PERSIA, a Kingdom of Asia. The Persians became very famous from the Time of Cyrus, the Founder of the Persian Monarchy. Their antient Name was Elamites; and in the Time of the Roman Emperours they went by the Name of Parthians. At present they are now generally call’d Persians. See what has been already said under the Article PARTHIANS.
D’ Herbelot. Bibl. Orient. p. 340.Persia is bounded to the East by the Province of Kerman; to the West by Chusistan; to the South by the Gulf of Persia; and to the North by a great Desart that separates it from Chorassan. It is about three hundred French Leagues in Extent, along the Ocean. Jazd is the most eastern City of this Province, Hamadan the most western, Gireft or Sireft the most southern, and Rei the most northern.
The Arabians say, that Fars, Father of the Persians, was Son of Azaz, or Arphaxad Son of Shem. Others derive him from Japheth; but the Persians maintain, they derive their Original from Kaiumarath, who is among them what Adam is with us. They assure us that they have always had Kings of their own Nation, whose Succession has not been interrupted but for a Space of Time altogether inconsiderable.
The Dilemites, the Curdes, and even the Oriental Turks, according to some Authors, are descended from the Persians. The Dilemites inhabit along the Shores of the Caspian Sea, call’d also the Sea of Dilem, because of its Neighbourhood to that Nation. The Curdes are scatter’d in Assyria, to which they have given the Name of Kurdistan. The Turks are withdrawn beyond the River Oxus, into a Country which from them is call’d Turkestan.
Herodot. Clio, seu l. 1. c. 31.Authors speak differently of the Religion of the antient Persians. Herodotus is the first who has given any Account of it. He tells us, “ That they had neither “ Temples, nor Statues, nor Altars. They “ look upon it as a Piece of Folly to “ make any, or to suffer any, because “ they did not believe as the Greeks, that “ the Gods were of human Original. They “ sacrificed to Jupiter on the highest “ Mountains. They gave the Name of “ God to the whole Circuit of the Heavens. They sacrificed also to the Sun, “ and the Moon, and the Earth; to the “ Fire, and the Water, and the Winds. “ They knew no other Gods antiently but “ these. Since that Time they learn’d “ from the Assyrians and the Arabians, to “ sacrifice to Urania, or heavenly Venus, “ whom the Assyrians call Militta, the “ Arabians, Alitta, and the Persians, “ Mithra. Strabo copies from Herodotus almost Word for Word, but they do not agree that the Persians gave the Name of Mithra to Venus; he says it is the Sun they call so, and all Authors in this agree with Strabo. “ They sacrifice, says he, in a “ pure Place, where they offer up their “ Prayers, and bring thither their Victim “ crown’d. After the Magus has divided “ the Flesh, each takes his Part; they “ leave nothing for the Gods, saying, that “ God is contented with the Soul of the “ Sacrifice. Some throw into the Fire a “ small part of the double Fat that is “ wrapt about the Intestines. They chiefly “ sacrifice to the Fire and the Water. “ They put upon the Fire dry Wood, “ without Bark, upon which they throw “ Fat, and then Oil also. They light “ the Fire without any Bellows, only “ making a Wind with a kind of Fan. If “ any one blows the Fire, or throws any “ Carkass or Dirt into it, he is punish’d “ with Death. “ The Sacrifice to the Water is perform’d in this Manner. They come together near a Lake, a River, or a Fountain, and make a Ditch, where they kill the Sacrifice, taking Care that the neighbouring Water is not defiled with the Blood, which would make it unclean. After which they put the Flesh upon Myrtle, or upon Lawrel. The Magi put Fire to it with little Sticks, and sprinkle their Libations of Oil mix’d with Milk and Honey, not upon the Fire, or upon the Water, but upon the Ground. Then for a long Time they make their Enchantments, holding a little Bundle of Heath. The Cappadocians have a great Number of Magi, whom they call Pyrethes, and several Temples of the Gods of the Persians. They kill their Victims without making use of Knives, but of a Lever, with which they strike as with an Axe. They have great Enclosures which they call Pyrethees, in the Midst of which is an Altar, on which the “ Magi preserve Ashes and a perpetual Fire. They enter therein every Day, and there make their Enchantments for the Space of an Hour, holding Whisps of Rods, and wearing Mitres that come down so low, as to cover their Lips and Cheeks. “The Sacrifices of the Persians, says Herodot. loco citato.Herodotus, are perform’d after this Manner. They erect no Altars, nor use any Fire. They have no Libations, nor any Players upon Musick, nor Garlands, nor Meal. But he that offers the Sacrifice brings the Victim into a pure and clean Place, and invokes the God to whom he would sacrifice, having his Mitre crown’d with Myrtle. It is not allow’d the Priest to pray for himself in particular, but he must pray for the King, and the whole Nation. After he has roasted the Flesh of the Victim, being cut into several Pieces, he spreads young Grass, or especially Clover, and lays them thereon. Afterwards a Magus comes to sing the Theogony, a kind of Song in use among them; and they are not allow’d to sacrifice without a Magus. A little while afterwards the Priest takes away these Pieces of Flesh, and does with ‘em what he pleases. Plutarch. de Iside & Isiride.Plutarch informs us of some Articles of their Creed. “Among those that admitted of two Principles, the one good and the other bad, was, as he says, the famous Zoroaster, who lived, according to some, five thousand Years before the Trojan War. One of these Gods he named Oromazes, and the other Arimanius; and said, that one had a Relation to sensible Light, and the other to Darkness and Ignorance. That there was still another between these two, who was of a middle Nature, and whom he call’d Mithras; and that it is for that Reason that the Persians call’d him Mithras, who has the middle Place. He taught, that the first was to be sacrificed to, to obtain Favours, and the other, to be defended from Evils. This is the Manner in which they invoked Pluto and Darkness. They bruised in a Mortar an Herb call’d Omomi, which afterwards they mingled with the Blood of a sacrificed Wolf, and taking it all away, they threw it into a dark Place, where the Sun never shines. They believed that some Plants and Trees belonged to the good God, and others to the evil one; and that among Animals, Dogs, Birds, and Urchins belong to the good God, and all those of the Waters, to the evil one. Oromazes, according to them, was born of the purest Light, and Arimanius of the Darkness. They are always at variance. Oromazes has produced six Gods, of which the first is the Author of Benevolence, the second of Valour, the third of Equity, the fourth of Wisdom, the fifth of Riches, the sixth of such Pleasures as attend good Actions. Arimanius also, by way of Emulation, has produced a like Number of Gods. “Oromazes having made himself three Times greater than he was at first, withdrew as far from the Sun, as the Sun is from the Earth. He adorn’d the Heaven, placing the Stars there. He made a Star which is more excellent than the rest, and, as it were, their Guardian. This is Sirius, or the great Dog. He made besides four and twenty Gods, and put them all into an Egg. Arimanius made the same Number, who broke the Egg in which the good ones were inclos’d, and then the good and evil were mingled together. They say there is a Time fix’d, in which Arimanius must die, and then the Earth being united, all happy Men shall live in a perfect Union, being assembled into the same City, and speaking the same Language. Theopompus adds, that according to the Opinion of the Magi, for Three thousand Years one of the Gods shall be too powerful for the other; for three thousand Years more they shall make War, and shall endeavour to destroy each other. At last Pluto shall be overcome, and then Men shall be happy, and shall no longer have any need of Eating.”
Tho’ the Persians at first would make use of no Images, yet they had them afterwards, as Berosus says in the third Book of his Chaldean History, as he is quoted by Clem. Alex. l. protrept.Clemens Alexandrinus. ‘Twas Artaxerxes Son of Darius, and Father of Ochus, who introduced this Custom, and was the first that erected the Statue of Venus Tanaides, at Babylon, at Shushan, and at Ecbatana, and taught the Persians, the Bactrians, the People of Damascus and Sardis, that it was to be worshipped as a Goddess. Such was the Religion of the antient Persians, according to those Authors that lived at a Time, when they had the best Opportunity of being inform’d of it.
A modern Author, very skilful in the Eastern Languages, and who has purposely studied the Religion of the Persians, pretends that these People had just Notions concerning the Deity, and believ’d but one only God. That indeed they admitted of two Principles; but one of ‘em was uncreated, and the other created. The created Principle was the World. He maintains, that the Worship they paid the Sun and Fire was merely civil and relative. The modern Persians refer their Religion to Abraham, whom some confound found with Zoroaster, and others will have him to have been the Master of Zoroaster. They think the World was created in six Days; that at the Beginning God created a Man and a Woman, from whom Mankind are derived. That there are several Terrestrial Paradises, one universal Deluge, one Moses, one Solomon. All this, without doubt, is taken from the History of the Jews, and from the Traditions of the Mahometans.
D’Herbelot. Bibl. Orient. p. 340.They hold one eternal God, call’d in their Tongue Jesdan, or Oromazdes, who is the true God, call’d by the Arabians, Allah, the Author of all Good. And also another God produced by Darkness, to whom they give the Name of Ahermen, who is properly the Eblis of the Arabians, or the Devil and the Author of all Evil. They have a very great Veneration for Light, and a very great Aversion to Darkness. God the Creator of all Things has produced Light and Darkness, and from a Mixture of these two Things, of Good and Evil, Generation and Corruption, and the Composition of all the Parts of the World is effected, and will always subsist, ‘till the Light withdrawing itself on one Side, and the Darkness on the other, shall cause a Destruction and Dissolution. This is an Abridgment of the Doctrine of Zoroaster, which is still espoused by the Magians and Guebres, who are Worshippers of Fire, and who always when they pray turn themselves to the Rising Sun.
Here is a List of the Kings of Persia, who had any Relation to the sacred History of Scripture.
Cyrus the Founder of the Persian Monarchy, reign’d nine Years after the taking of Babylon; that is, from the Year of the World 3466 to 3475, before Christ 525, before the vulgar Era 529.
Cambyses, call’d Ahasuerus, Ezr. iv. 6. reign’d seven Years and five Months. He died in the Year of the World 3482, before Christ 518, before the vulgar Era 522.
Oropastes the Magian, call’d Artaxerxes, Ezr. iv. 7. pretending to be Smerdis the Brother of Cambyses, reign’d five Months. He was kill’d by seven Conspirators, one of which was Darius the Son of Hystaspes.
Darius Son of Hystaspes; he is call’d Ahasuerus in the Hebrew of the Book of Esther, and Artaxerxes in the Greek of the same Book. He reign’d thirty-six Years, from the Year of the World 3482 to the Year 3519, before Christ 481, before the vulgar Era 485.
Xerxes I. reign’d twelve Years, from the Year of the World 3519 to 3531, before Christ 469, before the vulgar Era 473.
Artaxerxes Longimanus reign’d forty-eight Years, from 3531 to 3579, before Christ 421, before the vulgar Era 425.
Xerxes II. he reign’d but one Year, died in 3580, before Christ 420, before the vulgar Era 424.
Secundianus, or Sogdianus, his Brother and Murderer, reign’d seven Months.
Ochus, or Darius Nothus, reign’d nineteen Years, from the Year of the World 3581 to 3600, before Christ 400, before the vulgar Era 404.
Artaxerxes Mnemon reign’d fortythree Years, died in 3643, before Christ 357, before the vulgar Era 361.
Artaxerxes Ochus reign’d twenty-three Years, from the Year of the World 3643 to 3666, before Christ 334, before the vulgar Era 338.
Arsen reign’d three Years, died in 3668, before Christ 332, before the vulgar Era 336.
Darius Condomannus was conquer’d by Alexander the Great in 3674, after having reign’d six Years.
The Empire of the Persians lasted in all 208 Years.