The splendor of Persian life at court and abroad is known to us from
many sources. The sculptures of Persepolis show something of the
state and ceremony attendant on a Persian king. In the Book of
Esther we read of King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) entertaining all “the
nobles and princes of the provinces” for “a hundred and fourscore
days,” of his making a feast for seven days “in the court of the
garden of the king’s palace” for all the people of Susa; of pillars
of marble, silver curtain rings, beds of gold and silver, pavements
of marble that was red, and blue, and white, and black; of drinking
vessels of gold diverse in shape and size, and “royal wine in
abundance, according to the state of the king”; of garments of
purple and fine linen; and of the absolute power of a Persian despot
in his caprices and his wrath, with his “seven chamberlains that
served in his presence,” and with the lives of men and women of all
ranks held in the hollow of his hand.
THE MAGI.--The priests or Magi had great power, from the reverence
of the people for them. The great objects of worship were the
heavenly bodies. This national priesthood, like the Chaldeans in the
Babylonian Empire, formed a caste to whom belonged all mental
culture and legislation. The modern term “magic,” in its
superstitious sense, is connected with their professions and
practices.