Siculus, or Justinas, the true history of Persia commences with the reign of Dejoces, the Mede, 710 B.C. according to Herodotus, the venerable father of History. The Medes having thrown off the Assyrian yoke during the confusion which followed on the death of Sennacherib, chose this personage for their sovereign. According to Herodotus, he was at once the Romulus and Numa of his native country. He instituted a code of laws for his countrymen, fortified Ecbatana, and made it the capital of his dominions, which he extended on every side, and invaded Assyria, then in the decline of its power. But the Assyrian monarch anticipated his design by meeting him in the great plain of Ragau, where he utterly routed his army, and slew his opponent.

Phraortes.] He was succeeded by his son Phraortes, who reigned twentytwo years. It seems somewhat extraordinary that, after the defeat and death of his father, and the destruction of Ecbatan, he should not only have been able to expel the Assyrian invaders, but also to conquer the whole tract W. of Media, to the Halys in Asia Minor. His career, however, was cut short while invading Assyria, where he perished with the greater part

of his army.

Cyaxares.] Cyaxares, his son, succeeded him. This active and intrepid prince expelled the Assyrians from his country, defeated them in their own territories, pursued them to their capital, Nineveh, and would, in all probability, have taken it, but for the sudden and unexpected invasion of the Scythians, which compelled him to raise the siege in order to oppose their progress. In this last attempt, however, he was unsuccessful, being totally routed by these nomadic hordes, who overran not only his kingdom, but all Western Asia besides, which they kept in subjection for 28 years, until they were utterly exterminated in a general massacre. After which, the warlike Cyaxares commenced another war with the Assyrians, whose capital, Nineveh, he again besieged, and now took and levelled with the dust, in conjunction with his ally, Nebuchadnezzar the Great, 601 B.C. The kingdoms of Persia and Susiana were the last conquests made by this prince.

The

Cyrus and the Persian Dynasty.] Cyaxares was succeeded by Astyages, who reigned 35 years. Mandane, his daughter, was married to Cambyses, king of Persia, then a small and inconsiderable state. The fruit of this marriage was the great Cyrus, who, in conjunction with his uncle Cyaxares, son of Astyages, conquered the Lydians and Baylonians, captured Babylon by turning the current of the Euphrates, and slew Belshazzar. Cyaxares was succeeded by his nephew, as he had no children of his own, and by this event the sovereignty of the East was transferred to the Persians, after the Median dynasty had enjoyed it for the space of 176 years, under a succession of five princes, from Dejoces to the death of Cyaxares. Persian dynasty, founded by Cyrus, lasted 207 years, from the commencement of the reign of Cyrus, under a succession of 13 kings, and ended with Darius Codomanus, in 330 B.C. The reign of this dynasty is chiefly distinguished by its ineffectual attempts to reduce the little states of Greece. The numberless armies employed for that purpose proved no match for the small but well-trained bands of the warlike Greeks. Nothing but the incessant mutual warfare of the Grecian republics with each other, prevented the early annihilation of Persian power, which was at last accomplished by Alexander the Great, who united for once the ever discordant Greeks under his victorious banner.

The Seleucida.] Upon his decease, a struggle of more than 20 years

duration took place amongst his victorious generals; but Persia fell to the share of Seleucus and his successors. In 248 B.C. the warlike tribe of the Parthians revolted, and founded a new dynasty, which lasted 474 years, and which, from small beginnings, rose to be a formidable empire, gradually stripping the Macedonian kings of Syria of all their dominions to the E. of the Euphrates. Had not the Roman power kept them at bay, the Parthian empire would have included all which the former Persian dynasty possessed to the W. of the Euphrates, and even to the Hellespont. But, though the Romans checked their further progress westward, they could not conquer them; and the successive defeats of a Crassus and an Anthony convinced them that the Parthians were, by no means, contemptible adversaries. The victorious arms of a Trajan, indeed, extended the Roman power to the banks of the Tigris; but these conquests were productive of no lasting benefit, as the Romans were unable either to extend or preserve them, and the Euphrates was again made the eastern limit of Roman domination under Hadrian. Nearly at the same time with the revolt of the Parthians, the Greeks, under Theodotus also revolted from the Seleucidæ, and founded a new dynasty of Greek sovereigns in Bactria and Eastern Persia. But the history of this dynasty is very obscure. We are told that Demetrius, one of that dynasty, subdued and civilized Hindoostan, and that Eucratidas reigned over a thousand cities. But this Greek empire was of short duration, being overthrown by a horde of Scythians from the N. of the Oxus.

Artaxares and the Sassanian dynasty.] In the 226th year of the Christian era, the Parthian dynasty was completely extinguished by the valour and ambition of a private Persian of mean birth, the son of a tanner, or shoemaker, who assumed the double diadem and the title of Artaxares, or the Great Lion,' and founded a new dynasty, which, under the appellation of the Sassanian, swayed the sceptre of the East for more than four centuries, comprehending a succession of 28 sovereigns, some of whom raised Persia to a greater degree of prosperity and glory, than it ever enjoyed before or since.-Shapoor, the second king of this dynasty, over-ran all Mesopotamia, Syria, and Armenia, defeated the Roman emperor Valerian in the vicinity of Edessa, and took him prisoner, and kept him in a state of captivity till his death.-Narses was the most unsuccessful sovereign of this dynasty. Being completely defeated by Galerius, he wa forced to purchase an inglorious peace by the cession of five large districts on the N. of the Tigris, besides Nisibis, to the Romans, and all Armenia and Aderbeidjan to Tiridates, the Roman ally and the vassal sovereign of Armenia, so that on that side the Kizil-Ozan formed the Persian boundary to the days of Julian.-Shapoor II. was a great and politic prince, who recovered all the provinces which his predecessor had been forced to yield. -Under Varranes VI. the tributary kingdom of Armenia, held by a younger branch of the Arsacidan dynasty, was abolished, and the country divided between the Romans and Persians.-His successor Peroses or Ferooz, was a rash and unfortunate prince, who perished with his whole army in an expedition against the Hunns of Sogdiana.-Chosroes, surnamed Nusheerwaun the Magnanimous,' was the greatest prince of this dynasty, and during his long and prosperous reign of 48 years, Persia made a brilliant figure on the scene of history. In his wars with the Romans he was eminently successful, and the force of his arms was felt on the shores of the Euxine and the Mediterranean, the Red sea, and the Persian gulf. He plundered Antioch,-captured the strong fortress of Dara,

long regarded as an impregnable bulwark against Persian invasion,-subdued Colchis, drove the Abyssinians from Yemen,-marched a Persian army along the shores of the Persian gulf, and Indian ocean, to the mouths of the Indus, slew the Hindoo rajah of Sindy, and conquered the whole of the Delta,-expelled the Hunns from the banks of the Oxus,—crossed the snowy range of the Jasper, and planted his standard at the foot of the Western Imaus. Under this conqueror, the limit of Persian domination included the district of Fargana or Kokun, between the Aktau and the Ming-Bulak, the Beloor-Tag, and the straits of Koojund. On the W. of the Caspian sea, the lofty Caucasus formed the northern limit of his empire, whilst its gates, its passes, and its mountain-fortresses, were garrisoned by his troops.-His unworthy son and successor, Hormooz, or Hormisdas, after a short and inglorious reign of 12 years, was deposed by his own general Varanes, and slain in prison. His son Chosroes fled for refuge to the Romans, and was restored to the throne of his ancestors by the aid of Mauritius and the arms of Rome. While Mauritius lived, Chosroes evinced his gratitude by living in peace and amity with him; but no sooner were the news of his deposition and death, by the usurper Phocas, received by the Persian monarch, than he declared war against the Romans, under pretext of avenging the death of Mauritius. During the confusion which followed the usurpation of Phocas, the Eastern empire was in no condition to withstand a Persian invasion, and the armies of Chosroes successively reduced Dara, (which he had formerly ceded to Mauritius,) Amida, Merdin, and Edessa,-over-run all Syria,-took Jerusalem itself by assault, in which 90,000 Christians were slain,—and rifled the devout offerings of 300 successive years of pilgrimage in one sacrilegious day. Egypt, which had been exempted from foreign invasion and domestic war for more than three centuries, was again subdued by this successor to the throne of Cyrus,-Pelusium, the key of that impervious country, was surprised by the Persian cavalry,-the innumerable channels of the Delta were crossed with impunity,—and the long valley of the Nile, from Memphis to the frontiers of Nubia, explored by the forces of the great king. The conqueror, treading in the footsteps of Alexander, returned in triumph through the sands of the Libyan desert; whilst his generals advanced with other armies from the Euphrates to the Thracian Bosphorus, and a Persian army, stationed at Chalcedon, insulted for 10 years the majesty of Constantinople. Pontus and Cappadocia, the city of Ancyra, and the isle of Rhodes, successively fell into the hands of this prince; and from the long disputed banks of the Euphrates and the Tigris, the limits of Persian domination were suddenly and once more extended to the shores of the Hellespont and the banks of the Nile, under the reign of the grandson of the great Nusheerwaun. Intoxicated with such a succession of victories and conquests, Chosroes rejected every offer of peace made by Heraclius; refusing to listen to any terms short of the abjuration of their faith, and the embracing of the worship of the sun by the Christians. At last the dormant energies of Heraclius were roused.by the intolerant insolence of the Magian monarch, and the clergy seeing the fate of their religion involved in that of the empire, contributed the wealth of the sanctuary to save the falling state. In the course of a six years' warfare, Heraclius recovered all the conquests which Chosroes had won during 20 years,-pursued the Persians to their own territories, and avenged on the banks of the Tigris and the Deeallah, and in the sack of Dustagherd, the favourite residence of Chosroes, the fates of Antioch and Jerusalem. The victories and conquests of Chosroes succes

sively and rapidly disappeared, and the humbled monarch fled to Ctesiphon, where he was deposed by his indignant subjects, and murdered by his son Siroes, who instantly concluded peace with the victorious Heraclius. The glory of the Sassanian dynasty ended with Chosroes. His unnatural son enjoyed the fruit of his parricide only eight months, and in the short space of four years, the regal title was assumed by nine candidates, who, with the sword or the dagger, disputed the fragments of an exhausted monarchy. Yasdejird.] At length, in A.D. 632, Yasdejird, a supposed grandson of Khosroo, who had long resided in a private capacity at Istakar, was elevated to the tottering throne, and this circumstance imparted a fallacious gleam of hope to a falling nation. But a more formidable enemy than even Heraclius, had lately arisen on the side of Arabia. The flame of enthusiasm which the artful impostor Mahomet had there excited, was now spreading, and threatened alike the aged and worn-out empires of Constantinople and Persia. An attack had been already made on the Persian power by the Moslem Arabs in the vicinity of the Euphrates, after they had been defeated and driven across the river, shortly after the accession of Yasdejerd. Still they hovered on the skirts of the empire, and having received large reinforcements, they again passed the Euphrates, and advanced to Kadesia, on the edge of the Chaldean deserts, where they attacked the Persians, and after a series of engagements, the Persian general was defeated and killed, and with him upwards of 60,000 men. After this decisive victory, the whole of Irak submitted to the conquerors; and Ctesiphon, the capital of the monarchy, was taken and pillaged. The dispirited Persians-impressed with the belief that the last hour of their religion and empire was at hand-abandoned their strongest fortresses without resistance, and the unfortunate Yasdejird, after having collected a second army, was attacked in his camp by the impetuous Arabs, and utterly defeated. This event completely and for ever decided the fate of the Magian system, and the house of Sassan; and the whole of the Persian empire, from the Euphrates to the Indus, and from the Persian gulf to the Iaxartes, was rapidly overrun, conquered, and reduced to the obedience of the khalif. Yasdejird perished in a third and feeble attempt to regain his throne, and his sons died in China. The female branches, however, were preserved, and married into the families of the khalifs of the house of Ali and Ommeyah, whose descendants were thus ennobled by the blood of their royal mothers. -Thus terminated the Sassanian dynasty, which had ruled Persia 415 years, and the memory of which is still cherished by a nation whose ancient renown is associated with the fame of an Ardesheer, a Shapoor, and the great Nusheerwaun.

Persia under the khalifs.] After this disastrous revolution Persia sunk into a state of political insignificance, as a mere province of the vast empire of the khalifs, under whose sway it remained in peaceful subjection for more than two centuries. The Magian religion, though proscribed by the conquerors, was still kept alive by a colony of expatriated natives in the province of Khorasaun; where, amid inaccessible mountains and deserts, a number of the natives still adhered to the religion of their fathers. The last Magian of name and power was Mardavij, who preserved his independence amidst the rocky fortresses of mount Elboorz, in the beginning of the 10th century. But his soldiers and successors the Bowides embraced the Mussulmaun faith. Under the dominion of the khalifs, nothing of importance occurs in Persian history, but the occasional revolts of provincial governors. The power of the khalifs, bowever, gradually declined;

and the boast of the energetic Almanzor, that he could easier rule the East and the West than manage a chess-board of two feet square, was not realized by his indolent successors of the ninth century. The disorders of the Turkish guards (the prætorian soldiers of the East),-the rise, progress, and wars of the Karmatian sectaries, (the Wahabites of the day),—and the extensive power delegated to the governors of the distant provinces, accelerated the downfall of the power of the khalifs. The Taherian dynasty reigned for four generations in Chorasan, though they nominally acknowledged the sway of the khalif. But it was supplanted by one of those adventurers so common in the East, Yacoub-Ben-Liess, the son of a pewterer in Siestan. His dynasty, denominated Saffarians, or 'Pewterers,' from the original trade of the founder, filled the throne of Persia for three geneations, until, reduced by Ismael-al-Sammanu, who obtained Mawaralnahar and Eastern Persia from the khaliffs. Western Persia now came into the possession of the Bowides, the successors of the Deylamites, who for more than a century ruled here, and exercised all the temporal authority of the khalifs, till their influence and dynasty were alike subverted by Togrol Bey, the victorious founder of the Seljookian dynasty, in A.D. 1055. The Sammanian, which commenced A.D. 901, was subverted in A.D. 999, by its own servants, and the successive inroads of Turkish tribes from the banks of the laxartes.

The Seljookian Dynasty.] The Seljookian dynasty, under Togrol Bey and his successors, stripped those of Mahmood-Ghaznevi of their dominions in Eastern Persia, and confined them to the narrow tract between the Afghanistan mountains and the Indus. Their empire extended beyond the Oxus, even to the banks of the Iaxartes; the cities of Bokhara, Samarcand, and Carizme owned their sway; and the name of Al-Malek was engraved on the coins of the distant kingdom of Khashgar in Eastern Toorkistan. Not content with the conquest of Persia and Mawaralnahar, the Seljookian sultans extended their arms and their conquests into the Greek empire. Armenia and Iberia were overrun by their numerous cavalry, and the natives, an unwarlike race, were compelled to own the superior sway of Alp-Arslan, the nephew and successor of the victorious Togrol, and abjure the faith of the cross. The total defeat of the Greek emperor, Romanus Diogenes, in the vicinity of Malazgherd, and on the plains of the Morad-Shai, sealed the fate of the Asiatic provinces of the Constantinopolitan empire, and the Seljookian Turks obtained a firm footing in the provinces W. of the Euphrates. After the demise of Al-Malek, the third and greatest of the Seljookian sultans, the unity of the Turkish empire was dissolved. The vacant throne was disputed by his brother and his four sons, and the result was a treaty, which made a lasting separation in the Persian dynasty. The three younger branches were those of Kerman, Syria, and Room. The first of these ruled an extensive though obscure dominion in Southern Persia; the second expelled the Arabian princes of Aleppo and Damascus; whilst the third obtained a portion of the Roman provinces of Asia Minor, and made continual efforts to possess the whole. The history of the Persian branch is uninteresting. It is sufficient to say, that its power gradually declined, from a constant series of discord and misrule, till Togrol III. the last, a most dissipated prince, was slain by the sultan of Karasm, in 1193. During the decline of this dynasty, a number of petty princes or governors, called Attabeks, rose, who, taking advantage of the weakness and dissensions of their Seljookian masters, established their authority over some of the finest provinces of the