put all his affairs to hazard in one battle, which he loft, and with it his life, being killed fighting bravely for the liberty of his country, after a reign fome fay of fix, others of thirty years; but whether the former may not include the reigns of Zab, and of this prince too, or whether the latter ought to be accounted the time that this monarch reigned alone, we pretend not to determine. In this all are agreed, that here the empire of the Pifchdadians ended; and that Afrafiab, the defcendant of Tur, became a third time abfolute lord of Perfia 9. How he afterwards loft the poffeffion of this empire, will be fhewn in its proper place. In the mean time, it may not be amiss to infert here fome remarks on the foregoing period, in order to justify the obfervation we have so often made, that oriental history, though mixed with fables, is not altogether useless (G). ? D'HERBELOT. art. Gherschtafb, Kischstafp. (G) In the course of this work, our method has been to fpeak firft of the chronology, and afterwards of the hiftory of each country; in the prefent cafe it was impracticable, unless we had tormented the reader with needlefs repetitions, and naufeous tautologies. We have therefore chosen to give the feries of the Perfian history, relating to the kings of the first race, as it lies in Mirkhond, and other authors; and, after laying down these facts as foundations of onr arguments, to lead the reader by degrees to what we esteem the true ftate of the antient Persian empire. In the first place it is remarkable, that the oriental writers make this race of kings Medes by descent. The province of Aderbayagjan, of which they make Kejomaras to have been at firft fovereign, is a part of Media, taking in also a part of Armenia; fo that, in all probability, it was one of the first peopled pro As vinces of the dominion of Shem, if we fuppofe, that territories were ascertained and set out immediately after the flood. Within this province stands the little town, that is, confidering it in its prefent condition, Nackfbivan, which the inhabitants affirm to have been the first town built after the flood; and indeed, in the Armenian language, the very name implies as much, it being equivalent to the first place, or first habitation (1). Thus the early erecting of a monarchy hereabouts is rendered everywhere probable, and confiftent with the most antient accounts facred and profane. As the power of Kejomaras increased, he extended his territories towards the east, and towards the fouth; for it is agreed, that he made himself mafter of Irakagami, afterwards Parthia; and, in procefs of time, joined thereto the province of Phars, or Proper Perfia; where, fome hiftorians affirm, he founded the city of (1) Tavernier voyag, tom. i. p. 43. Chardin, voyag, tom. i. p. 250. Iftack, As to the religion of these antient kings, we have already fhewn it to be very near the true religion; that is, the religion of the patriarchs. The worship of fire was indifputably a very antient doctrine; and there feems to be no reafon for doubting the truth of what fome authors have affirmed, that it took its rife in, if not before, the time of Kejomaras. Certain it is, Iftachr, afterwards called Perfepolis, though others deny it, and fay it was later. The fucceffors of this prince conquered Khirman and Sigjiftan, and afterwards many other countries on the east of the prefent Perfian empire. It was Phridun, or Feridoun, who fettled the dominions of Perfia in pretty near the fame order we find them at this day: it is evident therefore, that the kings of the first race were not petty princes or tributaries, but lords of a very extenfive empire. As to the capital of their dominions in the time of Kejomaras, fome think it was at Balch in Chorafan, others at Iftachr. Perhaps he might firft fix his refidence at Balch, and afterwards remove it into the heart of his kingdom. Hufhangh refided again at Balch; Gjemfchid fettled himfelf at Iftachr, and is, by moft of the Perfian authors, efteemed its founder. In the reigns of fucgceeding kings, though their royal refidence might fometimes be changed, yet Iftachr remained the capital, and received, from time to time, great improvements from the Perfian monarchs. Kifchtafp, the laft of them, had a peculiar liking to this place, and, no doubt, took pains to re-edify whatever injuries it might have fuftained through the courfe of a long Thus the glory of this city, which was afterwards fo war. famous among the Greeks under the name of Perfepolis, began, as we observed in our defcription of Perfia, under the first race of kings (2). How it was afterwards adorned with a royal palace, of which the ruins are ftill remaining, we fhall fhew in the hiftory of the princes of the fecond race: in the mean time, let it be remembred, that feveral princes of the dynasty of the Pifchdadians were great lovers of arts, and great encouragers of ingenuity and learning: if therefore there were in their time, especially in the days of Manugeher, who is particularly famous in the oriental history for delighting in architecture, and every thing dependent thereon; if, in his days, we fay, there were any artists capable of carving in ftone, they might have employed their time in cutting fome of those wonderful histories in bas-relief, which are yet vifible in the living rock, behind the ruins of Chilminar, or of the other works of a like kind remaining in other parts of Perfia. This, we fay, is poffible, and not improbable; but we affirm nothing: the piety, however, of Manugeher is a circumstance nothing unfavourable to this conjecture, that the king, praying before the fire, and in fight of the fun, reprefented in the mountain before-mentioned, might be intended for him. ་ (2) D'Herbelot, biblioth. orient. art. Eftekar. that that the province, where he began to reign was the first in which magifm prevailed; and was always held facred by the profeffors of that religion, on that account: this the very name implies; for Aderbayagjan is no more than the place of fire, ader or azer fignifying fire, and bayagjan a place; whence we frequently find this word thus written, Azerbayagjan. The high mountain of Albors was the principal place of worfhip in thefe early times; and the people were perfuaded, that celeftial fire was preferved there: on this account, when the treasures of Nudar king of Perfia were removed out of Sigjiftan, as we have before related, they were, for fecurity, placed here. Nay, what is far more extraordinary, this fuperftition is not yet worn out of the heads of the Ghaurs, if we may believe Sir John Chardin; on the contrary, they yet speak confidently of celeftial or elemental fire, which they fay is ftill to be seen in this mountain. On the whole, therefore, the religion of the Perfians, under the firft race of kings, differed very little from that which still fubfifts among the Ghaurs. Some, indeed, have been of opinion, that there were no pyrea or fire-temples at all before the time of Zoroafter or Zerdusht; others, on the authority of fome Arabian writers, affert the contrary; but the former opinion to us feems nearest the truth, for the following reafons: First, The most antient historians extant fay nothing of temples till after the time of the exodus of the children of Ifrael. Secondly, becaufe Herodotus fays exprefly, that the antient Perfians had no temples, but facrificed on the tops of high mountains t. And thirdly, because pyrea being at that time in use, is not confiftent with the hiftory of Zerdusht, as we fhall fhortly have occafion to fhew. As to the time when these kings reigned, we can determine nothing with any degree of certainty. The Scripture informs us, that Elam was a very antient kingdom; for Chedorlaomer came with a great army to reduce the region of Pentapolis in Canaan, and the circumjacent countries, to his obedience, in the days of Abraham: from thence we hear nothing of this nation till the kingdoms of Ifrael and Judah were on their decline. In refpect to these antient times, the Greek writers are very infufficient guides, if we may believe the most judicious writer of hiftory that nation ever produced, viz. Thucydides; who very frankly declares they knew very little of their own affairs beyond the memory of man ; that is, they were able to give no account of them with order and certainty. Herodotus pretends not to fay any thing of the hiftory of the Medes above one hundred and fifty years before the time of Cyrus, P. 253- t HERODOT. 1. i. c. 131. $ CHARDIN. Voyag. tom. i. THUCYDIDES, proœm. hift: where where he places Dejoces, whom he makes the first king of Media, and fpeaks of his advancement to that dignity in terms x exactly correfpondent to those made ufe of by Mirkhond, in his hiftory of the election of Kejomaras. Diodorus Siculus gives us a lift of ten Median kings, reigning in all, two hundred and eighty-two years. But there is ftill a great gap of time between the rife of the Perfian or Medo-Perfian monarchy, and its being deftroyed by the Affyrian emperors. If we allow the Perfians to have had kings of their own during this interval, or any confiderable part of it, which is not at all improbable, we make room for all the Pifchdadians at once. But as to the precife time in which they reigned, we are quite in the dark; and therefore, inftead of indulging conjectures, shall resume the thread of our hiftory, and thew by what steps Apherafiab was expelled, and the Perfian dominions once more reftored to a prince of that country. The biftory of the Perfian kings of the fecond race, or of the dynafty of the Kainites. KEykobad or Caicobad, whom fome writers make the fon of KeykoZab, the fon of Tahamafp, the fon of Manugeher, king bad. of Perfia, and others call fimply the nephew of Nudar was feated on the throne of Perfia by the famous Zal-zer, who was fo loyal to the family that raifed him, that he twice refused the Perfian diadem, because he would not injure them. At this time, he and his fon Ruftan put themselves at the head of fuch a body of troops, as enabled them to give Apherafiab = abundance of trouble, and, by degrees, to put into the poffeffion of Keykobad the greatest part of the provinces of Perfia. This monarch proved at once a good prince to his fubjects in general, and extremely grateful to the perfons particularly concerned in raising him to the empire. He intrufted the command of all his forces with Ruftan, and did nothing in civil affairs without the advice of his father. By degrees, his troops, under the command of the famous hero before-mentioned, gained fuch advantages, that Apherafiab retired before them, and was at laft driven to fuch diftrefs, that he defired to treat of a peace; but his commiffioners, and thofe of the king of Perfia, differing about the terms, Apherafiab hazarded a fe cond battle, wherein, notwithstanding his troops fought with great refolution, he was totally defeated. In the heat of this engagement, Ruftan defired fome of the officers about him to fhew him Apherafiab; which when they had done, Ruftan fpurred towards him with such an impetuous force, that he y Biblioth. 1. ii, c. 3. A a 3 HERODOT. 1. i. c. 97, 98. beat beat him from his horse, and, afterwards difmounting from his own, tied his hands and feet together with a cord; and, having laid him before himself upon his own fteed, rode out of the battle, and threw him into a particular place. Apherafiab, finding himself left alone, struggled with fuch force, that he at laft got loofe: then taking the card, he tied the hands and feet of a dead man, as Ruftan had tied his, and retired to a troop of his own horse, with whom he made his escape. After victory had declared itfelf in favour of the army of Keykobad, Ruftan rode up to falute him. Amongst other compliments of congratulation, he informed him, that the war was now at an end, himself having made Apherafiab prifoner, whom he also promised immediately to produce. Riding, to that end, to the place where he had thrown the Turkish monarch, he found, with furprize, a dead man tied in his place. For this overfight of his he asked pardon of Keykobad, and folemnly promised, that, if he met Apherafiab in battle again, he would not make the fame mistake. But that prince, finding his affairs defperate in Perfia, retired into Turqueftan, and fent from thence an embaffador to treat with Keykobad; who was eafily prevailed on not to carry his arms into Touran, when the right of him, and his family, to Iran, was acknowleged by Apherafiab, and all the scattered remnants of his army withdrawn 2. The peace once fettled, Keykobad applied himself to the reftoring the affairs of his kingdom; and, in the first place, fixed his court at Spahawn, which had been built by the famous king Houfhangh, adorned by Phridun, and afterwards given by him to Kash the fmith, and his family. The reafon, in all probability, which determined Keykobad to refide here, was its convenient fituation in the heart of his dominions. His court once fixed, the king next beftowed his favours on fuch as had been inftrumental in the expulfion of the Turks. To Ruftan he gave the province of Zabluftan, on the borders of India, watered with many pleasant ftreams, and adorned with the fineft prospects that can be wifhed. This province afforded a furname to Ruftan, and received 'itself a new name from him, that hero being ftiled, in moft of the romances, Zabeli, becaufe he was governor of Zabluftan; and that province, or at leaft a great part of it, was thenceforward called Ruftandar, because it had been the government of Ruftan. Maharab, furnamed Kabuli, because he had been governor of Kabul, was another of Keykobad's generals, and highly efteemed by him. Kavun, one of the defcendents of the famous Kaoh the fmith, was also a perfon highly esteemed by this king of Perfia; but what particu z MIRKHOND. hift. fect. 12. D'HERBELOT. biblioth. orient. art. Afrafiab, Caikobad, Ruftan.. laş |