downwards. Von Gutschmid, "Neue Beitr." s. 89. From this silence I have
concluded, and still conclude, that the liberation of the Medes took
place towards 640 B.C., and moreover that the victory of the Assyrians
over Phraortes, and his death in battle did not bring about a decisive
change in favour of the Assyrians.
CHAPTER II.
THE EMPIRE OF THE MEDES.
"When Phraortes had fallen, he was succeeded by his son Cyaxares. This
prince collected all his subjects and marched against Nineveh, in order
to avenge the death of his father and destroy the city. He defeated the
Assyrians, and while encamped before Nineveh, there came upon him the
vast army of the Scythians, led by their king Madyas, the son of
Protothyas, who invaded Asia in pursuit of the Cimmerians, and as they
did not come through the land of the Saspeires, but kept the Caucasus to
the right, they reached the Median country. Here they attacked the
Medes, and the latter being conquered in the battle lost their empire;
the Scythians became masters of the whole of Asia, and ruled over it for
28 years. With reckless cruelty they laid everything waste; they not
only imposed tribute on all the nations, but went round and took from
every one all that he possessed. But Cyaxares and the Medes massacred
the greater part of them after making them intoxicated at a banquet, and
in this way the Medes recovered their empire, and again governed those
who had previously been subject to them. Then a horde of Scythians,
which had separated from the rest and put themselves under the
protection of Cyaxares, were guilty of a crime against a Median boy who
had been entrusted to them, and fled for refuge to Alyattes, king of
Lydia, who refused to give them up. This led to a war between Media and
Lydia which continued for five years, and was brought to an end by a
treaty in which Alyattes gave his daughter Aryanis to wife to the son of
Cyaxares. Cyaxares was master of all Asia beyond the Halys, took
Nineveh, and subjugated the Assyrians, with the exception of the
Babylonian portion." Such is the history, given by Herodotus, of
Cyaxares, who, on his reckoning, ascended the throne of Media in the
year 633 B.C.
If Phraortes had fallen in battle against the Assyrians with the greater
part of his army, Cyaxares (Uvakshathra) could hardly have at once
undertaken an attack on Nineveh, with a view of avenging his father's
death by the destruction of that city; his first care, on the contrary,
would have been to prevent the Assyrians from making use of their great
victory, to guard against further advances on their part, and to
maintain the freedom of Media. This struggle Cyaxares passed through
with success; that his good fortune carried him as far as the walls of
Nineveh, is indeed possible, but not probable; according to Herodotus
the collision of the Scythians and Medes did not take place in the land
of Asshur, but further to the East, in Media.
The facts about the pursuit of the Cimmerians and the invasion of the
Scythians have been already examined, and it has been shown that
Herodotus has connected the immigration of the Cimmerians into Asia
Minor, which took place in the eighth century B.C., with the incursion
of Sacian tribes from the Oxus into Media, about the year 630 B.C. He
was deceived by the circumstance that the Cimmerians from their abode on
the lower Halys penetrated to Sardis and the cities of the Western
coast, about the time when the Sacae invaded Media and inundated Hither
Asia (III. 276). The truth is that the hordes of the Sacae not only
overthrew Media, but passed through Mesopotamia into Syria as far as the
borders of Egypt. Their attack shattered and destroyed the cohesion of
the Assyrian empire.
About the year 620 Cyaxares succeeded in overpowering the section of the
Scythians which remained in Media (these hordes were no doubt widely
dispersed), and again became master in his own dominions. He made use of
his advantageous position as the first who could again direct the forces
of his people. He showed himself to the Armenians and Cappadocians as a
champion to defend them from the plundering Scythians, and at the same
time aided in liberating them from the dominion of the Assyrians. The
incursion of the Scythians had prepared the way for him; in a few years
he was able to extend his power to the West as far as the Halys.[481]
Nabopolassar, the viceroy of Assyria in Babylon, who had determined to
turn to account the severe blow which the incursion of the Scyths had
given to the Assyrian kingdom, had already offered him his hand in
alliance. Amyite, the daughter of Cyaxares, had become the wife of
Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabopolassar. But in Asia Minor, far to the
West, the princes of the Lydians had taken advantage of the disturbance
and confusion which the advance of the Cimmerians had carried to the
Western coast, to extend their power over Phrygia as far as the Halys
(III. 435). Here the two rapidly-developing powers met. Though inferior
in numbers the Lydians showed themselves a match for the Medes. After a
war of five years, peace was established between them by Nabopolassar of
Babylon and Syennesis of Cilicia, in order to set the power of Media
free to act against Nineveh. The Halys became the boundary of the two
kingdoms, and the peace was confirmed by an alliance. Alyattes of Lydia
gave his daughter Aryanis to wife to Astyages the son of Cyaxares (610
B.C.[482]). Media and Babylonia now thought themselves strong enough to
undertake the contest against the remains of the Assyrian kingdom.
Cyaxares led out the Medes, Nabopolassar the Babylonians against king
Assur-idil-ili. The latter offered a long and stubborn defence, and when
at length the walls of Nineveh were broken through, he burnt himself in
the citadel. The Assyrian country as far as the Tigris fell to the share
of Media; Mesopotamia was united with the new kingdom of Babylon (607
B.C.[483]). Thus Media and Babylonia took the place of Assyria; and
Babylon, as Herodotus says, was now the chief city of the Assyrians.
When the kingdom had fallen which for three centuries had ruled in the
East and West, Cyaxares might indulge the thought of making his empire
more complete on the table-land of Iran. According to the story which
Ctesias has preserved for us from the Medo-Persian Epos of the fall of
Assyria (III. 249), the Bactrians had been prevailed upon to join the
Medes and Babylonians in the course of the war against Assyria, and the
Persian songs which describe the contest of Cyrus and Astyages,
represent the Hyrcanians, Parthians, Bactrians, and other nations of the
East, as ruled by viceroys of the Median king.[484] We may regard it as
certain that Cyaxares succeeded in subjugating the table-land of Iran to
a considerable extent. No slight proof is afforded of the increase and
greatness of the Median kingdom in his reign by the unusual care and
extraordinary efforts of the successor of Nabopolassar to protect
Babylonia and Babylon by fortifications against the event of a struggle
between the two powers, whose united exertions had destroyed Assyria
(III. 366).
The position which the Medo-Persian poems assign to the chief of the
Babylonians beside the chief of the Medes, during and after the common
struggle, has been already explained. The Babylonian is the astrologer,
the adviser, the helper; the Mede is the man of action. In the event of
success against Assyria he promises the Babylonian the viceroyalty of
Babylon, and has already given it to him, free of tribute, when the
fraud is discovered by which the cunning Babylonian has acquired the
most valuable part of the spoil of Nineveh. For this offence the chief
is condemned to death; but the Mede pardons him, and in consideration of
his former services and the promise made, leaves him the viceroyalty. So
eager were the Median minstrels to conceal the independence of Babylonia
beside Media, and represent a power as great as Babylon was under
Nebuchadnezzar as a satrapy of their kings. This fiction is maintained
in other episodes of the Medo-Persian Epos which have come down to us.
We are told of the stubborn resistance which the Cadusians made to the
Medes; and an explanation is given how this unimportant nation on the
shore of the Caspian (p. 268) could withstand the mighty kingdom of the
Medes. This episode has come to us in the Persian form. It is the fault
of the Median king that the Cadusians have become stubborn and
successful enemies. He failed to help to his rights a brave warrior in
his service; this warrior betook himself to the Cadusians, and became
their chief, led them well, and bequeathed his thirst for vengeance to
his descendants. From such a point of view even a Median minstrel could
lament the perversity of the Median king, and the power of Babylonian
gold, the abundance of which is strongly marked in the narrative, could
praise the ancient simplicity of the Medes: "who took no heed of silver,
and did not regard gold," as we are told in the Hebrew Scriptures, and
reprobate the victory of gold over strict justice. But it is a Persian
to whom the wrong is done, who summons the Cadusians to freedom; and the
resistance of the Cadusians to the Median kingdom, thus brought about by
a Persian, subsequently furnishes Cyrus with a pretext for arming the
Persians, and also provides him with allies in the Cadusians. It was the
merit of a brave Persian to have provided this assistance for his people
long before. The king of the Medes who was guilty of this mistake is
called in Ctesias Artaeus; we have seen (p. 277) that Artaeus and
Astibaras, who reigned 40 years each, are but one and the same person;
and as the reign of Cyaxares occupies 40 years in Herodotus, we may
conjecture that he is the king hidden behind the Artaeus-Astibaras of
Ctesias. The king of Babylon, the satrap of the episode, is brought in
as a descendant of Belesys (Nabopolassar), and described as an
effeminate man. His name, in the form given by Ctesias, is Annarus.
Evilmerodach or Neriglissar of Babylon must be meant; but, without
doubt, we are dealing with mere fiction.
The episode is as follows: There was a Persian of the name of Parsondes,
in the service of the king of the Medes, an eager huntsman, and active
warrior on foot and in the chariot, distinguished in council and in the
field, and of influence with the king. Parsondes often urged the king to
make him satrap of Babylon in the place of Annarus, who wore women's
clothes and ornaments, but the king always put the petition aside, for
it could not be granted without breaking the promise which his ancestor
had made to Belesys (p. 297). Annarus discovered the intentions of
Parsondes, and sought to secure himself against him, and to take
vengeance. He promised great rewards to the cooks who were in the train
of the king, if they succeeded in seizing Parsondes and giving him up.
One day Parsondes in the heat of the chase strayed far from the king. He
had already killed many boars and deer, when the pursuit of a wild ass
(the Sassanids also hunt this animal) carried him to a great distance.
At last he came upon the cooks, who were occupied in preparations for
the king's table. Being thirsty, Parsondes asked for wine; they gave it,
took care of his horse, and invited him to take food--an invitation
agreeable to Parsondes, who had been hunting the whole day. He bade them
send the ass which he had captured to the king, and tell his own
servants where he was. Then he ate of the various kinds of food set
before him, and drank abundantly of the excellent wine, and at last
asked for his horse in order to return to the king. But they brought
beautiful women to him, and urged him to remain for the night. He
agreed, and as soon as, overcome by hunting, wine, and love he had
fallen into a deep sleep, the cooks bound him, and brought him to
Annarus. Annarus reproached him with calling him an effeminate man, and
seeking to obtain his satrapy; he had the king to thank that the satrapy
granted to his ancestors had not been taken from him. Parsondes replied
that he considered himself more worthy of the office, because he was
more manly and more useful to the king. But Annarus swore by Bel and
Mylitta that Parsondes should be softer and whiter than a woman, called
for the eunuch who was over the female players, and bade him shave the
body of Parsondes and bathe and anoint him every day, put women's
clothes on him, plait his hair after the manner of women, paint his
face, and place him among the women, who played the guitar and sang,
and to teach him their arts. This was done, and soon Parsondes played
and sang better at the table of Annarus than any of the women. Meanwhile
the king of the Medes had caused search to be made everywhere for
Parsondes, and since he could nowhere be found, and nothing could be
heard of him, he believed that a lion or some other wild animal had torn
him when out hunting, and lamented for his loss. Parsondes had lived for
seven years as a woman in Babylon, when Annarus caused an eunuch to be
scourged and grievously maltreated. This eunuch Parsondes induced by
large presents to retire to Media and tell the king the misfortune which
had come upon him. Then the king sent a message commanding Annarus to
give up Parsondes. Annarus declared that he had never seen him. But the
king sent a second messenger charging him to bring Annarus to be put to
death if he did not surrender Parsondes. Annarus entertained the
messenger of the king, and when the meal was brought, 150 women entered,
of whom some played the guitar while others blew the flute. At the end
of the meal Annarus asked the king's envoy which of all the women was
the most beautiful and had played best. The envoy pointed to Parsondes.
Annarus laughed long and said, "That is the person whom you seek," and
released Parsondes, who on the next day returned home with the envoy to
the king in a chariot. The king was astonished at the sight of him, and
asked why he had not avoided such disgrace by death? Parsondes answered:
"In order that I might see you again, and by you execute vengeance on
Annarus, which could never have been mine had I taken my life." The king
promised him that his hope should not be deceived, as soon as he came to
Babylon. But when he came there, Annarus defended himself on the ground
that Parsondes, though in no way injured by him, had maligned him, and
sought to obtain the satrapy over Babylonia. The king pointed out that
he had made himself judge in his own cause, and had imposed a punishment
of a degrading character; in ten days he would pronounce sentence upon
him for his conduct. In terror Annarus hastened to Mitraphernes, the
eunuch of greatest influence with the king, and promised him the most
liberal rewards (10 talents of gold and 100 talents of silver, 10 golden
and 200 silver bowls) if he could induce the king to spare his life and
retain him in the satrapy of Babylonia. He was prepared to give the king
100 talents of gold, 1000 talents of silver, 100 golden and 300 silver
bowls, and costly robes with other gifts; Parsondes also should receive
100 talents of silver and costly robes. After many entreaties
Mitraphernes persuaded the king not to command the execution of Annarus,
as he had not killed Parsondes, but to condemn him in the penalty which
he was prepared to pay Parsondes and the king. Annarus in gratitude
threw himself at the feet of the king, but Parsondes said: "Cursed be
the man who first brought gold among men; for the sake of gold I have
been made a mockery to the Babylonians." The eunuch advised him to lay
aside his anger, and be reconciled with Annarus, for that was what the
king desired; but Parsondes determined to take vengeance for the
sentence of the king, and waited for a favourable opportunity in order
to fly with a thousand horse and three thousand infantry to the
Cadusians, whose most distinguished chief had married his sister. Then
he persuaded the Cadusians to revolt from the Medes, and was elected to
be their general. When the king of the Medes armed against them,
Parsondes armed in return, and occupied the passes into the country with
200,000 warriors. Though the Median king brought up 800,000 men,
Parsondes nevertheless put him to flight, and slew 50,000 Medes. In
admiration of such noble deeds, the Cadusians made Parsondes king, and
they often invaded Media and laid it waste. At the end of his days,
Parsondes commanded his successor to remain an enemy of the Medes, and
pronounced a curse: "If ever peace should be concluded between the Medes
and the Cadusians, might his race and the whole nation of the Cadusians
perish." This is the reason why the Cadusians remained the enemies of
the Medes, and were never subject to them.[485]
Another episode tells us of the contests which the Medes had to sustain
under the dominion of Astibaras-Artaeus, _i.e._ of Cyaxares, against the
Parthians and the Sacae. The Parthians, whose chief was Marmares,
revolted from the Medes, but handed over their land and city to the king
of the Sacae, Cydraeus, that he might protect them against the Medes; and
the sister of Cydraeus, Zarinaea (Zaranya, _i.e._ the golden), who was
distinguished for her beauty and wisdom, her boldness and bravery (for
the women of the Sacae took the field with the men), became the wife of
Marmares. As the Medians intended to reduce the Parthians again to
subjection, a war broke out between them and the Parthians and Sacae,
which lasted for several years, and led to battles in which many fell on
one side and the other. In one of these battles Zarinaea was wounded.
Stryangaeus, the Mede, to whom Cyaxares had given his daughter Rhoetaea
to wife, pursued, overtook, and threw her from her horse. But the sight
of her beauty and youth, and her entreaties, moved him; he allowed her
to escape. Not long afterwards Stryangaeus with other Medes was taken
captive by the Parthians. Marmares wished to put him to death, and
though Zarinaea entreated for his life, insisted on his execution. Then
Zarinaea loosed the bonds of the captive Medes, caused Marmares to be
put to death by them, and allowed Stryangaeus to escape. When, after the
death of her brother Cydraeus, she ascended the throne of the Sacae, she
sent messengers to the king of the Medes to conclude peace and
friendship. The Parthians were to return under the sovereignty of the
Medes, the Sacae and Medes were to keep what previously belonged to them,
and to be friends and allies for ever. This was done. Stryangaeus, the
real author of this treaty, ever since the battle in which he had first
seen Zarinaea, had been possessed with violent love for her, and went to
Roxanace (_i.e._ the brilliant),[486] where was the royal citadel of the
Sacae, in order to see the beloved princess once more. Zarinaea, who
returned his affection, came to see him full of joy, received him and
his attendants in the most splendid manner, kissed him in the sight of
all, and ascended his chariot, and thus, while conversing with each
other they arrived in the palace. Here Stryangaeus sighed in the
chambers assigned to him, and could not resist the violence of his
passion. At length he took counsel with the most faithful of his
eunuchs, who encouraged him to discover his passion to Zarinaea. Easily
persuaded, Stryangaeus hastened to the queen, and after much delay and
many sighs, sometimes blushing and again turning pale, he ventured to
declare that he was consumed with love for her. Zarinaea answered
quietly and gently that it would be shameful and fatal for her to
surrender herself to him, and far more shameful and dangerous for
Stryangaeus, as his wife was the daughter of the king of the Medes, and,
as she heard, more beautiful than herself and many other women. He must
be brave, not only against his enemies, but against himself, and not
bring about a long calamity for the sake of a brief enjoyment. No other
wish of his but this should remain unsatisfied. Stryangaeus was silent
for a long time, then embraced and kissed the queen, and departed. He
was far more dejected than before, and determined to take his life.
"Thou hast been saved by me," he wrote to Zarinaea, "but through thee I
am destroyed. If in this thou hast done justly, then may all good things
be thine, and mayest thou be happy; if thou hast done evil, may a
passion like mine overtake thee." When he had bound the eunuch by an
oath to give this letter to Zarinaea immediately after his death, he lay
back on his cushions and demanded his sword. As the eunuch refused to
give it, he ended his days by starvation. Zarinaea ruled over the Sacae
with wisdom and power. She conquered the neighbouring nations who sought
to subjugate her people, caused a great part of the land to be
cultivated, and built a considerable number of cities, and brought the
Sacae into greater prosperity. In gratitude for the benefits received
from her, and in remembrance of her virtues, the Sacae erected on her
grave a three-sided pyramid, three stades in length on each side, and
ending in a point a stadum in height, on which was placed a colossal
golden statue of the queen. Worship was also offered to her as to a
hero, so that she received greater honours than any of her
predecessors.[487]
We have already acquainted ourselves with the land of the Parthians (p.
10). The Sacae were neighbours of the Hyrcanians, the Parthians, and the
Bactrians in the steppes of the Oxus. Herodotus tells us that the Sacae
were a nation of the tribe of the Scyths, and that their proper name was
Amyrgians; the Persians called all the Scythians Sacae. The inscriptions
of Darius speak of Caka Humavarka; in the second version the name is
Omuvargap, and in the Babylonian-Assyrian version Umurga. According to
the account of Herodotus the Sacae wore trousers, and upright, pointed
caps, and carried bows of a peculiar character, battle-axes and daggers.
They fought as mounted bowmen. On the monument of Darius at Behistun
Cakuka,[488] the leader of the Sacae, wears a tall pointed cap. In the
army of Xerxes the Sacae were ranged with the Bactrians. What our episode
tells us of the royal citadel and the cities built by Zarinaea does not
harmonise with the nature of the steppe-country of the Sacae, and the
statement of the Greeks, that the Sacae lived in variegated tents, and
that their wealth consisted in flocks of sheep, but it does agree with
the fact that the women went to battle on horseback with the men. The
companions of Alexander describe the Sacae as strong, warlike, well-grown
men, with flowing hair; the Macedonians only came up to their shoulders.
Later accounts speak of heavy-armed horse among them; both horse and
rider were covered with armour, and the weapons of attack were long
lances.[489] From the narratives given in the episodes we may retain
the fact that although the Persians followed the lead of the Medes from
the time of Phraortes, Cyaxares, even after the fall of Nineveh, did not
succeed in subjugating the remaining nations of Iran without severe
struggles. There is no reason to doubt that the Cadusians made an
obstinate resistance, and maintained their independence: The Parthians
were able to combine with the Sacae in order to preserve their freedom,
and did not become subject to Cyaxares without severe contests. That the
Sagartians on the edge of the great desert (p. 6) were subject to
Cyaxares, is clear from the inscription of Darius at Behistun. If the
Medes had to fight with the Sacae, who were settled on the Oxus, Bactria
must have been reduced to form a part of their kingdom. Beside the
Hyrcanians, Parthians, and "other nations," the Bactrians and Sacae are
specially mentioned as subjects of the Median kings,[490] and Arrian
assures us that the Acvakas, whom we found north of the Cabul on the
right bank of the Indus (IV. 393), were subjects of the Medes.[491]
Herodotus tells us that Cyaxares was the first to separate the
lance-bearers, archers, and horsemen, and combine them into divisions;
that is, he introduced a better and more manageable arrangement of the
army. To the same prince, no doubt, is due the completion of the
fortifications of Ecbatana, which we found had been strengthened by his
predecessor Phraortes. When the fortifications were first begun, the
place was merely intended as a point of defence against Assyria; but as
soon as it became destined to aid in the maintenance of independence, it
was necessary that it should be capable of offering refuge and support
to the Median army, if hard pressed. The mountains of the Zagrus form
the boundary wall, and at the same time the line of division between the
Medes and Assyrians. As Polybius told us (p. 268), it was an ascent of
twelve miles--_i.e._ four leagues--to the top of the pass. If the Medes
failed to hold these passes, and were then defeated in their own
table-land, the mountains of the Orontes formed a new point of
protection to their retreat. The Orontes (Old Persian, _Urvanda_; now
Elvend) is a steep range of mountains, traversing Media from north-west
to south-east; the heights of the passes are given by travellers at 7000
or 10,000 feet; Ctesias puts the ascent at twenty-five stades;[492]
recent explorers fix the time at four hours. On the eastern spur of this
mountain wall, in a fertile plain, six leagues long and four leagues
broad, lay Ecbatana, Old Persian _Hangmatana, i.e._ place of assembly,
the Achmeta of the Hebrews. If the Orontes could not be held, the
fortifications of Ecbatana formed a last point of protection for the
Median army. From the Assyrians there was nothing more to be feared
after the fall of Nineveh, but Cyaxares had no doubt felt, in the
inundation of Media by the nomadic tribes of the Sacae, and then in the
final battles against Asshur, what a support was given by a strong
metropolis; what good service the walls of Nineveh had rendered to the
enemy, even in his decline. He saw what measures were being taken by
Nebuchadnezzar, his step-son, to make his metropolis secure, and
determined that the kingdom, which he had so rapidly and brilliantly
erected and developed, should not be without the nucleus of an
impregnable fortress and royal citadel. The booty in silver and gold,
which the Medes gained in Nineveh, and of which we hear not in the
Median poems only, but also from the Hebrew prophets who lived at the
time of the fall of the city, provided no doubt ample means both for the
erection of the strongest works, and for the adornment of these as well
as the citadel.
Ctesias tells us that Semiramis built a splendid palace at Ecbatana, a
city lying in a plain, and as there were no springs near, she cut
through the roots of the range of mountains, twelve stades distant from
the city (the Orontes), on the farther side of which was a lake flowing
into a river, in order to convey the water of the river into the city.
For this object a tunnel was cut through the mountain, fifteen feet in
breadth and forty feet in depth, and through it the river was carried
into Ecbatana.[493] If Ctesias ascribes the palace of Ecbatana and the
tunnel, like other monuments of Media, to Semiramis, we have already
seen that the queen is no more than a poetical fiction; nor could any of
the sovereigns who ruled over Assyria entertain the project of building
citadels and conduits for the Median kings. These could only be the work
of Median princes, who resided in Ecbatana; and as Phraortes could
hardly have had the means and the time for such important structures, we
must ascribe both the completion and adornment of the royal citadel, as
well as the tunnel, to Cyaxares, unless we are to reject the latter as a
pure invention, for which there seems to me no sufficient proof.
"When the palace had been built at Ecbatana, it was surrounded with
large and strong walls," Herodotus tells us, "of which one encircled
another, in such a manner that the inner overtopped the outer by the
height of the turret. The situation, which was on a hill, contributed to
this result, and the natural elevation was artificially increased. In
all there were seven circles; the innermost contained the king's
dwelling and treasure-house; the outermost wall was of about the extent
of the wall of Athens. The towers of the first circle were white, of the
second black, of the third red-purple, of the fourth blue-purple, of the
fifth red; the towers of the sixth are covered with silver; and those of
the seventh, which surrounds the buildings of the palace, with gold. The
city was built round the outermost wall."[494] Polybius describes the
situation of Ecbatana and the palace as they were under the Achaemenids,
who were wont to pass some of the hot summer months in the cool and
fresh air of Ecbatana. "Ecbatana lies in the northern regions of Media,
and commands the parts of Asia which look towards the Maeotis and the
Euxine. The city was in old days the royal abode of the Median kings,
and it appears to have far surpassed all other cities in wealth and in
the splendour of its buildings. It is built under the spurs of the
Orontes. Though without walls, it possesses a citadel built by the hand
of man, of surprising strength. Below the citadel is the palace, which
it is as difficult to speak of in detail as to pass over in silence.
Ecbatana is an excellent theme for those who love to tell of marvellous
things with adornment and exaggeration; but those who enter with caution
on anything which goes beyond the ordinary intelligence find themselves
in difficulties. The circuit of the palace is about seven stades, and
the rich ornamentation of the various parts proves how flourishing was
the condition of those who founded it. Though the entire wood-work
consists of cedar and cypress, this is never allowed to appear; on the
contrary, the beams of the roof and the panelling, the pillars in the
chambers and halls, are covered with gold or silver plates, and the
roof consists wholly of silver tiles. Most of these were carried off at
the time of the expedition of Alexander, and the remainder in the reign
of Antigonus and Seleucus-Nicanor. Nevertheless the temple of Aine
(_i.e._ of Anahita) at the time when Antiochus Theos (261-245 B.C.) came
to Ecbatana, had gilded pillars round it; and some of the gold plates in
the side-walls were still remaining, and the greater part of the silver
plates, while the silver tiles of the roof were still there in
considerable quantities."[495] At the time of Alexander, Diodorus allows
the city of Ecbatana a circuit of 250 stades, _i.e._ of more than 30
miles.[496] Isidore of Charax mentions the treasure-house at Ecbatana,
the metropolis of Media and the shrine of Anaitis, in which sacrifice
was constantly offered.[497]
It is not clear from these descriptions whether the fortifications at
that time included the whole city or not. Herodotus only speaks of the
fortifications of the citadel, and represents the city as built at the
foot of its walls. Yet we may assume that Phraortes and Cyaxares
followed the pattern of the chief cities of Assyria and Babylonia in
placing a strong wall round their city. A late and very uncertain
authority, the book of Judith, states that the walls of Ecbatana
consisted of splendid masonry, and reached a height of seventy cubits
(about 110 feet); the towers of these walls were a hundred cubits in
height, and there were gates in them.[498] When the Medes lost their
empire and became subject to the Achaemenids, it was to their interest
that the metropolis of the Medes should not be fortified, but that the
citadel should be in the hands of a Persian garrison. Cyrus himself,
therefore, after the conquest of Astyages, or Darius, after suppressing
the rebellion of the Medes, may have thrown down the walls which
surrounded Ecbatana. The silence of Herodotus respecting them would then
be explained by the fact that they were no longer in existence in his
time. The circuit of the external wall Herodotus compares with the
circuit of the city of Athens, which, exclusive of the harbour cities
but including the space between the Phaleric and the long walls, reached
60 stades, or 71/2 miles.[499] If we chose to assume that Herodotus
included the Phaleric and long walls in the circuit, the total extent
would be 221/2 miles, an incredible length for the wall of a citadel.
Of the outer walls of the royal citadels at Babylon, Diodorus puts those
on the one bank of the Euphrates at 30 stades, and those on the other at
60, and of the two inner walls of the latter the first was 40 stades in
length and the second 20.[500] The circuit of 221/2 miles may,
therefore, refer only to the whole extent of the citadel and city of
Ecbatana, and it would then come near the statement of Diodorus, who
puts the circuit of Ecbatana at 250 stades.
The royal citadel of the Achaemenids at Persepolis was surrounded,
according to Diodorus, with a triple wall; the first wall was 16, the
second 32, the third 60 cubits in height. These walls were decorated
with great expense, and adorned with towers. The citadel of Ecbatana is
said to have had seven walls, and, however strange this may appear,
religious no less than military motives might have led to that number.
We know the importance ascribed in the Avesta to the number seven--the
seven supreme deities, and the seven girdles of the earth. On the other
hand, if we leave out of sight the hill on which the citadel was built,
the elevated plateau of Ecbatana did not present the natural
difficulties such as rivers and heights, which strengthened the
fortification of the Assyrian metropolis and the walls of Babylon; hence
it was more important to meet this deficiency by the number of towers
and walls. The successive walls would have been of little service had
not each inner one been higher than the outer, and they would have been
the reverse of serviceable, had not the distance between them been so
great that the arrows and missiles of the enemy, when they had gained
the outer walls, failed to reach from it to the next, so that the
assault of the next wall had to be begun afresh after the capture of the
adjacent outer wall, without any cover. If we might assume that the
words of Polybius: "The palaces, of which the extent reaches to about
seven stades, lie below the citadel," are to be interpreted as meaning
that these buildings lay under the protection of the walls of the
citadel, _i.e._ behind them--and it is scarcely conceivable that the
Achaemenids should have chosen an unprotected palace in Media for a
constant residence, and deposited there large treasures, and the
archives of the kingdom--the circuit of the buildings of the palace and
that of the external wall of 60 stadia would give a space between the
walls of each of about 2000 feet; a distance not much in excess of that
absolutely required. Hence the circuit of 60 stadia from the outer wall
does not appear too large.
More astonishing still is the account given by Herodotus of the
ornamentation of the turrets of these walls--the colours of the turrets
of the first five, the silver and gold of the two last. The attempt has
been made to explain these statements as a legendary echo of the fame of
the splendour of Ecbatana in the time of Cyaxares and his successor
Astyages. But Polybius tells us very distinctly that the roof of the
palace and that of the temple of Anahita consisted of silver tiles at
the time of the Achaemenids, that the beams and panels of the roofs as
well as the pillars were entirely covered with gold and silver plates,
and that these decorations remained in the temple of Anahita at the time
of Antiochus Theos. This ornamentation might be extended to the turrets
of the inner walls. Considering the amount of the spoil of Nineveh, it
cannot be regarded as an impossibility that the ramparts of the interior
walls, the length of which, according to the statement of Polybius, did
not reach more than 4200 feet, were covered with plates of gold, and of
the next with plates of silver, when the roof of the palace could
consist of silver tiles. That the overthrow of the Assyrian kingdom and
the spoil of the cities brought considerable possessions to the Median
nation may be concluded from the remark of Herodotus that the Persians
had adopted better clothing and more luxurious habits from the Medes.
The kings would without doubt receive the richest part of the spoil. The
decoration of the turrets was possibly rude, but it exhibited in a
striking manner the splendour and exaltation of the kingdom, which was
thus encased in gold and silver, while the sovereign dwelt in gold and
silver chambers. Such a parade of royal magnificence is not out of
harmony with the character of the ancient East. To those who were not
allowed to enter the wide and high gates of the palace, these turrets
showed far and wide, through city and country, the splendour of the
citadel. The colours of the five outer walls would be given by glazed
tiles, such as those found in the ruins of Nineveh and Chalah, of
Babylon and Mugheir. We may assume with certainty that Cyaxares desired
to give to his palace and citadel a splendour no less than that
displayed by the palaces of Nineveh, or the royal citadel of
Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, or the golden citadel in Sardis. Religious
conceptions may also have determined the colours of the decoration as
well as the number of the walls. As Auramazda sat in pure light, on a
golden throne on the golden Hukairya, so was the ruler on earth to dwell
in his palace of Ecbatana in golden chambers surrounded by golden walls.
The Avesta exhibits Mithra with a golden helmet and silver coat of mail,
the wheels of his chariots are of gold, his horses are greys,[501] shod
on the fore hoofs with gold, and on the hinder hoofs with silver; in
like manner the upper turrets of the citadel must shine with silver and
the highest with gold. We have seen that the metals, owing to the
brilliance inherent in them, belonged in the ideas of the Iranians to
the good spirits. And as the splendour of gold and silver belonged to
the highest gods, so must the colours of the other turrets have been
assigned to the good spirits, to whose protection each separate wall was
entrusted.[502]
The account which Polybius gives of the structure of the palace, the
cedar and cypress wood of which the door-posts, pillars, roofs, and
panels in the walls were made, shows that wood was employed in building
in Media, which agrees with the habits of mountaineers. In Teheran and
Ispahan buildings of wood of this kind are still in use, and no doubt
the mountain forests of northern Media provided better materials in
ancient times than now. The noblest trunks and best kinds of wood were
sought out for the royal house. The kings of Asshur, and Nebuchadnezzar
tell us in their inscriptions that they have caused trees to be cut down
on this or that mountain for their buildings. The wooden palace, which
Deioces, and perhaps Phraortes, first erected, must have been extended
by Cyaxares, and may have been furnished by him or his successor with
the brilliant ornamentation. The inner walls of the palace of the
Achaemenids at Persepolis, if we may draw this conclusion from the metal
supports which are found in the remains of the stone walls, were
decorated in a similar manner. When the palace of the Median kings at
Ecbatana had become the summer residence and treasure-house of the
Persian monarchs, it would, no doubt, be enriched and adorned yet more.
The temple of Anahita, connected with the palace, which Polybius has
described above, is the work of Artaxerxes II. Alexander caused the
spoil he had taken in Babylon, Susa, Persepolis, and Pasargadae, to be
brought to Ecbatana, where he is said to have collected 180,000 talents
in gold and silver.[503] At a later time, the Arsacids are said to have
resided at Ecbatana during the summer like the Achaemenids.[504] At the
present day, Hamadan, which is built high up on a slope of Elvend, marks
the site of the ancient Ecbatana. It contains about 40,000 inhabitants;
the ruins of the ancient city have not yet been satisfactorily explored.
The slender pillars with lotus-like capitals, discovered here, are like
the pillars of Persepolis, and therefore might be the work of the
Achaemenids; what has been discovered in engraved stones and coins comes
from the time of the Arsacids and Sassanids. Some cylinders covered with
cuneiform inscriptions have not yet been examined.
Cyaxares had rescued Media from the most extreme peril. The consequences
of the defeat, in which his father, with the greatest part of his army,
fell before the Assyrians, had been averted. Though subsequently
overpowered by the Scythians, he yet became once more sovereign in his
own country. This rise of Media, and the weakening of the Assyrian
kingdom by the inundation of the Scythians, he used in order to
subjugate Armenia and Cappadocia. And though he was not able to achieve
anything decisive against the Lydians, he attained a greater success; in
combination with Babylonia he avenged on the Assyrians the supremacy
they had exercised over Media; he overthrew the remnant of that kingdom,
whose tough vigour showed itself even at the final hour in an obstinate
resistance. It was a great achievement and at the same time an important
extension of the Median dominions, not merely by the whole extent of the
Assyrian country on the left bank of the Tigris, which fell to Media,
but also by the closer connection which Cyaxares thus obtained with
Armenia and Cappadocia, the subject lands to the west. Then followed the
spread of the Median power over the kindred nations in the north and
east of Iran. The Persians were already subjected to Phraortes, and
Cyaxares brought under his sovereignty the Sagartians, Hyrcanians,
Parthians, and Bactrians; he made the Sacae dependant on him, and in the
east perhaps extended his power as far as the Indus. From his proud
citadel at Ecbatana he ruled from the Halys to the Oxus. It was a
powerful empire. Herodotus depicts the reign of Cyaxares when he says:
"He was far more powerful than his predecessors." With the Medes he
passes as the founder of their sovereignty; and his reign must have been
held in grateful remembrance, not by the Medes only, but also by the
subject nations. Those who afterwards attempted to bring the Medes and
Sagartians under arms against the dominion of the Persians, called
themselves the descendants of Cyaxares--and one even laid aside his own
name, Phraortes, to do so.
After the fall of Assyria the leading portion passed to Media,
Babylonia, and Lydia. As the two first had united for the overthrow of
Assyria, and had come to terms with Lydia for this object, so in other
respects they displayed a friendly feeling towards each other. The
daughter of Cyaxares became the consort of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon,
and the daughter of Alyattes, king of Lydia, was married to his son
Astyages. Afterwards, Babylon prevented the attempt of Egypt to unite
Syria with the land of the Nile; it was eagerly occupied with
subjugating Mesopotamia and Syria, while Lydia established its power
over the tribes and cities of Asia Minor as far as the Halys. Neither
Media nor Lydia thought of putting any hindrances in the way of the
extension of the Babylonian dominion over Syria and Phoenicia. Of
these three kingdoms, thus connected by mutual alliances, Media was the
strongest. Babylonia and Lydia were not equal either in extent of
country or amount of population; Lydia was perhaps inferior in the
vigour of the ruling tribe, and Babylonia certainly inferior in the
military strength of the population. Even when united they did not reach
the size or strength of the Median power, whose army Cyaxares had
arranged, and for which he had provided at Ecbatana a strongly fortified
centre, equidistant from the Halys and the Oxus. When Astyages ascended
the throne, on the death of his father in 593 B.C., he entered upon the
inheritance of a secure dominion in peaceful and friendly relations to
all the neighbouring powers. While his father-in-law, Alyattes of Lydia,
and his son Croesus were occupied in subjugating the Carians and the
Greek cities on the west coast of Anatolia (III. 439), and
Nebuchadnezzar carried on one campaign after another in order to
incorporate in his kingdom the great trading marts of the Syrian coasts,
Astyages could enjoy, for more than thirty years, the fruits of the
efforts by which his father had founded and established the Median
empire.
FOOTNOTES:
[481] Herod. 1, 72. In Xenophon, who represents Astyages as reigning
before Cyaxares, Astyages had subjugated the king of Armenia; the
rebellion of this king was afterwards repressed by Cyaxares. "Cyri
instit." 3, 1, 6 ff.
[482] Vol. III. 287, 438. Even after the discussions of Gelzer
("Rheinisches Museum," 1875, s. 264 ff.) on the date of the eclipse, I
believe that Oltmann and Bailly's calculation may hold good for it,
until it is proved astronomically that in the year 610 B.C. an eclipse
of the sun would not have been visible in Asia Minor. If this were
proved, Herodotus' dates for Cyaxares, who not only in his work but on
the evidence of the inscription of Behistun, was the founder of the
Median empire, would have to be thrown back more than half a century,
which the date of Cyrus does not allow. To assume a confusion of
Cyaxares with Astyages in Herodotus, is impossible, for Cyaxares is
twice expressly mentioned (1, 74, and 103), and moreover Astyages is
spoken of as the son of Cyaxares to whom Aryanis was married. Nor can I
regard it as finally proved that the double capture of Sardis rests
simply on Callisthenes, and a deduction from Strabo. Gelzer agrees that
the incursions of the Cimmerians into Asia Minor and their establishment
in Cappadocia must be placed at the least before the year 705 B.C. ("Z.
Aegypt. Sprache," 1875, s. 18); the devastation of Phrygia by the
Cimmerians he puts in the year 696 or 676 B.C. According to the dates of
Eusebius Midas (the husband of Damodike) began to reign in Olymp. 10, 3
= 738, and took his own life in Ol. 21, 2 = 695 (Euseb. ed. Schoene, 2,
82, 85); his reign extended therefore from 738 to 695 B.C. Hence the
devastation of Phrygia by the Cimmerians must have taken place in the
year 695. If they were masters of Phrygia at this date, it is not easy
to see why these successes did not carry them on into Lydia. As a fact,
this is far from improbable; and if the image at Nymsi is their work,
they would not have had any time for it in 630 B.C., for that incursion
was merely a "plundering raid," and the change in the dynasty of Lydia,
the accession of Gyges in the year 689 B.C. (Vol. III. 416), seems to me
to point to some previous violent change. Besides, Strabo's words, p.
61, and p. 647, are plain and conclusive enough, so that I see no reason
to attach much weight to the interpretation of the passage, p. 627. Cf.
Caesar, "Ind. lect. Marb. Sem. aestivum," 1876.
[483] Vol. III. 284 ff., 291.
[484] Diod. 2, 34; Nicol. Damasc. fragm. 66.
[485] Nicol. Damasc. fragm. 9, 10, ed. Mueller; Diod. 2, 33; Ctes. Fragm.
52, ed. Mueller.
[486] Roxane and Roxanace are both formed from the old Bactrian
_raokshna_. Muellenhoff, "Monatsberichte Berl. Akadem." 1866, s. 562.
[487] Ctes. Fragm. 25-28, ed. Mueller; Nic. Damasc. fragm. 12 ed. Mueller.
[488] Oppert gives the form of the second version as Cakuka Iskunka.
[489] Choerilus in Strabo, p. 303; Herod. 3, 93; 7, 64; 9, 71; Ptolem.
6, 13; Curtius, 7, 4, 6; Arrian, "Anab." 3, 13; Cf. Plut. "Crassus," 24.
[490] Nicol. Damasc. fragm. 66, ed. Mueller.
[491] "Ind." 1, 1.
[492] Diod. 2, 13; 17, 110; Strabo, p. 127.
[493] Diod. 2, 13.
[494] Herod. 1, 98, 99.
[495] Polyb. 10, 27.
[496] 17, 110.
[497] "Mans. Parth." c. 6.
[498] Judith, i. 2-4. On the date of the composition of this book, cf.
Volkmar. "Rheinisches Museum," 12, 481. In any case it dates from the
end of the first or the second century of our reckoning.
[499] Thuc. 2, 13, and the Scholia.
[500] Diod. 2, 8.
[501] Diod. 17, 71.
[502] Hence I see no reason for connecting the colours of the turrets
with the Babylonian star-worship. The only fact in favour of this is the
black of the second wall; but as the highest turrets exhibited the two
most precious metals, the others may have received the colours of the
remaining five, over all of which Kshathra vairya presided, and in the
order of the Avesta in which silver and copper follow gold, while iron
and steel end the list. It can hardly be proved that Babylonian
star-worship had a decisive influence among the Medes at the time of
Cyaxares. Isaiah xiii. 17 might be quoted against the wealth of
Ecbatana, but this passage only gives the idea of the writer that the
Medes would not be bought off by Babylonian money, and abandons the
destruction of Babylon for the sake of gold. Setting this aside, the
episodes quoted above show that at the time of Astyages men could regret
the loss of ancient simplicity in Media, and extol it against the gold
which had come from Nineveh to Ecbatana, and against the gold of Babylon
(p. 301). The nation may also have remained in simple habits of life
however brilliant the royal citadel may have been. Yet it has already
been observed in the text that at the time of Cyaxares and Astyages the
upper classes lived in wealth and comfort.
[503] Diod. 17, 66, 71; 19, 48; Strabo, p. 731; Plut. "Alex." 72.
[504] Strabo, p. 523.
CHAPTER III.
THE TRIBES OF THE PERSIANS.
The oldest subjects in the Median kingdom were the Persians. Their
country lay in the south-west corner of the table-land of Iran. The
heights of the Zagrus, which run down to the sea in a south-easterly
direction, divide it from the ancient kingdom of Elam, and the land of
the Tigris, just as in the north they divide the land of the Medes from
the valley of the two rivers. The Eastern border of the Persian
territory was formed, almost down to the coast, by the great desert,
which fills the centre of Iran; the northern boundary towards the land
of the Medes is marked by the range which the Greeks call Parachoatras;
the name would be _Kuruhvathra_, _i.e._ very brilliant, in Old Persian.
The southern boundary of Persia was the sea. Nearchus, who sailed along
the coast of Persia, gives it an extent of 4400 stades, _i.e._ 550
miles; their land began at the mouth of the Oroatis (Old Persian,
_Aurvaiti_, _i.e._ the swift),[505] the Tsab, which falls into the
Persian Gulf below the modern Hindian, and reached to the east almost as
far as the entrance into this gulf, where it ended opposite the island
of Coloe (Kishm).[506] Euripides contrasts the sun-lit mountain flats
of Persia with the wintry land of Media and the citadels of
Bactria.[507] According to Strabo the coast of Persia was hot and sandy,
and, with the exception of some palms, produced no fruit. But beyond the
coast was a land of very great fertility, abounding in lakes and rivers,
and providing the most excellent pasture. Further to the north, the
Persian land became cold and mountainous, and supported nothing but
droves of camels and their keepers. Arrian tells us that to the north of
the coast of Persia the air was temperate, and the land traversed by the
clearest streams, in addition to which there were also lakes; the
meadows were grassy and well watered, and provided excellent pastures
for horses and other beasts of draught. The soil produced all kinds of
fruits and even wine, but not olives. The forests were extensive and
rich in game, and all kinds of water-fowl were to be found there. But
further to the north the land of the Persians was wintry and full of
snow.[508] What the Greeks relate of the desolation of the Persian coast
is still applicable; it consists of naked sand-flats, broken only by
scanty groves of palms. Above this coast the soil rises in terraces,
which are separated from each other by yet higher ranges. Further to the
north the slopes of the mountains provide excellent pastures, till the
ground becomes more bare as we approach Media, while on the east it
gradually passes into the great desert of the centre. On the mountain
terraces and in the depressions between them are some favoured lands and
valleys. The warmth of the southern situation is tempered by the
elevation of the soil and the winds blowing from the sea. This happy
climate allows a perpetual spring to reign, and increases the fertility
which the abundant mountain springs produce in such a degree that
groves of orchard trees, cypresses, and myrtles alternate with vineyards
and carpets of flowers. The beauty of Persia and the fertility of the
vegetation is concentrated in the valleys of Kazerun, Shiras, and
Merdasht, which lie in stages one above the other, between mountain
walls which rise to a height of 8000 feet. The most extensive and at the
same time the highest valley is that of Merdasht. It is traversed by the
Murghab, which brings an abundant supply of water from the snow-covered
heights in the north-west. The upper course is surrounded by steep
cones, and jagged walls of rock; in the lower part it takes another
name, and is called the Pulwar. Further down, it unites with the
Kum-i-Firuz (the Araxes of the Greeks), and from this confluence down to
the mouth in the great lake of Bakhtegan it is known as the Bendemir.
The Greeks called the Pulwar the Medus, and the Bendemir, which is also
known as the Kur in modern times, they named the Cyrus.[509]
According to Herodotus the Persians regarded their land as of moderate
extent, poorly equipped, and filled with rocks. In the Books of the Laws
which are ascribed to Plato, we are told that the Persian land is
naturally adapted to produce strong shepherds, and as they had to watch
their flocks night and day, they were thus in a position to do good
service in war. As a fact Persia is a mountainous country; the slopes
are admirably fitted for cattle breeding, but there is little room or
encouragement for agriculture. According to Xenophon's description, the
Persians in ancient times were much occupied in the chase, and in
riding; they only ate once in the day, and at their banquets goblets
might indeed be seen, but no pitchers of wine. Strabo remarks, with
reference to a later period, that the Persian youth remained long in the
open air with their flocks, and were eager hunters; when thus engaged,
their only drink was water, their food bread, flesh, and salt. The
Greeks with one consent describe the Persians of ancient times as
simple, hardy, self-controlled men, of great endurance and martial
vigour, with few requirements. They were also called "Eaters of
Terebinths," in order to mark the scantiness of their food: their drink
was water; and their clothing, coats as well as trousers, were of
leather.[510]
The nation of the Persians consisted of various tribes. Herodotus gives
a special prominence to three, on which the rest were dependent. These
were the Pasargadae, the Maraphians, and the Maspians. "Other tribes are
the Panthialaei, the Derrusiaei, the Germanii, all of which are
agricultural; while the remainder, the Dai, Mardi, Dropici, and Sagartii
are Nomads."[511] According to this statement six of the Persian tribes
carried on agriculture, and four were pastoral. But the Germanians and
Sagartians were distinguished from the tribes of the Persians in the
narrower sense. The Sagartians (Acagarta) are spoken of in the
inscriptions of Darius, and by Herodotus himself in other passages, as a
separate nation; we have already found their country on the western edge
of the great desert, and observed its character (p. 6). The Germanians
of Herodotus are the Carmanians of the later Greeks, who also passed
with them as a separate nation, though closely allied to the Persians
and Medes.[512] They wandered to and fro to the east of Persia in the
district now called Kirman. The number of the tribes mentioned by
Herodotus would therefore have to be reduced to the Pasargadae,
Maraphians, Maspians, Panthialaeans, Derusiaeans, Dai, Mardi, and
Dropici, if we did not hear of two others in the inscriptions of Darius,
the Yutiyas and the Patisuvaris, whose names were known to the later
Greeks in the form Utei and Pateischorei. These later authorities tell
us also of other Persian tribes: Kyrtians, Rhapaesans, Stobaeans,
Suzaeans, etc. They also reckon the Paraetaci, or Paraetaceni, among the
Persians.[513] The Mardians of Herodotus are also called Amardians by
later writers, who place them in the West, among the mountains which
divide Persia from Elam.[514] With regard to the position of the rest of
the tribes, we can only ascertain that the Pasargadae occupied the best
part of the Persian land--the valley of the Pulwar; that the
Maraphians[515] and the Maspians were their neighbours, and the land of
the Pateischorei followed next after that of the Pasargadae on the
eastern side, towards Carmania. Besides these three chief tribes, the
Pasargadae, Maraphians, and Maspians, the Persian nation, according to
these statements, was made up of a considerable number of more or less
powerful tribes, of whom each one, like the chief tribes themselves,
must have had a separate territory, or, at any rate, a pasture for its
flocks.
If the name Parsua could signify Persians, the inscriptions of the kings
of Asshur would confirm the division of the Persians into several
tribes. Shalmanesar II. tells us, that in the year 833 B.C. he received
tribute from the heads of the Parsuas, as the inscription says: from
twenty-seven princes of the Parsuas. Afterwards Tiglath Pilesar II.
traversed the land of the Parsuas and imposed tribute upon them (744
B.C.).[516] The books of the Hebrews confirm Esarhaddon's dominion over
Persia, inasmuch as they tell us that he settled Persians and Dai
(Dahas) in Samaria (III. 154).
It must have been in the period of the supremacy of Assyria, at the
latest in the first half of the seventh century B.C., that the worship
of the gods, which the Persians shared from all antiquity with their
fellow-tribesmen on the table-land of Iran, the worship of Mithra, Vayu,
Anahita, and fire, underwent the change which bears the name of
Zarathrustra. As we saw good reason to assume, the new doctrine first
came to the Medes from the North-East; from the Medes it passed, without
doubt, to the Persians. If Herodotus places the Magians, or special
priestly order, among the tribes of the Medes and not among those of the
Persians, among whom Strabo is the first to mention them, the conclusion
is, as has been sufficiently proved, not that the Persians were without
priests before and after the reform, but rather that even after the
reform the priestly families remained in their natural unions, and did
not form themselves into a special tribe (p. 192).
The supremacy of Assyria over the West of Iran came to an end when
Phraortes united the tribes of the Medes under his leadership, and,
towards the year 640 B.C., undertook to maintain the independence of
Media against Assurbanipal, the successor of Esarhaddon. In this
struggle the Persians joined the Medes and ranged themselves under them.
Herodotus, who obviously follows the tradition of the Medes, represents
Phraortes as marching against the Persians, conquering and subjugating
them; according to the Persian account, which is preserved in Ctesias,
the chief of the Medes induced the Persians to revolt against the
Assyrians, and to join him, by the promise that they should remain free
under his leadership (III. 250). The situation of affairs agrees better
with the second version than with the first. Considering the enormous
power which Assyria under Assurbanipal possessed down to the middle of
the seventh century, it is hardly probable that Phraortes would have
inaugurated the recent independence of Media by an attack on the
Persians, which might, and indeed must, drive them into the arms of the
Assyrians. It is far more probable that the two nations formed a league
against Assyria. As already observed, the annihilation of the kingdom of
Elam, which Assurbanipal accomplished in the year 645 B.C., would supply
the Persians with a strong incentive to unite themselves with the
kindred and more powerful nation of the Medes.
Of the three tribes of the Pasargadae, Maraphians, and Maspians, the
most prominent--so Herodotus tells us--are the Pasargadae.[517] To them
belongs the race of the Achaemenids, from which sprang the Persian kings.
In the inscription of Behistun, King Darius says: "From old time we were
kings; eight of my family have been kings (Kshayathiya), I am the ninth;
from very ancient times we have been kings."[518] He enumerates his
ancestors: "My father was Vistacpa, the father of Vistacpa was Arsama,
the father of Arsama was Ariyaramna, the father of Ariyaramna was
Khaispis, the father of Khaispis was Hakhamanis; hence we are called
Hakhamanisiya (Achaemenids)." In these words Darius gives the tree of his
own family up to Khaispis; this was the younger branch of the
Achaemenids. Teispes, the son of Achaemenes, had two sons; the elder was
Cambyses (Kambujiya), the younger Ariamnes; the son of Cambyses was
Cyrus (Kurus), the son of Cyrus was Cambyses II.[519] Hence Darius could
indeed maintain, that eight princes of his family had preceded him; but
it was not correct to maintain that they had been kings before him, and
that he was the ninth king.[520]
In this series of the ancestors of Darius we find names belonging not
only to the East of Iran, but also to the Arians of India. The name
Cambyses (Kambujiya) points to the Cambojas, a nation which we found in
the north-west of India (IV. 249); the name Cyrus (Kurus) to the
ancestors of the ancient princely race who founded the first great
empire in the land of the Ganges on the upper course of the river, whose
contest with and overthrow by the Pandus is celebrated by the Indian
epic, while the name Vistacpa repeats the name of the King of Bactria,
whom the prayers of the Avesta extol as the protector of Zarathrustra
(p. 132). Of Achaemenes we are told that an eagle nourished him;[521] a
prophet of the Hebrews calls Cyrus "the eagle;" we know the importance
which the Avesta ascribes to the two eagles of the sky, and the modern
Persian epic to Simurgh; and we have seen that the standard of the
Achaemenids was an eagle (p. 173). Hence from this notice we may with
certainty conclude that the tradition of the Persians ascribed to this
ancestor of their kings a youth distinguished by the favour of heaven.
As Cambyses the father of Cyrus is a contemporary of Astyages of Media,
Teispes the father of Cambyses must be reckoned a contemporary of
Cyaxares, and Achaemenes, the father of Teispes, as a contemporary of
Phraortes.[522] We must therefore assume either that Achaemenes was at
the head of the Persians, at the time when they joined Media, or that he
was established by Phraortes as the chief of Persia and his
vassal-king, and that his throne passed with the duties of vassalage to
his descendants Teispes and Cambyses. It is not very probable that the
traditions of the Persians should have accorded signs of divine favour
to the youth of a man, who had been placed over them after their
subjugation as viceroy of Media. Moreover, we find among the Persians,
according to this tradition, a form of constitution, such as a Median
viceroy would hardly have established, even for the object of
overthrowing the Median power. The race of the Achaemenids belonged to
the tribe of the Pasargadae; we may therefore assume that Achaemenes was
the first to become chief of this tribe.
Aeschylus enumerates the seven men who stand at the side of the king of
the Persians.[523] Josephus says that the "seven houses" of the Persians
had named Darius as king. As a fact we see that when Darius, after the
extinction of the older line of the descendants of Achaemenes, sets
himself to ascend the throne, six men stand at his side, whom Herodotus
distinguishes as the "first of the Persians." The Laws ascribed to Plato
say that the empire was then divided into seven parts between Darius and
the Six, and that a relic of this division was still in existence.[524]
In regard to the privileges of the Six and their descendants we find
that they consisted in the right of free access to the king, and that
the king could choose his chief wife only from their families;[525] the
descendants of the Six had also the right to wear the head-dress of the
king, the upright _kidaris_, which was the symbol of royal dignity. In
the kingdom of the Sassanids, we find seven hereditary princes under
the king; these princes, like the king, wear crowns, but their crowns
are lower than that of the king; the "sons of the houses," _i.e._ the
members of these seven families, form the highest rank of the nobility.
Hence in these six chieftains of the Persians standing at the side of
and beneath the seventh, who is the prince of the Pasargadae, we may
suppose that we have the princes of the remaining tribes.[526] And in
respect of the privileges of the six co-chieftains in the kingdom of
the Achaemenids we may assume that they originally occupied a position
close to the king, and formed the council and court of the chief tribal
prince. These privileges the Greeks ascribe to the services which the
Six rendered at the time when Darius ascended the throne. But as the
seven houses existed before, and the Six had previously been "the first
of the Persians," their privileged position must have been of an older
date; it must have been introduced by Cyrus or be of even more remote
origin. It is not probable that such a mighty warrior prince as Cyrus
would, after the reduction of the Medes, impose limitations on his power
by sharing the symbols of royalty and hereditary privileges. According
to the narrative of Herodotus, Cyrus does not simply command the
Persians to take up arms against the Medes, but he assembles the tribes,
and ascertains their feeling. In considering the peculiar position of
these six families we may certainly assume, that under the ancestors of
Cyrus there were chiefs among the Persians with whom the Achaemenids had
to deal. If the Achaemenids were the heads of the tribe of the
Pasargadae, the other tribes would have chiefs also. Yet we only hear of
"six princes" besides the Achaemenids, though we have seen that the
number of the Persian tribes was considerably more than seven.
Following the indications thus given, we may sketch the course of events
as follows. When Achaemenes had acquired the headship of the tribe of the
Pasargadae, he must have combined the two neighbouring tribes, the
Maraphians and Maspians, whom Herodotus classes with the Pasargadae as
the most important among the Persians, into closer union, perhaps by
some understanding with the chiefs. Supported by these three tribes,
who possessed the favoured regions of Kazerun, Shiras, and Merdasht,
Achaemenes must then have subjugated the remainder to his power.
Herodotus told us above that the remaining tribes depended on the three
mentioned. They must, therefore, have been combined into larger groups,
and in fact into four communities. To the chiefs who became the heads of
these new combinations, a position must have been accorded similar to
that enjoyed by the Maraphians and Maspians beside Achaemenes--above all,
the right to bequeath the chieftainship to their descendants. When the
chiefs of the Persians, now seven in number, mutually guaranteed to each
other their position, the foundation was laid of a community of
interests, and thus of a community of the Persian nation. That the
princes of the four new combinations of tribes belonged to those tribes,
and not to the three first, is proved by the inscription of Darius at
Naksh-i-Rustem, where one of the princes of the date of Darius is called
a Pateischorean. In some such way as this Achaemenes may have brought
about the union of the Persian tribes, and at the same time have
obtained the leadership of them. His position thus rested essentially on
the relation of the prince of the Pasargadae to the other six tribal
princes, a relation of which we find no trace in the Medes. That the
number seven was normal for the combinations of the tribes we may
ascribe to the influence of the recently-introduced doctrine of
Zarathrustra, of which we found echoes in the legend of Achaemenes.
Achaemenes and his race after him must have had their dwelling in the
canton of the tribe to which they belonged, at the place of assembly of
the Pasargadae, the chief town, which bore the name of the tribe.
Supported by this tribe, Achaemenes succeeded in uniting the people; on
it and the neighbouring Marapheans and Maspians depended the importance
of the Achaemenids. Strabo calls Pasargadae the ancient seat, and with
Persepolis the patriarchal abode of the Persian kings,[527] and here, on
ascending the throne, they were consecrated. Here Cyrus deposited his
treasures; here he found his last resting-place. We must look for this
place in "Hollow Persia," as the Greeks call it, in the plain of
Merdasht, to the east of the later Istakhr, the city of the Sassanids,
below the confluence of the Medus and Cyrus (_i.e._ the Pulwar and
Kum-i-Firuz) in the land of the Bendemir.[528]
When Achaemenes had united the tribes of the Persians by means of the new
hereditary chieftainships, and got into his hands the supreme power
with the co-operation of the six princes in council and jurisdiction,
he joined the king of the Medes, who had also united the tribes of his
people, soon after the year 645 B.C., as we were compelled to assume,
for common defence against Assyria. Being weaker than the Median king,
he ranged himself under his leadership and power, agreed to follow him
in war, and accepted the position of his general and vassal. The
relation must have been similar to that which Firdusi represents as
existing between his kings and the princes of Sejestan (p. 252). In this
combination the Persians shared the dangers of the war against king
Assurbanipal, and the defeat of Phraortes, no less than the defeat of
Cyaxares by the Scythians; on the other hand, they were the comrades of
Cyaxares in his struggles against the Lydians, and in his victory over
Assyria, while they took an active part in the annihilation of Nineveh.
At the same time we may assume that this dependent position became more
strongly marked as the power of Media increased, and we may believe
Herodotus that their soldiers joined in subjugating the other tribes of
the table-land of Iran, and marched with the armies of the Medes to the
wars which Cyaxares carried on in the East. The episode of Parsondes
exhibits a Persian at the court, in the council, and in the army of the
Median king; and the position of the Persians under the successors of
Achaemenes, Teispes, and Cambyses, must have closely resembled the
position of the other nations subject to the Median power. Cyaxares and
his successor Astyages would have regarded Teispes and Cambyses merely
as their viceroys over Persia, though they did not disturb the
succession in the tribe of Achaemenes. If Darius still calls all his
ancestors kings, and extends this title to his father, grandfather, and
great-grandfather, who were not viceroys, that is merely the custom and
view of the East; even under the great king, the King of kings, a vassal
is still a king. The hereditary viceroys of Persia under the Arsacids,
one and all, put the title "king" on their coins. When Papek, and
Ardeshir after him, had taken their place, they call themselves kings;
Ardeshir, the founder of the dominion of the Sassanids, designates
himself as "king," "king of the divine stock," even before he has
overthrown his own king, Artabanus, the Arsacid. As the youth of
Achaemenes is ennobled in the older tradition, so later legends
surrounded the life of the progenitor of the Sassanids with premonitory
indications.
FOOTNOTES:
[505] Burnouf, "Commentaire sur le Yacna," p. 251.
[506] Arrian, "Ind." 38-40; Strabo, p. 727, 728, 738; Plin. "H. N." 6,
26; cf. Ptol. 6, 4, 1.
[507] "Bacch." 14-16.
[508] Arrian, "Ind." 40.
[509] Spiegel, "Eran," 2, 260.
[510] Herod. 9, 122, 1, 171; Nicol. Damasc. fragm. 66, ed. Mueller;
Xenophon, "Cyri instit." 6, 2, 22; 8, 8, 5-12; Plato, "Legg." p. 695;
Strabo, p. 734.
[511] Herod. 1, 125.
[512] Strabo, p. 727.
[513] Above, p. 270. Strabo, p. 728, 730; Ptol. 6, 4.
[514] Arrian, "Ind." 40; Strabo, p. 727.
[515] Aeschylus speaks of a Maraphis among the kings of the Persians,
"Pers." 778.
[516] Above, p. 282.
[517] The place has the same name as the tribe; Pasargadae cannot in any
case mean "Persian camp," as Anaximenes maintains in Stephanus. Oppert
believes that he has discovered in the Pisiyauvada of the inscription of
Behistun the original form of the name Pasargadae, which is the Greek
form of the Persian word. Pisiyauvada (_paisi gauvuda_) means "valley of
springs;" "Peuple des Medes," p. 110.
[518] So Rawlinson and Spiegel. E. Schrader translates III. of the
Babylonian version: "From old from the fathers we were kings." _Abutav_
appears as a fact to leave no doubt about this sense. Oppert now
translates _duvitataranam_ (IV. of the Persian text) by twice, _i.e._ in
two epochs we were kings: "Rec. of the Past," 7, 88; but his previous
translation, "in two tribes" (_i.e._ in the older and younger line), we
were kings, exactly corresponds to the facts.
[519] The list of the Achaemenids, which we obtain from a comparison of
Herodotus (6, 11), and the inscription of Behistun 1, 3-8, is as
follows:
Achaemenes (Hakhamanis).
|
Teispes (Khaispis).
|
+--------------+-------------+
| |
(Kambujiya) Cambyses. Ariamnes (Ariyaramna).
| |
(Kurus) Cyrus. Arsames (Arsama).
| |
(Kambujiya) Cambyses. Hystaspes (Vistacpa).
|
Darius (Darayavus).
[520] If Darius calls himself the ninth Achaemenid, Xerxes also in
Herodotus enumerates nine Achaemenids as his predecessors, in which
enumeration, it is true, Cambyses occurs but once, while Teispes is
twice mentioned, once as the ancestor of the older line, and then as the
ancestor of the younger. On a broken cylinder which has just been
brought from Babylon by Rassam, the genealogy of Cyrus is said to be
given thus: Achaemenes, Teispes, Cyrus, Cambyses, Cyrus,--so the journals
tell us. In this the older line has one member more as against the
younger. Till the cylinder is published we must keep to the inscription
of Behistun and Herodotus.
[521] Aelian, "Hist. Anim." 12, 21.
[522] Cyrus is said to have been forty years old in 558 B.C., so that he
must have been born in 598 B.C., from which it follows that his father
Cambyses was born in 620 at the latest. Astyages was married in 610, and
must therefore have been born about 630 B.C.
[523] "Persae," 956-960.
[524] Joseph. "Antiq." 11, 2; Herod. 3, 77; Plat. "Legg." p. 695.
[525] Herod. 3, 84.
[526] This highest rank of nobility is called _waspur_ in Pehlevi, and
_bar bithan_ is Aramaic. The book of Esther mentions the seven princes
of the Persians and Medes, "who may behold the countenance of the king
and have the first place in the kingdom," i. 14. The names of the six
who aided Darius in slaying Gaumata, as given in Herodotus, agree with
the inscription of Behistun, with the exception of one name. Herodotus
gives Aspathines for the Ardumanis of Darius. The list of Ctesias is
wholly different. If we examine them more closely we find that Ctesias
has given the names of the sons of the comrades of Darius for the
comrades themselves. Instead of Gobryas he puts Mardonius the son of
Gobryas, instead of Otanes Anaphes (so we must read the name Onophes);
Anaphes, according to Herod. 7, 62, is the son of Otanes. The name
Hydarnes agrees with the inscription and with Herodotus, but the son of
Hydarnes had the same name as his father (Herod. 7, 83, 211). The
Barisses of Ctesias must be the eldest son of Intaphernes whom Darius
allowed to live; he was called after his grandfather, Vayacpara, as was
often the case with the Persians. The Ariarathes, who afterwards
governed Cappadocia, claimed to have sprung from Anaphes, whom Darius
made satrap or king of Cappadocia. Anaphes was succeeded by a son of the
same name; after him came Datames, Ariamnes, Ariarathes I., who governed
Cappadocia at the time of Artaxerxes Ochus; his son Ariathes II.
crucified Perdiccas in the year 322 B.C. when he had conquered him,
though an old man of 82 years; Droysen, "Hellenismus," 2^2, 95. The
Norondobates in Ctesias I cannot explain, unless we ought to read
Rhodobates. Mithridates, who in Xenophon's time had been governor of
Lycaonia from about 420 B.C., is called a son of Rhodobates (Diog.
Laert. 3, 25), and his father and grandfather are said to have been
viceroys of Pontus. The ancestor would be one of the seven, to whom the
kingdom of Pontus was given for his services; Polyb. 5, 43. Mithridates
Eupator calls himself the sixteenth after Darius; Appian, "Bell. Mith."
c. 112; cf. Justin, 38, 7. These quotations will be sufficient to show
that the rank of the six tribal princes of the Persians, like that of
the chief princes, was originally hereditary, as the governorships left
to their descendants outside Persia must have remained in their
families.
[527] p. 728, 729.
[528] Strabo, p. 729, puts Pasargadae on the Cyrus. Stephanus ([Greek:
Passargadai]) following Anaximenes of Lampsacus, represents Pasargadae
as first built by Cyrus; so Curt. 5, 11: Cyrus Pasargadum urbem
condiderat. It cannot be doubted that Cyrus built there, and Alexander,
according to Arrian (3, 18), found there the treasures of Cyrus. Strabo
also tells us that Cyrus built the city and citadel, p. 730. From the
accounts of the march of Alexander from Persepolis to Pasargadae, and
from his return from the Indus to Pasargadae and Persepolis, it is clear
that Pasargadae lay to the east or south-east of Persepolis. If
Pasargadae is placed at Murghab, the only reason is the statement that
the grave of Cyrus was at Pasargadae, and this grave has been identified
with the pyramid of Murghab, in the immediate proximity of which a
relief exhibits the picture of Cyrus. But the portrait of Cyrus there is
very different from the portrait of Darius and his successors on the
tombs at Rachmed, and Naksh-i-Rustem; and the building at Murghab may
have served another purpose. According to Pliny ("H. N." 6, 26, 29) we
ought to look for Pasargadae to the south of Lake Bakhtegan, near Fasa,
or Darabgerd; flumen Sitioganus, quo Pasargadas septimo die navigatur.
Sitioganus is the modern Sitaragan. Ptolemy puts Pasargadae in the
neighbourhood of Caramania, and Oppert therefore identifies it with the
ruins of Tell-i-Zohak near Fasa, and looks for the mountain Paraga of
the inscriptions in the modern Forg: "Journal Asiat." 1872, p. 549.
CHAPTER IV.
THE FALL OF THE MEDIAN KINGDOM.
"Cyaxares was succeeded by his son Astyages on the throne of the
Medes"--such is the narrative of Herodotus--"and the latter had a
daughter named Mandane. Once he saw his daughter in a dream, and water
came from her in such quantities that all Asia was inundated. This
vision Astyages laid before the interpreters of dreams, among the
Magians, and their interpretation alarmed him. To guard against the
event portended, he gave his daughter, who was already of marriageable
age, to none of the Medes of suitable rank, but to a Persian of the name
of Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, who was of a good family, but quiet in
disposition; he regarded him as of less account than a Mede of the
middle class. Mandane had not been married a year when Astyages had a
second vision; from his daughter's womb there grew up a vine-tree which
overshadowed all Asia. This dream also he laid before the interpreters,
and caused his daughter, who was with child, to be brought from the land
of the Persians and be kept under watch; his intention was to kill the
child, which, as the Magians said, was destined to reign in his place.
When Mandane bore a son, Astyages sent for Harpagus, a man akin to the
royal household,[529] the most faithful of his servants, in whose care
he trusted on all occasions, and bade him take Mandane's child to his
house and there kill it, and bury it, in whatever way he chose. When the
boy was given to him, dressed as if for a funeral, Harpagus went in
tears to his house, told his wife the orders of Astyages, and declared
that he would not be the perpetrator of this murder even though Astyages
should lose his reason more utterly than at present, and fall into worse
madness: 'the child is akin to me; Astyages is old and without male
heirs, if the throne passes to the daughter, whose child he is now
putting to death by my hands, I shall find myself in the greatest
danger. Inasmuch as my present safety demands it the child must die. But
the murder must be done by one of the people of Astyages, not by any one
of mine.' Without delay he sent a messenger to one of the cowherds of
the king, Mithradates by name, whose pastures lay on mountains to the
north of Ecbatana, where wild beasts are numerous. When the herdman came
he found the whole house of Harpagus filled with lamentation, and saw a
struggling and screaming child adorned with gold and variegated robes,
and Harpagus said to him: 'Astyages commands you to expose this child on
the most desolate mountains, in order that it may die as quickly as
possible.' The herdman believed that the child belonged to one of the
household of Harpagus, and took it, but from the servant who accompanied
him out of the city he ascertained that it was the child of Mandane and
Cambyses. Returning to his hut, he found that his wife Spako (the Medes
call a dog Spako) had just brought forth a dead child, and when she saw
the well-grown and beautiful child which her husband showed her, she
clasped his knees in tears, and entreated him not to expose it, but to
take away her dead child in its place, and bring it up as her own
son:[530] Thus doing you will not be guilty of wrong towards your
master; the dead child will receive a splendid funeral, and the other
will not lose his life. The herdman took his wife's advice, and did as
she bade him. He placed his own dead child in the basket, put on him all
the ornaments of the other, and placed him on the wildest mountain.
Three days after he told Harpagus that he was ready to show him the
corpse of the child. Harpagus sent the most trustworthy of his
bodyguard, and buried the herdman's child. But the herdman's wife
brought up the other child, and gave him some other name than Cyrus, by
which he was afterwards called. When he was ten years old an incident
happened which caused him to be known. He was playing with his comrades,
in the village in which the herdman lived, in the street, and his
playfellows had chosen him whom they considered the herdman's son to be
king. He assigned to every one his work, and bade one build houses, and
another to be a lance-bearer; one he made 'the king's eye,' and another
'the bearer of his messages.' Among the boys who were playing with him
was the son of Artembares, a man of high rank in Media. This boy failed
to do what Cyrus ordered; and Cyrus bade the others take him, and
whipped him severely. The boy hastened to the city and complained to his
father of the treatment he had received from the son of the cowherd. His
father took him to the king and showed his son's shoulders, and said:
'This insult we have received from thy servant, the son of the cowherd.'
Astyages summoned Mithradates and his son. When Astyages asked the
latter how he dared so to insult the son of a man in such high favour
with the king as Artembares, the lad maintained that he was right in
acting as he did, but if he was to blame he was ready to bear the
penalty. Astyages was surprised by the likeness of the boy to his own
family, and the freedom of his reply. After applying the torture to
Mithradates, he soon discovered the truth. He was more enraged at
Harpagus than at Mithradates, but concealed his resentment. When
Harpagus at his request had acknowledged what he had done, Astyages
said: 'The boy was alive, and all that had been done was well. Let
Harpagus send his own son to join the new-comer, and also come himself
to the banquet.' As soon as the son of Harpagus, a boy of thirteen
years, was in the palace, Astyages caused him to be slain, and the
dismembered limbs were boiled and roasted, while the head, hands, and
feet, were put in a covered basket. At the banquet Harpagus was served
with the flesh of his own son, while the other guests ate the flesh of
sheep. When Harpagus had eaten, Astyages inquired whether he had enjoyed
the meal, and when he replied that he had enjoyed it greatly, the
servants of the king brought him the basket, bade him uncover it and
take what he would. Harpagus controlled himself, and said that whatever
the king did was best. Then Astyages took counsel with the Magians who
had interpreted the dreams: they were to consider everything, and give
him the advice best for himself and his house. The Magians declared that
they had it much at heart that the dominion of Astyages should continue;
for if the throne passed to the boy who was a Persian, the Medes would
be governed by others, 'but if thou remainest king we are rulers in our
degree, and have great honour from thee.' But as the boy had already
been king in the game, the dream was fulfilled; the king might send him
back to Persia to his parents. Astyages did so. When Cyrus came to the
house of Cambyses, his parents received him with great joy, when they
found who he was, since they believed that he was already dead, and
desired to know how he had been preserved. He told them that he had been
supposed to be the son of the cowherd, but on the way he had ascertained
everything from the convoy which Astyages had sent with him. He related
how the wife of the herdman had brought him up, and praised her much,
and Spako (the dog) was always on his lips. His parents seized on the
name in order that the preservation of the boy might appear to be the
work of the gods, and laid the foundation for the legend that a dog had
suckled Cyrus when exposed."
"When Cyrus came to manhood and was the bravest and best-beloved of his
comrades, Harpagus sought to win him by presents with a view to
vengeance on Astyages, for he regarded the injury done to Cyrus as no
less than that done to himself. He had already prepared his revenge. As
Astyages was severe towards the Medes, he had secretly persuaded the
chief men among them, one by one, that an end must be put to the rule of
Astyages, and that Cyrus must be raised to the throne. When this was
done and all was ready, he wished to discover his views to Cyrus, who
was then in Persia. As the roads were guarded, he invented the following
stratagem: he prepared a hare by cutting open the belly without further
injury to the skin, inserted a letter, and then again closed the
opening. This hare he gave with some nets to the most faithful of his
slaves, and sent him, as though he were a hunter, to Persia, with a
command to take the hare to Cyrus, and at the same time to tell him that
he must open it himself and let no one be present at the time. Cyrus
opened the hare, and found written: 'Son of Cambyses, the gods regard
thee with favour, or thou hadst not attained to such good fortune.
Avenge thy death on Astyages, for dead thou art in his intention; it is
through the gods and me that thou livest. Long ago thou hast learnt all
that befell thee, and what I have suffered at the hands of the king
because I did not slay thee, but gave thee to the cowherd. If thou wilt
follow my counsel, thou shalt rule over all the land over which Astyages
was ruler. Persuade the Persians to revolt, and march against Media, and
if I or any other chief man among the Medes is appointed by Astyages to
lead the army against thee, all will be as thou wilt. They will revolt
from the king, and by passing over to thee attempt to dethrone him. All
is ready here; act therefore, and act quickly.'
"Cyrus considered in what way he could best persuade the Persians to
revolt, and when he discovered what he believed to be the best plan, he
wrote down his intentions in a letter and summoned an assembly of the
Persians. In their presence he opened the letter, and read out, that
Astyages had appointed him general of the Persians; then he added: 'I
command that every one of you appear with a sickle.' And when they were
all assembled, furnished with sickles, Cyrus bade them clear a bushy
tract of land about twenty stades in length and breadth, and make it fit
for cultivation in a single day. When they had done this, he bade them
assemble on the next day; every one was to come bathed. Then he caused
all the goats, sheep, and oxen of his father to be got together,
slaughtered and dressed, and prepared in addition wine and other
excellent food, and entertained the whole of the Persians in a meadow;
after the meal he asked them which they preferred, the entertainment of
that day, or the work of the day before? They replied that the
difference was great: yesterday they had nothing that was good, to-day
nothing that was bad. Cyrus took up this reply, and discovered his aims,
saying: 'O Persians, thus it is with you. If ye will follow me, ye shall
have these blessings and many others, without any service; if ye will
not, ye will have troubles without number like those of yesterday.
Follow me, and ye will be free. I believe that I was born by the favour
of heaven to take this work in hand, and I do not count you as less than
the Medes, in war or any other service. Since this is so, revolt at once
from Astyages.' The Persians were quite ready to liberate themselves;
they only required a leader, and had long borne the yoke of the Medes
with dissatisfaction."
"When Astyages found what Cyrus had done, he summoned him into his
presence by a messenger. Cyrus bade the messenger reply that he would
come before Astyages wished. Then the king armed all the Medes, and, as
though blinded by the gods, he named Harpagus as general, entirely
forgetting the injury he had done to him. When the Medes and Persians
met, some of the Medes, who were not in the conspiracy fought, but the
greater part made no resistance and fled. Thus the Median army was
shamefully put to rout. But Astyages threatened Cyrus and said, that
even so he should not accomplish his purpose. The interpreters of dreams
among the magicians who had advised him to let Cyrus go he impaled, and
then armed all who had remained in the city, young and old, and led them
out. He was defeated, lost those whom he commanded, and was himself
taken captive. Harpagus spoke harsh words to him, and asked how he liked
slavery instead of monarchy with reference to that banquet. Astyages
replied by asking, whether the insurrection was his own work or that of
Cyrus. Harpagus answered that he had written the letter, and the
insurrection was therefore his doing. Then Astyages said that he was the
most foolish and unjust of men; the most foolish because when he might
have been king, if what had been done had been his doing, he had given
up his power to another; the most unjust because in revenge for that
banquet he had brought the Medes into slavery; if the throne must pass
to another it would be more just that it should go to a Mede than a
Persian, but now the innocent Medes were slaves instead of masters, and
the Persians, who had previously been the servants of the Medes, were
their masters. Thus Astyages lost the throne, after a reign of
thirty-five years, and in consequence of his cruelty the Medes became
subject to the Persians. Cyrus did no injury to Astyages, but kept him
with him till his death."