THE FINANCE AND ARMY OF DARIUS.
The empire of Darius rested on the fact that the Persians regarded
themselves as the governing nation in Asia, and on their desire and
determination to maintain this position, with the advantages which it
brought to them; on the devotion and fidelity with which the Persian
tribal princes and nobles stood by the king; on their habits of
obedience and subjection; on the ambition of officers and governors,
which was excited by obvious distinctions; on the education of a
considerable portion of the Persian youth specially for service in the
army and the state. Darius was at pains to add to these foundations
substantial means for maintaining the empire in the greatest profusion.
When he abandoned the system of Cyrus and Cambyses, who had allowed the
provinces to fix the amount of their yearly tribute themselves, and set
himself to secure a fixed income for the state, it was previously
necessary to fix the standard according to which the tribute, which
would now be paid as taxes, should be assessed; to arrange the value at
which the royal chest would accept the various standards current in the
subject nations.
With this object he created a currency. He founded his standard on the
forms which the Babylonian system had developed in the course of time.
The new gold currency was struck on the standard of the Babylonian gold
talent, _i.e._ on a normal weight of 50-1/2 pounds. Three thousand coins
were struck out of this total. The gold in this new currency was purer
than that used by Croesus, or in the older coins in the Ionic cities of
Asia Minor; the coins which have come down to us show but little alloy
of silver. The gold piece weighed 8.40 grammes; and had in our coinage a
value of about 21 shillings; hence the gold talent of Darius was worth
3000 guineas. These new pieces were called by the Hebrews Darkon and
Darkemon, among the Greeks Darics. It was of the first importance to
bring the gold of the coinage into a simple and easily convertible ratio
with silver. In order to do this the silver coins were struck from a
larger weight than the gold. Here also Darius used a Babylonian
talent;--the silver talent of 67-1/2 pounds, for the normal weight. From
this 3000 staters were struck of a weight of 11.14 grammes; or 6000
drachmas of a weight of 5.57 grammes. The silver staters of Darius
(silver darics) were called by the Greeks Median sigli (shekels). As
gold was valued at 13-1/3 times the value of silver, the silver stater,
which was one-fourth heavier than the gold coin, was equal to a tenth
part of its value, and the drachma to a twentieth. Hence the gold daric
was changed for ten silver staters or twenty silver drachmas. The silver
talent of Darius was worth more than L300 of our money, the silver
stater was worth about two shillings. The silver talent of Darius (which
the Greeks call the Babylonian talent) stood to the Euboean talent of
the Greeks, who had used the light Babylonian talent as a standard, in a
ratio of 3 to 4.[369]
The new darics were marked with the figure of the king. Three hundred
have been lately found in the bed of the canal which the son of Darius
caused to be cut through the promontory of Athos; and they exhibit
Darius running or kneeling, in a long cloak, with the kaftan over it,
the royal tiara on the head, with thick hair and beard; in the right
hand, which is depressed, we find a lance; sometimes a sword; and in the
left, which is outstretched, the bow. The silver coins of the king also
carried his image; in these he sometimes holds an arrow instead of a bow
in his left hand. For the Syrian districts Darius had a special large
silver coin of about 28 grammes struck, in addition to the royal
currency. These present the king with his right hand elevated and his
left depressed, on his chariot, which is drawn by four or six horses,
which spring over a dead lion. On the reverse is the picture of a city
with towers. On other coins of the same kind, the reverse of which
presents a galley with rowers, the king is also on his chariot, the
horses are moving slowly, and the royal staff-bearer follows the
chariot.
The new coinage was not entirely to expel or replace the standards
current in the provinces. The coining of gold was indeed reserved for
the crown, but the old silver coins of the provinces were not only
allowed to be current, they might even be increased, for the right to
coin silver was left to the districts, cities, and dynasties. They were
allowed to use their own standards, and mark their coins in whatever way
they pleased. Communities could put the arms of the city, the dynasts
their own portraits, on the coins. The satraps also had the right to
coin silver coins, and mark them with special emblems, their names or
portraits (among the emblems we find two men before a fire-altar, the
form of Auramazda, etc.). The silver money which the satraps struck had
no legal privileges over the common coins of the provinces. In the first
instance they were coined in exceptional cases when there was a
deficiency of the currency, or money was needed for important military
undertakings. The satraps, like the countries, the cities, and dynasts,
rarely coined after the royal standard; they generally followed the
standards common in their provinces in order to meet the local
needs.[370] In the fourth century B.C. they began to coin more
frequently. At the chest of the king only the royal currency was
accepted; all other coins were received as bullion, weighed by the royal
standard, and then melted down in order to be struck in the royal
currency and issued when required.[371]
It was the opinion of Darius that the crown ought to possess the means
for the largest outlay that could be demanded. The treasury of Cyrus was
not perhaps exhausted, but no doubt it was seriously diminished by the
campaigns of Cambyses, the Magian, the rising of Vahyazdata, and the
suppression of the rebellions. The object to be attained was that the
yearly income should considerably surpass the yearly expenditure; the
excess could then be collected in the treasury, which would thus be in a
position to pay and support for years the largest armies that could be
required. The care which Darius bestowed on the currency and taxation
astonished the Persians, who no doubt remembered the magnanimous conduct
of Cyrus, to whom such things were of little moment; as Herodotus tells
us, they called him the "retail-dealer" in contrast to Cyrus.[372] The
measure, by which Darius imposed on all his lands the taxes which they
had to pay year by year, was the produce of their soil. If the tax which
was thus laid on the soil of the provinces on a fixed ratio was not
excessive, they were nevertheless subject to services, and the crown
could with certainty reckon on the payment of the contributions. The
whole amount of arable land in the provinces was measured by parasangs
(each of 30 stades); and according to the extent, when thus ascertained,
and the quality of the soil, as Herodotus states, the taxes of the
provinces were fixed in the royal currency. Within each province the
various countries and cantons, which formed a political unit, whether
under dynasts or chieftains, or some other form of constitution, were
burdened with a fixed share of the contribution of the whole--as we may
see from the statement that the overseers of the cantons and countries
were responsible for the payment of the taxes. After exhausting wars,
new measurements were made with a view to further valuations.[373] The
lowest contribution of land-tax was made by the satrapy of the Arachoti
(the Pactyans of Herodotus), and the Gedrosians (the Sattagydae of
Herodotus), to which belonged also the Gandarians to the south of Cabul;
it amounted to 170 talents of silver (about L50,000); the next lowest
amount was 200 talents, (about L57,000), which was paid by two
satrapies, the Saspeires and Alarodians in the valley of the Araxes, and
the Caspians, _i.e._ the Cadusians, the Mardians, the Tapurians, and
Hyrcanians. The satrapy of the Sacians paid 250 talents (L70,000). Four
satrapies paid 300 talents (L85,000), the satrapy of the Parthians,
Areians, Chorasmians and Sogdiani, of the Moschians and Tibarenes, of
the Ionians and of the Susiani. The satrapy of Syria with Phoenicia and
Cyprus paid 350 talents (L100,000); the satrapies of Bactria and Phrygia
with Cappadocia paid 360 talents each (L103,000); Armenia, and the
satrapy of the Paricanians and Ethiopians in Asia, paid 400 talents each
(L115,000); Media had to pay 450 talents (L130,000); the satrapies of
Lydia and Cilicia 500 each (L145,000); Drangiana (the Sarangians and
Sagartians) paid 600 talents (L170,000); Egypt with Cyrene, Barca, and
the tribes of the Libyans, 700 talents (L200,000); the satrapy of
Babylon, _i.e._ the region to the south of the Armenian mountains
between the Euphrates and the Tigris as far as the mouth of the rivers,
paid 1000 talents (_i.e._ L290,000). This was the highest tax imposed on
any satrapy; from this assessment, as well as from other evidence, we
may conclude that Babylonia was the best cultivated and most fruitful
province in the whole kingdom. The entire income from this satrapy is
put by Herodotus at an artabe of silver daily, and the Persian artabe
was larger by three choenixes than the Attic medimnus. The artabe,
therefore, was about equal to a Prussian bushel, _i.e._ to a measure of
2770 cubic inches.[374]
Darius thus received every year from the land-tax of the provinces,
7600 talents of silver in the royal standard, _i.e._ in round figures
L2,500,000. To this has to be added the large amount of gold-dust, which
the twentieth, or Indian satrapy, paid yearly to the king. This amount,
360 talents according to Herodotus, was not the land-tax of the
province; it was obtained from the gold-sands of the Himalayas. This
raised the net income of the treasury to a total of about L3,000,000,
and to this again have to be added the taxes imposed on Lemnos and
Imbros, on the Thracians and the Greek towns on the Thracian coast, with
the Macedonians, after the campaign to the Danube, and the tribute in
kind paid by the subject tribes among the Arabians (1000 talents of
frankincense every year), and the negroes (ivory and ebony), and the
tribute in slaves paid by the Colchians (100 boys and 100 virgins every
fifth year).
More important than these contributions of the Arabians, negroes, and
Colchians, was the income in money which the crown derived from local
sources, within the empire, and the proceeds of royal privileges--more
important still the produce in kind which the provinces had to pay every
year in addition to the land-tax. In the satrapy of the Parthians and
Areians a large sum was paid every year for the opening of the sluices
of the Ares (no doubt an affluent of the Margus, V. 9), without which
the fields were in that district dried up in the summer. In Egypt the
fishery on the canal, which connected the lake of Amenemhat with the
Nile, brought the king every year 240 talents.[375] In what way the
contributions in kind were divided and imposed upon the provinces, it is
not easy to see. Herodotus only tells us that the whole kingdom was
divided into cantons for the support of the king and army; a full third
of this burden fell upon the satrapy of Babylon.[376] We know that
Cappadocia, _i.e._ Phrygia and Cappadocia, the third satrapy of
Herodotus, provided each year, in addition to the land-tax of L103,000,
1500 horses, 2000 mules, and 50,000 sheep; Media in addition to her
land-tax provided double this amount of animals.[377] Armenia provided
10,000 foals each year in addition to the tax of L115,000.[378] Cilicia
furnished 360 grey horses each year. Besides these contributions in
animals, there were payments in corn for the garrisons in the provinces.
The Persians who formed the garrison of the White Fortress in Memphis
received yearly from Egypt 120,000 bushels of wheat, an amount which
would abundantly supply the wants of 8000 men. As wheat was cheap in
Egypt this contribution would represent a value of about L8500.[379]
Each province sent its best products to the court; and nothing but the
best was brought to court or received there; there all that was splendid
in the empire was to be collected.[380] Babylon sent every year 500
eunuch-boys for service at the court, and Colchis sent male and female
slaves of Caucasian race. Chalybon (Helbon) in Syria furnished wine for
the court; wheat came from the cities of the Aeolians and the Anatolian
coast, salt from the Libyans and the oasis of Siwah.[381]
"From ancient times," Theopompus of Chios informs us, "the taxes and the
entertainment of the king were imposed on the cities according to their
size."[382] Ctesias and Deinon maintain that the table of the king of
Persia, _i.e._ the entertainment of the entire court, cost 400 talents
daily. This is grossly exaggerated. From Herodotus we see that the
support of Xerxes and his train, the officers, and all the necessary
accompaniments, the tents and plate, and moreover the feeding of the
entire army for one day cost the city of Abdera 300 talents, and the
island of Thasos 400 talents (L85,000). Theopompus also tells us that
when the king visited a city it cost them 20, and sometimes 30, talents
to entertain him, and others spent even larger sums.[383] These expenses
were increased by the fact that the servants took away with them the
plate used at table.[384] The support of the king, and apparently of the
satraps, officers, and generals when travelling, the maintenance of
troops on the march, were extraordinary burdens, but the contributions
for the table of the king were ordinary and regular. The daily
maintenance of the court was expensive, because it included the support
of a body-guard. "Every day," Heraclides of Cyme relates, "a thousand
animals were slaughtered; among them horses, camels, oxen, asses, and
deer, but chiefly sheep. Many birds were eaten, and Arabian ostriches
among them. The greater part of this and of the other food was brought
to court for the body-guard, and the overseers gave out meat and bread
in equal portions; for as the mercenaries in Hellas receive money, so do
these soldiers receive their maintenance from the king."[385] Fifteen
thousand men are said to have been fed at the court every day; and as
the body-guard may be put at 10,000 men, this statement does not seem
exaggerated.
Beside the contributions in kind for the equipment of the army, the
support of garrisons and the court, there were burdens of another kind.
The kings of Persia kept great studs for the court and army. We have
already mentioned the stud in Nisaea in Media; 150,000 or 160,000 horses
are said to have pastured there. The royal studs in Babylonia contained
in breeding horses, 800 horses and 16,000 mares--"besides the horses for
war," as Herodotus expressly adds. The Indian dogs which were kept by
Darius or his successors were so numerous, that four great villages in
Babylonia had to contribute exclusively to their maintenance.[386] As
Herodotus observes that these villages were free from other burdens, we
may assume that all the places, on which contributions in kind were
imposed for special objects, were exempted from the large contributions
for the court and army in horses, beasts of burden, cattle for
slaughter, corn, etc. Elsewhere we find places burdened with special
services to members of the royal house, or favourites. Certain districts
and cities had to pay for the girdle of the queen, others for her veil;
one place paid for the head-band, another for the necklace, a third for
the hair ornaments of the queen.[387] Xenophon tells us that the
favourites of the king of Persia received horses and servants in the
various provinces, and transmitted them to their descendants.[388] When
Demaratus, king of Sparta, after losing his throne, sought protection
with Darius in Persia, the city of Halisarna and the district of
Teuthrania were allotted to him. Gongylus of Eretria received from
Darius Gambrium, Myrina, and Gryneum. At a later time Magnesia on the
Maeander was assigned to Themistocles--a city, which, recovering from
the destruction by Mazares (p. 54), paid, according to Thucydides, a
yearly contribution of 50 talents (more than L10,000) for bread,
Lampsacus, which was famous for its cultivation of the vine, for wine,
and Myus for relishes. In this way, in accordance with the system of
Cyrus and Darius, Demaratus was made prince of Halisarna, Gongylus
became prince of Gambrium, Themistocles prince of Magnesia; the latter
also received contributions in produce from other cities. Demaratus and
Gongylus left their thrones to their descendants.[389] As the places
which had to provide contributions in kind for special purposes or
individuals were freed from the contributions of the provinces to the
army and court--the land-tax of the places presented to favoured persons
were no doubt taken out of the land-tax of the province.
We are not in a position to fix even approximately the amount of the net
income of the treasury of Darius which came in every year over and above
the land-tax of the provinces and the tolls. Nor can we say how high the
yearly contributions in kind paid by the provinces for the court and
army ran. If we set aside the extraordinary burdens of supporting the
king on a journey, or a satrap, or officer, and the maintenance of
troops on a march, and follow Theopompus in assuming that the average
daily expense of the whole court amounted to 30 Babylonian talents, a
total of 11,000 talents of the royal standard, _i.e._ more than
L3,000,000, would be required for this purpose, a sum in excess of the
land-tax of the provinces. If we further assume that the maintenance of
the army imposed on the provinces a burden equal to the maintenance of
the court, the provinces would have to pay for the state, in ordinary
burdens, without regard to their own requirements, three times the
amount of the land-tax. Egypt, which, with Cyrene and Barca, had to pay
700 talents in tax, would thus pay 2100 talents of royal money every
year, _i.e._ more than L600,000. At a later time we find that Ptolemy
II. received each year from Egypt 14,800 Attic talents, _i.e._ about
L3,000,000, and 1,500,000 artabes of corn, and Ptolemy Auletes received
6000, and, according to Cicero's statement, 12,500 Attic talents.[390]
The income of the empire of the Sassanids under Chosru Parviz is put at
nearly L14,000,000.[391]
Thus the burdens which the subject lands had to pay to the king do not
seem extraordinarily heavy, and, on the other hand, the rule of the
Persians certainly tended to promote their welfare. We have observed
that the satraps were commanded to take care for the agriculture and the
forests of their provinces, and that special attention was paid to this
in the visitation of the provinces. In his palaces and wherever he went
the king caused the most beautiful gardens to be made and planted with
excellent trees,[392] and the satraps did the same at their residences.
The parks at the residence of the satrap of Phrygia-Cappadocia, near
Dascyleum, were of great extent, consisting in part of an enclosure for
game, in part of open hunting-ground. When Agesilaus of Sparta had laid
them waste, the satrap Pharnabazus said to him: "All that my father left
to me, beautiful buildings, gardens full of trees and game, which were
the delight of my heart, I now see cut down and burnt."[393] At Sardis
the satraps of Lydia-Mysia had made several parks of this kind; the most
beautiful was adorned with water and meadows, with places for recreation
and shade, in a most extraordinary and royal manner.[394] The younger
Cyrus enlarged this by a new park. When he showed it to Lysander, the
Greek marvelled at the beauty of the trees, the evenness of their
growth, the straight rows and well-chosen angles in which they stood and
cut each other, the various and delightful odours which met those who
walked in it, and declared that he admired yet more the man who had
measured out and arranged the whole. The prince replied that he had
measured it out and arranged it himself, and had even planted some with
his own hands. And when Lysander, looking at the splendid clothes of the
prince, his chains and amulets and ornaments and perfumes, seemed to
doubt this, Cyrus replied: "I swear by Mithra, that I never take food
till I have heated myself into a sweat by martial exercises or garden
work."[395]
The trade of the empire must have been very greatly promoted by the
roads which Darius made through it in every direction. Merchandise
passed from one end of the empire to another on paved roads, which were
provided with excellent inns and secured by numerous guard-posts.
Moreover, by his royal currency, Darius had created money which passed
from the Hellespont and the Nile to the Indus, and thus the merchants
had everywhere at hand a fixed measure of value. The raw products which
were required by the manufacturing lands, could be bartered in safety,
on the upper Nile, in Libya and Arabia, and on the Indus; the wide
market which the extent of the Persian kingdom opened to the harbour
cities of Asia Minor and Syria, to the industry of the Lydians and
Phenicians, the Egyptians and Babylonians, could be used in the readiest
and most profitable manner. Ramses II. of Egypt had conceived the idea
of a direct communication by water between the Nile and the Red Sea in
order to facilitate the trade with South Arabia. For this object he had
caused a canal to be taken from the Nile at Bubastis, but he had only
carried it as far as the Lake of Crocodiles. Pharaoh Necho more than 700
years later had again taken up the work and carried the canal as far as
the Bitter Lakes. From this point the canal was to abandon the direction
towards the east and turn almost at a right angle to the south and the
Red Sea. Necho failed to effect the communication between the Bitter
Lakes and the Red Sea; and the canal remained unfinished. Herodotus, who
knew nothing of the attempt of Ramses II., says: "Darius carried a canal
from the Nile to the Arabian Gulf."[396] "Necho was the first to attempt
a canal leading into the Red Sea, and Darius accomplished what he began.
The length of the voyage is four days, and the canal is broad enough to
allow two triremes when rowing to pass one another (_i.e._ more than 100
feet). The water of the Nile flows into it a little above Bubastis, and
empties into the Red Sea. For the first part it is excavated in the
plain of Egypt, which lies towards Arabia, under the mountains opposite
Memphis, in which are the stone quarries. At the foot of the mountain
the canal runs away to the east, and then through a cleft in the range
to the south, and southward, into the Arabian Gulf. The distance from
the northern sea--the Mediterranean--to the Red Sea by the shortest
route from Pelusium[397] is 1000 stades (105 miles); but the canal is
much longer, owing to bends in it."[398] In the bed of this canal, the
direction of which can still be traced in part, three stones were
discovered at Saluf El Terraba, on the Crocodile Lake, not far from the
southern ridge of the Bitter Lakes. They have recently been much injured
by the workmen at the Suez canal. On the front is seen the form of
Darius with the tall tiara on his head (the upper part of one of the
monuments is preserved); and beside the figure of the king we find the
name and title in hieroglyphics. Beneath are the titles and inscriptions
in Persian, Turanian, and Babylonian; on the back is an inscription in
hieroglyphics which has been destroyed with the exception of a word; but
of the Persian and Turanian version we can still read a part: "Darius,
the great king, the king of kings, the king of the lands, the king of
this wide earth, the son of Hystaspes, the Achaemenid. Darius the king
says: 'I, the Persian, have governed Egypt; I have caused a canal to be
dug from the river which flows in Egypt to the sea which reaches to
Persia.'" Darius did not, like Ramses and Necho, think only of a direct
communication by water with South Arabia, but rather of a communication
with Persia, and not only with the coasts of Persia but even with the
mouths of the Indus. His expedition to explore the Indus did not sail
back to the Persian Gulf, but coasted Arabia and returned to the Red
Sea; and Herodotus tells us that Darius, after that expedition, made use
of the southern sea.[399] After opening a road by water into the Red
Sea, Darius could, if he thought fit, order the ships of the Ionians and
Phenicians to the coast of Arabia, the Persian Gulf, or the Indus, and
send the ships of Babylon to the Mediterranean. Traders made a constant
use of the canal; the ships of Sidon and Tyre could sail from the Nile
to the shores of Arabia Felix, a voyage which the Phenicians at the time
of Solomon, and Uzziah of Judah, attempted to make from Elath with the
permission and assistance of those princes. From Arabia they could visit
the mouth of the Indus, as their ships had done nearly 500 years before
at the time of Solomon.
However active the wearer of the crown and his immediate supporters
might be in the government of the kingdom, however speedily their
commands were made known in the provinces--in spite of the severity with
which the satraps were watched and controlled, and the impulse given to
their ambition and emulation,--in spite of the excellent management of
the state income and the abundance of the means at disposal, and the
sums of gold and silver, the gold and silver ornaments, the splendid
furniture in the royal citadels, which were in existence for nearly 200
years after this time, attest the success of Darius--the kingdom rested
in the last resort on the fidelity and bravery of the army. In his
body-guards and in the garrisons of the fortresses and guard-posts
scattered up and down the whole kingdom, Darius had a considerable
standing army formed of Persians.[400] In case of war this standing army
was strengthened by the levy of the larger landed proprietors in Persia,
who had to furnish cavalry, and the subject lands.[401] Though the
fortified places were numerous, the amount of troops in the various
forts was not necessarily great, and the complement of a Persian
battalion, 1000 men, seems rarely to have been exceeded. The garrison of
the oldest city in the empire, the White Fortress at Memphis, was much
stronger, and so, no doubt, were the garrisons of the two citadels of
Babylon and of Ecbatana. In the west Dascyleum on the Propontis, and
Sardis, the citadel of which was held by 1000 men, were the extreme
points; in the interior there were so many garrisons at Celaenae, on the
bridge over the Halys, and at other places west of the Halys, that a
considerable army could be formed for service in the field.[402] East of
the Halys, in Cilicia, there was the garrison of the two forts on the
borders of Cilicia and Cappadocia, and in addition a body of cavalry
which it cost 140 talents (L40,000) a year to support. The citadels and
fortresses which the inscriptions of Darius mention in Armenia, Media,
Persia, and Arachosia, show that there was a certain number of fortified
places in those regions. In Armenia Tigra and Uhyama are mentioned; in
Media Ecbatana and Cikathauvatis; in Arachosia Kapisakanis (Kapisa) and
Arsada. The chief points in the royal road from Susa to Sardis at the
most important divisions in the country were closed by fortresses, and
the same was the case on the other military roads; we cannot therefore
doubt that the military arrangements in the eastern provinces were the
same as in the west, though the Greeks can only tell us of the west.
Lastly, there was a number of fortresses at the extreme borders of the
kingdom. In Egypt, in addition to Memphis, Daphne and Elephantine were
fortified;[403] in the country of the Cadusians Cyrus had already
founded the city on the Jaxartes known as _Ultima Cyrus_, and in the
neighbourhood were several citadels to protect the borders (p. 103).
Besides the garrisons, the amount of troops was fixed which the satraps
had to keep under arms, to support their authority, to carry out
executions, and to secure the provinces.[404] Like the garrisons, the
troops of the satraps, in case of necessity, could fall back on the
assistance of the reserve corps of larger districts, such as the
Cilician cavalry. The troops stationed in the provinces were reviewed
yearly, as Xenophon tells us. For this object they were gathered
together at a fixed place in the provinces, with the exception of the
garrisons of the fortresses. For the more western districts the place of
assembly was Thymbrara on the Pactolus,[405] where also, in time of war,
the levy of the province was assembled. The troops which were nearer
the residence of the king, were, according to Xenophon, inspected by the
king in person; those at a greater distance by men in his confidence.
The satraps, chiliarchs, and commandants, who brought up the prescribed
number of troops provided with excellent weapons and horses, were
rewarded by presents and marks of distinction; those who neglected their
troops or made money out of them were severely punished and removed from
their office.[406]
From Herodotus we learn that the guard of the king consisted of 2000
selected Persian horsemen and 2000 lance-bearers on foot, whose lances
were adorned at the lower end with apples of gold and silver, and also
of a division of 10,000 infantry, whom the Persians call the immortals,
because their number is always the same. But the name of the corps may
be formed from the Amesha Cpenta Ameretat (V. 156, 164). Xenophon
ascribes this institution to Cyrus.[407] Nine thousand of them had
silver pomegranates on their lances, but a thousand who were selected
from the whole corps to form the first battalion had their pomegranates
of gold. On the monuments they carry lances taller than the height of a
man, and oval shields of half a man's height. This troop was
distinguished as the body-guard of the king by golden necklaces and
other ornaments; it was better furnished than other troops with beasts
of burden and camels to carry the baggage and the provisions. Later
writers speak only of these 10,000 infantry as forming the guard. They
inform us that the corps was always about the king, keeping watch in the
palace day and night, where they had a court to themselves; they
accompanied the king on his journeys, when they camped in a circle round
the king's tent.[408] The amount of the whole army cannot even be
approximately fixed. Darius led the levy of the empire over the
Bosphorus to the amount of 700,000 men; from the subject lands so many
soldiers would be required as would be necessary.[409] It was more
difficult to organize this vast mass. The strength of the army, like
that of the kingdom, rested on the military skill and superiority of the
Persians. With the Persians, as with the Indians, the chief weapon was
the bow, and the Persian arrows like the Indian were of reed. Aeschylus
praises "the mighty with the bow, the strength of the Persian land," and
Atossa, the queen of Darius, is represented as asking whether "the
bow-driven arrow adorns the hand" of the Hellenes.[410] The Persians
preferred to fight on horseback. The rider placed a coat of mail over
the short shirt, and beside the bow and a short javelin carried a
crooked and not very long sabre on the right hip;[411] the head was
protected by the tiara. But there were also large divisions of heavy
armed cavalry among the troops of the Persians in which the men wore
brass or iron helmets and strong harness, while their horses were armed
with frontlets and breast-pieces.[412] The infantry carried long
rectangular shields of wicker-work, under which hung the quiver with the
javelin and sabre, but as a rule they were without coats of mail.[413]
The leading men and officers were adorned in battle with their best
purple robes, neck-chains, and armlets; over the coat of mail they threw
the glittering kandys; on the hip hung a sabre with a golden handle and
a golden sheath. Thus they mounted their war-horses, Nisaean greys, with
golden trappings, the wildness of which sometimes caused the death of
the rider. Aeschylus speaks of them as "horsemen mighty with the bow,
dreadful to behold, and terrible in the venturous courage of their
hearts."[414] In military skill the Persians regarded the Medes as next
to themselves; then followed the Sacae, the Bactrians, the Indians, and
the other Arian tribes. Next to the Medes the Sacae were the most
trustworthy troops.[415] The contingents of the provinces were governed
by Persian generals, who were mainly taken from the members of the royal
family, the "kinsmen" of the king, and the tribal princes.[416] Like the
Persian troops, these contingents were arranged in divisions of 10,000
men. Each division was subdivided into ten battalions of 1000 men, and
the battalions into ten companies of 100 men; the company was made up
of groups, which, according to Xenophon, consisted of seven men among
the Persians, and according to Herodotus of ten in the contingents.[417]
The commander of the entire contingent of a province had the nomination
of the officers of divisions and the leaders of battalions; the officers
of divisions, as Herodotus says, nominated the captains of companies,
and the leaders of the groups.[418] The native dynasts as a rule marched
out with their troops and ships, but they were subject to the commanders
of the contingents.[419]
The king reviewed the army from his war-chariot, surrounded by scribes,
who wrote down everything worthy of notice. When parading before the
king, the horsemen dismounted, stood by their horses, and concealed
their hands in the sleeves of their kandys. The camp was always pitched
in a particular order; the tent of the king was on the eastern side, for
the abode of the gods was in the east. The large and splendid tent of
the king was surrounded by the tents of the guard; the cavalry, the
infantry, and the baggage had special places assigned to them.[420] They
understood how to fortify the camp;[421] an open camp was always at a
certain distance, about seven miles, from the enemy in order to avoid
surprises as far as possible. The Persian cavalry required a
considerable time, especially at night, for preparation. Their spirited
horses had not only to be tethered, but even tied by the feet to prevent
their running away. The unfettering, saddling and bridling of the
horses, and putting on the harness, took up much time, and could not be
done at night without disorder and confusion.[422] When there was
danger of a surprise the troops had to remain at night under arms. The
signal for marching was given from the royal tent with the trumpet, but
never before daybreak,[423] "before the glittering Mithra mounted, and
in golden shape seized the beautiful summits," the army of the Persians
was not to move. In the same way the march ended at the latest at
sunset.[424] In battle the king occupied the centre of the position,
surrounded by the Achaemenids, the "kinsmen" and "companions," several
hundred in number,[425] and the body-guard, the cavalry of which usually
stood in the first ranks before the king; next to them in the centre
came the best troops in the army.[426] According to ancient custom the
king generally fought from a chariot drawn by Nisaean horses,[427] with
his bow in his hand, in which manner, at an earlier period, the princes
of the Indians had fought, and the kings of the east, the Pharaohs, the
rulers of Assyria, and the princes of the Syrians. The king also, when
in battle, wore all his royal ornaments, the purple kaftan over his
armour, and the royal tiara. Near him was the ensign of the empire, the
golden eagle on a tall pole.[428] The mass of the cavalry was generally
placed on the wings; between these and the centre were the contingents
of the subject nations, each according to its divisions, which were
drawn up separately in solid squares.[429] The battle was begun by the
cavalry and infantry with a thick shower of arrows. With this an attempt
was made to ward off the attacks of the enemy, and it was kept up till
the enemy seemed to be thrown into confusion. Then the troops were
brought closer; javelins were hurled and sabres drawn.[430] The Persian
and Sacian cavalry was most dreaded; as it consisted to a great extent
of archers it was difficult to approach it. If the cavalry marched to
the attack with arms in rest, the onset was made first with separate
squadrons, and then in entire masses.[431] The Medes and Persians had
learned the art of siege from the Assyrians. The cities were enclosed by
ramparts, and on these works were carried forward, under the protection
of which battering-rams were brought to bear against the trenches and
walls. The Persians were also well acquainted with mining. Passages were
carried under-ground, both to make breaches in the walls by excavations,
and to provide a way into the city. In order to recapture Chalcedon,
which had rebelled against Darius when he crossed the Danube against the
Scythians, together with the cities of the Propontis and Hellespont, an
under-ground passage of more than 15 stades in length was carried, after
the king's return, under the walls of the city to the market-place, and
the Chalcedonians had no suspicion of its existence, till the Persians
appeared in the city.[432]
FOOTNOTES:
[369] In his "Metrological Studies" Boeckh fixed the ratio of the Euboean
to the Babylonian talent as 5:6. Since that time the discovery of
numerous gold and silver Persian coins and of weights at Babylon and
Nineveh, and the lion of Abydus with its Aramaean stamp, have provided
the means for fixing the gold talent of Darius at 25,245 kilogrammes,
and his silver talent (the Babylonian talent) at 33,660 kilogrammes;
Brandis, "Muenzwesen," s. 54, 63, 64, 69. Hence Brandis takes Mommsen's
view, that in Herod. 3, 89, 95, we must read 78 instead of 70 Euboean
talents; the Euboean talent in Attica was a little heavier than the
light Babylonian talent (the gold talent of Darius), and in the
calculation 7600 Babylonian talents must be made equal to 9880 Euboean
talents, which enables us to preserve the total sum given by
Herodotus--14,560 talents.
[370] Brandis, "Muenzwesen," s. 225, 231, 239, 241.
[371] Herod. 3, 96; Strabo, p. 735.
[372] Herod. 3, 89; Xenoph. "Hellen." 3, 4, 25.
[373] Herod. 6, 42.
[374] Herod. 1, 192; Boeckh, "Staatshaush." 1^2, 130.
[375] Herod. 3, 117; 2, 149.
[376] Herod. 1, 192.
[377] Strabo, p. 525.
[378] Xenoph. "Anab." 4, 5, 34 ff.
[379] Herod. 3, 91; Boeckh, "Staatshaush." 1^2, 135.
[380] Xenoph. "Cyri Inst." 8, 6, 23; Athenaeus, p. 145, 146.
[381] Strabo, p. 735.
[382] In Athenaeus, p. 145.
[383] _Loc. cit._ in Athenaeus.
[384] Herod. 7, 118; Plut. "Artax." c. 4, 5.
[385] In Athenaeus, p. 146.
[386] Herod. 1, 192.
[387] Herod. 9, 109; Xenoph. "Anab." 1, 4, 9; 2, 4, 27; Plato, "Alcib.
I." p. 123; Cic. "In Verrem," 3, 33.
[388] Xenoph. "Cyri Inst." 8, 6, 5.
[389] Xenoph. "Hellen." 3, 1, 6; "Anab." 2, 1, 3; 7, 8, 8; Thucyd. 1,
138; Plutarch, "Themist." 29 ff. That Themistocles was prince of
Magnesia is the less doubtful because a silver stater of this city, 8,56
grammes in weight, with the square, and the name of Themistocles, is in
existence: Mommsen. "Rom. Muenzwesen," s. 65; Brandis, "Muenzwesen in
Vorderasien," s. 459, proves a second coin of Themistocles, 5.85 grammes
in weight.
[390] Droysen, "Hellenismus," 2, 44; Diod. 17, 52; Strabo, p. 798.
[391] Noeldeke, "Tabari," s. 364 ff.
[392] "Oecon." 4, 11, ff.
[393] Xenoph. "Hellen." 4, 1, 33.
[394] Plut. "Alcib." 24.
[395] "Oecon." 4, 20-24; Aelian, "Hist. Anim." 1, 59.
[396] Herod. 4, 39.
[397] Herod. 4, 41.
[398] Herod. 2, 158.
[399] Herod. 4, 44. On the monuments of Darius, see Lepsius, "Chronol."
s. 354, and "Monatsberichte B. A." 1866, s. 288; Oppert, "Memoires prs.
a l'Acad. des Inscrip." 1, 8 (1869), p. 646 ff. In opposition to the
definite and detailed assertion of Herodotus, given in the text, the
assertion in Strabo (p. 804) and Diodorus (1, 33) that Darius nearly
finished the canal but did not quite finish it, cannot be accepted.
Herodotus was in Egypt not much more than 30 years after the death of
Darius (about 450 B.C.). Diodorus and Strabo accept the tradition of the
times of the Ptolemies, which sought to claim for them the glory of
completing the work, though they did no more than reopen the canal which
had become silted up. To support this tradition Oppert has supplemented
the decisive word of which no more than the syllable _ta_ remains,
according to his transcription, in such a way that the meaning extracted
is that Darius filled up his own canal. I do not see why this _ta_
should not be a part of _uctaka_, _i.e._ to excavate, as well as of
_vikata_, _i.e._ to make level. We cannot assume without further
evidence that Darius set up a monument over the failure of his
undertaking or its destruction. The Turanian version, which Oppert has
since published ("Peuple des Medes," p. 214) does not help us to a
decision, for it is only preserved as far as the place in question.
[400] Xenoph. "Cyri Inst." 7, 5, 66.
[401] Xenoph. "Cyri Inst." 8, 8, 20-22.
[402] Herod. 3, 127; 5, 102; Xenoph. "Anab." 1, 2; Diod. 11, 34; Arrian,
"Anab." 1, 29.
[403] Herod. 2, 30.
[404] Xenoph. "Oecon." 4, 5.
[405] Xenoph. "Cyri Inst." 6, 2, 11.
[406] "Oecon." 4, 5.
[407] Herod. 7, 40, 41, 83; 8, 113; Heraclid. Cuman. fragm. 1, ed.
Mueller; Xenoph. "Cyri Inst." 7, 5, 68.
[408] Curtius, 3, 3, 13; Xenoph. _loc. cit._
[409] It is true that the population between the Euphrates and the Indus
is now rated at 18,000,000 only. Kenneir, "Geograph. Memoir of Persia,"
p. 44-47. But the numbers of the prisoners and the slain in the
inscriptions of Behistun allow us to conclude that the population of
Iran was far greater. Under the Ptolemies Egypt, consisting of about
30,000 communities, counted 7,000,000 inhabitants; Diod. 1, 31. That
Asia Minor was not less populous is proved, for certain districts, by
the statements of Xenophon; the budget of Darius, the numbers of his
army, and more especially of the army of Xerxes, the mass of troops
which the younger Cyrus collects in Asia Minor and Artaxerxes in the
Eastern provinces, are evidence of a tolerably dense population.
[410] "Pers.," 239, 926.
[411] Herod. 7, 61.
[412] Herod. 7, 85; 8, 113; Xenoph. "Anab." 1, 8, 7; "Cyri Inst." 8, 8,
22; Arrian, "Anab." 3, 13.
[413] Herod. 5, 49; 9, 62; Strabo, p. 734.
[414] Herod. 9, 20, 22, 63, 80; Plut. "Artax." 9; Aeschyl. "Pers."
26-28.
[415] Herod. 1, 134; Polyaen. "Strat." 7, 11. According to Herodotus the
Sacae were in the centre at Marathon. Mardonius retains them in Thessaly
with the Bactrians and Indians: Herod. 8, 113; 9, 31. In the battle at
Arbela they were among the bravest: Arrian, "Anab." 3, 13.
[416] Herod. 7, 64 ff.
[417] Herod. 7, 82, 83; Xenoph. "Cyri Inst." 8, 1, 14.
[418] Herod. 7, 81.
[419] Herod. 7, 96.
[420] Herod. 7, 100; Xenoph. "Cyri Inst." 8, 5, 1-16.
[421] Herod. 9, 15.
[422] Xenoph. "Anab." 3, 4, 35.
[423] Curtius, 3, 3, 8.
[424] Brisson, _loc. cit._ 3, c. 89.
[425] Curtius, 3, 3, 14, 15; Xenoph. "Anab." 1, 9, 31.
[426] Xenoph. "Anab." 1, 8; Arrian, "Anab." 3, 11.
[427] Artaxerxes is on horseback in the battle of Cunaxa; Plutarch,
"Artax." 10, 11, but the general custom is given in c. 6.
[428] Xenoph. "Anab." 1, 10, 12. Vol. V. 172.
[429] Xenoph. "Anab." 1, 8.
[430] Herod. 7, 218, 226; Xenoph. "Cyri Inst." 8, 8, 22, 23.
[431] Herod. 9, 20, 23, 49.
[432] Above, p. 303. Herod. 1, 162, 168; 4, 200; 5, 115; Polyaen.
"Strateg." 7, 2, 5.