edict for the restoration of the Jews, and having reigned seven years in a state of profperity and peace, died at about feventy years of age*. The different accounts which hiftorians have given of his death, as well as of his birth, are mentioned in another place +. He was the greatest of the Perfian monarchs, and established his throne on fo firm a bafis that it ftood more than 200 years, notwithstanding the degeneracy of his fucceffors. The Perfian empire, as he left it to his pofterity, extended from the Indus to the Grecian Archipelago, and from the Euxine and Cafpian Seas to the Indian Ocean. Cyrus was fucceeded, A. A.C. 529, by his degenerate fon Cambyfes. The invafion and conqueft of Egypt, by this prince, is related in the historical sketch of that country. After this tranfaction, he rafhly undertook an expedition against Ethiopia. Having advanced with his whole army as far as Thebes, he fent a detachinent of 50,000 men against the Ammonians, with orders to deftroy the famous temple of Jupiter Ammon. Cambyfes, with the main body of his army, continued his march into fouthern Africa. The ftock of provifions being confumed, the foldiers were conftrained to eat their beafts of burden. They afterwards fed on herbs and grafs as long as any could be found; but when the fandy deferts no longer afforded that supply, they were reduced to the fad neceffity of devouring one another, and the army being decimated, every tenth man was facrificed to the public neceflity, and ferved as food for his famished companions. Between a retreat or total deftruction, no alternative remained. The Perfian monarch, therefore, was obliged to abandon his ro mantic enterprise, and returned into Egypt, after having loft a great part of his army . On his arrival at Thebes, he caused all the temples of that ancient and magnificent city to be pil. laged and destroyed. The wealth which fo many ages of fuper.. ftition had amaffed in those temples would undoubtedly be great; but no credit can be given to the estimates of ancient hiftorians; and the account which Diodorus gives of the enormous circle of gold encompaffing the tomb of Ofymandes, although it might merit a place in the Arabian tales, is inadmiffibie in hiftory, While the main body of the Perfian army was employed in this dif aftrous expedition against Ethiopia, the detachment fent to deftroy the temple of Jupiter Ammon was ftill more unfortunate. Having "Cyrus used to pafs the winter at Babylon, the spring at Sufa, and the fummer at Ecbatana, in Media. Xenophon Cyro. pæd. lib. viii.” "I have mentioned what relates to Cyrus under the head of Afiatic Turkey, in order to preferve the unity of his hiftory, of which his conqueft of Babylon is the most prominent feature." "Herodot. lib. iii. cap. 25, &c." arrived arrived at the Oafis, and proceeded into the defert, its final def tiny is unknown, as mot a fingle man ever returned. Herodotus informs us, on the authority of the Ammonians, that the Perfians being overtaken in the defert by a ftorm of wind, their whole army was ovewhelmed and buried alive in the fands *. Mr. Brown, however, ridicules the idea of the fands accumulating with fuch rapidity as to bury an army of 50,000 men, which must have extended over a confiderable surface, and cannot be fuppofed to have been penned up like fheep in a fold. As this intelligent traveller very judiciously obferves, The guides which the general of Cambyfes muft neceffarily have employed, were either Ammonians or of a cognate race. With the greatest facility of deceiving, and the ftrongeft motives for defeating the fuccefs of the expedition, it is highly probable that they might have led the Perfians aftray. To keep them two or three days on the route beyond the time for which their provifions and water were calculated, was in fact to annihilate their whole army, particularly as in that weak ftate, if fome corps yet remained, they might be attacked and slaughtered with eafe t. Such was, in all probability, the manner in which the Perfian army perished; but the Ammonians had the ftrongeft of all poffible motives to give a different relation of the fact. P. 102. " - "Prefent State, political and moral --Religion-GovernmentLaws Army Navy-Revenues-Commerce-Manufactures Population-Political importance-Language-Literature-Polite Arts-Education-Manners and Cuftoms-National Character, 66 Religion.] The religion of Perfia, ever fince the country was conquered by the Caliphs, is well known to be the Mahomedan. But the Perlians being of the fect of Hali, adopt the mildeft fyftem of Mahomedanifm, and are regarded as heretics by the Turks and Arabians, who call them chias, but dif tinguish themselves by the name of funnis, or orthodox. Fakirs, or wandering monks, abound in Perfia; but they are neither fo numerous nor fo extravagantly fanatical as thofe of Hindoftan. The Perfees, or Guebers, the only remnant of the religion of Zoroafter, have been almost extirpated by Mahomedan zeal; and scarcely any of them remain in Perfia, except a few igno "The feite of the temple of Jupiter Ammon, fo famous in history, cannot at this time be afcertained. Mr. Brown, after the moft diligent fearch and enquiry, failed in the attempt. Trav. p. 30. Rennell, however, makes no doubt that the ruins feen by Brown in the Oafis of Siva were those of the temple. Geog. of Herodot. fect. 21." "Brown's Trav. p. 281," rant rant votaries of the everlafting fire, who vifit the eruptions of Naphtha, near Baku, on the western fhores of the Cafpian *. "Government.] The government of modern as well as an. cient Perfia is defpotic. The ftate of the people is deplorable, being fubject to the arbitrary power of the numerous Khans, who are governors of provinces, or poffeffors of fmall districts, and pretend to hereditary fucceffion, although lying at the abfo lute mercy of the fovereign. "Laws.] The laws ought, as in other Mahomedan countries, to be thofe of the Koran; but it appears that in Perfia, at leaft during the frequent feafons of anarchy, fcarcely any other law is known but that of power. Army. The military ftrength of Perfia is extremely dif ficult to estimate. Dr. Pallas fays, that in 1784 Ali Murat had an army of 70,000 men t. Perhaps the two kingdoms of eastern and western Perfia might each mutter and maintain near 100,000; but this is mere conjecture. "Navy.] The hiftory of Perfia affords no inftance of its ever having been a maritime power. The fleets of Darius, Xerxes, &c. were manned by feamen from the conquered provinces, Egypt, Phoenicia, and Afia Minor, and not by native Perfians. The averfion which that people feems always to have had against navigation, has been afcribed to fome particular precepts of Zoroafter, impoffible, or at leaft extremely difficult to be obferved in a feafaring life; but whether this was the fole reafon of their neglect of maritime affairs, appears fomewhat doubtful. More than eleven centuries have elapfed fince the reHigion of Zoroafter loft its influence; but Mahomedan has never, any more than Magian Perfia, been a maritime power. Few Perfian veffels manned with Perfian mariners have in any age been feen on the fea. So great indeed is the abhorrence with which the Perfians regard navigation ‡, that they stigmatize all feamen with the name of atheifts. "Revenue.] No calculation can be made of the revenue of Perfia, divided as it is into two separate kingdoms; but it must be confidered as extremely fmall after the dreadful commotions that have defolated the country. "Commerce.] The Perfians have never been a commercial any more than a maritime people. The ftaple commodity is filk; "Dec. Ruffes, tom. ii. p. 19. P. 263." Hanway's Travels, vol. i. "Pallas's latter Trav. vol. ii. p. 10, p. 18. Mr. Pinkerton is mittaken in giving this army to Aga Mahmet. Geog. vol. ii. P. 335." "Sanfon's Voyage, p. 1c8." + 1 but the trade of Perfia has always been chiefly in the hands of ftrangers, and is now infignificant. "Manufactures.] The Perfian manufactures of carpets, filks, brocades, velvets, fabres, and other works in fteel, braziery, leather, fhagreen, earthen-ware, &c. were in the feventeenth century carried to great perfection, chiefly through the encouragement given to thefe purfuits by Shah Abbas the Great. Except a few carpets, the manufactures of this country, as well as its commerce, are almoft annihilated *. "Population.] The population of this extenfive region has been vaguely eftimated at 10,000,000; 6,000,000 for the western, and 4,000,000 for the eaftern part, which compofes a portion of Candahar. This is indeed only a fmall number for fo extensive a fpace; but no documents exift that can ferve as a basis of calcu lation. "Political importance and relations.] The political weight of Perfia, once fo preponderant in Afia, and at various periods fo formidable to the Greeks, the Romans, and the Turks, is now annihilated. The kingdom of Candahar has little to fear from any of its neighbours, and may probably enlarge itself at their expence. This kingdom, either as an ally, or an enemy, might be of great confideration in the fyftem of British Eaft India politics, efpecially if ever, in the circle of human affairs, any attempt fhould be made from Europe on Bengal by the way of the Cafpian and the Oxus. Language. The Perfian, though lefs copious than the Arabic, is the most celebrated of all the Oriental languages for Krength and beauty; and in melody it yields only to the Malay. Of all the languages of Afia, the Perfian is regarded as the most adapted to poetry and every kind of elegant compofition. "Literature. It has already been obferved, that no memorials of the literature of the ancient Perfians, between the age of Cyrus and that of Alexander, have been transmitted to modern times. The fame remark may be made on the literary monuments of the age of the Saffanides, which were probably, for the moft part, deftroyed by the Mahomedan fanatics, on their con queft of the country. One of the oldeft Perfian compofitions is the heroic poem of Ferdufi, entitled Shah Nama, or the Hiftory of Kings. Sadi is an excellent and entertaining moralift. Hafiz is the Anacreon of the eaft; his tomb in the vicinity of Schiras is held in great veneration; and a fplendid copy of his works is chained to his monument. In folid fenfe, and in clearness of thought and expreffion, the Perfian writers approach nearer to "For an account of the Perfian manufactures in their flou rishing ftare, fee Chardin's Trav. tom. iv. For the general decline of Perfian commerce, fee Hanway's Trav. paffim, the the European standard than any of the other Afiatics. Yet their metaphors are too frequent and violent to bear the claffical touchftone of Greece and Rome. An eminent investigator of Oriental antiquities has difclosed fome of the treasures of Perfian litera. ture*. But the fciences are little cultivated by the Perfians, who are loft in fuperftition, and bewildered in the abfurdities of ju dicial aftrology. The polite arts are almost totally neglected. The education of the Perfians is chiefly military; but many of the Mahomedan priests exercise the office of schoolmasters +. "Perfons, manners, and national character.] The Perfians are generally of a good ftature and robust, with agreeable features and a comely countenance. Their complexion, though fomewhat tinged with olive, is tolerably fair in the northern, but very dark in the fouthern provinces. Black eyes and eyebrows, with long eyelashes, are effential requifites to a Perfian beauty. The drefs of the Perfians, as well as their perfons, has a noble appearance. They fhave the head, but the beard is held facred and managed with great care. They wear feveral light dreffes fastened with a belt and fash, and often throw over all a long cloak. The men wear high crimson bonnets, and the women wrap round their heads pieces of filk of various colours: in other respects the drefs of both fexes is nearly fimilar. Among the Perfians, as among the ancient Greeks and Romans, fupper is the principal meal, confifting chiefly of rice boiled with meat, &c. In hofpitality and politenefs the Perfians are scarcely furpassed by any other nation. They are of a gay difpofition and an excellent genius. Although Mahomedans they are fond of wine. The late commotions have tinged with cruelty the national cha racter." P. 159. From the above fpecimens of the work, there can be little doubt but most readers will agree with us, that either for general reference, or for the particular ufe of young ftudents in hiftory and geography, this work may be confidered as important and valuable. References are perpetually given to the authorities employed, which are univerfally the beft. A circumftantial lift is also prefixed of those books from which the compilation has been made; and this lift of itself will be found exceedingly useful to all who may find it expedient to make a collection of geographical publications. It fhould have been remarked, that the work itfelf is introduced by fome judicious and very scientific "Sir W. Jones's Oriental poetry." +"At least this was the cafe in the time of Chardin. Trav. vol. x. p. 79." obferva. |