"the mighty one of the heathen-the terrible of the nations."

Median valor was utterly merciless. Median armies, we are told, did “dash to pieces" the fighting-men of other nations, giving them no quarter; and inflicted indignities and cruelties upon the women and children of their enemies. The worst atrocities which lust and hate inspired accompanied the Median conquests, neither the virtue of women nor the innocence of children being any protection to them. The infant was slain before its parents' eyes, and the sanctity of the domestic hearth was invaded. Insult and vengeance were allowed full scope, and the brutal Median soldiery freely indulged their tiger-like thirst for the blood of their foes.

The habits of the Medes were at first simple and manly; but, as with all conquering Oriental nations, success was at once followed by degeneracy, and the Medes in due time became corrupted and enervated by the luxuries of conquest. After their conquests they relaxed the stringency of their former habits and indulged in the pleasures of soft and luxurious living. Xenophon contrasted in vivid colors the primitive simplicity of Persia proper, where the old Aryan habits, once common to both nations, were still maintained in all their original stringency, with the luxury and magnificence prevailing at Ecbatana. Herodotus and Strabo alluded to the luxury of the Median dress. Thus it appears that the Medes in the later days of their empire were a luxurious people, displaying a pomp and magnificence unknown to their ancestors, affecting splendor in their dress, grandeur and elegant ornamentation in their buildings, variety in their banquets, and reaching a degree of civilization almost equal to that of the Assyrians, though vastly inferior to them in taste and refinement. Their ornamentation displayed a barbaric magnificence, distinguished by richness of material. Literature and letters received little attention. A stately dress and a new style of architecture are the only Median inventions. Professor Rawlinson says of the Medes:

"They were brave, energetic, enterprising, fond of display, capable of appreciating to some extent the advantages of civilized life; but they had little genius, and the world is scarcely indebted to them for a single important addition to the general stock of its ideas."

Herodotus says that in the army of Xerxes the Medes were armed exactly like the Persians, and that they wore a soft felt cap on the head, a sleeved tunic on the body, and trousers on the legs. He tells us that their offensive arms were the spear, the bow and the dagger. They had large wicker shields, and carried their quivers suspended at their backs. The tunic was sometimes made into a coat of mail by adding to it on the outside a number of small iron plates arranged so as to overlap each other like the scales of a fish. They served alike on horseback and on foot, with like equipments in both cases. Strabo and Xenophon, as well as Isaiah and Jeremiah, describe the Median armies as originally simpler in character. The primitive Medes were a nation of horse-archers. Trained from early boyhood to a variety of equestrian exercises, and skillful in the use of the bow, they dashed upon their enemies with swarms of horse, like the Scythians, and won their victories mainly by the skillful discharge of their arrows as they advanced, retreated, or manoeuvred about their foe. The prophet Jeremiah spoke of the sword and the spear being used by the Medes and Persians.

The sculptures of Persepolis represent the bow used by the Medes and Persians as short, and curved like that of the Assyrians. It was generally carried in a bow-case, either suspended at the back or from the girdle. The arrows, carried in a quiver suspended behind the right shoulder, were not over three feet long. The quiver was round, covered at the top and fastened by means of a flap and strap, the last passed over a button. The Median spear, or lance, was six or seven feet long. The sword was short, and was suspended at the right thigh by means of a belt encircling the waist, and

The sculptures show us the favorite dress of the Medes in peace. The Persian basreliefs represent the long flowing robe, with its graceful folds, as the garb of the kings, the chief nobles and the chief officers of the court. This dress is also seen upon the darics and the gems, and is believed to be the celebrated "Median garment" mentioned by Herodotus, Xenophon and Strabo. This garment fitted closely to the chest and shoulders, but hung over the arms in two large loose sleeves open at the bottom. It was fastened at the waist by a cincture. Below it drooped in two clusters of perpendicular folds at both sides, and hung between these in festoons like a curtain. It reached to the ankles. The Median robes were of many colors, some being purple, some scarlet, and others a dark gray or a deep crimson. Procopius says that they were made of silk. Xenophon says that the Medes wore undergarments, such as a sleeved shirt, or tunic, of a purple color, and embroidered trousers. The feet were covered with high shoes or low boots, opening in front and fastened with buttons. The Medes wore felt caps like the Persians, or high-crowned hats, made of felt or cloth, and dyed in different hues.

Xenophon tells us that the Medes used cosmetics, rubbing them into the skin to improve the complexion. They also used false hair in abundance. Like other Oriental nations, ancient and modern, they used dyes to improve the brilliancy of the eyes and make them appear larger and softer. They also wore golden ornaments, such as chains or collars around the neck, bracelets around the wrists, and ear-rings fastened into the ears. The bits and other parts of the harness of their horses were also frequently of gold. Xenophon also tells us that the Medes were extremely luxurious at their banquets.

Not only plain meat and various kinds of game, with bread and wine, but many side-dishes and different kinds of sauces, were set before their guests. They

ate with the hand, as Orientals still do, and used napkins. Each guest had his own dishes. Wine was drunk at the meal and afterwards, and the feast often ended in turmoil and confusion. At court the king received his wine at the hands of the cupbearer, who first tasted it, so that the king might be certain that it was not poisoned, and then handed it to his master with much pomp and ceremony.

The court ceremonial was imposing. Herodotus tells us that the monarch was ordinarily kept secluded, and that no person could be admitted to his presence without formally requesting an audience and without being led before the sovereign by the proper officer. Strabo says that when he was admitted he prostrated himself with the same signs of adoration as when he entered a temple. The king, surrounded by his attendants, eunuchs and others, maintained a haughty reserve, and the visitor only saw him from a distance. Business was mainly transacted by writing. The monarch seldom left his palace, and was informed of the state of his empire through the reports of his officers.

The chief court amusement was hunting, but the king himself seldom participated in this pastime. Beasts of the chase were always abundant in Media; and the Median nobles are mentioned by Xenophon as hunting lions, bears, leopards, wild boars, stags, gazelles, wild sheep and wild asses. The first four of these were considered dangerous, the others harmless. These animals were usually pursued on horseback, and aimed at with the bow or the spear.

The Median monarch, like other Oriental sovereigns, maintained a seraglio, or harem, of wives and concubines; and polygamy was

Thus corruption gradually sapped the vitality of the empire; and both the court and people had abandoned the hardy and simple customs of their ancestors, and had become enervated through luxury when the revolt of the Persians under Cyrus brought the Median Empire to a speedy end.

Median architecture was characterized by a barbaric magnificence. It is believed that the Medes had learned sculpture from the Assyrians and that they taught it to the Persians; as everywhere among the remains of the Achæmenian kings are seen modifica

tions of Assyrian types, such as the carving of winged genii, of colossal figures of bulls and lions, of grotesque monsters, and of clumsy representations of actual life, in imitation from Assyrian bas-reliefs. The only remnant of sculpture remaining that can be assigned to the Medes is a portion of a colos sal stone lion yet to be seen at Hamadan, greatly injured by time, and consisting of the head and body of the lion, measuring about twelve feet, the tail and the forelegs being broken off. Its posture indicates some originality in Median art.

HE great Iranic religion-the faith of the Bactrians, and of the Medes and Persians for many centuries-was founded by the ancient Bactrian sage and prophet, Zoroaster, or Zarathustra; and its sacred book was the Zend-Avesta. Zoroaster claimed divine inspiration and professed to have occasional revelations from the Supreme Being, delivering them to his people in a mythical form and securing their acceptance as divine by the Bactrian people, after which his religion gradually spread among the other Iranic nations. It was the religion of the Persians until driven out by the intolerance of Mohammedanism in the seventh century after Christ. It now exists in Guzerat and Bombay in Hindoostan, as the creed of the Parsees, descendants of Persians who sought refuge there after the Mohammedan conquest of Persia. The Median and Persian kings, as servants of Ormazd, worshiped the fire and the sun-symbols of the god; and resisted the impure griffinthe creature of Ahriman. The Zend-Avesta teaches that every created being has its Fereuer, or Fravashis, its ideal essence, first created by the thought of Ormazd. Ormazd himself has his Fravashis, and the angelic essences are objects of adoration everywhere to the disciples of Zoroaster.

Plato mentioned Zoroaster about four centuries before Christ. In speaking of the education of a Persian prince, Plato says that "one teacher instructs him in the magic of Zoroaster, the son (or priest) of Ormazd (or Oramazes), in which is comprehended all the worship of the gods." Zoroaster is also spoken of by Diodorus, Plutarch, the elder Pliny, and many writers of the first centuries after Christ. The worship of the Magi, the Median and Persian priesthood, is described by Herodotus before Plato. Herodotus gives full accounts of the ritual, the priests, the sacrifices, the purifications, and the mode of burial employed by the Magi in his day, about four and a half centuries before Christ; and his account closely corresponds with the practices of the Parsees, or fireworshipers, yet remaining in a few places in Persia and India. He says: "The Persians have no altars, no temples nor images; they worship on the tops of the mountains. They adore the heavens, and sacrifice to the sun, moon, earth, fire, water and winds." "They do not erect altars, nor use libations, fillets or cakes. One of the Magi sings an ode concerning the origin of the gods, over the sacrifice, which is laid on a bed of tender grass." "They pay great reverence to all rivers, and must do nothing to defile them; in burying they never put the body in the

ground till it has been torn by some bird or dog; they cover the body with wax, and then put it in the ground." "The Magi think they do a meritorious act when they kill ants, snakes, reptiles."

Zoroaster and his precepts:

"Some believe that there are two Godsas it were, two rival workmen; the one whereof they make to be the maker of good things, and the other bad. And some call the better of these God, and the other Dæmon; as doth Zoroastres, the Magee, whom they report to be five thousand years elder than the Trojan times. This Zoroastres therefore called the one of these Oromazes, and the other Arimanius; and affirmed, moreover, that the one of them did, of anything sensible, the most resemble light, and the other darkness and ignorance; but that Mithras was in the middle betwixt them. For which cause, the Persians called Mithras the mediator. And they tell us that he first taught mankind to make vows and offerings of thanksgiving to the one, and to offer averting and feral sacrifice to the other. For they beat a certain plant called homomy in a mortar, and call upon Pluto and the dark; and then mix it with the blood of a sacrificed wolf, and convey it to a certain place where the sun never shines, and there cast it away. For of plants they believe, that some pertain to the good God, and others again to the evil Dæmon; and likewise they think that such animals as dogs, fowls, and urchins belong to the good; but water animals to the bad, for which reason they account him happy that kills most of them.

These men, moreover, tell us a great many romantic things about these gods, whereof these are some: They say that Oromazes, springing from purest light, and Arimanius, on the other hand, from pitchy darkness, these two are therefore at war with one another. And that Oromazes made six gods, whereof the first was the author of benevolence, the second of truth, the third of justice, and the rest, one of wisdom, one of wealth, and a third of that pleasure which accrues from good actions; and that

1-16.-U. H.

stars.

But one star (called Sirius or the Dog) he set as a kind of sentinel or scout before all the rest. And after he had made four-and-twenty gods more, he placed them all in an egg-shell. But those that were made by Arimanius (being themselves also of the like number) breaking a hole in this beauteous and glazed egg-shell, bad things came by this means to be intermixed with good. But the fatal time is now approaching, in which Arimanius, who by means of this brings plagues and famines upon the earth, must of necessity be himself utterly extinguished and destroyed; at which time, the earth, being made plain and level, there will be one life, and one society of mankind, made all happy, and one speech. But Theopompus saith, that, according to the opinion of the Magees, each of these gods subdues, and is subdued by turns, for the space of three thousand years apiece, and that for three thousand years more they quarrel and fight and destroy each other's works; but that at last Pluto shall fail, and mankind shall be happy, and neither need food, nor yield a shadow. And that the god who projects these things doth, for some time, take his repose and rest; but yet this time is not so much to him although it seems so to man, whose sleep is but short. Such, then, is the mythology of the Magees."

This description of the ancient Median and Persian religion, by Plutarch, corresponds with the religion of the modern Parsees, as it was developed out of the primitive doctrine taught by Zoroaster.

A little over a century ago an enterprising, energetic and enthusiastic young Frenchman, Anquetil du Perron-who had learned the Zend language, in which the ZendAvesta was written, from the Parsees at Surat, in India-brought one hundred and eighty manuscripts of that sacred book to Europe and published them in French in

1771, thus giving us a new and clear idea of the religious system and faith of the ancient Medes and Persians. For the last half century eminent Orientalists - the Frenchman Burnouf, and the Germans Westergaard, Brockhaus, Spiegel, Haug, Windischmann, Hübschmann-have analyzed the Zend-Avesta, and have found that its different parts belong to different dates. The Gâthâs, or rhythmical hymns, are found to be very ancient.

Modern Orientalists and antiquarians differ widely as to the age of the books of the Zend-Avesta, and as to the period at which Zoroaster lived. Plato spoke of "the magic (or religious doctrines) of Zoroaster the Ormazdian." Plato spoke of his religion as Magism, or the Median system, in Western Iran; while the Zend-Avesta originated in Bactria, or Eastern Iran, at least no later than the sixth or seventh century before Christ. When the Zend-Avesta was written Bactria was an independent kingdom, and Zoroaster is represented as teaching under King Vistacpa. Bunsen says that "the date of Zoroaster, as fixed by Aristotle, cannot be said to be very irrational. He and Eudoxus, according to Pliny, place him six thousand years before the death of Plato; Hermippus, five thousand years before the Trojan war," which would be about B. C. 6300, or B. C. 6350. Bunsen, however, further says: "At the present stage of the inquiry the question whether this date is set too high cannot be answered either in the negative or affirmative." Spiegel regards Zoroaster as a neighbor and contemporary of Abraham, and thus living about B. C. 2000. Döllinger believes that he may have flourished "somewhat later than Moses, perhaps about B. C. 1300;" but says that "it is impossible to fix precisely" when he did live. Rawlinson alludes only to the fact that Berosus placed him anterior to B. C. 2234. Haug believes the Gâthâs, the oldest songs of the Zend-Avesta, to have been composed as early as the time of Moses. Duncker and Rapp think Zoroaster lived about B. C. 1200 or 1300; and their view agrees with the period assigned to him by

Xanthus of Sardis, a Greek writer of the sixth century before Christ, and by Cephalion in the second century after Christ.

The place where Zoroaster lived, and the events of his life, are not known with certainty. Most writers think that he lived in Bactria. Haug holds that the language of the Zend-Avesta is Bactrian. A highly fabulous and mythical life of Zoroaster, translated by Anquetil du Perron, called the Zartusht-Namah, represents him as going to Iran in his thirtieth year, passing twenty years in the desert, performing miracles during ten years, and teaching philosophical lessons in Babylon, Pythagoras being one of his pupils; but this account is proven to be false. Says Professor Max Müller: "The language of the Avesta is so much more primitive than the inscriptions of Darius, that many centuries must have passed between the two periods represented by these two strata of language." The Behistun Inscriptions of Darius are in the Achæmenian dialect, a later linguistic development of the Zend.

Though nothing is known of the events of his life, Zoroaster, by his essentially moral religion, influenced various Aryan races over wide regions for many centuries. His religion was in the interest of morality, human freedom, and the progress of mankind. Zoroaster based his law on the eternal distinction between right and wrong. His law was therefore the law of justice, according to which the supreme good consists in truth, duty and right. Zoroaster taught providence, aimed at holiness, and emphasized creation. He maintained that salvation was only wrought out by an eternal battle between good and evil.

The whole religion of the Zend-Avesta revolves around the person of Zoroaster, or Zarathustra. In the Gâthâs of the Yaçna, the oldest of the second books, he is designated "the pure Zarathustra, good in thought, speech and work." Zarathustra only is said to know the precepts of AhuraMazda (Ormazd), and that he shall be made skillful in speech. In one of the Gâthâs he asserts his wish to bring knowledge to the