Kitabı oku: «The History of Antiquity, Vol. 5 (of 6)», sayfa 15

We saw above that in the Avesta, Manuschithra and Airyu are connected with Thraetaona, and that the group of the Paradhatas comes to an end with these names. Hence Firdusi also represents the crown as being brought to the first ruler of the new group, Kai Kobad, i. e. the Kava Kavata of the Avesta, from the sky by two falcons; he also represents him as being fetched from Elburz, i. e. from the holy mountain of the old legend, in order to overcome Zohak, just as Thraetaona descended from the same mountain. Kai Kaus, the Kava Uça of the Avesta, who succeeded Kai Kobad, betrays his divine nature in Firdusi by his march against the demons, by the castles which these demons build for him on Elburz, and by his attempt to fly into heaven. In the Avesta Kava Uça offers sacrifice, in order to obtain the dominion over men and Daevas, and this favour is granted to him. That the march against the demons is made in the direction of Mazanderan is due no doubt to the frequent mention of the Mazanian Devs in the Avesta. Siavaksh, the son of Kai Kaus, who honourably gives himself up to the Turanians, is the Çyavarshana of the Avesta – from which we merely learn that he was spotless, and that after Kava Uça the royal majesty united with the beautiful body of Çyavarshana, and that he died by a violent death (p. 37). The destructive Turanian Franghraçyana, who is now called Afrasiab, is known to the Avesta. "Thrice," we are told, "he sought after the royal majesty which belongs to the Arian lands, but he found it not."⁴³⁹ Kai Chosru, i. e. Kava Huçrava, is in the Avesta also the son of Çyavarshana; he offers sacrifice, in order that it may be granted to him "to put an end to the long period of dimness," "to bind the Franghraçyana filled with abundance;" he is said to be "without sickness and death." Firdusi's poem neglects none of these traits. After the triple war which, kindled by Afrasiab, has lasted for a long time, Firdusi represents Chosru as invoking the fire Guçasp, that Afrasiab may not escape him. In the Avesta the god Haoma is said himself to bind Franghraçyana, and to carry him away as a captive of king Huçrava, in order that the latter may slay him beyond the lake Chaechaçta (p. 37). In Firdusi the pious Hom discovers the hiding-place of Afrasiab; he binds him and carries him away a prisoner. Afrasiab escapes; but Hom captures him once more in lake Kanyesht. As Huçrava is "without sickness and death," Firdusi represents him as vanishing on a pilgrimage to heaven.

In Firdusi, Lohrasp, whom Chosru has made his successor, erects a fire-temple at Balkh, his royal abode, and after reigning 120 years, abdicates in favour of Gushtasp, his elder son, in order to devote his life to pious exercises at his temple. When Zartusht proclaims the Avesta, Gushtasp and his wife receive the new doctrine. But Arjasp, the king of Turan, sent Gushtasp a command not to listen to the words of Zartusht. To this request Gushtasp did not accede; a battle took place on the banks of the Oxus, which turned in favour of Iran, owing to the bravery of Zarir, the brother of Gushtasp. An arrow from an ambush lays the hero low at the moment of victory. His death terrifies the Iranians; not one of them ventures to avenge it till Gushtasp promises Isfendyar, the strongest and bravest of his sons, that he will give him the crown if he succeeds in avenging the death of Zarir. Isfendyar overthrows the warriors of Iran, brings the arms and horse of Zarir into the camp of Iran, and Arjasp retires into his land. In the place of the promised crown, Isfendyar receives from his father the high mission of spreading abroad the new faith. By means of a chain which he places on his neck, Zartusht makes Isfendyar invulnerable, and surrounds him with a charm so that anyone who slays him will himself quickly die. When Isfendyar returns home after a long time, his mission fully accomplished, as all have received the law of Zartusht, accusations are made against him that he is collecting an army to dethrone his father. On this unfounded charge Gushtasp causes Isfendyar to be cast into prison. But while he remains in Zabul, the Turanians attack Balkh. The aged Lohrasp takes up arms; he cannot check the Turanians; he falls; the city is taken: Zartusht with the fire-priests is slain in the fire-temple, the sacred fire is quenched in their blood, and two daughters of Gushtasp are carried away to Turan. In vain does Gushtasp hasten up, when he has collected his army; thirty-eight of his sons are slain in the battle against the Turanians. Gushtasp takes to flight, and with his warriors finds refuge in a mountain which is quickly invested by Arjasp. Then Jamasp, the faithful adviser of Gushtasp, passes in disguise through the camp of the Turanians, to fetch Isfendyar out of prison, and urge him to save his father and Iran. Forgetting his deep injury and wrong, Isfendyar forces a way through the camp of Arjasp, and in the subsequent battle slaughters so many of the enemy's men that he takes to flight. But the task is not yet accomplished; it still remains to set at liberty the two sisters whom the Turanians had carried away from Balkh, and whom Arjasp keeps imprisoned in "the brazen fortress." After seven conflicts, corresponding to those which Rustem had to undergo, when he liberated Kai Kaus from the power of the demons, Isfendyar reaches the fortress. He sends his army back, and in the guise of a merchant obtains entrance into the citadel. Here he asks Arjasp, to whom he is unknown, for permission to give a feast to the principal men on the turrets of the citadel. When the wine has done its work, Isfendyar gives the signal of fire already agreed upon to his followers; the garrison is overpowered; Arjasp is slain by Isfendyar in single combat, and Isfendyar returns victorious with his sisters to Balkh.

Here a new and yet more dangerous task awaits him. Rustem, who made Kai Kobad ruler of Iran, and has since done such good service, and achieved such noble acts for Kai Kaus and Kai Chosru, remains at a distance from the court and army of king Gushtasp. He despises the doctrine of Zartusht. At Gushtasp's bidding Isfendyar must break down this opposition, and bring him to the king. Isfendyar marches out and commands Rustem to follow him in chains to the court. With a heavy heart Rustem seeks to withdraw from the contest; he treats with Isfendyar; but the latter obstinately insists on his terms. Nothing remains for the aged hero but to give battle against his will. Isfendyar's invulnerable body resists his blows, and Reksh, the horse of Rustem, is wounded; Rustem is himself wounded and compelled to retire. He has no hope of conquering in the battle which is to begin again on the next day. In his deep distress he calls to the bird Simurgh, who comes, sucks the blood from his wound, and heals the horse. Simurgh is acquainted with the future, and advises a compromise: there is indeed a way of overcoming Isfendyar, but anyone who takes his life "must not expect salvation in this world or the next." Rustem cannot bring himself to suffer defeat in the battle, and therefore in the night Simurgh carries him away to the tree of life, on the sea of China, and bids him break off the branch to which Isfendyar's life is bound. Out of this branch is cut the death-arrow for the conflict of the morrow. With it Rustem hits the place in the eye in which alone Isfendyar is vulnerable. But for Rustem also the lot of death is cast. He is invited by the king of Cabul, a tributary prince, to hunt; and the king's son-in-law, Sheghad, prepares a pit filled with swords and lances, for the destruction of the aged hero. Into this Rustem falls with his horse, but even in the moment of death his arrow hits Sheghad, who had concealed himself in a hollow tree, in order to watch the success of his scheme. Rustem's son Feramorz avenges the murder of his father on the king of Cabul; but Gushtasp renounces the world, and transfers the government to his grandson Bahman, the son of Isfendyar.

Here also we find traces of the Avesta underlying the poem. In the Avesta Aurvataçpa, now Lohrasp, and Vistaçpa, now Gushtasp, form a group distinct from the most ancient princes. Firdusi represents Kai Chosru as making Lohrasp his successor in spite of the murmurs of the nobles. Arejataçpa, now Arjasp, the Turanian, sacrifices in the Avesta in order to obtain victory over Vistaçpa, and the great equestrian, Zairivairi, the brother of Vistaçpa. In Firdusi this brother, the bravest warrior of Iran against Turan, is Zarir. In the Avesta Vistaçpa conquers Arejataçpa; in Firdusi Arjasp finally succumbs in the conflict. In the Avesta Jamaçpa is a prince of great influence with Vistaçpa; in Firdusi he is his faithful counsellor. In the Avesta Zarathrustra offers sacrifice that he may unite with the warlike Vistaçpa, and that the king's consort Hutaoça may impress the law on her memory (p. 37); in Firdusi Gushtasp and his wife receive the new law. According to the Avesta Vistaçpa has given his support and protection to the law, has set up the law in the world, and given it a high position, and made the path broad for purity. In Firdusi Isfendyar is sent to spread abroad the new law over the earth. The Avesta mentions twenty-nine sons of Vistaçpa, Firdusi even more; in both Çpentodata (Isfendyar) has the first place. In the Avesta Zarathrustra pronounces a blessing on Vistaçpa, in Firdusi he pronounces it on Isfendyar. That the latter was extolled, even in the Avesta, as supporting the faith and spreading it abroad – though our fragments do not allow us to draw any further conclusions – is nevertheless clear from the creed of the Parsees: "I abide in the law which the lord Ormuzd taught to Zartusht, and Zartusht to king Gushtasp, and Gushtasp to Frashaostra (p. 62), Jamasp, and Isfendyar, and these to all the faithful in the world." Firdusi has made use of the spread of the new law by Isfendyar, in order to bring to a conclusion the legend of Sejestan which he connects with the tradition of the Avesta, and to provide an adequate motive for the fall of the mighty Rustem of Ghasna, the descendant of the mighty Kereçaçpa. In his zeal for the faith, Isfendyar demands more than Rustem can grant; the champion of the faith is stronger in the conflict than Rustem; and the latter, in order to keep his honour, avails himself of wicked magical arts. We have seen what was the occupation of the two eagles of the sky, Amru and Chamru, at the tree in Lake Vourukasha, which bears the seeds of all life (p. 172). To these arts the champion of the faith succumbs, but by his success the victor has pronounced judgment on himself.

In the form which Firdusi has given them, the legends of Ancient Iran have to some extent continued to live among the people, and to some extent they have failed. The Shahnameh celebrates Jemshid's (Yima's) glittering palace and splendid throne; hence the ruins of the great palace of the Achæmenids at Persepolis have gained the name of the throne of Jemshid; ruins near Bamiyan in the Hindu-Kush, on the road from Balkh to Cabul, are still called Zohak's castle. The smoke rising out of the crater of Demavend is the breath of Zohak chained in the depths of the mountain. Each year, on the last day of August, the inhabitants of Elburz celebrate the festival of the overthrow of Zohak with bonfires on every height, and demonstrations of joy. The ruins of Takt-i-Bostan are called the garden of Kai Chosru, and in Iran Balkh is still the mother of cities.⁴⁴⁰ A lofty and steep rock in Lake Zirreh in Sejestan is said to have been crowned with the castle of Rustem, and the site of a second castle is pointed out at Aivan. Aqueducts and dams pass for works of Rustem. In the desert of Beluchistan, the ancient Gedrosia, the tracks of the camels of Rustem are still shown by large stones in the sand. In Mazanderan is the battle-field where Rustem defeated the Divs in order to liberate Kai Kaus (p. 253). The sculptures of the Achæmenids on the tombs at Persepolis are called pictures of Rustem (Naksh-i-Rustem), and in the bed of the Hilmend his grave is shown. When Timour's Mongols devastated Sejestan in the fourteenth century, the people called on Rustem to raise his head from the grave, and behold Iran in the hand of his enemy, the warrior of Turan. By a strange misconception the nobles in Mazanderan assume the name Div as a title of honour. A large family of nobles in Sejestan call themselves Kaïanids, and boast of their descent from Jemshid and the ancient kings, and to this family, down to the most recent times, the viceroyalty of Sejestan belonged as an hereditary office. When the holder of it died, the eldest of the family went to court in order to apply for the office, and was duly installed by investment with the robe of honour and armour.⁴⁴¹

While the ancient legends have lived on in Iran, the religion of Zoroaster has passed beyond Iran, and survives on the Malabar coast. Every day the Parsees utter their invocations before the sacred fire, and present bowls filled with the juice of the Haoma. Each month, as we have seen, belongs to one of the heavenly deities, who is then specially invoked; each of the thirty days of the month has its own protecting spirit, who is especially honoured on his own day. Six yearly festivals, each of five days, celebrate the creation of the heaven, water, the earth, the trees, animals, and men (p. 182); on each of which special prayers are said. At the close of the year the Parsees purify and adorn their houses, in order to receive worthily the souls of their ancestors: sacrificial bread, fruits, milk, wine, and meat are put ready for them. The Fravashis, now called Farvars, are invoked "to receive the sacrifice, to lift up their hands to it, and depart in peace from the dwelling."⁴⁴² On these days the priests read the liturgies appointed as prayers for the souls of the damned, and for ten days the laity have to repeat many thousands of times the prayers "Ahuna-vairya" and "Ashem Vohu." Each morning, on waking, the Parsee prays: "The best purity is to the just, who is pure. He is pure who does pure works. I pray with purity of thought, of word, and act." When removing, and again when putting on, his girdle (p. 217), he says, with face turned to the East: "May Ormuzd be king; may Ahriman be defeated and destroyed; may the enemies be confounded, and remain far off; of all my sins I repent." Then he takes gomez for ablutions, washes his face and hands with it, rubs himself with earth, and with gomez in his hand says: "May Ahriman be destroyed; may the thirty-three Amshaspands and Ormuzd be victorious and pure." After a prayer to Çrosh (Çraosha) – "the pure and strong, may he increase to greater majesty, whose body is the word, and whose club is victorious" – follows ablution with water, dressing of the fire with wood and perfumes, and the proper morning prayer to Ushahin, the spirit of the morning: "Praise to thee, high Dawn." When it is light, a prayer is offered to Mithra, and two others at midday and sunset. In the morning a prayer to Ormuzd is recited, in which all his names and qualities are enumerated. Before eating, the Parsee must wash himself and pronounce the prayer "Ahuna-vairya," and after eating, the prayer "King Ormuzd." When the Parsee goes to rest he must arrange his bed in such a way that he lies towards the fire, or the moon, or the East. Before sleeping, a prayer is offered to Ormuzd. On turning over in bed, sneezing, the discharge of natural or sexual functions, kindling a light, approaching water or fire, special prayers are uttered, and the sum of daily duties is increased on many occasions in family life – at the time of a birth, or death, or festivals, and when impurities have been incurred. However external and formal these numerous prayers and rituals may appear, the Parsee forms of confession are nevertheless evidence of the depth of their religious feeling, and their retention in the family and social life proves that the ancient religion still possesses a powerful influence.

BOOK VIII.
THE EMPIRE OF THE MEDES AND PERSIANS

CHAPTER I.
THE FOUNDATION OF THE MEDIAN KINGDOM

On the northern edge of the table-land of Iran, where the mountains descend to the Caspian Sea, we found dwelling towards the east the Hyrcanians (Vehrkana in the Avesta, Varkana in the inscriptions of Darius).⁴⁴³ Their territory may have corresponded to the modern district of Jorjan, which has preserved their name (p. 9). To the west of the Hyrcanians, between Elburz and the Caspian, lay the Tapurians, whose name has survived in the modern Taberistan, and further yet, on the sea-coast, and at the mouth of the Mardus (now Safidrud), were the Mardians. Adjacent to these, on the shores of the Caspian Sea as far as the mouth of the Cyrus, lay the nation whom the Greeks called Cadusians, but whose native name was Gaels⁴⁴⁴– a name still preserved in the name of the district of Ghilan.⁴⁴⁵ To the south of these tribes – the Tapurians, Mardians, and Cadusians – the north-west of the table-land was entirely occupied by the Medes.

The country of the Medes, Herodotus tells us, is very high and mountainous in the north towards the Euxine, and covered with forests, but the remainder of it is flat.⁴⁴⁶ Polybius gives a more minute description of the nature of Media. "It is difficult to speak adequately of the natural strength and of the extent of the country of the Medes. It lies in the centre of Asia, and in the size and elevation of the land surpasses all other parts, while the situation enables it to govern the strongest and most populous nations. Towards the east it is protected by the desert which lies between Persia and Parthia, it has control of the Caspian gates, and abuts on the mountains of the Tapurians, which are not far distant from the Hyrcanian Sea. Towards the north it is bounded by the Matieni and Cadusians, on the west it extends to the Saspeires, who dwell close to the tribes which lie on the Euxine. Towards the south it extends to Mesopotamia and abuts on Persia; on this side it is protected by the range of the Zagrus, which reaches an elevation of one hundred stadia, and is broken into various ranges and groups, separated by deep valleys and open plains, in which dwell the Carchi, Cossaei, and other warlike tribes. Media itself is traversed by several ranges in the direction from east to west, but between them are plains filled with cities and villages. The Medes possess corn and cattle in untold abundance, and in horses their country is superior to the whole of Asia, so that it takes the first place, not only in virtue of its extent, but also owing to the number and excellence of the men and horses."⁴⁴⁷ Strabo allows Media an extent of 4000 stades (500 miles) in length and breadth. It reached from the Zagrus to the Caspian gates. The greater part of the land was high and cold, but the district below the Caspian gates on the lower ground was very fertile. Even in the rest of the land, with the exception of some mountain districts, there was no lack of the means of subsistence, and everywhere on the high ground there was excellent pasture for horses.⁴⁴⁸

The nation of the Medes belongs to the group of the Arian tribes, which occupied the table-land of Iran. This has been already proved by the statement of Herodotus that in ancient time the Medians were called Areans by all men (p. 14), by the religion of the Medes, and by all the Median words and names that have come down to us.⁴⁴⁹ According to Herodotus the nation consisted of six tribes: the Arizanti, Busae, Struchates, Budii, Paraetaceni, and Magi. Whether certain parts of the land belonged to these tribes as their habitation, is not clear from this statement. The Magians we have already found to be a hereditary order of priests (p. 191), and therefore we can hardly assume a separate part of the country as their habitation. The question thus becomes limited to the remaining five tribes. The name of the Paraetaceni occurs in the mountain district, which the later Greeks call Paraetacene. This district separated Media from Persia, and there is therefore nothing remarkable in the fact that the Paraetaceni are counted among the Persians or spoken of as an independent tribe.⁴⁵⁰ If the Paraetaceni had a special province, we shall be all the more justified in allotting the same to the Arizanti, the Budii, Struchates, and Busae, as the tribe of the Matieni, which Strabo reckons among the Medes,⁴⁵¹ had a special habitation and territory in the district of Matiene, i. e. in the region which after the time of the Seleucids was known as Atropatene; and the tribes of the Persians, who were closely akin to the Medes, were also settled in special regions, or marched through them with their flocks. The name Arizanti (Arizantu) might signify the noble families, i. e. an eminent tribe, which tribe might nevertheless possess a separate habitation. Among the Persians there was a privileged tribe, to which the royal family belonged, which ruled over all the tribes, and this tribe like the rest had a special territory.

The districts of Media, as we know them from the accounts of later writers, are beside Atropatene: Choromithrene, Nisaea, Rhagiana, Cambadene, and Bagistana.⁴⁵² Atropatene is the elevated plain which spreads round the lake which Ptolemy calls the Matienian lake (now Urumiah). The inscriptions of the kings of Asshur call the inhabitants of this land Mati and Mala.⁴⁵³ Shut in by mighty summits which reach a height of more than 12,000 feet, naked ridges, fields of snow, mountain pastures, green forests and meadows here make up the wildest, but at the same time most beautiful, Alpine landscape in the west of Iran. The snow lies on the backs of the heights for about nine months, but in the valleys there reigns for the most part uninterrupted spring; in the deeper clefts the summer is hot, and the naphtha springs must have caused this region to appear as one highly favoured by the gods in the eyes of such zealous worshippers of fire as the Arians of Iran. We have already seen (p. 74) that the name Atropatene, which in middle Persian is Aturpatkan, and modern Persian Aderbeijan, means "protected by fire."

In the ranges of the Zagrus, which, running from the Alps of Atropatene to the south-east, separate the table-land of Iran from the valley of the Tigris – these summits rise above the hilly land of Assyria to a height of 15,000 feet – we must seek the territory which Ptolemy calls Choromithrene, i. e. by a name which beyond doubt goes back to the worship of Mithra. Further to the east, beyond the isolated mountain-group of Elvend, on the eastern foot of the mountains, lay the territory where Ecbatana was subsequently built. To the south-east were the "Nisæan plains" of Herodotus, on which, as he tells us, were kept the most beautiful and largest horses, superior to those of the Indians.⁴⁵⁴ Polybius has already stated, that in regard to horses Media surpassed the rest of Asia; the mares of the Parthian kings were kept in Media owing to the excellent pastures. According to Strabo, there were 50,000 mares on the "horse pastures" in the time of the Achæmenids; these pastures any one going from Babylonia and Persia to the Caspian gates, i. e. to the Sirdarra-pass in Elburz, would cross. Diodorus places them seven days' march to the east of Behistun, and tells us that at one time there were 160,000 wild horses here, though Alexander found only 60,000. Arrian puts the previous number at 150,000, and the number found by Alexander at 50,000, as the greater part had been carried off by robbers.⁴⁵⁵ That Herodotus has given the name of this region correctly is shown by the inscriptions of Darius, which speak of a province of Niçaya in Media.⁴⁵⁶ To the north-east of the region of Ecbatana, on an elevated plateau, lay the district of Raghiana. It takes its name from the metropolis Ragha, a city on the southern foot of Elburz, mentioned both in the Avesta and the inscriptions. Under the Arsacids Ragha was the largest city of Media. Its later name was Rai; the ruins (near the modern Teheran) are said to cover the land for leagues. Besides Ragha there were at one time numerous flourishing cities in Raghiana.⁴⁵⁷ Campadene,⁴⁵⁸ the Campada of the inscriptions of Darius, we must look for in the south of Media, to the east of the Zagrus; it is no doubt the district now called Chamabatan.⁴⁵⁹ According to the statement of the Greeks, the district of Bagistana extended to a mountain which was sacred to Zeus. As Diodorus says, it was a region fit for the gods, filled with fruit-trees and every other kind that ministers to delight and enjoyment.⁴⁶⁰ The name of the mountain consecrated to Zeus, Bagistana, and the similar name of the district, go back to the title under which the gods are comprised in the Avesta and the inscriptions of Darius (Old Bactr. bagha, Old Pers. baga, New Pers. bag); and if Diodorus tells us that the region was a land fit for the gods, the name Bagistana means the abode of the gods. The district may have been held peculiarly sacred by the Medes, or the name may have been intended to express their gratitude for its fertility and beauty. We can fix precisely the position of this district by the hill consecrated to Zeus near the modern Behistun. It lies south-west of Elvend, between that mountain and the Zagrus in the valley of the Choaspes, and is the district now known as Kirmenshah.

According to the statements of Berosus, the historian of Babylon, the Medes in the most ancient period had already reigned over Babylonia for more than two centuries. They had suddenly collected an army, reduced Babylonia, and there set up tyrants of their own people. According to the succession of the dynasties which Berosus represents as ruling over Babylonia, the beginning of this supremacy of the Medes fell, as has been shown (I. 241, 247), in the year 2458 B.C. The first of the Medes who thus ruled in Babylon is called Zoroaster by Syncellus, after Polyhistor; according to this writer the seven Medes reign till the year 2224 B.C. Whether Berosus called the first Median king who reigned in Babylon Zoroaster, or Polyhistor has ascribed that position to him as the most famous name in Iran, or the only name known in antiquity, must be left undecided, no less than the actual fact of the Median supremacy.

The Medo-Persian epos told us that Ninus of Asshur, after subjugating Babylonia and Armenia, attacked the Medes. Pharnus, their king, met him with a mighty army, but was nevertheless beaten. He was crucified with his wife and seven children by Ninus; one of his retinue was made viceroy of Media; and for many years the Medes were subject to the successors of Ninus on the throne of Assyria (II. 3 ff). Herodotus' account is as follows: "When the Assyrians had reigned over upper Asia for 520 years, the Medes were the first to revolt, and as they fought bravely for their freedom against the Assyrians, they succeeded in escaping slavery and liberating themselves. Afterwards the rest of the nations did what the Medes had done. And as all the nations of the mainland lived according to laws of their own, they again fell under a tyranny in the following manner: – Among the Medes was a man of ability, called Deioces, the son of Phraortes. He desired the tyranny, and did as follows: The Medes dwelt in villages, and Deioces, who was previously a man of importance, set himself more and more zealously to the task of doing justice, since lawlessness reigned throughout the whole of Media. When the Medes of his village discovered these qualities in him, they chose him for their judge. And as his heart was already set on the empire, he acted justly and rightly, and thus got no small credit among his fellow-citizens, so that the men from other villages, when they found that Deioces alone judged rightly, gladly resorted to him, since hitherto they had had to endure unjust sentences, and at last they would not go to any one else. As the number of the applicants became greater, and Deioces found that everything depended upon him, he refused to sit any longer in court and pronounce sentence, saying, that it was of no advantage to himself to neglect his own business and spend the day in settling the disputes of others. Then robbery and lawlessness became more rife than ever in the villages, and the Medes gathered together and consulted on the position of affairs. In my belief the friends of Deioces were the first to speak: 'As things are, it is impossible to live in the land; let us choose some one to be king, and thus the land will obtain good government. We can occupy ourselves with our own business, and shall not be compelled to wander from home.' With these words they persuaded the Medes to set up a monarchy. And when they at once began the discussion who should be king, Deioces was highly commended and put forward by every one, so that at last he was chosen by all to be king. Then Deioces commanded the Medes to build him a palace suitable for a king, and strengthen his power by a body-guard. This they did, and built a great and strong palace, on the place which Deioces pointed out to them, and allowed him to choose his lance-bearers out of all the nation. When he had obtained the sovereign power he at once compelled the Medes to build him a large city, in order that, being thus occupied, they might trouble him less about other things; and when the Medes obeyed him in this matter also, he erected the great and strong citadel now known as Ecbatana. The walls formed seven circles, in such a manner that the inner was always higher by the turrets than the next outer circle, an arrangement assisted by the locality, for the town was situated on a hill. In the seventh wall was the palace and the treasure-house of Deioces. After erecting this fortification for himself, and his palace, the king commanded the people to settle round the citadel. When the building was completed Deioces first made the arrangement that no one should enter in to the king, but every thing was done by messengers, in order that those who had grown up with him, and were of similar age, equal in descent and bravery, might not envy him, and set conspiracies on foot, but that by being invisible he might appear a different being; it was also disgraceful to laugh or spit, or do anything of that kind in his presence. When he had made these arrangements, and thus strengthened his tyranny, he adhered strictly to justice. Plaints had to be sent in to him in writing, and he sent back the sentence. Thus he managed this and all other matters, and if he found that any one was guilty of insolence, and did violence to others, he punished him according to the measure of his offence, and his spies and emissaries were everywhere in the land.⁴⁶¹ In this manner Deioces united the Medes, and governed them for 53 years. After his death, his son Phraortes succeeded to the throne. Not content with ruling over the Medes only, he marched against the Persians, and first made them subject to the Medes. When he had become master of these two powerful nations, he subjugated all Asia, attacking one nation after another. Finally, he marched against the Assyrians, who had previously ruled over all men, but, though otherwise in excellent condition, were then abandoned by their allies, who had revolted. In the war against these Phraortes fell, after a reign of 22 years, and with him the greatest part of his army."⁴⁶²