History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 9 (of 12)

_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._

[Illustration: 003.jpg PAGE IMAGE]

CHAPTER I--THE IRANIAN CONQUEST

Drawn by Boudier, from the engraving in Coste and Flandin.
The vignette, drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a statuette in
terra-cotta, found in Southern Russia, represents a young
Scythian.

_The Iranian religions--Cyrus in Lydia and at Babylon: Cambyses in Egypt
--Darius and the organisation of the empire._

The Median empire is the least known of all those which held sway for a
time over the destinies of a portion of Western Asia. The reason of this
is not to be ascribed to the shortness of its duration: the Chaldæan
empire of Nebuchadrezzar lasted for a period quite as brief, and yet the
main outlines of its history can be established with some certainty in
spite of large blanks and much obscurity. Whereas at Babylon, moreover,
original documents abound, enabling us to put together, feature by
feature, the picture of its ancient civilisation and of the chronology
of its kings, we possess no contemporary monuments of Ecbatana to
furnish direct information as to its history.

History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 9 (of 12)