The character of the original Persian worship was simple. They were not destitute of temples, as Herod- otus asserts (Herod, i, 131 ; comp. Beli. Inscr. col. i, par. 14, § 5) ; but they had probably few altars, and cer- tainly no images. Neither do they appear to have had any priests. Processions were formed, and religious chants were sung in the temples, consisting of prayer and praise intermixed, whereby the favor of Auramazda and his good spirits was supposed to be secured to the worshippers. Keyond this it does not appear that they had any religious ceremonies. Sacrifices, apparently, were unusual, though thank-offerings may have been made in the temples. See Parsees.
PERSIA
9S0
PERSIA
From the fust entrance of the Persians, as immi- grants, into tlieir new territory, they were probably brought into contact with a form of religion very differ- ent from their own, Magianism, the religion of the Scythic or Turanian population of Western Asia, had long been dominant over the greater portion of the re- gion lying between Mesopotamia and India. The es- sence of tliis religion was worship of the elements — more especially of the subtlest of all, fire. It was an ancient and imposing system, guarded bj' the venerable hierarchy of tlie Magi, boasting its fire-altars where from lime immemorial the sacred flame had burned without intermission, and claiming to some extent mys- terious and miraculous powers. The simplicity of the Aryan religion was speedily corrupted by its contact with this powerful rival, which presented special at- tractions to a rude and credulous people. There was a short struggle for pre-eminence, after which the rival systems came to terms. Dualism was retained, together with the names of Auramazda and x\hriman, and the special worship of the sun and moon under the appel- lations of Mithra and lloma; but to this was super- added the worship of the elements and the whole cere- monial of Magianism, including the divination to which the Magian priesthood made pretence. The worship of other deities, as Tanata or Anaitis, was a still later addition to the religion, which grew more complicated as time went on, but v.'hich always maintained as its leading and most essential element that dualistic prin- ciple whereon it was originally based. See Magi.
III. History. — In remote antiquity it would appear that the Persians dwelt in the region east of the Cas- pian, or possibly in a tract still nearer India. The first Fargard of the Vendidad seems to describe their wan- derings in thes^ countries, and shows the general line of their progress to have been from east to west, down the course of the Oxus, a*id then, along the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, to Khages and Media. It is impossible to determine the period of these movements; but there can be no doubt that they were anterior to B.C. 880, at which time the Assyrian kings seem for the first time to have come in contact with Aryan tribes east of Mount Zagros. Probably the Persians accom- panied the Medes in their migration from Khorassan, and, after the latter people took possession of the tract extending from the river Kur to Ispahan, proceeded still farther south, and occupied the region between Media and the Persian Gulf. It is uncertain whether they are to be identified with the Bartsu or Partsu of the Assyrian monuments, if so, we may say that from the middle of the 9th to the middle of the 8th century B.C. they occupied South-eastern Armenia, but by the end of the 8th century had removed into the country which thenceforth went by their name. The leader of this last migration would seem to have been a certain Achwmenes, who was recognised as king of the newly occupied territory, and founded the famous dynasty of the Acha-menidje, about B.C. 700. V^ery little is known of the history of Persia between this date and the ac- cession of Cyrus the Great, near a century and a half later. The crown appears to have descended in a right line through four princes — Teispes, Cnmbyses I, Cyrus I, and Cambyses II, who was the father of C_vrus the the Conqueror. Teispes must have been a prince of some repute, for his daughter Atossa married Phama- ces, king of the distant Cappadocians (Diod, Sic. ap. Phot, liibliothec. p. 1158). L;uer, however, the Persians found themselves unable to resist the growing strength of iNIedia, and became tributary to that power about B.C. OoO, or a little earlier, Tiie line of native kings was continued on the throne, and the internal adminis- tration was ])robably untouched ; but external indepen- dence was altogether lost until the revolt under Cyrus,
Of the circinnstances under which this revolt took place we have no certain knowledge. The stories told by Herodotus (i, l08-r2!1) and Nicolas of Damascus (/•';•. CO) are internally improbable ; and they are also at va-
riance with the montmients, which prove Cyrus to have been the son of a Persian kin;/. See Cvitus. We must therefore discard them, and be content to know that after about seventy or eighty years of subjection, the Persians revolted from the Medes, engaged in a bloody struggle with them, and finally succeeded, not only in establishing their independence, but in changing places with their masters, and becoming the ruling peo- l)le. The probable date of the revolt is B,C, 558, Its success, by transferring to Persia the dominion pre- viously in the possession of the Medes, placed her at the head of an empire the bounds of which were the Halys upon the west, the Euxine upon the north. Bab- ylonia upon the south, and upon the east the salt desert of Iran. As usual in the East, this success led on to others. Croesus, the Lydian monarch, who had united most of Asia Minor under his sway, venturing to attack the newly risen power, in the hope that it was not yet firmly established, was first repulsed, and afterwards defeated and made prisoner by Cyrus, who took his capital, and added the Lydian empire to his dominions. This conquest was followed closely by the submission of the Greek settlements on the Asiatic coast, and by the reduction of Caria, Caunus, and Lycia, The em- pire was soon afterwards extended greatly towards the north-east and east. Cyrus rapidly overran the flat countries beyond the Caspian, planting a citj', which he called after himself (Arrian, Exj). Alex, iv, 3), on the Jaxartes (.Jihun) ; after which he seems to have pushed his conquests still farther to the east, adding to his do- minions the districts of Herat, Cabul. Candahar, .Seistan, and Beloochistan, which were thenceforth included in the empire (see Ctesias, Pers. Exc. § 5 et sq. ; and comp, Pliny, //. N. vi, 23). In B.C. 539 or 538 Baby- lon was attacked, and after a stout defence fell before his irresistible bands. See Babylon. This victory first brought the Persians into contact with the Jews. The conquerors found in Babylon an oppressed race — like themselves abhorrers of idols — and professors of a religion in which to a great extent they could sympa- thize. This race, which the Babylonian monarchs had torn violently from their native land and settled in the vicinity of Babylon, Cyrus determined to restore to their own country ; which he did by the remarkable edict recorded in the first chapter of Ezra (2-4). Thus commenced that friendly connection between the Jews and Persians which prophecy had already foreshadowed (Isa. xliv, 28 ; xlv, 1-4), and which forms so remarkable a feature in the Jewish history. After the conquest of Babylon, and the consequent extension of his empire to the borders of Egypt, Cyrus might have been expected to carry out the design which he is said to have enter- tained (Herod, i, 153) of an expedition against Egypt. Some danger, however, seems to have threatened the north-eastern provinces, in consequence of which his purpose was changed ; and he proceeded against the Massagetaj or the Derbices, engaged them, but was de- feated and slain. He reigned, according to Herodotus, twenty-nine years.