The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 5. (of 7): Persia: The History, Geography, And Antiquities Of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, And Sassanian or New Persian Empire; With Maps and Illustrations.
The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Seven Great Monarchies Of The AncientEastern World, Vol 5. (of 7): Persia, by George RawlinsonThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and withalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away orre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License includedwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.netTitle: The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 5. (of 7): Persia The History, Geography, And Antiquities Of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, And Sassanian or New Persian Empire; With Maps and Illustrations.Author: George RawlinsonIllustrator: George RawlinsonRelease Date: July 1, 2005 [EBook #16165]Language: EnglishCharacter set encoding: ISO-8859-1*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEVEN GREAT MONARCHIES ***Produced by David WidgerTHE SEVEN GREAT MONARCHIESOF THEANCIENT EASTERN WORLD;OR,THE HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, AND ANTIQUITIES OF CHALDAEA, ASSYRIABABYLON, MEDIA, PERSIA, PARTHIA, AND SASSANIAN,OR NEW PERSIAN EMPIRE.BYGEORGE RAWLINSON, M.A.,CAMDEN PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORDIN THREE VOLUMES.VOLUME II.WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONSPERSIA PROPER.[Illustration: MAP]THE FIFTH MONARCHY.PERSIA.CHAPTER I. EXTENT OF THE EMPIRE.The geographical extent of the Fifth Monarchy was far greater than thatof any one of the four which had preceded it. While Persia Proper is acomparatively ...
The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient
Eastern World, Vol 5. (of 7): Persia, by George Rawlinson
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 5. (of 7):
Persia
The History, Geography, And Antiquities Of Chaldaea,
Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, And Sassanian
or New Persian Empire; With Maps and Illustrations.
Author: George Rawlinson
Illustrator: George Rawlinson
Release Date: July 1, 2005 [EBook #16165]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEVEN GREAT MONARCHIES ***
Produced by David Widger
THE SEVEN GREAT MONARCHIES
OF THE
ANCIENT EASTERN WORLD;
OR,
THE HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, AND ANTIQUITIES OF CHALDAEA, ASSYRIA
BABYLON, MEDIA, PERSIA, PARTHIA, AND SASSANIAN,
OR NEW PERSIAN EMPIRE.
BY
GEORGE RAWLINSON, M.A.,
CAMDEN PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
IN THREE VOLUMES.VOLUME II.
WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
PERSIA PROPER.
[Illustration: MAP]
THE FIFTH MONARCHY.
PERSIA.
CHAPTER I. EXTENT OF THE EMPIRE.
The geographical extent of the Fifth Monarchy was far greater than that
of any one of the four which had preceded it. While Persia Proper is a
comparatively narrow and poor tract, extending in its greatest length
only some seven or eight degrees (less than 500 miles), the dominions of
the Persian kings covered a space fifty-six degrees long, and in places
more than twenty degrees wide. The boundaries of their empire were the
desert of Thibet, the Sutlej, and the Indus, on the east; the Indian
Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Arabian and Nubian deserts, on the south;
on the west, the Greater Syrtis, the Mediterranean, the Egean, and the
Strymon river; on the north, the Danube, the Black Sea, the Caucasus,
the Caspian, and the Jaxartes. Within these limits lay a territory, the
extent of which from east to west was little less than 3000 miles,
while its width varied between 500 and 1500 miles. Its entire area was
probably not less than, two millions of square miles--or more than half
that of modern Europe. It was thus at least eight times as large as the
Babylonian Empire at its greatest extent, and was probably more than
four times as large as the Assyrian.
The provinces included within the Empire may be conveniently divided
into the Central, the Western, and the Eastern. The Central are Persia
Proper, Susiana, Babylonia, Assyria, Media, the coast tract of the
Caspian, and Sagartia, or the Great Desert. The Western are Paeonia,
Thrace, Asia Minor, Armenia, Iberia, Syria and Phoenicia, Palestine,
Egypt, and the Cyrenaica. The Eastern are Hyrcania, Parthia, Aria,
Chorasmia, Sogdiana, Bactria, Scythia, Gandaria, Sattagydia, India,
Paricania, the Eastern AEthiopia, and Mycia.
Of these countries a considerable number have been already described in
these volumes. Susiana, Babylonia, Assyria, Media, the Caspian coast,
Armenia, Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine, belong to this class; and it
may be assumed that the reader is sufficiently acquainted with their
general features. It would therefore seem to be enough in the present
place to give an account of the regions which have not yet occupied ourattention, more especially of Persia Proper--the home of the dominant
race.
Persia Proper seems to have corresponded nearly to that province of the
modern Iran, which still bears the ancient name slightly modified, being
called Farsistan or Fars. The chief important difference between the two
is, that whereas in modern times the tract called Herman is regarded as
a distinct and separate region, Carmania anciently was included within
the limits of Persia. Persia Proper lay upon the gulf to which it has
given name, extending from the mouth of the Tab (Oroatis) to the point
where the gulf joins the Indian Ocean. It was bounded on the west by
Susiana, on the north by Media Magna, on the east by Mycia, and on
the south by the sea. Its length seems to have been about 450, and its
average width about 250 miles. It thus contained an area of rather more
than 100,000 square miles.
In modern times it is customary to divide the province of Fars into
the _ghermsir_, or, "warm district," and the _serdsir_, or "cold
region"--and the physical character of the country must have made such a
division thoroughly appropriate at every period. The "warm district"
is a tract of sandy plain, often impregnated with salt, which extends
between the mountains and the sea the whole length of the province,
being a continuation of the flat region of Susiana, but falling very
much short of that region in all the qualities which constitute physical
excellence. The soil is poor, consisting of alternate sand and clay--it
is ill-watered, the entire tract possessing scarcely a single stream
worthy of the name of river--and, lying only just without the northern
Tropic, the district is by its very situation among the hottest of
western Asia. It forms, however, no very large portion of the ancient
Persia, being in general a mere strip of land, from ten to fifty
miles wide, and thus not constituting more than an eighth part of the
territory in question.
The remaining seven eighths belong to the serdsir, or "cold region."
The mountain-range which under various names skirts on the east the
Mesopotamian lowland, separating off that depressed and generally
fertile region from the bare high plateau of Iran, and running
continuously in a direction parallel to the course of the Mesopotamian
streams--i.e. from the north-west to the south-east--changes its course
as it approaches the sea, sweeping gradually round between long. 50 and �
55�, and becoming parallel to the coast-line, while at the same time it
broadens out, till it covers a space of nearly three degrees, or above
two hundred miles. Along the high tract thus created lay the bulk of
the ancient Persia, consisting of alternate mountain, plain, and narrow
valley, curiously intermixed, and as yet very incompletely mapped. This
region is of varied character. In places richly, fertile, picturesque,
and romantic almost beyond imagination, with lovely wooded dells, green
mountain-sides, and broad plains suited for the production of almost any
crops, it has yet on the whole a predominant character of sterility and
barrenness, especially towards its more northern and eastern portions.
The supply of water is everywhere scanty. Scarcely any of the streams
are strong enough to reach the sea. After short courses they are
either absorbed by the sand or end in small salt lakes, from which
the superfluous water is evaporated. Much of the country is absolutely
without streams, and would be uninhabitable were it not for the
_kanats_, or _karizes_, subterranean channels of spring-water, described
at length in a former volume.
The only rivers of the district which deserve any attention are the Tab
(or Oroatis), whereof a description has been already given, the Kur or
Bendamir (called anciently Araxes), with its tributary, the Pulwar (or
Cyrus), and the Khoonazaberni or river of Khisht.
The Bendamir rises in the mountains of the Bakhtiyari chain, in lat.30� 35', long. 51 50' nearly, and runs with a course which is generally�
south-east, past the ruins of Persepolis, to the salt lake