
wealth to the inhabitants. Dolphins abounded, as well as many smaller
kinds; and shell-fish, particularly oysters, could always be obtained
without difficulty. The rivers, too, were capable of furnishing
fresh-water fish in good quantity, though we cannot say if this source
of supply was utilized in antiquity.
The mineral treasures of Persia were fairly numerous. Good salt was
yielded by the lakes of the middle region, and was also obtainable upon
the plateau. Bitumen and naphtha were produced by sources in the low
country. The mountains contained most of the important metals and a
certain number of valuable gems. The pearls of the Gulf acquired early a
great reputation, and a regular fishery was established for them before
the time of Alexander.
But the most celebrated of all the products of Persia were its men. The
“scant and rugged country” gave birth, as Cyrus the Great is said to
have observed, to a race brave, hardy, and enduring, calculated not
only to hold its own against aggressors, but to extend its sway and
exercise dominion over the Western Asiatics generally. The Aryan
family is the one which, of all the races of mankind, is the most
self-asserting, and has the greatest strength, physical, moral, and
intellectual. The Iranian branch of it, whereto the Persians belonged,
is not perhaps so gifted as some others; but it has qualities which
place it above most of those by which Western Asia was anciently
peopled. In the primitive times, from Cyrus the Great to Darius
Hystaspis, the Persians seem to have been rude mountaineers, probably
not very unlike the modern Kurds and Lurs, who inhabit portions of
the same chain which forms the heart of the Persian country. Their
physiognomy was handsome. A high straight forehead, a long slightly
aquiline nose, a short and curved upper lip, a well-rounded chin,
characterized the Persian. The expression of his face was grave and
noble. He had abundant hair, which he wore very artificially arranged.
Above and round the brow it was made to stand away from the face in
short crisp curls; on the top of the head it was worn smooth; at the
back of the head it was again trained into curls, which followed each
other in several rows from the level of the forehead to the nape of the
neck. The moustache was always cultivated, and curved in a gentle sweep.
A beard and whiskers were worn, the former sometimes long and pendent,
like the Assyrian, but more often clustering around the chin in short
close curls. The figure was well-formed, but somewhat stout; the
carriage was dignified and simple. [PLATE XI, Fig. 1.]
[Illustration: PLATE 11.]
Simplicity of manners prevailed during this period. At the court there
was some luxury; but the bulk of the nation, living in their mountain
territory, and attached to agriculture and hunting, maintained the
habits of their ancestors, and were a somewhat rude though not a coarse
people. The dress commonly worn was a close-fitting shirt or tunic of
leather, descending to the knee, and with sleeves that reached down to
the wrist. Round the tunic was worn a belt or sash, which was tied in
front. The head was protected by a loose felt cap and the feet by a sort
of high shoe or low boot. The ordinary diet was bread and cress-seed,
while the sole beverage was water. In the higher ranks, of course, a
different style of living prevailed; the elegant and flowing “Median
robe” was worn; flesh of various kinds was eaten; much wine was
consumed; and meals were extended to a great length; The Persians,
however, maintained during this period a general hardihood and bravery
which made them the most dreaded adversaries of the Greeks, and enabled
them to maintain an unquestioned dominion over the other native races of
Western Asia.
As time went on, and their monarchs became less warlike, and wealth
accumulated, and national spirit decayed, the Persian character by
degrees deteriorated, and sank, even under the Achaemenian kings, to
a level not much superior to that of the ordinary Asiatic. The Persian
antagonists of Alexander were pretty nearly upon a par with the races
which in Hindustan have yielded to the British power; they occasionally
fought with gallantry, but they were deficient in resolution, in
endurance, in all the elements of solid strength; and they were
quite unable to stand their ground against the vigor and dash of the
Macedonians and the Greeks. Whether physically they were very different
from the soldiers of Cyrus may be doubted, but morally they had fallen
far below the ancient standard; their self-respect, their love of
country, their attachment to their monarch had diminished; no one showed
any great devotion to the cause for which he fought; after two defeats
the empire wholly collapsed; and the Persians submitted, apparently
without much reluctance, to the Helleno-Macedonian yoke.
Five centuries and a half of servitude could not much improve or elevate
the character of the people. Their fall from power, their loss of wealth
and of dominion did indeed advantage them in one way: it but an end to
that continually advancing sloth and luxury which had sapped the virtue
of the nation, depriving it of energy, endurance, and almost every manly
excellence. It dashed the Persians back upon the ground whence they had
sprung, and whence, Antseus-like, they proceeded to derive fresh vigor
and vital force. In their “scant and rugged” fatherland, the people of
Cyrus once more recovered to a great extent their ancient prowess and
hardihood--their habits became simplified, their old patriotism revived,
their self-respect grew greater. But while adversity thus in some
respects proved its “sweet uses” upon them, there were other respects
in which submission to the yoke of the Greeks, and still more to that of
the Parthians, seems to have altered them for the worse rather than
for the better. There is a coarseness and rudeness about the Sassanian
Persians which we do not observe in Achaemenian times. The physique of
the nation is not indeed much altered. Nearly the same countenance meets
us in the sculptures of Artaxerxes, the son of Babek, of Sapor, and of
their successors, with which we are familiar from the bas-reliefs of
Darius Hystapis and Xerxes. There is the same straight forehead, the
same aquiline nose, the same well-shaped mouth, the same abundant hair.
The form is, however, coarser and clumsier; the expression is less
refined; and the general effect produced is that the people have, even
physically, deteriorated. The mental and aesthetic standard seems still
more to have sunk. There is no evidence that the Persians of Sassanian
times possessed the governmental and administrative ability of Darius
Hystapis or Artaxerxes Ochus. Their art, though remarkable, considering
the almost entire disappearance of art from Western Asia under the
Parthians, is, compared with that of Achaemenian times, rude and
grotesque. In architecture, indeed, they are not without merit though
even here the extent to which they were indebted to the Parthians, which
cannot be exactly determined, must lessen our estimation of them; but
their mimetic art, while not wanting in spirit, is remarkably coarse and
unrefined. As a later chapter will be devoted to this subject, no more
need be said upon it here. It is sufficient for our present purpose to
note that the impression which we obtain from the monumental remains of
the Sassanian Persians accords with what is to be gathered of them from
the accounts of the Romans and the Greeks. The great Asiatic revolution
of the year A.D. 226 marks a revival of the Iranic nationality from the
depressed state into which it had sunk for more than five hundred years;
but the revival is not full or complete. The Persians of the Sassanian
kingdom are not equal to those of the time between Cyrus the Great
and Darius Codomannus; they have ruder manners, a grosser taste, less
capacity for government and organization; they have, in fact, been
coarsened by centuries of Tartar rule; they are vigorous, active,
energetic, proud, brave; but in civilization and refinement they do
not rank much above their Parthian predecessors. Western Asia gained,
perhaps, something, but it did not gain much, from the substitution of
the Persians for the Parthians as the dominant power. The change is the
least marked among the revolutions which the East underwent between the
accession of Cyrus and the conquests of Timour. But it is a change, on
the whole, for the better. It is accompanied by a revival of art, by
improvements in architecture; it inaugurates a religious revolution
which has advantages. Above all, it saves the East from stagnation. It
is one among many of those salutary shocks which, in the political as in
the natural world, are needed from time to time to stimulate action and
prevent torpor and apathy.