Euphrates. The Christian army that opposed him, was commanded by Justinian, son of Germanus, nephew of the late Emperor, and who, soon after the elevation of Tiberius, had entered into a conspiracy against him, at the instigation of the Empress Sophia; but throwing himself on the mercy of Tiberius and candidly avowing his crime, the new Emperor not only pardoned his offence, but knowing his merit, confided to him the command against the Persians. The two armies met a little to the west of Melitene, situated near the confluence of the Mela and Euphrates. After a severe conflict, Khosroes was defeated. In his retreat he burnt Melitene, and, to save himself, swam across the Euphrates on the back of an elephant. In addition to the disgrace and misfortune of this defeat, his dominions were menaced by an invasion of a new enemy, named the Turks. Neither his mind nor body was now in a state to support such a reverse of fortune, and encounter the difficulties that presented themselves; he sunk into the grave in the 48th year of his reign and 80th of his age, and was succeeded by his eldest son Hormouz, a prince unworthy to fill the throne of his illustrious father. On the western side of the mountains of Imaus, named Altai, lived a tribe of people subject to the Khan of Geougen, or eastern Tartary. The country they inhabited was named by the Persians Turkistan, and its inhabitants Turks. Famous for its iron mines, the people were chiefly employed in working them, and in fabricating arms for the service of the Khan. A Turkish leader, named by some Bertezena, by others Toumouen, having, for some signal service performed by him, demanded in recompense the daughter of the Khan in marriage, his request was not only rejected, but the refusal accompanied with expressions of contempt. Indignant at the insult, he excited his countrymen to shake off their yoke.* The measures begun by Bertezena were completed under his successor Mokan. * About the year 550. After various struggles, the Khan was defeated and slain in a great and bloody battle, and his kingdom subdued. Such of the Geougens as continued to adhere to the family of their late prince, fled into other countries. The armies of the Turks soon became numerous; their soldiers, hardened by fatigue and climate, were stout, active and brave; and we find them in the course of a few years extending their conquests to the confines of the dominions of the Persian monarch, from which they were now separated only by the Oxus. From the countries most distant from their seat of government, they only exacted an acknowledgement of vassalage, and the payment of a moderate tribute. Their chief continued to prefer for his place of residence, a valley in the mountains of Altai, to richer countries and more delightful climes. A body of Geougens, who on the conquest of their country fled from thence, had found refuge in the territories of Justinian. An embassy was sent to him by the Turkish chief, requiring that the Geougen emigrants should either be delivered to him, or obliged to quit his dominions. A second embassy was sent to his successor Justin;* and the prince of Sogdiana, vassal of Mokan, and employed by him on this occasion, was authorized to propose an alliance with Justin against Khosroes. Offers were also made for facilitating the commerce between the Byzantine empire and China; and it may have been in consequence of this treaty that the Turks menaced the Persian territories, just as hostilities were about to be renewed between Tiberius and Khosroes. Egypt, while it formed part of the Christian Greek Empire, continued to be one of the chief channels of trade for Eastern commodities; but Omar after his conquest of Persia in 632, also in a very few years subdued Syria, Phenicia, Palestine, and Egypt. Under the Khalifs, the trade between India and Egypt seems to have been but in a languid state. The government of the Khalifs in Egypt, ended under *Sometimes named Justinian II, Adhad, who in 1169, having applied to Nurradin, king of Damascus, for assistance against the Christians, a large body of troops was accordingly sent to his aid, under the command of Saladin, a Curd soldier of fortune, who by his talents and services, had risen to great eminence, and gained the confidence of his sovereign. Saladin after defending Adhad deposed him, and proclaimed his master Nuraddin sovereign of Egypt: on the death of Adhad in 1171, Saladin assumed the government of Egypt in his own name, and on the death of Nuraddin, he also took possession of Damascus and all his other extensive territories. This Sultan, so well known in European history, for his victories over, and magnanimity towards, the Christians in the Holy Land, died at Damascus in 1193, at the age of 57 years, after a reign of 24. He was succeeded in the government of Syria by his eldest son Malek-Al-Afdhal, and in Egypt by his second son Malek-Al-Aziez. Saladin, soon after his taking possession of Egypt, had formed a chosen corps of |
