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Transcriber’s Note:
This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects.
Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as _italic_.
Footnotes have been re-sequenced for uniqueness, and have been moved to
follow the chapters in which they are referenced. The author notes, in
her guide to pronunciation, that the diacritical marks “have been
largely omitted” in the footnotes.
Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please
see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding
the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation.
[Illustration:
FAC SIMILE OF A PORTION OF THE TITLE PAGE OF AN ILLUMINATED
“SHĀH NĀMAH” (SEE PREFACE)
]
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PERSIAN LITERATURE
ANCIENT AND MODERN
BY
ELIZABETH A. REED
-------
MEMBER OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN
MEMBER OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF ORIENTALISTS
AUTHOR OF HINDU LITERATURE, ETC.
-------
CHICAGO
S.C. GRIGGS AND COMPANY
1893
COPYRIGHT, 1893.
BY S.C. GRIGGS AND COMPANY.
=The Lakeside Press=
R.R. DONNELLEY & SONS CO., CHICAGO
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
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PERSIAN LITERATURE, ANCIENT AND MODERN.
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DIVISION I.—EARLY TABLETS AND MYTHOLOGY.
CHAPTER I.
HISTORIC OUTLINE.
ORIGIN OF PERSIAN LITERATURE—ACCAD AND SUMER—LITERATURE OF 1
NINEVEH—BABYLON—ĪRĀN OR PERSIA—PHYSICAL FEATURES—PERSIAN
ART—MANUSCRIPTS—EARLY LITERATURE—THE ARABIAN CONQUEST—
LITERATURE OF MODERN PERSIA—PERSIAN ROMANCE
CHAPTER II.
THE CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS.
EARLY LITERATURE—HISTORIC TABLETS—THE INSCRIPTIONS OF 30
NEBUCHADNEZZAR—THE FALL OF BABYLON—CYRUS, THE ACHÆMENIAN—
BEHISTUN INSCRIPTIONS—DARIUS AT PERSEPOLIS—INSCRIPTIONS OF
XERXES—ARTAXERXES—A LATER PERSIAN TABLET—RÉSUMÉ
CHAPTER III.
THE POETRY AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE TABLETS.
PRIMITIVE MYTHOLOGY—ANŪ—SEVEN EVIL SPIRITS—ACCADIAN POEM— 53
ASSUR—HEA—NIN-CI-GAL—SIN, THE MOON GOD—HEA-BANI—NERGAL—
MERODACH—NEBO—NINIP—CHEMOSH—INCANTATIONS TO FIRE AND
WATER—IM—BAAL—TAMMUZ—ISHTAR—ISHTAR OF ARBELA—ISHTAR OF
ERECH—LEGEND OF ISHTAR AND IZDŪBAR—ISHTAR, QUEEN OF LOVE
AND BEAUTY—THE DESCENT OF ISHTAR
CHAPTER IV.
PERSIAN MYTHOLOGY.
THE COMMON SOURCE OF MYTHOLOGY—MYTHICAL MOUNTAINS—RIVERS— 86
MYTHICAL BIRDS—AHŪRA MAZDA—ATAR—THE STORM GOD—YIMA—THE
CHINVAT BRIDGE—MITHRA—RÉSUMÉ
DIVISION II.—PERIOD OF THE ZEND-AVESTA.
CHAPTER V.
THE ZEND-AVESTA.
DERIVATION AND LANGUAGE—DIVISIONS—AGE OF THE ZEND-AVESTA— 109
MANUSCRIPTS—ZARATHUŚTRA—THE EARLY PĀRSĪS—THE MODERN PĀRSĪS
CHAPTER VI.
THE TEACHINGS OF THE ZEND-AVESTA.
THE GĀTHAS—THE WAIL OF THE KINE—THE LAST GĀTHA—THE MARRIAGE 127
SONG—THE YASNA—COMMENTARY ON THE FORMULAS—THE YASNA
HAPTANG-HĀITI—THE SRAŌSHA YAŚT—THE YASNA CONCLUDING
CHAPTER VII.
TEACHINGS OF THE ZEND-AVESTA, CONCLUDED.
THE VENDĪDAD—FARGARD II—THE VARA OF YIMA—THE LAWS OF 146
PURIFICATION—DISPOSITION OF THE DEAD—PUNISHMENTS—THE PLACE
OF REWARD—THE VISPARAD—TEACHING OF THE MODERN PĀRSĪS
DIVISION III.—THE TIME OF THE MOHAMMEDAN
CONQUEST AND THE KORĀN.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE KORĀN.
THE SUCCESSOR OF THE ZEND-AVESTA—AUTHOR OF THE KORĀN—FIRST 165
REVELATIONS—THE HIGRAH—CONTINUED WARFARE—DEATH OF
MOHAMMED—RECENSION OF THE TEXT—TEACHING OF THE KORĀN—
HEAVEN—HELL—PREDESTINATION—POLYGAMY—LITERARY STYLE OF THE
KORĀN
DIVISION IV.—THE PERIOD SUCCEEDING THE
MOHAMMEDAN CONQUEST.
CHAPTER IX.
THE ANWĀR-I-SUHALI.
HISTORY OF THE WORK—PREFACE—THE BEES AND THEIR HABITS—THE 189
TWO PIGEONS—THE BLIND MAN AND HIS WHIP—AMICABLE
INSTRUCTION—THE PIGEONS AND THE RAT—THE ANTELOPE AND THE
CROW—THE ELEPHANT AND THE JACKAL—GEMS FROM THE HITOPADEŚA
CHAPTER X.
PERSIAN POETRY.
SEVEN ERAS—THE FIRST PERIOD—THE HOMER OF ĪRĀN—THE SHĀH 214
NĀMAH—HISTORY OF THE PERSIAN EPIC—FIRDUSĪ—INVECTIVE—
MŪTESHIM—THE SHĀH’S REPENTANCE—DEATH OF FIRDUSĪ—THE POEM
CHAPTER XI.
STORY OF THE SHĀH NĀMAH.
SĀM SUWĀR—THE SĪMǕRGH’S NEST—THE FATHER’S DREAM—RǕDABEH—THE 228
MARRIAGE—RUSTEM—THE TǕRĀNIAN INVASION—THE WHITE DEMON
CHAPTER XII.
THE HEFT-KHĀN, OR SEVEN LABORS OF RUSTEM.
A LION SLAIN BY RAKUSH—ESCAPE FROM THE DESERT—THE DRAGON 252
SLAIN—THE ENCHANTRESS—CAPTURE OF AULĀD—VICTORY OVER
DEMONS—SEVENTH LABOR, THE WHITE DEMON SLAIN—THE MARRIAGE
OF RUSTEM—SOHRĀB
CHAPTER XIII.
ISFENDIYĀR.
THE HEFT-KHĀN OF ISFENDIYĀR—THE BRAZEN FORTRESS—THE CONFLICT 272
WITH RUSTEM—THE FALL OF THE WARRIORS
CHAPTER XIV.
SECOND PERIOD.
ANWĀRI—NIZĀMĪ—LAILĪ AND MAJNŪN—A FRIEND—THE WEDDING— 284
DELIVERANCE—THE MEETING IN THE DESERT—DEATH OF THE LOVERS—
VISION OF ZYD
CHAPTER XV.
THIRD PERIOD.
GENGHIS KHĀN—JALAL-UDDIN RŪMI—SĀ’DĪ—WORKS OF SĀ’DĪ—THE 309
BŪSTĀN—THE PEARL—KINDNESS TO THE UNWORTHY—SILENCE, THE
SAFETY OF IGNORANCE—DARIUS AND HIS HORSE-KEEPER—STORIES
FROM THE GULISTĀN—THE WISE WRESTLER—DANGERS OF PROSPERITY—
BORES
CHAPTER XVI.
LATER PERIODS.
THE FOURTH PERIOD—LITERARY KINGS—HĀFIZ PĪR-I-SEBZ—SHIRĀZ—THE 321
FEAST OF SPRING—MY BIRD—FIFTH PERIOD—JĀMI—THE WORKS OF
JĀMI—RECEPTION—THE SIXTH PERIOD—THE SEVENTH PERIOD
CHAPTER XVII.
MEHER AND MŪSHTERI.
PERSIAN ROMANCE—THE TWO COMRADES—THE SEPARATION—THE QUEEN— 338
THE DEPARTURE—THE ANNOUNCEMENT
CHAPTER XVIII.
MEHER AND MŪSHTERI—CONTINUED.
THE EXILES—THE DESERT—A SHIPWRECK—THE RESCUE—THE CAPTURE 351
CHAPTER XIX.
MEHER AND MŪSHTERI—CONTINUED.
THE FUGITIVES—ROYAL INTERVIEWS—THE CONFLICT—A GARDEN SCENE— 365
AFTERWARDS—THE DECISION
CHAPTER XX.
MEHER AND MŪSHTERI—CONTINUED.
THE CAPTIVES—ARREST AND TRIAL—ROYAL FAVOR—THE SENTENCE 383
CHAPTER XXI.
MEHER AND MŪSHTERI—CONCLUDED.
THE WEDDING—A COUNCIL—ROYAL CAVALCADE—THE MESSENGER— 392
RECEPTION
CHAPTER XXII.
CONCLUSION.
SUMMARY—PRIESTLY RULE—RUSSIAN OPPRESSION 403
PREFACE.
There is a growing interest in the literatures of the Orient, but the
difficulties in this field of investigation have been so great that few
students have taken time to recover the gems from the worthless matter
surrounding them. The author of the present volume, however, has chosen
to devote years of persistent effort to the work of collecting and
condensing the historic facts pertaining to this subject, and giving
them to the public, together with the finest thoughts to be found upon
the pages of these early manuscripts.
No labor has been spared to attain accuracy of statement, no
difficulties have been ignored in these years of research, and the
results, so far as completed, are now before the reader in two volumes:
the one recently published on Hindū Literature, and the present work on
Persian Literature.
Although this book was partially written long before the publication of
its predecessor, still it might never have been completed, but for the
kindly reception which a generous public gave to the preceding volume.
Cordial thanks are due to the American press, which not only gave to
“Hindū Literature” hundreds of favorable notices, but in many instances
devoted whole columns to able reviews of the work.
It is also a rare pleasure to acknowledge the courtesies of the British
press, and especially the great kindness of leading European scholars,
who have sent words of warm approval and congratulation to the author.
In the present volume the subject has been simplified as far as
possible, by arranging the work in four chronological divisions; the
epoch of Persian poetry being again divided into seven distinct periods,
corresponding to the times of the leading poets, who have been called
“The Persian Pleiades.”
Not only does their literature present seven leading poets, but this
number appears to have a peculiar charm for the Persian literati, and
hence we find in this field of Eastern fable, the “Seven Evil Spirits”
of Anū, the “Seven Labors of Rustem,” the “Seven Great Feats of
Isfendiyār,” “The Seven Fair Faces” of Nizāmī, the “Seven Thrones” of
Jāmi, and various other combinations of the same number.
In this as well as previous works, the author wishes to acknowledge the
great value of the Chicago Public Library, where a wealth of Oriental
lore is ever at the service of the student; here are valuable works
which bear on the history and literature of the Sanskṛit, Hebrew,
Chaldaic, Persian, Arabic and other Asiatic tongues, besides many
volumes in the modern languages.
Among the literati of Europe the author is indebted to such men as Prof.
A.H. Sayce, Sir M. Monier-Williams, W. St. Chad Boscawen, Prof. F. Max
Müller, Dr. Haug, Dr. L.H. Mills, and Ernest A. Budge; also Profs.
Darmesteter, Eastwick, Atkinson, Davie and Owsley, the credits being
given where the quotations are made.
Grateful acknowledgement is especially made to Prof. A.H. Sayce, of the
Oxford University; to Sir M. Monier-Williams, and to Mr. Theo. G.
Pinches, of the British Museum, each of these distinguished scholars
having examined portions of the manuscript and affixed their valuable
notes thereunto.
Cordial thanks are also due to Dr. R. Rost, of the India Office in
London, who laid before the artist all the illuminated Persian
manuscripts in that vast collection of Eastern lore, and to the
honorable Council of the India Office, who placed these rare literary
treasures at the author’s service without the customary precaution of
taking a bond therefor. The frontispiece is a section of the illuminated
title-page of a Persian manuscript of priceless value. This is a copy of
the Shāh Nāmah, which is a large folio, the pages being beautifully
written in four columns. Each page is illuminated with delicate
paintings, which are a triumph of art. This old manuscript, which is now
invaluable, was purchased for the India House Collection at the
celebrated Hastings sale about twenty-five years since. Our illustration
gives only a portion of the page, and thus the full size of the figure
has been preserved, which is far better than to mar the beauty of the
work by reducing it.
The author is also desirous of expressing thanks to S.C. Griggs & Co.
for the beautiful typography of these volumes: it is a matter of
congratulation that the courage of this house in assuming the
publication of works, which are generally supposed to be needed only by
scholars, has been so fully justified.
Carlyle has said, “If a book comes from the heart, it will contrive to
reach the hearts of others.” If this be true, no apology is needed for
the preparation of these volumes upon Oriental literature, for the work
is constantly pursued with an intense love of the subject, and it is
hoped that the reader will share to a certain extent the enthusiasm of
THE AUTHOR.
PRONUNCIATION.
A little attention to the diacritical points will enable the reader to
readily pronounce the proper names in Persian literature.
These points, however, have been largely omitted in the foot-notes, the
system of pronunciation being fully indicated in the body of the book.
A—a is pronounced as in rur_a_l.
Ā—ā ” ” t_a_r,
f_a_ther,
etc.
I—i ” ” f_i_ll.
Ī—ī ” ” pol_i_ce.
U—u ” ” f_u_ll.
Ū—ū ” ” r_u_de.
Ṛi—ṛi ” ” mer_ri_ly.
Ṛī—ṛī ” ” ma_ri_ne.
Ṉ—ṉ ” ” like _n_
in the
French
mo_n_.
Ṇ—ṇ ” ” _n_o_n_e
(ṇuṇ).
Ḥ—ḥ is a distinct aspirate.
_Kh_—_kh_ sounded like _ch_ in _ch_ur_ch_.
Kh—kh pronounced as in in_kh_orn.
Ć—ć ” ” as _ch_ in
_ch_ur_ch_.
Ćh—ćh ” ” churc_hh_ill.
Ṭ—ṭ ” ” _t_rue
Ṭh—ṭh ” ” an_th_ill.
Ḍ—ḍ ” ” _d_rum.
Ḍh—ḍh ” ” red
_h_aired.
Ś—ś ” ” _s_ure.
[Illustration:
FAC SIMILE OF A PORTION OF A PAGE OF THE OLDEST ZEND MANUSCRIPT.
(See Page 117.
]
PERSIAN LITERATURE.
DIVISION I.
THE EARLY TABLETS AND MYTHOLOGY.
CHAPTER I.
HISTORIC OUTLINE.
ORIGIN OF PERSIAN LITERATURE—ACCAD AND SUMER—LITERATURE OF NINEVEH—
BABYLON—ĪRĀN OR PERSIA—PHYSICAL FEATURES—PERSIAN ART—MANUSCRIPTS—
EARLY LITERATURE—THE ARABIAN CONQUEST—LITERATURE OF MODERN PERSIA—
PERSIAN ROMANCE.
Every nation has a literature peculiarly her own, even though it may
find its sources in foreign fields. As Persia was founded upon the ruins
of more ancient monarchies, as she gathered into the halls of her kings
the spoils of conquered nations, so also her literature was enriched by
the philosophy and science, the poetry and mythology of her
predecessors. The resistless horde, which poured down from the mountains
and swept all of Western Asia into its current, formed the kindred
tribes into a single monarchy, and this monarchy gathered unto herself,
not only the wealth and military glory, but also the culture and
learning of the nations she had conquered. The whole civilized world was
taxed to maintain the splendors of her court; the imperial purple was
found in the city of Tyre, and her fleets also came from Phœnicia,
for the experience of this maritime people was indispensable to their
Persian masters. Indian groves furnished the costly woods of aloe and of
sandal that burned upon her altars, while Syria and the islands of the
sea filled her flagons with wine.
The richest fruits were brought from the sunny shores of Malay, and even
the desert sent tributes of incense and gold. Herds of camels came from
Yemen, and horses of the finest Arabian blood were found in the royal
stables. What wonder, then, that the nation which rifled continents to
supply her magnificence should appropriate also the wealth of the world
of letters that came under her sway? In the background of Persian power
there lies an historic past which is replete with the literary treasures
of the Orient.
ACCAD AND SUMER.
There is the far away land of ancient Babylonia, with her territory
divided into Accad[1] and Sumer or Shinar. These were the northern and
southern divisions of the country.
According to Prof. Sayce, “the whole of Babylonia was originally
inhabited by a non-Semitic race, but the Semites established their power
in Accad, or North Babylonia, at an earlier date than they did in Sumer
in the south; the non-Semitic dynasties and culture lingered longer
therefore in Sumer.”[2]
Their land was the home of the palm tree, and from the highlands, where
their rivers found their source, down to the shores of the Persian Gulf,
it presented a wealth of foliage and blossoms. Fields that were covered
with ripening grain awaited the sickle of the reaper, while the fruit
trees bent beneath their burdens, and the vines gleamed in the sunlight
with clusters of gold and purple.
Although we know little of this primitive people, a few of their
imperishable records have come down to us, and light is thus thrown upon
the literary culture which prevailed from the Euphrates to the Nile long
before the Exodus. We have the inscriptions[3] of Dungi, the king of “Ur
of the Chaldees,” and also “king of Sumer and Accad.” We have, too, a
portion of the clay tablets recounting the glory of Sargon I, who
carried his conquests into the land of the Elamites, and even subdued
the Hittites in northern Syria. The independent states of Babylonia also
were brought under his sway, and he claimed to be “the sovereign of the
four regions of the world,” while his Accadian subjects gave him the
name of “the king of justice and the deviser of prosperity.” He was the
patron of letters, and in the library[4] of this old Semitic king, in
the city of Accad, there was written on pages of clay a work on
astronomy and astrology in seventy-two books.
Long before the poets of India, of Greece or of Persia began to weave
their gorgeous web of mythology, the seers of Accad and of Shinar
watched beside the great loom of Nature, as she wove out the curtains of
the morning and the crimson draperies of the setting sun. They listened
to the battle of the elements around their mountain peaks, and dreamt of
the storm-king; they heard the musical murmurs of the wind, as it
whispered to the closing flowers; they felt the benediction of the
night, with its voices of peace, and the divine poem of earth’s beauty
found an echo in their hearts.
The bloom of Accadian poetry may be placed about four thousand years
before our own times, when the primeval teachings of Nature had become
the theme of the poet, and been voiced in the measures of song.
But the scientific impulse of ancient Accad remained an impulse only,
the methods of science were undiscovered, and the student was led astray
by his own fancies and misconceptions; still amidst all the false
science of a primitive Chaldea there were germs of truth, which have
been developed even in our own times. The classic writers said truly
that Babylonia was the birthplace of astronomy. It was also the
birthplace of mathematics; and although their figures were simple, the
Chaldeans attained quite a proficiency in their calculations. The
library at Larsa or Senkereh was famous for its mathematical works, and
it formed a nucleus for students from various portions the country.
LITERATURE OF NINEVEH.
On the banks of the Tigris, a great city lifted her battlements and
arches towards the skies, and became the home of Assyrian Kings.
According to Diodorus[5] her walls were an hundred feet high, and so
broad that four chariots could be driven abreast upon them, while
fifteen hundred towers, apparently impregnable, arose from their massive
foundations. Nineveh was the home of imperial splendor, and twenty-two
kings were taxed to supply the materials for her costly palaces where
the finest sculptures of the East were found. Assyrian art covered her
angles with graceful curves, and built her temples with their gilded
domes, while the interior walls were adorned with sculptured slabs of
white alabaster. The germs of Greek art, as well as Greek mythology,
were found in the valleys of the Tigris and the Euphrates, for here were
Doric and Ionic columns; here were Corinthian capitals, with architrave,
frieze and cornice, and yet the latest of these must have been carved
before the earliest date which has been assigned to any work of Grecian
art. Though her culture was confined to certain classes, and the great
mass of her population could not discern between their right hands and
their left, still, for centuries Nineveh[6] was the mistress of the
East, even Babylon being subject to her power.
She reached the zenith of her glory under the rule of Assur-bani-pal
(the Sardanapalus of the Greeks). He was the grand monarch of Assyria,
and under his reign the treasures of the world flowed to this common
centre, while the name of Nineveh was feared from the frontiers of India
to the shores of the Ægean sea. Ambitious in his schemes of conquest,
and luxurious in the splendors of his court, he nevertheless confided
his military movements largely to the hands of his ablest generals, and
devoted much attention to the accumulation of his strange library at the
capital city. Here he gathered the literary treasures of the Orient, and
scribes were kept busy copying and translating early works, or writing
original books, either in the Assyrian or the Accadian tongue. The
decaying literature of Babylonia was forwarded to Nineveh, where it was
copied and edited by the Assyrians. A new text was the most valuable
present that any city could send to this literary king, and it was
received with the enthusiasm exhibited by a modern scholar on the
reception of a rare manuscript. It is to the library of Assur-bani-pal,
that we are indebted for much of our knowledge of Babylonian literature—
stored away in those curious vaults, were thousands of books written
upon pages of clay. There were historical and mythological works, legal
records, geographical and astronomical documents, as well as poetical
productions. There were lists of stones and trees, of birds and beasts,
besides the official copies of treaties, petitions to the king, and the
royal proclamations. Strangers came from the court of Egypt, from Lydia,
and from Cyprus to this ancient seat of learning. But while the king was
absorbed in his favorite pursuits, the spirit of revolution was abroad
in the land,—Elam, Babylonia, Arabia, Palestine, Egypt and Lydia made a
common cause against the reigning monarch, the insurrection being led by
the king’s own brother, the viceroy of Babylon. This great revolt shook
the very foundations of the Assyrian monarchy, and ushered in the
decline of an empire which extended from the borders of India to the
Nubian mountains, and from the sands of Arabia to the snowy peaks of the
Caucasus.
In a few years even Nineveh was captured and utterly destroyed, while
her empire was shared between Media and Babylon.
BABYLON.
This was “the golden city” that gathered unto herself the wealth of
conquered kingdoms and the dominion of many tribes. The multitude of
gods in her pantheon represented the ideals of the various races of men
who laid their offerings at her feet.
Babylon was the “hammer of the whole earth,” and she forced the tributes
of the nations into her treasury, and their legions into her armies. She
was “the glory of kingdoms,” and she gathered the culture of a thousand
years into a great historic result that contained the arts and science,
the literature, the wealth, and the commerce of half the world. The
culmination of her power was in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, who was the
Augustus of the Babylonian age.
He reconstructed the fallen temples of her idols and carried the hideous
images in triumphal processions to their palatial courts.
Gold, silver and precious stones made bright the altars and temples of
Baal, of Merodach, of Nebo, of Molech, and of Ashtaroth.
The choicest cedars were brought from the mountains of Lebanon. “The
cedar of the roofing of the walls of Nebo, with gold I overlaid....
Strong bulls of copper, and dreadful serpents standing upright on their
thresholds I erected. The cell of the lord of the gods—Merodach, I made
to glisten like suns the walls thereof, with large gold like rubble
stone.... I had them made brilliant as the sun.” Nebuchadnezzar was the
undisputed master of Western Asia, and the walls of his palace were hung
with historic pictures of Chaldean thrones, and draped with the most
gorgeous tapestries of the Eastern looms, while in his princely halls
the cool air fell from glittering fountains, and the royal abode was
filled with music, light, and costly perfume. He built the wondrous
hanging gardens, where the almond trees waved their sprays of silvery
blossoms, and the palms tossed their plumes in the sunlight,—there the
pink fingers of the dawn opened the hearts of the roses, and white
lilies nestled amid the green slopes and fragrant shades, while the
breezes came up from the great river laden with the breath of lotus
blossoms and the soft music of her waves. This haughty king was also the
patron of letters, and his inscriptions throw a vivid light upon his
pride of power, and magnificence—his constant devotion to his idols, and
his never ceasing admiration of his capital city,—“this great Babylon
which I have built.” His books were written largely upon stone, and
stored away beyond the reach of conquering kings. The literary
treasures, which may even yet lie buried beneath her soil, probably
belong to the Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar, and owe their existence to him.
In his days, too, there flourished the family of Egebi, who were
tradesmen. This Jewish family is mentioned as early as the reign of
Esar-haddon, and for five successive generations they deposited their
legal documents in earthen jars which served the purpose of safes. These
thrifty capitalists continued in prosperity even to the end of the reign
of Darius the Great, and although coined money was then unknown and the
precious metals[7] were reckoned by weight, they, like the Rothschilds
of our own day, loaned money to the kings of their generation, and their
well kept records are of great value as a chronological index of the
times[8] in which they were written. The literature of the Babylonians,
like that of the Hindūs, claims a fabulous antiquity. They enumerated
ten kings who lived before the flood, whose reigns occupied four hundred
and thirty-two thousand years, or more than forty-three centuries each,
and during this immense cycle of time, there were strange creatures,
half man and half fish, who ascended from the ocean and taught the
tribes of Babylonia the rudiments of civilization. There were men with
the bodies of birds and the tails of fishes, and men also with the beaks
and faces of birds who in other respects wore the form of humanity.
But their literature was not all fable, though they really cared very
little what the condition of their country had been before the deluge,
for they were engaged in recounting the conquests of their own kings,
and the power and splendor of their idols. Babylon, the Queen of the
East, with her arts and sciences, with her painting and sculpture, was
like other Asiatic cities, a hot-bed of moral corruption; even her
religion was a craze of sorcery and enchantments—of witchcraft and
horrible sensuality. Her high priests were astrologers and soothsayers,
while her gods were the personification of evil. “Moloch demanded the
best and dearest that the worshipper could grant him, and the parent was
required to offer his eldest or only son as a sacrifice, while the
victim’s cries were drowned by the noise of drums and flutes. When
Agathokles defeated the Carthaginians, the noblest of the citizens
offered in expiation three hundred of their children to Baal-Moloch.”[9]
The worship of Ishtar[10] demanded that every female devotee should
begin her womanhood by public prostitution in the temple of the goddess,
and young girls were often burned upon her altars, while young men were
either burned or mutilated. Abominations even more revolting than these
were practiced in connection with the worship of Bel, and the nations
around her drank of her wine and were maddened with the frenzy of her
corruption. What wonder, then, that even before the “Lady of Kingdoms”
reached the zenith of her glory, the cry of the prophets had rung out in
unmeasured denunciation of her crimes? “Therefore I will execute
judgment upon the graven images of Babylon ... and all her slain shall
fall in the midst of her ... the treacherous dealeth treacherously, and
the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam, besiege, O Media.... Babylon is
fallen, is fallen, and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken
unto the ground.”[11]
Elam and Media combined their forces, and set their troops in battle
array, while hundreds of banners waved in the sunlight. “Elam bare the
quiver with chariots of men and horsemen,” and they marched to the “two
leaved gates” of the city. Every sword in the ranks was true to the
young commander, and his victory was easily won. Babylon was conquered,
and the story of her decay was written upon her forehead. The seat of
government was removed, the city was left in desolation, and her gates
were smitten with destruction. Ruin fell upon her battlements, the owl
and the bittern dwelt amidst her prostrate columns, while the wild
beasts of the desert made their den in her fallen palaces.
ĪRĀN OR PERSIA.
Persia is often called Īrān, this being the name which the Persians
themselves gave to their kingdom. Persepolis was for a long time the
capital, but for almost twelve centuries after the fall of that
beautiful city, the capital was located at Shīrāz. The oldest certain
use of the name Persia is found in the prophets,[12] and the kingdom was
formed by the combination of the Medians with the Persians. These hardy
mountaineers were brave and merciless, their troops of horsemen, armed
with lance and quiver, swept down from the highlands with irresistible
force, and drew the wandering tribes of the East into one great army.
Frugal in their mode of life, strong in nerve and sinew, and severe in
military discipline, even their kings believed that nothing was so
servile as luxury and nothing so royal as toil.
The hardy tribes of Īrān which Cyrus led to victory were trained to
manly exercise; they taught their children to endure hardship, to ride,
to shoot and to tell the truth. They were strangers to dissipation, and
so loyal to age that parricide was inconceivable to them. The royal
edict was so inflexible that “the laws of the Medes and Persians” passed
into a proverb. Their loyalty to their kings degenerated into servility,
even legal injustice being considered a benefit to the victim, for which
he should be duly grateful. No edict was too severe to be promptly
obeyed, the very cruelty of their kings being considered a mark of
greatness; they buried men alive in honor of the elements, they flayed
their officials for bribery, while mutilation and stoning were legal
punishments.
This hardy race of soldiers, that could rush into battle, almost without
rations, was a terror to the pampered Lydian and the luxurious
Babylonian, for the ideal life of the Persian was continual conquest,
even his symbol of Ormazd being a winged warrior with bow and
threatening hand. But when the contest was over, the conquerors
irrigated the plains of Babylonia so faithfully that they were able to
gather three harvests a year from the fertile soil. The roads of the
kingdom were supplied with post-stations, and constantly traversed by
government couriers, while a great commercial intercourse was carried
even to the shores of Greece. It was not an enervated people that laid
the wonderful masonry in the foundations of Persepolis, and reared the
marble columns that still mock the changes of more than two thousand
years. But luxury crept in with continued power, and after a time, it
was said that the royal table was daily spread for fifteen thousand
guests, even though the king dined alone. Their nobles were clothed in
purple and decorated with jewels, while the person of the king was
resplendent with diamonds and rubies. In the royal treasury pearls were
piled up like the sands of the sea, and diamonds glittered amidst masses
of amethyst and sapphire. The royal helmet and buckler flashed with the
green light of emeralds and the crimson fire of the ruby.
But still they retained traces of the primitive simplicity which
belonged to the early mountain tribes, and the constructive energy of
their kings went on, building and planning, and forcing into their
courts the splendors of rifled cities. Darius flung the floating bridge
across the Bosphorus, that afterward furnished a highway for Alexander;
their summer palaces rose upon the mountains of Media, while their
winter homes, with marble pillars and graceful colonnades, were placed
in sunny vales where fountains gleamed through the glossy leaves and the
nightingale built her nest among thickets of roses. It is said of
Artaxerxes that even while he wore upon his person jewels to the value
of thousands of talents, he would still lead his army on foot through
mountain passes, carrying his own quiver and shield, and forcing his way
up the most rugged heights.
The Persians were quick to learn, and gladly appropriated to themselves
the civilization of Nineveh and Babylon; but luxury and dissipation will
unnerve the strongest empire, and after a time the designing beauties of
the harem became the rulers of weak and wicked princes, and though
Persian magnificence lasted from Darius to the last Persian king, their
final failure was due to their own corruption as much as to the forces
of Alexander the Great. The Īrānian mind seemed to be the harbinger of
progress, in the simplicity of its beginnings, in its striving for the
noble, the manly, and the true, but the selfishness of the later Persian
kings developed not only into luxury, but also into dissipation:
reclining on couches with golden feet, drinking the wines[13] of Helbon
and Shīrāz, they yielded to no rule except their own pleasure—there was
no precept of morality that they could not violate at will, no law in
their legal code that involved the recognition of the rights of other
nations; and this intense self-worship prepared the way for the coming
conqueror. The government of Persia became what the government of Turkey
now is—a highly centralized bureaucracy, the members of which owed their
offices to an irresponsible despot; the people of Persia therefore
hailed Alexander as their deliverer from disintegration and decay.
PHYSICAL FEATURES OF PERSIA.
“The Land of the Lion and the Sun,” presents the strongest physical
contrasts; with the king of the forest and the king of day emblazoned
upon her banners, she extended her dominion over rocky steppes and
barren sands, as well as fertile fields and stately forests. Persia
proper was a comparatively small province, but the tide of conquest
gathered many nations beneath her banners, and the dominion of Cyrus
extended from the Mediterranean to the Indus, and from the snowy peaks
of the Caucasus, downward to the shores of the Persian Gulf and the
Arabian Sea. The court of Darius was enriched by tributes from Egypt and
Babylonia, from Assyria and India, from Media, Lydia, Phœnicia and
many other lands.
Modern Persia occupies the larger portion of the great Īrānian plateau,
which rises to the height of from four to eight thousand feet, between
the valleys of the Indus and the Tigris, and covers more than a million
square miles. On the northwest the Persian Empire is united to the
mountains of Asia Minor by the high lands of Armenia, while on the
northeast the Paropansius and the Hindū Kush connect it with the
Himālayas of ancient India. The eastern and western boundaries are
traced with more or less uncertainty, amidst high ranges of mountains
broken here and there by deserts and valleys. The fertile lowlands are
found in the forest-clad regions south of the Caspian Sea, and down
toward the shore of the Persian Gulf.
Although she has of late exercised but little influence in the world’s
political councils, she retains a fair position among the Asiatics, and
the fact that a portion of her territory is under Russian influence,
while the rest is controlled to a greater or less extent by England,
would indicate that in the near future her political position may become
one of great importance. She still occupies a territory which is more
than twice the area of France, and her climate varies according to the
contrasting features of her formation, being rough and cold in the
mountain ranges, and often severe on the great table-lands where the
sandstorms rage across the desert, while other portions of the empire
are luxuriant with tropical foliage.
Down by the shores of the gulf the rice fields lift their dainty plumes,
farther away the acres of barley lie like golden billows in the
sunlight, and the cots of the peasantry are nestled under groups of
flowering trees. Beyond them rises the forest of almost primeval
grandeur where the great trunks of the trees are clothed with velvet
mosses and encircled with floral vines. Here the green shades of the
wood are relieved by the vivid scarlet of the pomegranate blossoms, and
streams that leap from snowy hills come dashing through the woodlands,
laden with life and rippling with music. Far away in the distance, the
barren table-lands arise, and beyond these the mountain ridges press
upward, dim and silent against the fields of blue, and the white clouds
drop their feathery snows upon peaks which are unsoiled by the foot of
man.
PERSIAN ART.
The primitive cradle of art has been found on the banks of the Tigris,
and in the valley of the Euphrates. It has been shown that Greece was
largely indebted to the sculptured slabs and columns of Nineveh for her
first models, and perhaps also to the pictured walls of Babylon for the
inspiration that glowed upon her canvas. But Asiatic art, like Oriental
literature, is tropical in its luxuriance and gorgeous in its
decorations. The classic taste of Greece subdued its more extravagant
features, and presented the simplicity of chaste designs. The Persians,
with their spirit of monopoly, appropriated the sculptured forms of
fallen Nineveh, and absorbed also the love of painting, and the passion
for gorgeous draperies, which were characteristic of Babylon.
But the Īrānian race had not the patience of fine detail and elaboration
which is found in the old Assyrian sculptures, the military dash of the
early warring tribes showed itself even in their statuary. The partial
stiffness of their outlines was, however, atoned for in the spirited
poise of their figures. They presented but few pictures of domestic
life, but there were hunting scenes and battle fields, terrific
struggles of their heroes with wild animals, and the triumphant march of
their conquerors—there were gorgeous processions bearing tributes to the
king, and historic pictures of his victories. Darius the Great was often
represented in simple dress, but always in the attitude of heroism or
tragedy, sometimes grasping a monster by the horn, while he drives the
dagger into its vitals, and again, with the symbol of Ormazd hovering in
a winged circle above him, he conquers the king of the forest.
In his Behistun inscriptions he is represented as the “king of kings,”
standing with his right foot on the prostrate form of a conquered foe,
while nine captive kings stand before him, with their hands in bonds and
their heads uncrowned. The wondrous architecture of Persepolis, though
laid with massive masonry, was made rich and graceful as that of a Greek
temple, for the lofty marble pillars, more than sixty feet in height,
were finished with capitals of sculptured animals reposing upon beds of
lotus blossoms.
Their helmets and breastplates were often inlaid with silver and
enameled with gold, and as the troops marched to the field of battle,
the sun flashed upon shields where pictures of Zal and Rustem were
inlaid with burnished gold[14] and the designs upon the royal armor were
resplendent with rubies and diamonds.
Persian art has been essentially industrial, and it is claimed that what
is known as Russia leather was first manufactured in Persia, while
legend says, that the artisans achieved their success by carrying their
work to the peak of Mount Elvend, where the lightnings imparted a
peculiar value to the texture.
The arts of Nineveh, of Babylon, and of Egypt culminated in the ages
past, but the rare porcelains, tiles, and mosaics—the vases and carved
metals of Persia, are still the pride of Asia. Their carpets, tapestries
and brocades are unrivaled in the markets of the world, while the richly
embroidered shawls and portiéres of Kermān still present their delicate
combinations of palm leaves with the soft coloring of the floral
borders.
MANUSCRIPTS.
One of the important features of art is exhibited in their beautiful
manuscripts, where the finest calligraphy is often combined with floral
designs upon a golden background. The letters of their language run
easily and gracefully into each other, and the Egyptian reeds with which
they write, are fashioned for the finest touches of the penman.
Calligraphy is called “a golden profession,” and a small but exquisite
copy of the Korān has been valued at one hundred thousand dollars, while
the artistic penman, who executed a copy of a popular poem, had his
mouth stuffed with pearls, in addition to the promised reward.
Less fortunate, however, was Mīr Amar, a celebrated calligraphist of the
fifteenth century. Being summoned to court to prepare an elaborate copy
of the Shāh Nāmah, and his progress being too slow to satisfy the royal
ambition, his beautiful manuscript was torn to pieces before his eyes,
and Mīr Amar was then hastened to the executioner. Yet such was the
extreme beauty of his work, that after the lapse of three hundred years,
short screeds from his pen are set in gold and sold at fabulous prices.
Although the printing press is invading the domain of the Persian
scribe, the art of calligraphy is still cultivated, and artistic penmen
are held in great repute.
EARLY LITERATURE.
It is evident that the early kings of Persia possessed royal libraries,
containing historical records and official decrees, for in the book of
Ezra[15] it is said that “search was made in the house of rolls,” in
Babylon, for the imperial decree of Cyrus concerning the rebuilding of
the temple. It was afterwards found at Ecbatana “in the palace that is
in the province of the Medes,” the decree having been made in the first
year of King Cyrus. But aside from some of the inscriptions, the
earliest literature we now have belonging to this people is the Zend-
Avesta, our present version of which was possibly derived from texts
which already existed in the time of the Achæmenian kings. Although
there are no facts to prove that the text of the Avesta as we now
possess it was committed to writing previous to the Sassanian
dynasty[16] Prof. Darmesteter thinks it possible that “Herodotus may
have heard the Magi sing, in the fifth century before Christ, the very
same Gāthas which are sung now a days by the Mobeds of Bombay.”[17]
As some of these early texts must have existed before the fifth century
B.C. we place them chronologically before the inscriptions of Darius the
Great.[18]
Historians claim that ancient Persian manuscripts were destroyed, when
Alexander, in a condition of drunkenness, ordered the beautiful city of
Persepolis to be set on fire, in order to please the courtesan Thais.
The modern worshippers of Alexander, however, have placed around his
name all the possible glory of military achievement with a vast amount
of rhetoric, concerning “the young hero” and “the thunder of his tread.”
They claim, indeed, that he had very few faults, except cruelty,
drunkenness, and some worse forms of dissipation. Their defense of this
barbarous act is that “only the palace and its environs were burned” at
this particular time, and that this was an act of requital for the
pillage of Athens, and also to impress the Persians with a due sense of
his own importance. Whatever may have been the motive, or physical
condition, of the incendiary, it is highly probable that when the
palace, and its environs were burned, the royal libraries went down in
the flames, and certain it is, that from the time of the Macedonian
conquest to the foundation of the Sassanian dynasty, the history of the
Persian language and literature is almost a blank page. The legends of
the Sassanian coins, the inscriptions of their emperors, and the
translation of the Avesta, by Sassanian scholars, represent another
phase of the language and literature of Īrān.
The men who, at the rising of the new national dynasty, became the
reformers, teachers, and prophets of Persia, formed their language and
the whole train of their ideas upon a Semitic model. The grammar of the
Sassanian dialect, however, was Persian, and “this was a period of
religious and metaphysical delirium, when everything became everything,
when Māyā and Sophia, Mitra and Christ, Virāf and Isaiah, Belus and
Kronos were mixed up in one jumbled system of inane speculation, from
which at last the East was delivered by the doctrines of Mohammed, and
the West by the pure Christianity of the Teutonic nations.”[19]
It was five hundred years after Alexander before Persian literature and
religion were revived, and the books of the Zend-Avesta collected,
either from scattered manuscripts or from oral tradition. The first
collection of traditions, which finally resulted in the Shāh-Nāmah, was
made also during the Sassanian dynasty. Firdusī tells us that there was
a Pahlevan, of the family of the Dihkans,[20] who loved to study the
traditions of antiquity. He therefore summoned from the provinces, all
the old men who could remember portions of the ancient legends, and
questioned them concerning the stories of the country. The Dihkan then
wrote down the traditions of the kings and the changes in the empire as
they had been recited to him. But this work, which was commenced under
Nushirvan and finished under Yezdejird, the last of the Sassanians, was
destroyed by the command of Omar, the Arabian chieftain.
The scanty literature of the Sassanian age was somewhat augmented by a
notable collection of Sanskṛit fables which was brought to the court of
the Persian king, Koshrou,[21] and translated into the Persian, or
Pahlavī tongue. This collection comprised the fables of the Panćatantra
and the Hitopadeśa, and from it the later European fables of La Fontaine
probably originated.
THE MOHAMMEDAN CONQUEST.
The warring tribes of the desert massed themselves together under the
banner of the crescent. They were animated by Mohammed’s doctrine of
anarchy—the claim of a common right to their neighbors’ goods, and
trained to dash into the very jaws of death by his promise of a sensual
heaven to every man who fell upon the battle-field.
Therefore these fearless sons of the desert, stimulated by hunger and
avarice, swept with irresistible force over the fair provinces around
them. They raided the great cities of Central Asia, and gathered to
themselves the treasures, which had been hoarded by the Aryan and the
Turk. When in the seventh century they saw Persia weakened by internal
dissensions and foreign wars, they gladly gathered under the standard of
Omar to descend upon the wealth of her cities.
It was an old quarrel that they longed to settle with the Sassanian
kings, reaching back through the history of their tribes to the time
when they had raided northern Persia, and had been driven back by
Ardeshir—they remembered, too, that Shapur had afterward ravaged Arabia
to the very gates of Medīna, and seized their territory down to the
shores of Yemen, on the southern sea. All the force of traditional
hatred and revenge was therefore added to their avarice, and lust for
power, when these fearless warriors sprang to the saddle and rode to the
conquest of Persia. Their terrible war-cry of Allah-il-Allah, rang
through rifled cities, and seemed to rise from the very dust which was
spurned from the feet of Arabian horses, until Persian nationality was
crushed by the invaders. Her treasures of literature were again
destroyed, so far as the conquerors could complete their work of
devastation, and the altar fires of the Pārsīs were quenched in the long
night of Mohammedan rule, while the Korān supplanted the Avesta even
upon its native soil.
LITERATURE OF MODERN PERSIA.
Modern Persian literature may be said to begin with the reconstruction
of the National Epic.[22] This work marks an important era, in even the
language of Persia, for it seems to close the biography of that peculiar
tongue. There has been but little, of either growth or decay, in its
structure since that period, although it becomes more and more
encumbered with foreign words.
The Persian Epic could be reconstructed only when the national feeling
began to reassert itself, and it was at this period that the patriotism
of the people began to recover from the benumbing pressure of Mohammedan
rule, and especially in the eastern portions of the empire, a
distinctively Persian spirit was revived. It is true that Mohammedanism
had taken root even in the national party, but the Arabic tongue was no
longer favored by the governors of the eastern provinces. Persian again
became the court language of these dignitaries, the native poets were
encouraged and began to collect once more the traditions of the empire.
It is claimed that Jacob, the son of Leis,[23] the first prince of
Persian blood, who declared himself independent of the Caliphs, procured
fragments of the early National Epic, and had it rearranged and
continued. Then followed the dynasty of the Samanians who claimed
descent from the Sassanian kings, and they pursued the same popular
policy. The later dynasty of the Gaznevides also encouraged the growth
of the national spirit, and the great Persian Epic was written during
the reign of Mahmūd the Great, who was the second king of the Gaznevide
dynasty. By his command, collections of old books were made all over the
empire, and men who knew the ancient poems were summoned to his court.
It was from these materials that Firdusī composed his Shāh-Nāmah.
“Traditions,” says the poet, “have been given me; nothing of what is
worth knowing has been forgotten; all that I shall say others have said
before me.”
Hence the heroes in the Shāh-Nāmah exhibit many of the traits of the
Vedic deities—traits which have lived through the Zoroastrian period,
the Achæmenian dynasty, the Macedonian rule, the Parthian wars, and even
the Arabian conquest, to be reproduced in the poem of Firdusī.
The modern phase of their literature is emphatically an age of poetry;
the Persians of these later centuries seem to have been born with a song
on their lips, for their poets are numbered by thousands. Not only their
books of polite literature, but their histories, ethics and science,
nay, even their mathematics and grammar are written in rhyme. There are
many volumes of these productions that cannot be dignified by the name
of poetry, but their literature is tropical in its development and their
annals bear the names of many illustrious poets. Firdusī, author of the
great Epic, must always stand at the head of Persian poetry; but Sā’dī
with his Būstān and Gūlistān, will ever be a favorite with his own
people.
Nizāmī of the twelfth century has given us, perhaps, the best version of
the beautiful Arabian tragedy of Lilī and Majnūn, and Hāfiz says of the
author:
“Not all the treasured lore of ancient days
Can boast the sweetness of Nizāmī’s lays.”
The clear and harmonious style of Hāfiz, who belonged to the fourteenth
century, has a fascination of its own, and it is claimed that the
prophet Khizer carried to the waiting lips of the poet the water from
the fountain of life, and therefore his words are immortal among the
sons of men.
Jāmi is entitled to a goodly rank in the world of poetry, even though
his Yūsuf and Zulaikhā, which has also been versified by many other
Persian poets, seems to have been written for the express purpose of
showing how an unprincipled woman may pursue a good man for a series of
years, marry him at last, almost against his will, and make him wish
himself in heaven the next day. The Persians may well be called the
Italians of Asia, for, although they are burdened with sentiment and a
certain exuberance of style, which meets with little favor in our colder
clime, we accord them our sympathy in the beauty of their dreams and the
tenderness of their thought.
PERSIAN ROMANCE.
The Arabic and even the Turkish tongue has intruded upon the classic
Persian of Firdusī, but as the English has borrowed from all nations,
and yet retains its own individuality, so also the Persian tongue, while
absorbing and adapting the wealth of others, still retains its personal
character, modified only by the changes of time.
In borrowing from the language of her neighbors, Persia has not
hesitated to adopt also portions of their literature. During the reign
of the Moslem kings the choicest mental productions from India, and even
from Greece, found the way to their courts. Alp Arslan, around whose
throne stood twelve hundred princes, was a lover of letters, and from
the banks of the Euphrates to the feet of the Himālayas a wealth of
literature was called, to be wrought up by Persian scholars and poets
under royal patronage. There was an active rivalry in literary culture,
and much of the fire of Arabian poetry brightened the pages of Persian
romance. There were the mystic lights and shadows of nomadic life, and
desert voices mingled with the strains of native singers.
The terrible contrasts of life and death—the unyielding resentments and
jealousies—passionate loves and hates, which are so distinctively
Arabian, began to fill the pages of Īrānian romance with tragedy.
Even the vivid description of the Moslems could scarcely add to the
gorgeousness of Persian fancy, where Oriental lovers wandered in the
greenest of valleys, while around them floated the soft perfume of the
orange blossoms. It could not add to the fabulous wealth of their
nobles, where camels were burdened with the choicest of gems, and vines
of gold were laden with grapes of amethyst. But it did add the element
of fierce revenge and the tragedy of violent death, represented by the
pitiless simoon and the shifting sand column, the hopeless wastes, the
bitter waters, and the dry bones of perished caravans. It added the
life-springs of the oasis, as well as the rushing whirlwind; it added
the palm tree of the desert, with her feet in the burning sand and her
head in the morning light—a symbol of the watch-fires of faith above the
desert places of life. The best literature of Persia in our own age is
largely the reproduction in various forms of her standard poets; her
romances, however, still rival the Arabian Nights in their startling
combinations and bewildering descriptions. The imagination of her
writers is not bound by the rules of our northern clime, and there is
nothing too wild or improbable to find a place in Oriental story. There
are rayless caverns of sorcery in a wilderness of mystery; there are
mountains of emerald[24] and hills of ruby[25]; there are enchanted
valleys, rich with fabulous treasure, and rivers gushing from fairy
fountains. There is always the grand uprising of the king of day and the
endless cycle of the stars—for this poetic people cannot forget the
teaching of the Pārsī and the Sabean. In the literature found on the
banks of these southern seas there is also the restfulness of night,
with its coolness and dews, to be followed by the glory of the morning
and the fragrance from the hearts of the roses.
Persian literature rings with voices from ruined cities, and mingles the
story of the past with the dreams of her future. Her treasures are drawn
from the records of Chaldean kings; her historic pictures have caught
the light of early crowns and repeated the story of their magnificence.
Her annals are filled with the victories of her Cyrus, with the extended
dominions of her great Darius, and the gorgeousness of her later
sovereigns. Her poets have immortalized her myths as well as her heroes,
and the Oriental world has contributed to the pages of her romance.
-----
Footnote 1:
Accad is first mentioned as one of the beginnings of the kingdom of
Nimrod in Genesis x, 10.
Footnote 2:
Mr. Theo. G. Pinches, in his notes on this chapter, says: “The
Sumerians are generally regarded as of the same race as of the
Accadians. Sumerian is a dialect of Akkadian. Sumer and Akkad both
contained Semitic and non-Semitic inhabitants.”
Footnote 3:
Decouvertes en Chaldee par E. de Sarzec, Plate No. 29.
Footnote 4:
The catalogue of the astronomical works in the library of Sargon I
instructs the reader to write down the number of the book that he
needs, and the librarian will thereupon give him the tablet required.—
_Sayce, Bab. Lit., p. 9._
Footnote 5:
Diodorus, Sec. 23.
Footnote 6:
The word Nineveh is made up of signs which mean city, coach and Nana
respectively, all of which means the resting place of the chief god,
Nana. (E.A. Budge.) The great commerce of Nineveh—the fact that her
merchants were greatly “multiplied”—is illustrated by the large
collection of contract tablets in the British Museum.
Footnote 7:
The problem of the relative value of gold and silver had been solved
to a certain extent in this ancient kingdom, a silver shekel being
one-tenth the value of a gold shekel, and the silver half shekel one
twentieth of the value of the gold shekel. The drachma, or silver half
shekel, is supposed to be the most ancient type of the English
shilling, as one-twentieth of the English gold sovereign.
Footnote 8:
For the empire of Nebuchadnezzar, the records of the Egebi family are
invaluable—dated deeds extending, year by year, from the reign of
Nebuchadnezzar to the close of that of Darius Hystaspes.—_Sayce, An.
Emp., p. 105._
Footnote 9:
Sayce—An. Emp., p. 195.
Footnote 10:
Astarte or Ashtaroth.
Footnote 11:
Jer. li, 47; Isa. xxi, 2-9.
Footnote 12:
Ezekiel xxvii, 10; xxxviii, 5.
Footnote 13:
The Persians called wine Zeher-e-kushon, or “delightful poison.”
Footnote 14:
Scarcely a century has elapsed since the burnished shields and helmets
of ancient Persian royalty were laid aside for the lighter military
accoutrements of modern Europe.
Footnote 15:
Ezra vi, 1.
Footnote 16:
226 A.D.
Footnote 17:
Darmesteter, Sa. Bks. of the E., Vol. IV, Int., p. 3.
Footnote 18:
These appear to have been written upon the face of the Behistun rock
about 515 B.C.
Footnote 19:
Max Müller—Chips, Vol. I, p. 91.
Footnote 20:
The Dihkans were the landed nobility of Persia. They kept up a certain
independence, even under the sway of the Mohammedan Khalifs.
Footnote 21:
About 570 A.D. See Quartremére.
Footnote 22:
1000 A.D.
Footnote 23:
870 A.D.
Footnote 24:
In Persian mythology the earth is surrounded by a mountain range of
pure emerald.
Footnote 25:
“The Ausindom mountain is that which, being of ruby, of the substance
of the sky, is in the midst of the sea Vouru-Kasha.”—_Zend-Avesta—Tir
Yast, VI, 32, n._