many Jews into captivity. The day of their deliverance, when Babylon itself should bow to a foreign foe, was still far distant. 12. The World Empire of Persia Not much earlier than the break-up of the Assyrian Empire, we find a new and vigorous people pressing into western Iran. They were the Persians, near kinsmen of the Medes. Subjects at first of Assyria, and then of Media, they regained their independence and secured imperial power under a conquering king whom history Cyrus the 553-529 B.C. Its The mausoleum is built of immense marble blocks, joined together without cement. total height, including the seven steps, is about thirty-five feet. A solitary pillar near the tomb still bears the inscription: "I am Cyrus, the King, the Achæmenian." knows as Cyrus the Great. In 553 B.C. Cyrus revolted against the Median monarch and three years later captured the royal city of Ecbatana. The Medes and Persians formed henceforth a united people. Conquest of Lydia by Cyrus, 546 The conquest of Media was soon followed by a war with the Lydians, who had been allies of the Medes. The throne of Lydia, a state in the western part of Asia Minor, was at this time held by Croesus, the last and most famous of his line. The king grew so wealthy from the tribute paid by Lydian subjects and from his gold mines that his name has passed into the proverb, "rich as Croesus." He viewed with alarm the rising B.C. power of Cyrus and rashly offered battle to the Persian monarch. Defeated in the open field, Croesus shut himself up in Sardis, his capital. The city was soon taken, however, and with its capture the Lydian kingdom came to an end. The downfall of Lydia prepared the way for a Persian attack on Babylonia. The conquest of that DARIUS WITH HIS ATTEND- Bas-relief at Persepolis. The monarch's right hand grasps a staff or scepter; his left hand, a bunch of flowers. His head is surmounted by a crown; his body is enveloped in the long Median mantle. Above the king is a representation of the divinity which guarded and guided him. In the rear are two Persian nobles, one carrying the royal fan, the other the royal parasol. of Cambyses, was marked lon opened its gates to the Persian host. Shortly afterwards Cyrus issued a decree allowing the Jewish exiles there to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple, which Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed. With the surrender of Babylon the last Semitic empire in the East came to an end. The Medes and Persians, an IndoEuropean people, henceforth ruled over a wider realm than ever before had been formed in Oriental lands. Cyrus was followed by his son, Cambyses, a cruel but stronghanded despot. Cambyses determined to Cambyses, add Egypt to the Per529-522 B.C. sian dominions. His land army was supported by a powerful fleet, to which the Phoenicians and the Greeks of Cyprus contributed ships. A single battle sufficed to overthrow the Egyptian power and to bring the long rule of the Pharaohs to a close.1 The reign of Darius, the successor by further extensions of the frontiers. An expedition to the distant East added to the empire the region 1 See page 29. of the Punjab,' along the upper waters of the Indus. Another. expedition against the wild Scythian tribes along the Danube led to conquests in Europe and brought the Persian dominions close to those of Darius the 521-485 B.C. the Greeks. Not without reason could Darius describe himself in an inscription which still survives, as "the great king, king of kings, king of countries, king of all men." ROCK SEPULCHERS OF THE PERSIAN KINGS The tombs are those of Darius, Xerxes, and two of their successors. They are It was the work of Darius to provide for his dominions a stable government which should preserve what the sword had won. The problem was difficult. The empire Organization was a collection of many peoples widely different of the Persian Empire in race, language, customs, and religion. Darius did not attempt to weld the conquered nations into unity. As long as the subjects of Persia paid tribute and furnished troops for the royal army, they were allowed to conduct their own affairs with little interference from the Great King. The entire empire, excluding Persia proper, was divided into twenty satrapies, or provinces, each one with its civil 1 See page 21. The satrapal system governor, or satrap. The satraps carried out the laws and collected the heavy tribute annually levied throughout the empire. In most of the provinces there were also military governors who commanded the army and reported directly to the king. This device of intrusting the civil and military functions to separate officials lessened the danger of revolts against the Persian authority. As-an additional precaution Darius provided special agents whose business it was to travel from province to province and investigate the conduct of his officials. It became a proverb that "the king has many eyes and many ears." Persian roads Darius also established a system of military roads throughout the Persian dominions. The roads were provided at frequent intervals with inns, where postmen stood always in readiness to take up a letter and carry it to the next station. The Royal Road from Susa, the Persian capital, to Sardis in Lydia was over fifteen hundred miles long; but government couriers, using relays of fresh horses, could cover the distance within a week. An old Greek writer declares with admiration that "there is nothing mortal more swift than these messengers." 1 East under The political history of the East fitly ends with the three Persian conquerors, Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius, who thus Union of the brought into their huge empire every great state of Oriental antiquity. Medes and Persians, Babylonians and Assyrians, Lydians, Syrians, and Egyptians - all were at length united under a single dominion. In the reign of Darius this united Orient first comes into contact with the rising power of the Greek states of Europe. So we may leave its history here, resuming our narrative when we discuss the momentous conflict between Persia and Greece, which was to affect the course, not alone of Persian or Greek, but of all European history.2 1 Herodotus, viii, 98. 2 See chapter v. |