



Produced by Adrian Mastronardi and the Online Distributed
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  THE
  HISTORY OF ANTIQUITY.

  FROM THE GERMAN
  OF
  PROFESSOR MAX DUNCKER,


  BY
  EVELYN ABBOTT, M.A., LL.D.,
  _FELLOW AND TUTOR OF BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD._


  VOL. V.


  LONDON:
  RICHARD BENTLEY & SON, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,
  Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen.
  1881.



  Bungay:
  CLAY AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS.




CONTENTS.


BOOK VII.

_THE ARIANS OF EASTERN IRAN._

  CHAPTER I.                                                      PAGE
  THE LAND AND THE TRIBES                                            3

  CHAPTER II.
  THE KINGDOM OF THE BACTRIANS                                      19

  CHAPTER III.
  THE SCRIPTURES OF IRAN                                            49

  CHAPTER IV.
  ZARATHRUSTRA AND THE DATE OF THE COMPOSITION OF THE AVESTA        68

  CHAPTER V.
  THE GODS OF THE ARIANS IN IRAN                                   106

  CHAPTER VI.
  THE REFORM OF THE FAITH                                          129

  CHAPTER VII.
  THE DOCTRINE OF THE AVESTA                                       149

  CHAPTER VIII.
  THE PRIESTHOOD OF IRAN                                           184

  CHAPTER IX.
  THE LAW OF THE PRIESTS                                           201

  CHAPTER X.
  THE LATER DEVELOPMENT OF EASTERN IRAN                            239


BOOK VIII.

_THE EMPIRE OF THE MEDES AND PERSIANS._

  CHAPTER I.
  THE FOUNDATION OF THE MEDIAN KINGDOM                             267

  CHAPTER II.
  THE EMPIRE OF THE MEDES                                          292

  CHAPTER III.
  THE TRIBES OF THE PERSIANS                                       319

  CHAPTER IV.
  THE FALL OF THE MEDIAN KINGDOM                                   335

  CHAPTER V.
  THE RISE OF THE PERSIAN KINGDOM                                  382




BOOK VII.

THE ARIANS OF EASTERN IRAN.




EASTERN IRAN.




CHAPTER I.

THE LAND AND THE TRIBES.


Between the valley of the Indus and the land of the Euphrates and
Tigris, bounded on the south by the ocean and the Persian Gulf, on the
north by the broad steppes which the Oxus and Jaxartes vainly attempt
to fertilise, by the Caspian Sea and the valley of the Aras, lies the
table-land of Iran. Rising to an average height of 4000 feet above the
level of the sea, it forms an oblong, the length of which from east to
west is something more than 1500 miles. The breadth in the east is about
1000 miles, but at the narrowest point, from the Caspian Sea to the
Persian Gulf, it is not much more than 500 miles; while the western
edge, reaching from the Persian Gulf to the mountains of Aderbeijan,
again extends over a distance of about 750 miles.

In this seclusion, neither penetrated by bays of the sea nor traversed
by mighty rivers, the region exhibits a certain similarity to the
highlands of Arabia. The centre of the Iranian land, like that of
Arabia, is occupied by a great desert where only nomadic life is
possible. But the soil of Iran is more diversified in regard to
elevation and depression. The northern half of the land is higher than
the southern, the centre is hollowed out in the form of a trough, so
that in the east, at any rate, the waters from the inner <DW72>s of the
mountainous rim fall into the depression, and collect in fructifying
lakes. The oases and fertile valleys are more numerous and extensive
than in Arabia, and though the rivers of the inner table-land, like the
streams of the northern edge, which flow to the north, are lost in the
sand or end in unimportant lakes, they nevertheless render agriculture
possible over wide tracts of country.

The northern side is more diversified and superior in formation to
the south. The southern edge, which sinks down to the ocean, closely
resembles Arabia in the climate and the nature of the country; the
mountains of the north, on the other hand, exhibit green pastures and
splendid forests where Arabia has nothing but bare peaks: in the Hindu
Kush, and Elburz on the Caspian Sea, as well as in Aderbeijan, they rise
into vast Alpine districts. The eastern edge, extending over a distance
of 900 miles, rises like a steep wall out of the valley of the Indus; a
few long and difficult passes lead from the Indus to the high ground