Numerous sculptures in bas-relief decorate the faces of the walls, and these throw much light upon the manners and customs of the ancient Persian kings. The successive palaces increase, not only in size, but in sumptuousness of adornment, thus registering those changes which we have been tracing in the national history. The residence of Cyrus was small and modest, while that of Artaxerxes Ochus equalled in size the great palace of the Assyrian Sargon.
TABLE OF KINGS OF MEDIA AND PERSIA.
Kings of Media
Phraortes. . . . . . . . . . . . ? -625
Cyaxares . . . . . . . . . . . . 625-585
Astyages . . . . . . . . . . . . 585-558
Kings of Persia
Cyrus . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558-529
Cambyses . . . . . . . . . . . . 529-522
Pseudo-Smerdis . . . . . . . . . 522-521
Darius I. . . . . . . . . . . . 521-486
Xerxes I. . . . . . . . . . . . 486-465
Artaxerxes I. (Longimanus) . . . 465-425
Xerxes II. . . . . . . . . . . . 425
Sogdianus . . . . . . . . . . . 425-424
Darius II. (Nothus) . . . . . . 424-405
Artaxerxes II. (Mnemon) . . . . 405-359
Artaxerxes III. (Ochus) . . . . 359-338
Arses . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338-336
Darius III. (Codomannus) . . . . 336-330
SECTION II.—GRECIAN HISTORY
CHAPTER IX.
THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE.
DIVISIONS OF GREECE.—Long arms of the sea divide the Grecian peninsula into three parts, called Northern, Central, and Southern Greece.
Northern Greece included the ancient districts of Thessaly and Epirus. Thessaly consists mainly of a large and beautiful valley, walled in on all sides by rugged mountains. It was celebrated far and wide for the variety and beauty of its scenery. On its northern edge, lay a beautiful glen, called the Vale of Tempe, the only pass by which the plain of Thessaly could be entered from the north. The district of Epirus stretched along the Ionian Sea on the west. In the gloomy recesses of its forests of oak was situated the renowned Dodonean oracle of Zeus.
Central Greece was divided into eleven districts, among which were Phocis, Boeotia, and Attica. In Phocis was the city of Delphi, famous for its oracle and temple; in Boeotia, the city of Thebes; and in Attica, the brilliant Athens.