MANNERS AND CUSTOMS AMONG THE PERSIANS.
There were wide differences between the civilization of the Persians and
of the dwellers in the Tigris-Euphrates valleys. The Persian despised
trade. His religion taught him to speak the truth, and he regarded
commercial dealings as incompatible with this requirement. No shops made
the principal streets in his country the scenes of hot disputes
concerning prices and wares. The few shops which existed at all were
tucked into obscure places on unfrequented by-ways. It naturally
followed that there was an absence of those industrial centers which in
Babylonia produced rare stuffs, delicate fabrics and ornaments. Swarms
of slaves provided whatever was required by the wealthy, and it was the
Persian's boast that his sword brought him the luxury of the world in
tribute.
It has been estimated that the total population of Persia did not exceed
2,000,000. A small proportion of these were peasants who tilled the
arable soil. Agriculture was held honorable and was encouraged by the
national religion. The great majority of men were soldiers.
Since the soldier's life was thought to be worthy of a Persian, we may
do well to consider whatever features characterized the service in this
empire. Probably because of the mountainous country in which they dwelt,
chariots were never popular with these people. Ordinarily they were
impractical, being suited to plains and accessible places. Nevertheless
a few were used and these were furnished with scythes attached to the
axle. Chariots formed the front line of defense. Behind them the foot
soldiers were arranged in squares, with cavalry on the wings. One
commander--the king, if he were present,--gave commands to all from his
position in the center. This was an evident fault, for, were he killed
or in any way disabled, the entire army sometimes took fright and fled.
When the charge was made, the chariots dashed ahead, hewing right and
left. They seldom failed to break the solid line drawn up before them,
whereupon the infantry and horse followed, taking advantage of the
confusion thus wrought. If the regular line of Persian soldiery was
broken or in any way disturbed, since they had no reinforcements in a
second division, the battle was almost always lost. To prevent such an
occurrence was their aim. It has been said that the Orientals of this
time could not be trusted to fight unless they were well supported at
the rear--hence the custom of forming one deep line. The native Persians
were brave soldiers, but their ranks were generally composed largely of
subjects levied throughout the empire. Scantily clothed Nubians fought
with clubs and stones in the same army with well-equipped natives. Drawn
up by nation, in native custom, it is not surprising that they presented
a sight marvellous indeed to the foreigner.
The contrast between Greek and Persian military tactics was marked. The
Greeks trusted to their solid, heavily-armed phalanx; the Persians tried
to equip themselves as lightly as possible, and trusted to their agility
and swiftness of motion. Their leniency toward captives has been
mentioned before. They found no delight in mere slaughter.
Literature and learning had little part in the life of the average
citizen. The boy was left with his mother until five years of age. Then
his education began. He rose before dawn and was trained in running,
throwing stones, and shooting with an arrow. At seven he was taught to
ride, and in Persia this implied much. He must be able to spring on a
horse running at full speed, to shoot accurately when under rapid
motion. In course of a few years' practice it was not strange that a
Persian was never so at ease as on his horse. Furthermore, he was
compelled to endure severe hardships--sleeping under the open sky,
eating only one meal in two days, making long marches, and swimming
streams burdened with his weapons. At fifteen years of age he was
considered a man and was enlisted in the army, where he ordinarily
served until fifty.
During the period of the Persian empire, a numerous body of officials
made up the king's retinue. Besides the farmers, soldiers and officials,
there were many slaves, who completed the social body. They performed
all kinds of labor, built the palaces and made fine roads throughout the
realm.
The Persian court has probably never been excelled in ceremony and pomp.
Ceremony surrounded the monarch during hours of retirement and seclusion
as well as when before the public eye.
"The officers in most close attendance on the monarch's person were, in
war, his charioteer, his stool-bearer, his bow-bearer, and his
quiver-bearer; in peace, his parasol-bearer, and his fan-bearer, who was
also privileged to carry what has been termed the 'royal-handkerchief.'
Among the officers of the Court, less closely attached to the person of
the monarch than these, may be mentioned the steward of the household;
the groom or master of the horse; the keeper of the women's department,
the king's 'eyes' and 'ears'--persons whose business it was to keep him
informed on all matters of importance; his scribes, who wrote his
letters, his messengers who went his errands, his ushers, his tasters,
who tried the various dishes set before him lest they should be
poisoned; his cup-bearers, who handed him wine and tasted of it; his
chamberlains who assisted him to bed; and his musicians, who amused him
with song and harp. Besides these, the Court comprised various classes
of guards, doorkeepers, huntsmen, grooms, cooks, and other domestic
servants in abundance, together with a vast multitude of visitors,
guests, princes, captives of rank, foreign refugees, ambassadors, and
travellers. We are assured that the king fed daily within the precincts
of his palace as many as 15,000 persons, and that the cost of each day's
food was 400 talents. A thousand beasts were slaughtered for each
repast, besides abundance of feathered game and poultry.... On all
occasions the guests, if they liked, carried away any portion of the
food set before them, conveying it to their homes where it served to
support their families."[1]
Prescribed etiquette governed everyone, from the king to his meanest
subject. The august king must dine alone, or at best have with him the
queen and her son. He could be approached only with certain ceremony.
Ceremony and form were by no means confined to royalty and the court.
Men of different rank met each other with established form and
salutation; certain tasks could be performed only by persons who could
perform no other tasks. This led to a large body of idlers around the
court, ready to take part in any intrigue or conspiracy. They gathered
around the homes of the wealthy as well as the palace of the
king--water-bearers, adorners, awakers, and each rigidly confined
himself to his single duty.
[Illustration: DAMASCUS SWORD-MAKER.
Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.]
In early times the Persians indulged in a single meal each day. The
custom continued later, but now the feast began with the morning and
ceased only with night. The amount of wine a man could drink became his
boast. In place of the regular habits, frugal fare and constant exercise
of early times, were substituted the prolonged feast, all kinds of
indulgencies, and idleness.
The royal harem provided apartments for the king's several wives in
early years. Towards the close of the empire, provision had to be made
for some three hundred and sixty--if we may trust one writer. The
jealousies, differences and intrigues which arose from this quarter can
scarcely be imagined. Each wished her son to be given preference, and
this ambition, together with the restlessness accompanying enforced
seclusion, stimulated crime and fostered conspiracies. The favorite of
the king might toy with the lives of his subjects--even with the lives
of those dear to him, at will. No subject in the land had reason to
think his life secure--least of all, he who was today powerful.
For diversions--other than Court intrigues--the king turned to the hunt.
Dice throwing was the national game, and the carving of wood was a
frequent pastime. Since little was known of books, men were forced to
find some means of passing hours unoccupied with national affairs or
private concerns.
Dress had been simple in early years. As time went on, it became more
complex; even matters of cosmetics and perfumes were later deemed of
weighty importance.
There is more to attract us in the Persian state during years of its
earlier simplicity, while yet the soldier found his deepest satisfaction
in military skill, bodily exercise and great endurance, than in the
period of imperial greatness, when the court of Persia exceeded in
splendor anything since known.
THE RELIGION OF PERSIA.
Some time between 1000-650 B.C., it is supposed there lived a religious
reformer by the name of Zarathushtra, or Zoroaster. Both his birth-place
and birth-date are alike unknown, but it is supposed that he lived in
Bactria, a country which reached indefinitely along the Caspian Sea.
Little has come down to us concerning the great teacher himself. He
early felt called to his religious mission. Retiring from the world,
tradition says he lived for some years upon a remote mountain, and here
a divine vision came to him. He communed with Ormuzd, the spirit of
Good, and knew that his work was to reclaim man, who in blindness had
wandered away from truth and light, and to bring him into new
relationship with the divine spirit which was ever ready to win mankind
to himself.
At the age of thirty, Zoroaster was prepared to preach the new law. For
ten years he wandered about, but found few to listen to him. His family
and friends were gradually won to the faith he taught, and returning to
the Caspian Sea region, he found more willing hearers.
The conceptions from which he had evolved his faith were already
accepted to some extent by those among whom he came. He taught that
there were two spirits--Ormuzd or Good, embodying all truth, life,
beauty, order, light; and Ahriman, or Evil, including all darkness,
death, falsity and disorder. Life was a struggle between these two
contending forces. "He laid before his people their own thoughts in all
the pure transparency of crystal waters cleared from muddiness and
unwholesome admixtures in the filter of his own transcendent and
searching mind. He guided their groping hands, and made them grasp the
truth for which they were blindly reaching. Such is the mission of every
true prophet. Had the people not been ripe for his teaching, he could
not have secured a hearing, or made himself understood; the people, on
the other hand, could never have worked out unaided the ideal to which
they were vaguely and only half-consciously drawn. They listened and
understood, and were won, because, to use the expression of a great
writer, they had in themselves the seed of the thoughts which the
prophet expounded to them."[2]
Seven times divine beings brought messages to Zoroaster. "They inculcate
the doctrine of purity of body as well as of soul; they enjoin the care
of useful animals, especially the cow and the dog; they emphasize the
necessity of keeping the earth, the fire and the water undefiled; and
from several of their ordinances we can see that Zoroaster was a civil
reformer as well as a spiritual guide. Foremost among the commandments
is the abhorrence of falsehood, the universal obligation to speak the
truth. This is one of the most fundamental of the ethical tenets which
form the basis of the entire ancient Persian religious system."[3]
The writings which contained the teachings of Zoroaster are commonly
known as the Zenda-Vesta. The name is misleading however, and should
read Avesta-u-Zend, which translated means: "Law and Commentary." Among
students the compilation is generally called the Avesta. Even a casual
reading of the Old Testament reveals the fact that the various books
composing it were written by different writers, writing under radically
different circumstances, and at widely distant periods. The same is true
of the Avesta. One of its books was probably written either by Zoroaster
himself or under his supervision. This is the Gathas, or book of songs,
and is the most ancient portion of the entire collection. Sermons,
prayers, and sayings are therein contained, some of which possess poetic
beauty and rare purity. Other books were added from time to time, until
the Avesta is said to have been made up of twenty-one books, and to have
covered 1,200 cowhides.
When Alexander the Great conquered Persia in 332 B.C., elated by his
victory, and having drunk heavily of wine, he allowed his soldiers to
burn the capital, and with it perished much of greatest value. Most of
the Persian literature was then destroyed, together with the noblest
specimens of Persian architecture and decoration. While cities were few,
it seems remarkable that the only copies of the Avesta were burned. For
several centuries following, the teachings of this sacred book lived
only in the memories of priests. Finally in 325 A.D., a council was
called to take measures to have these ancient doctrines committed to
writing. Naturally the result was fragmentary and incomplete. Only
those portions of the original text which had been in daily use proved
to be well remembered. These were mainly prayers and invocations. The
priests in all probability, seized the opportunity to insert whatever
forms of worship and modified beliefs they desired to emphasize. Their
final effort, while far from satisfactory, embraces all which now
remains of the religion of Zoroaster and his followers.
In 636 A.D. the Mohammedan Arabs made a religious crusade and undertook
to blot out the old Persian religion. Most of the descendants of the
early nation yielded to the fire and sword. A small portion of them took
refuge in India, where they were allowed to worship as they chose. Only
with them was the Avesta preserved. These Parsis have been called "the
ruins of a people, as their sacred books are the ruins of a religion."
Of them Justi writes: "There is no religious body in the world whose
practice is so completely in harmony with their moral code."
The collection of Zend Fragments, commonly known as the Zend-Avesta,
falls into two parts: The Avesta, properly so-called, which contains
(1) compilations of religious laws and mythical tales; (2) collections
of litanies for the sacrifice; (3) litanies and hymns written in a
language older than the rest of the Avesta. Secondly, these writings
contain the Small Avesta, made up of short prayers, recited by all the
faithful. It was fitting that these collections of fragments be
preserved, so far as possible, in their original dialect, but since
these were no longer intelligible even to the educated, the Zend, or
explanation--commentary--was attached in the prevailing tongue.
Otherwise the greater portion of the work could not have been
understood. Some of the creation stories were not included in the
Avesta, but were gathered together with other myths in the Bundehesh.
All worshippers are classified by the Avesta as followers of
Ormuzd--Good,--or Ahriman--Evil. One could either stand for good or
against it. "Now shall I proclaim unto you, O ye all that here approach
me, what the wise should lay to their hearts; the songs of praise and
the sacrificial rites which pious men pay the Lord, and the sacred
truths and ordinances, that what was secret until now may appear in the
light 'Hear with your ears that which is best, and test it with a clear
understanding, before each man decides for himself between the two
teachings.'
"The two Spirits, the Twins, skilfully created, in the beginning, Good
and Evil, in thought, in speech, in deed. And, between these two, the
wise have made the right choice; not so the senseless. If, O men, you
lay to your hearts these ordinances which Ormuzd instituted, and the
good and evil, and the long torments which await the followers of
falsehood, and the bliss that must come to the holders of the true
faith, it will go well with you."
Followers of Zoroaster abhorred idolatry. No image of their God
corrupted their conceptions. In early times they built no temples,
having only altars whereupon sacrifices were made. Darius often mentions
Ahuramazda (Hormuzd) in his inscriptions as the highest god of the
Persians, and it is highly probable that Cyrus was also a worshipper, a
fact which made him sympathetic toward the religion of the Jews and
accounts for his willingness that they rebuild a temple in Jerusalem for
the worship of Yahweh.
In later years, forms and symbols crept into the service, for abstract
teachings did not hold the masses of the people. Fire was conceived to
be a symbol of the God of Light, and even today there seems to be a
certain charm in the conception that "a pure and undefiled flame is
certainly the most sublime natural representation of Him who is in
Himself Eternal Light." There must have been a sublimity in the sight of
the pure flames, rising to heaven from the mountain-tops, while prayers
and hymns of praise were poured out to the one great Spirit, by whatever
name known.
As days of degeneracy overtook Persia, the religion was affected by the
general lassitude and decay. A modernized form of the early faith is
found today among some 100,000 worshippers in Arabia and India.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Rawlinson: Persia.
[2] Ragozin: Media and Persia.
[3] Jackson: Persia, the Land and Its History.
A HYMN.
"We worship Ahura Mazda (Ormuzd), the pure, the master of purity.
"We praise all good thoughts, all good words, all good deeds which
are or shall be; and we likewise keep clean, and pure all that is
good.
"O Ormuzd, thou true, happy being! We strive to think, to speak, and
to do only such actions as may be best fitted to promote the two
lives (the life of the body and of the soul).
"We beseech the spirit of earth for the sake of these our best works
to grant us beautiful and fertile fields, to the believer as well as
to the unbeliever, to him who has riches as well as to him who has
no possessions."
FROM THE AVESTA. PART I.
"O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the first
place where the Earth feels most happy?"
Ahura Mazda, the Good Principle, answered: "It is the place whereon
one of the faithful steps forward, O Zoroaster, with the holy wood
in his hand,[1] the baresma in his hand,[2] the holy meat in his
hand,[3] the holy mortar in his hand,[4] fulfilling the law with
love, and beseeching aloud Mithra.[5]"
"O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the second
place where the Earth feels most happy?"
Ahura Mazda answered: "It is the place whereon one of the faithful
erects a house with a priest therein, with cattle, with a wife, with
children, and good herds within; and wherein afterwards the cattle
go on thriving, holiness is thriving, fodder is thriving, the dog is
thriving, the wife is thriving, the child is thriving, the fire is
thriving, and every blessing of life is thriving."
"O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the third
place where the Earth feels most happy?"
Ahura Mazda answered: "It is the place where one of the faithful
cultivates most corn, grass and fruit, O Zoroaster! where he waters
ground that is too dry, and dries ground that is too wet."
"O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the fourth
place where the Earth feels most happy?"
Ahura Mazda answered: "It is the place where there is most increase
of flocks and herds."
"O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the first
place where the Earth feels sorest grief?"
Ahura Mazda answered: "It is the neck of Arezura,[6] whereon the
hosts of fiends rush forth to the burrow of the Drug.[7]"
"O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the second
place where the Earth feels sorest grief?"
Ahura Mazda answered: "It is the place where most corpses of dogs
and of men lie buried."
"O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the fifth
place where the Earth feels sorest grief?"
Ahura Mazda answered: "It is the place whereon the wife and children
of the faithful, O Zoroaster, are driven along the way of captivity,
the dry, the dusty way, and lift up a voice of wailing."
"O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Who is the first that
rejoices the Earth with greatest joy?"
Ahura Mazda answered: "It is he who digs out of it most corpses of
dogs and men."
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Food for the altar fire.
[2] Sacred twigs held by the priest while reciting prayers.
[3] Meat for sacrifice.
[4] Used for crushing the Haoma, an intoxicating plant, whose juice is
used by the faithful.
[5] God of good fields and pastures.
[6] Mount at the gate of hell whence demons rush forth.
[7] Hell.
ANCIENT HYMN FROM THE AVESTA.
"I am the Keeper; I am the Creator and the Maintainer; I am the
Discerner; I am the most beneficent Spirit.
My name is the bestower of health; my name is the best bestower of
health.
My name is the Holy; my name is the most Holy.
My name is the Glorious; my name is the most Glorious.
My name is the far-seeing; my name is the Farthest-seeing.
My name is Holiness; my name is the Great one; my name is the good
Sovereign; my name is the best of Sovereigns.
My name is the Wise One; my name is the Wisest of the Wise; my name
is He who does good for a long time.
These are my names.
And he who in this material world, O Zoroaster! shall recite and
pronounce these names of mine either by day or by night;
He who shall pronounce them when he rises up or when he lays him
down; when he lays him down or when he rises up; when he binds on
the sacred girdle, or when he unbinds the sacred girdle; when he
goes out of his dwelling-place, or when he goes out of his town, or
when he goes out of his country and comes into another country;
_That_ man, neither in that day nor in that night shall be wounded
by the weapons of the foe...; not the knife, not the cross-bow, not
the arrow, not the sword, not the club, not the sling-stone shall
reach him and wound him.
But these names shall come in to keep him from behind and to keep
him in front ... from the evil ones, bent on mischief, and from that
fiend which is all death--Angra Mainyu.
It will be as if there were a thousand men watching over one man."
--_Trans. Zend-Avesta: Sacred Books of the East.
Max Muller, ed. V._ 4, 23, 31.
[Illustration: PART OF ARCHER'S FRIEZE IN AN ANCIENT PERSIAN PALACE.]