Persian religion

See ZoROASTRIANISM. PERSIANS (mp, Πέρσαι, Perse; in old Persian PERSIC VERSIONS repr¢ bated by Darius Hystaspis in his inscriptions, seems chiefly to mean revolt against himself. They wore a tunic and trousers, cap, shoes, and upper robe, practised polygamy, and were ex- ceedingly intemperate in drinking. They were followers of Zoroaster (see ZOROASTRIANISM), and believed in a supreme god of good called Ahura- mazda (Ormazd), against whom there was ranged & spirit or principle of evil.

By the side of Ahura- mazda were a number of inferior deities, chief among whom was the sun-god Mithra. According to Herodotus (i. 125) they were divided into 10 tribes, of which 3 were noble, 3 agricultural, and 4 nomadic. One of the nomadic was the tribe of the Dahi, supposed to be the Dehavites of Ezr 4°. The royal clan of the Achemenides belonged to the noble tribe of Pasargada.

In the time of Sennacherib the Persians were ae eee in Parsuas or Persia, and sent help to the king of Elam against the Assyrians. This Parsuas must be distinguished from another northern Parsuas or Barsuas, on the shores of Lake Urumiyeh, with which the Parthians have been connected by some scholars. The first Persian leader known to us was Hakhdmanish or Achemenes. His son Chaishpish or Teispes ee in Assyrian) conquered Anzan in Elam in the closing days of the Assyr.empire.

His daughter Atossa is said to have married Pharnakes, king of Cappadocia (Diod. ap. Phot. Bibliot. p. 1158). After the death of Teispes his kingdom seems to have been divided—Aridriimna (Ariaramnes), Arshima (Arsammes), and Vishtaspa (Hystaspes) paling in Persia, while Cyrus I. (Kuras), Cambyses 1. (Kambuziya), and Cyrus 1. ruledin Anzan. Cyrus U. conquered Astyages of Ecbatana, his suzerain, ‘n B.C. 549 and the Bab. empire in 538. The rest of W.

Asia fell before his arms, and when he died his empire extended from Lydia in the west to the borders of India in the east. His son Cambyses II. (B.C. 529-521) added Egypt to his dominions. Then came the usurpation of the gay eter Gaumata (Gomates), for 7 months, followed by his murder and the accession of Darius, the son of Hystaspes, who slowly won back the provinces of the empire which had revolted under various pre- tenders, and who may be regarded as the real founder of the Persian empire.

In B.C. 486 Darius was succeeded by his son Xerxes, the Aliasuerus of the OT, who vainly tried to conquer Greece ; then came Artaxerxes Longimanus (B.C. 466-425), Xerxes U. for 2 months, Sogdianos his half- brother for 7 months, and Darius 11. Nothos (B.c. 424-405). The last four kings were Artaxerxes Mnemon, who succeeded his father Darius IL, B.C. 405, and against whom his brother Cyrus the younger revolted in B.c. 401; Artaxerxes Ochus, called Uvasu in the cuneiform texts, B.C.

362; his son Arses, B.C. 339; and Darius 1. Codomannus, B.C. 336 (see Neh 12”), who was conquered by Alexander the Great, B.C. 333. A. H. SAYCE.