Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/26

 HisToHY AND Religion. II offer difficulties of reading ; for if the value of most of the signs is made out; the classification of the language itself is a matter of some uncertainty. That Susian should have become the written or official language of Persia is easily understood The town of Susa, perhaps one of the oldest in the world, was associated with traditions of power and grandeur leading back to remote antiquity ; and such memories were carefully preserved by the great kings of Persia, who spent there part of the year. Then, too, by raising Susa to the position of third capital of the empire, the sovereigns were nearer Mesopotamia than at Persepolis and Pasargadae,' and more within reach of Syria, Asia Minor, and Egypt The outlying Aryan tribes found little difficulty in annexing Susiana ; for the Elamites were disoiganized and weakened by the long destructive wars they had carried on against Assyria, during which they had lost their independence, so that after the fall of Nineveh they readily submitted by turns to Babylon and Persia. The Aryan race, to which the Medes and Persians belonged, held the post of honour from their first appearance on the scene of history down to the Arab conquest, which left Iran prostrate, utterly demoralised, and helpless to repel other invasions. The long duration of their supremacy may, perhaps, be ascribed to the purity of their ethics and their religbn. If we go hs enough, the germ of the religious ideas which the Iranic tribes brought with them from their cradle-land are to be traced among all the sons of Arya. But with the Medes, as we shall show, diey lost of their pristine pureness and were modified sooner than among their brethren of Persia. "The primitive religion of Iran, preserved by Persia, was a polytheism closely allied to that of other Aryan tribes, notably their Indian neighbours, such as we find it in the Rig- Veda. But in Media, the primitive germ was defaced by the sacerdotal schools of the Magi, and the dualistic element (gods struggling with demons) developed and pushed to the extreme ; finally ending in a well-ordered dualism, called Mazdaism from the name of the supreme god, AhOra- Mazda, or Zoioastrianism, in remembrance of its legendary founder Zoroaster." ' found at Makmir. They are shortlj to be published bjr DieoUfoy, and will be of great service to the student. Digitized by Google
 * M. Housny brought home photographs of Suian inicriptioiu which he
 * J. Darmestbter, Cou/ (fail surthiitoire de ia Perse^ pp. 14, 15.