Chapter 1

LONDON

THE GROLIER SOCIETY

PUBLISHERS

_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._