Page:Herodotus and the Empires of the East.djvu/84

78 Cambyses III., the last representative of the ruling family, died childless. Darius ascended the throne on account of his relationship to Cambyses through Teïspes II. Since we have no evidence of a double line of kings, the immediate ancestors of Darius—i. e., Hystaspes, Arsames, Ariaramnes, must not be reckoned as kings. Leaving out Achaemenes, as eponymous hero, from the list we have those eight kings of the family of Darius which he himself mentions in his own inscription. Accordingly their names must read: Teïspes I., Cambyses I., Cyrus I., Teïspes II., Cyrus II., Cambyses II., Cyrus the Great, Cambyses III.

The statement of Herodotus that Cyrus was of Persian descent is correct. Sayce's view, which identifies Anshan with Elam and makes Cyrus an Elamite and consequently a polytheist, is unreliable. Anshan, to be sure, was an Elamite province, but had long ago been overrun and possessed by Aryan peoples. Cyrus was of Aryan descent, and a Persian; but his ancestors, since the establishment of the great Median kingdom, were under Median dominion. When the Scythians invaded and destroyed the national kingdom of the Medes, Cyrus became a "small vassal" of the Scythian king Astyages.

The account of the childhood of Cyrus is entirely legendary. Herodotus (I., 95) shows that various stories clustered about the person of the great founder of the Persian empire. Through a comparison of similar legends e. g., the account of the childhood of Sargon I., the story of Romulus and Remus, etc.—