Of the antiquity, government, customs, arts, learning, and trade, of the antient Perfians. THE Perfians were, without all doubt, a very antient The origin nation. Their country was firft peopled by Elam, or, of the Peras Jofephus calls him, Elymus, the fon of Shem; whence fans. Perfia is conftantly called by the facred writers Elam: nor does it appear, that it was known to the Jews before the captivity, by any other name. The defcendants of Elam fettled firft in that province, which from them was called Elymais; and, by degrees, as their numbers increased, fpread themselves into Sufiana, and other adjoining provinces, as appears from Daniel, who places Sufa, the metropolis of Sufiana, in the province of Elam (A). All the Greek interpreters by Elam understand Perfia, and, in the Acts, the Perfians are called Elamites F. Whence it is probable, that they were defcended from Elam, of whom both the country and inhabitants borrowed their name. How this name was changed into that of Perfia, we have already fhewn 4” THE government of Perfia was monarchical, and the Their gocrown hereditary. The kingdom of Elam feems to have vernment. been pretty powerful, even in the time of Abraham; for Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, who was contemporary with that patriarch, is faid in Scripture to have invaded the Zamzummims and Emims, who were of a gigantic race, and to have taken and pillaged the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah; tho' he was at last overthrown by Abraham, who came to the refcue of Lot, whom the Elamite had taken prifoner *. In the time of Jeremiah, Elam muft have been a great and potent kingdom, as is plain from the prophecy where he foretels the increase of Nebuchadnezzar's dominions; and particularly, that he should fubdue Elam, a kingdom on the river Ulai, to the eastward of the Tigris (B) The maje- BUT, to speak here of Perfia as the fecond of the four fty of their great empires (for, of the kings who preceded Cyrus, we kings. hall have occafion to give fome account hereafter); the Perfian monarchs were under no controul, but governed by their own arbitrary will and pleafure: they were revered by their fubjects like deities on earth, none daring to appear before their throne, without proftrating themfelves on the ground, with a kind of adoration.. Sperchies and Bulis, both Lacedemonians, refused to comply with this ceremony, as did alfo, according to Justin, Conon the Athenian; and Ifmenias the Theban declined it, as we read in Elian, by letting his ring drop from his finger, and then throwing himself on the ground to take it up: Timagoras, as we read in Valerius Maximus, was put to death by the Athenians for paying this veneration to a Perfian monarch. In the time of Apollonius none were allowed to appear before the king, who had not done the fame honours to his image. While they were in the king's prefence, they were to hold their hands, fo long as their audience lafted, within their fleeves; for neglecting this ceremony, Antofaces and Mitreus were put to death, as we read in Xenophon, by Cyrus the younger. None were fuffered to enter the royal palace without the fovereign's leave, except the -princes who flew Smerdis: all others, of what rank foever, before they fet foot in the palace, were obliged to acquaint the king by a meffenger, that they defired to attend him, and wait his royal pleasure. What refpect and obedience his vaffals paid him, we learn from Herodotus, who tells us, that Xerxes being once in j'ubica ad of J. 1 7 JUSTIN. 1. vi, > (B) Behold, I will break the before their enemies, and before bow of Elam, the chief of their them that feek their life; and 1 might. And upon Elam will I will bring evil upon them, even anger, faith the Lord; and I will fend the word after them; till I have confumed them. And I will fet my throne in Elam, and I will deftroy from thence the king and his princes, faith the Lord (1). bring the four winds from the my brings four quarters of the heaven, and will fcatter them towards all A thofe winds, and there fhall be no nation whither the outcafts of Elam fall not come. For I will caufe Elam to be difmayed (1) Jerem. xlix. 35, & feqq. great די great danger by fea, many, at the king's defire, ftrove who fhould be the firft in leaping over-board, to lighten the veffel, and fave their prince's life, at the expence of their own! They all lived in no lefs dread of the king's wrath than of the anger of the gods: whence they looked upon the incurring of his difpleasure as the greatest miffortune that could befal them in life; and were ready, at the deaft intimation given them by their prince, to become their own executioners. The crown was hereditary, and bestowed on the eldest of the deceafed king's lawful children. Inylong or dangerous expeditions, to avoid all contefts, the heir apparent was named by the reigning king, before he fet out on his journey or march. The new king was crowned at Pafargada, or, as Pliny calls it, Pafaganda, by the priests, who bore a great fway in the court of Perfiaq This ceremony was performed in the temple of the goddess of war, where the king used, first of all, to cloathe himself with the garment which Cyrus, the founder of the Perfian monarchy, had worn before he was raifed to the throne. Being thus attired, he used to eat fowe figs, with a fmall quantity of turpentine, and drink a cup full of four milk then the tiara, or crown, was placed on his head by one of the grandees, in whofe family that right was hereditary, and deemed all over Perfia the greatest honoursá fubject could enjoy. The king's tiara was by a peculiar name called cidaris, being a kind of turban rifing up with a fharp point, without bending; where as the other Perfians wore their turbans bending downwards to their foreheads, in token of fubjection: however, the defcendants of thofe, who, with Darius the fon of HyStafpes, flew the ufurping Mage, were allowed to ufe a tiara bending to the middle of their head, and not, as that of the other fubjects, reaching down to their eye-brows. Round the tiara the king wore a purple and white band, or diadem; for nothing elfe is meant by the word diadem, in the antient writers, but a band of this nature wreathed round the forehead m. This tiara, with the purple and white band, is the only enfign of royalty we find among the Perfian kings of the firft dynafty. The king's birthday was kept as facred, and celebrated with public fports in the utmoft pomp and magnificence. His death was bewailed by hutting the tribunals of juftice for five days: bro gaid yet yaradı TO Im so fand un ટ 1 i HERODOT. viii. 18. PLIN. 1. vi. c. 26. 1PLUT. in Artaxerx. DRUS. obfervat. 1. xii. c. 12. BRIS. 1. i. P. 44. and that fire which was worshiped in families as a hous hold-god, was, on that occafion alone, extinguifhed. The kings abode was, according to the feafon, 7 months at Babylon, three at Sufa (C), and two at Ecbatan: whence they are compared by Elian to cranes; and by Ariftotle to the Scythian Nomades, who, by often fhifting their abode, always enjoyed a temperate feafon. They likewife, removed to Pafargada, and fometimes to Perfepolis; which, at last, became their ordinary refidence. The king's court, n. DIODOR. SICUL. lib. viii. P. ZONAR. annal. lib. i. PALIAN. hift. natur. lib. ii. c. 3. mab sro ni Mor 1 (C) Sufa, called in Scripture Shushan, was the metropolis of the province Sufiana. It was built on the banks of the river Eulaus, called by Daniel Ulai, by Memnon, as fome fay, the fon of Tithonus, who was flain by the Theffalians in the Trojan war (2). Strabo (3), and Paufanias (4), compare the walls of Sufa even with thofe of Babylon. Caf fiodorus tells us, upon what authority we know not, and therefore give him no credit, that the walls of this city were cemented with gold. Polycle tus, as we read in Strabo (5), would make us believe, that it had no walls; which is no lefs improbable, confidering the kings of Perfia refided there three months in the year, and that great part of the treafures were lodged in it, as Diddorus informs us (6). It was called Suja, from the mamy lilies which grew in that neighbourhood, fays Stephanus, and in the Perfian language bore that name. It is 1 (2) Strabo, 1. xv. p. 500. Melfen. c. 31. } alfo called Memnonia by Heredotus (7), and others, f from its founder Memnon. In Scripture it is conftantly named (8) the palace; but, befides the king's palace, there was, without all doubt, a city, as is plain from all the profane writers. The city was was hel tered by a high ridge of mountains from the northern winds, which rendered it very agreeable during the winter; but in fummer the heat was fo parching, that the inhabitants were forced to cover their houses, as Strabo writes, with earth two cubits deep (9). Sufa was, in antient times, a weal thy and magnificent city': Alexander found in it fifty thoufand talents of gold, befides jewels of an ineftimable value, and an immenfe quantity of gold and filver veffels. Here Abafuerus kept his great feaft, which lafted one hundred and eighty-three days. It lies now in ruins, and is known, as Tavernier informs us, by the name of Schouster, or Sufter: (3) Strabo, ubi fupra. (4) Paufan. (6) Dindor. Sic. 1. xvii. c. 66. 2. Nebem. 1. (5) Ubi fupra. (8) Dan. viii. 2. (7) Herodot, I. v. c. 54. (9) Strabo, 1. xv. p. 503•. Efb. i. 2. or or palace, had many gates, and each gate a body of guards, whofe duty it was not only to defend the king's perfon, but to inform him of whatever they faw, or heard done, in any part of the kingdom: whence they were called, fome the king's ears, others, as Ariftotle informs us, the king's eyes. To these meffengers were fent from the most remote provinces of the empire, when any thing happened worthy of the king's knowlege; and befides, they received immediate intelligence of any fudden commotion by means of fires, which were always ready at small distances from each other, and lighted when occafion required: fo that they could, in one day, receive notice of any tumult, rebellion, or invafion, in what part foever it happened of that vaft empire. г THE king's palace was deemed facred, and refpected as The king's a temple. It was extremely magnificent, and furnished palace dewith utenfils of ineftimable value. The walls and roofs of scribed. the rooms were all covered with ivory, filver, amber, or gold. The throne was of pure gold, fupported by four pillars, richly fet with precious ftones. The king's bed was likewife of gold; and Herodotus mentions a planetree and vine of gold, prefented to Darius by Pythius a Lydian, who, after the king of Perfia, was accounted the richest man in the world (D). The body and branches of this vine, fays Athenæus, were enriched with jewels of great value; and the clusters of grapes were all precious ftones, which hung over the king's head as he fat on the throne. At his bed's head ftood always a chest or coffer, containing five thousand talents, which was called the king's bolfter; and another at his feet, with three thoufand talents. Adjoining to the king's palace were large gardens 9 ARIST. 1. de mundo. HERODOT. 1. vii. c. 27. ATHEN. 4. xii. Vide BUDÆUM de aff. 1. iv. t BUDÆUS, me to / SSL ubi fupra. (10) Herodot, I. vii, c. 27. & feg, |