Volume 9 — THE IRANIAN CONQUEST

THE IRANIAN RELIGIONS—CYRUS IN LYDIA AND AT BABYLON; CAMBYSES IN EGYPT—DARIUS AND THE ORGANISATION OF THE EMPIRE.

The constitution of the Median empire borrowed from the ancient peoples of the Euphrates: its religion only is peculiar to itself—Legends concerning Zoroaster, his laws; the Avesta and its history—Elements contained in it of primitive religion—The supreme god Ahura-mazâ and his Amêsha-spentas: the Yazatas, the Fravashis—Angrô-mainyus and his agents, the Daîvas, the Pairîkas, their struggle with Ahura-mazdâ—The duties of man here below, funerals, his fate after death—-Worship and temples: fire-altars, sacrifices, the Magi.

Cyrus and the legends concerning his origin: his revolt against Astyages and the fall of the Median empire—The early years of the reign of Nabonidus: revolutions in Tyre, the taking of Harrân—The end of the reign of Alyattes, Lydian art and its earliest coinage—Croesus, his relations with continental Greece, his conquests, his alliances with Babylon and Egypt—The war between Lydia and Persia: the defeat of the Lydians, the taking of Sardes, the death of Croesus and subsequent legends relating to it—The submission of the cities of the Asiatic littoral.

Cyrus in Bactriana and in the eastern regions of the Iranian table-land —The impression produced on the Chaldæan by his victories; the Jewish exiles, Ezekiel and his dreams of restoration, the new temple, the prophecies against Babylon; general discontent with Nabonidus—The attach of Cyrus and the battle of Zalzallat, the taking of Babylon and the fall of Nabonidus: the end of the Chaldæan empire and the deliverance of the Jews.

Egypt under Amasis: building works, support given to the Greeks; Naukratis, its temples, its constitution, and its prosperity—Preparations for defence and the unpopularity of Amasis with the native Egyptians—The death of Cyrus and legends relating to it: his palace at Pasargadæ and his tomb—Cambyses and Smerdis—The legendary causes of the war with Egypt—Psammetichus III., the battle of Pelusium; Egypt reduced to a Persian province.

Cambyses’ plans for conquest; the abortive expeditions to the oceans of Amnion and Carthage—The kingdom of Ethiopia, its kings, its customs: the Persians fail to reach Napata, the madness of Cambyses—The fraud of Gaumâta, the death of Cambyses and the reign of the pseudo-Smerdis, the accession of Darius—The revolution in Susiana, Chaldæa, and Media: Nebuchadrezzar III. and the fall of Babylon, the death of Orætes, the defeat of Khshatrita, restoration of peace throughout Asia, Egyptian affairs and the re-establishment of the royal power.

The organisation of the country and its division into satrapies: the satrap, the military commander, the royal secretary; couriers, main roads, the Eyes and Ears of the king—The financial system and the provincial taxes: the daric—Advantages and drawbacks of the system of division into satrapies; the royal guard and the military organisation of the empire—The conquest of the Hapta-Hindu and the prospect of war with Greece.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I—THE IRANIAN CONQUEST

CHAPTER II—THE LAST DAYS OF THE OLD EASTERN WORLD

List of Illustrations

Spines

Cover

Titlepage

001.jpg Page Image

002.jpg Page Image

003.jpg Page Image

012.jpg the Ahura-mazd of The Bas-reliefs Of Persepolis

012b.jpg Hypostyle of Hall Of Xerxes: Detail Of Entablature

013.jpg an Iranian Genius in Form of a Winged Bull

014.jpg Ahura-mazd Bestowing the Tokens of Royalty on An Iranian King

016a.jpg the Moon-god

016b.jpg God of the Wind

017a.jpg Atar the God of Fire

017b.jpg Aurvataspa

017c.jpg Mithra

018.jpg Mylitta-anÂhita

018a.jpg Nana-anÂhita

022.jpg One of the Bad Genii, Subject to AngrÔ-mainyus

023.jpg the King Struggling Against an Evil Genius

031.jpg the Two Iranian Altakrat Nakhsh-Î-rustem

032.jpg the Two Iranian Altars of Murgab

032b.jpg the Occupations of Ani in The Elysian Fields

033.jpg the Sacred Fire Burning on The Altar

039.jpg a Royal Hunting-party in Hun

042.jpg Remains of the Palace Of Ecbatana

050.jpg the Tumulus of Alyattes and The Entrance to The Passage

051.jpg One of the Lydian Ornaments in The Louvre

052.jpg Mould for Jewellery of Lydian Origin

053.jpg a Lydian Funery Couch

054a.jpg Lydian Coin Bearing a Running Fox

054b.jpg Lydian Coin With a Hare

055.jpg Lydian Coins With a Lion and Lion’s Head

056a.jpg Coin Bearing Head of Mouflon Goat

056b.jpg Money of Croesus

059.jpg View of the Site and Ruins Of Ephesus

075.jpg Croesus on his Pyre

078.jpg a Persian King Fighting With Greeks

080.jpg the Present Site of Miletus

083.jpg a Lycian City Upon Its Inaccessible Rock

105.jpg Table of the Last Kings Of Ptolemy

111.jpg an Osiris Stretched Full Length on the Ground

112.jpg the Two Goddesses of Law; Ani Adoring Osiris The Trial of the Conscience; Toth and The Feather Of The Law.

113.jpg Amasis in Adoration Before the Bull Apis

114.jpg the Naos of Amasis at Thmuis

120.jpg the Present Site of Naucratis

128.jpg Cyrus the Achaemenian

129.jpg the Tomb Op Cyrus

138.jpg Psammetichus Iii.

145.jpg the Naophoros Statuette of The Vatican

147.jpg Ethiopian Gkoup

148.jpg Encampment de Bacharis

159.jpg Darius, Son of Hystaspes

166.jpg Darius Piercing a Rebel With his Lance Before A Group of Four Prisoners

174.jpg Rebels Brought to Darius by Ahura-mazd This Is The Scene Depicted on the Rock of Behistun.

175.jpg the Rocks of Behistun

181.jpg Map of the Archaemenian Strapies

186.jpg Street Vender of Curios After the Painting By Gerome.

188.jpg Daric of Darius, Son Of Hystaspes

192.jpg Funeral Offerings.

197.jpg Page Image

198.jpg Page Image

199.jpg Page Image

209.jpg a Cypriot Chariot

212a.jpg Alexander I. Of Macedon

212b.jpg a Phoenician Galley

214.jpg Map of Marathon

215.jpg the Battle-field of Marathon

219.jpg Darius on the Stele of The Isthmus

220.jpg Walls of the Fortress Of Ditsh-el-qalÂa

221.jpg the Great Temple of Darius at HabÎt

224.jpg Xerxes

227.jpg a Trireme in Motion

238.jpg Map

239.jpg the Battle-field of Plataea

247.jpg Artaxerxes

258.jpg View of the Achaemenian Ruins Of Istakhr

260.jpg the Tomb of Darius

261.jpg the Hill of The Royal Achaemenian Tombs At Nakush-i-rustem

262.jpg One of the Capitals from Susa

262b.jpg Freize of Archers at Suza

263.jpg General Ruins of Persipolis

267.jpg the Propylaea of Xerxes I. At Persepolis

268.jpg Bas-relief of the Staircase Leading to The Apadana of Xerxes

269.jpg the King on his Throne

270.jpg a View of the Apadana Of Susa, Restored

273.jpg Processional Display of Tribute Brought to The King of Persia

276.jpg Darius II.

279.jpg Cyrus the Younger

280.jpg Artaxerxes Mnemon

287.jpg Hakoris

291.jpg Pharnabazus

293.jpg Artaxerxes II.

296.jpg Datames III.

299.jpb Nectanebo I

305.jpg Evagoras II. Of Salamis

312.jpg Table of the Last Egyptian Dynasties

313.jpg Small Temple of Nectanebo, at the Southern Extremity of Philae

314.jpg Naos of Nectanebo in the Temple at Edfu

315.jpg Great Gate of Nectanebo at Karnak

316.jpg Fragment of a Naos Of the Time Of Nectanebo II. In the Bologna Museum

317.jpg One of the Lions in The Vatican

321.jpg Map of the Persian Empire

325.jpg Coins of the Satraps With Aramaean Inscriptions

326.jpg a Lycian Tomb

327b.jpg Statue of Mausolus

327a.jpg Coin of a Lycian King

328.jpg Lycian Sarcophagus Decorated With Greek Carvings

337.jpg Chaldean Seal With Aramaic Inscription

346.jpg Fountain and School of the Mother Of Little Mohamad

348.jpg Modern Mohammedan Shekhs Tombs

349.jpg Part of the Inundation in a Palm Grove

350.jpg Ephemeral Hovels of Clay Or Dried Bricks

359.jpg the Step Pyramid Seen from The Grove Op Palm Trees to the North of Saqqarah

362a.jpg Long Strings of Laden Vessels

362b.jpg the Vast Sheet of Water in The Midday Heat

363.jpg the Mountains Honeycombed With Tombs And Quarries

367.jpg Darius III.

368.jpg an Elephant Armed for War

376.jpg the Battlefield of Issus

377.jpg a Bas-relief on A Sidonian Sarcophagus

379.jpg the Isthmus of Tyre at The Present Day

382.jpg the Battle of Arbela, from The Mosaic Of Herculanum