Note 27 — Chapter XV · Mythical and Legendary Kings

As the cuckoos hatched in the nests of hedge-sparrows, meadow-pipits, and wagtails overcome and eject the offspring of their foster-parents, so did the vigorous nomadic peoples who absorbed the elements of ancient civilizations overcome and eject the offspring of their “foster-parents”. The Babylonian Empire perished, and Irania, which had been stimulated by it to adopt civilized conditions of life, became, in turn, the nursery of vigorous states. Recent discoveries have brought to light evidence which shows that the Iranian peoples “once covered an immense territory, extending all over Chinese Turkestan, migrating into China, coming into contact with the Chinese, and exerting a profound influence on nations of other stock, notably Turks and Chinese. The Iranians were the great mediators between the West and the East, conveying the heritage of Hellenistic ideas to central and eastern Asia, and transmitting valuable plants and goods of China to the Mediterranean area.”27