The Historians' History of the World 02

The other Iranian peoples, who had been in part already subject to the Medes, in part only subdued by Cyrus, were in a similar position to the rest of the Iranian tribes. They were now all united in one kingdom; the rising of the Medes, Sagartians, Parthians, Hyrcanians, Margians, Sattagydes, and of a part of the Persians after the assassination of the Magian, was the last attempt to maintain the ancient independence of the race. All stationary and many nomadic Iranian, or as they call themselves, Aryan tribes, speak the same Aryan language, varying little in dialect, serve the same pure and true god Ahuramazda, “the god of the Aryans,” as the Susan translation of the Behistun inscription calls him.

The list of the subject districts which Darius enumerates, shows how much more his interests were directed to these nations than to his subjects in the west. In the inscription on his tomb he calls himself with pride, not only a Persian but also “an Aryan of Aryan race.” It is remarkable that the Babylonian translation omits this addition while the Susan retains the Persian words: he boasts that he was the first to draw up Aryan inscriptions and to send them into all countries [only retained in the Susan]. Thus the tribal distinctions were not yet abolished, but were repressed; the empire of the Achæmenides was not, like that of the Sassanides, the “empire of Iran and Extra-Iran”; but it had paved the way for the event that the Aryans of Iran, unlike their brothers in India, were to become a united nation.b

FOOTNOTES

[23] [See Chap. II.]

Bas-relief from the Palace at Persepolis

CHAPTER II. THE MEDIAN OR SCYTHIAN EMPIRE

Before taking up the history of Persia proper the story of the Medes must be told. Our account of the Median empire will give the reader an excellent idea of what modern historians have done in co-ordinating and straightening out the accounts of the classical authors. Two of these only wrote about the Medes—Herodotus and Ctesias; and although the latter claims to have founded his Persica,—written to refute Herodotus,—on the royal archives of Persia, modern criticism and the testimony of the monuments have proved his account to be far the less trustworthy of the two.

We begin, therefore, with the ancient account of Herodotus, after which the reader will find a masterly critique of the Father of History by Dr. Theodor Nöldeke, the greatest modern authority on Persian history. That, however, the last word is not yet spoken on the Medes will be seen from the concluding portion of the chapter in which results obtained from recent decipherments of Assyrian and Persian monuments are set forth. So startling and revolutionising is the knowledge thence obtained, so wholly different is the historical aspect thus revealed, that the term “Median empire” is probably destined to disappear from the historian’s phraseology. Indeed, Professor Sayce in his latest writings has already discarded it.a

THE RISE AND FALL OF THE MEDIAN EMPIRE ACCORDING TO HERODOTUS

[ca. 700-607 B.C.]

The Assyrians had been in possession of the Upper Asia for a period of five hundred and twenty years. The Medes first of all revolted from their authority, and contended with such obstinate bravery against their masters, that they were ultimately successful, and exchanged servitude for freedom.[24] Other nations soon followed their example, who, after living for a time under the protection of their own laws, were again deprived of their freedom, upon the following occasion.

There was a man among the Medes, of the name of Deioces, son of Phraortes, of great reputation for his wisdom, whose ambitious views were thus disguised and exercised: The Medes were divided into different districts, and Deioces was distinguished in his own, by his vigilant and impartial distribution of justice. This he practised in opposition to the general depravity and weakness of the government of his country, and conscious that the profligate and the just must ever be at war with each other. The Medes who lived nearest him, to signify their approbation of his integrity, made him their judge. In this situation, having one more elevated in view, he conducted himself with the most rigid equity. His behaviour obtained the highest applauses of his countrymen; and his fame extending to the neighbouring districts, the people contrasted his just and equitable decisions with the irregularity of their own corrupt rulers, and unanimously resorted to his tribunal, not suffering any one else to determine their litigations.