Volume IX.
LONDON
THE GROLIER SOCIETY
PUBLISHERS
A Howling Dervish
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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
[ 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 ]
[ 017a.jpg Atar the God of Fire ]
[ 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 ]
[ 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 ]
[ 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 ]
[ 145.jpg the Naophoros Statuette of The Vatican ]
[ 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 ]
[ 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. ]
[ 212a.jpg Alexander I. Of Macedon ]
[ 212b.jpg a Phoenician Galley ]
[ 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 ]
[ 227.jpg a Trireme in Motion ]
[ 239.jpg the Battle-field of Plataea ]
[ 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 ]
[ 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 ]
[ 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 ]
[ 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 ]
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