ASIA. CHAP. I. Asia, be Lydians, Previous to the conquests of Cyrus three great powers existed in Asia, who had compelled the remaining nations to pay tribute; namely, the Ly- Ancient didians of Asia Minor, and the Babylonians and Medes vision of of central Asia.' The Lydians, under their king tween the Croesus, had extended their conquests over all Asia Babylo Minor westward of the river Halys, (or Kisil-Irmak,) Meds, and with the exception of the mountainous territory occupied by the Lycians and Cilicians. The Babylonians and Medes, at a much earlier period, had swept away the ancient Assyrian empire over central Asia, and divided it between themselves. The river Tigris became the boundary line between these two powers. The dominion of the Babylonians extended westward from the Tigris to the Mediterranean; whilst that of the Medes extended eastward from the Tigris to the river Indus. This general territorial 1 The Babylonians included the Chaldaeans: Herodotus calls them Assyrians, but the old Assyrian empire of Nineveh had been long before destroyed by a powerful combination of the Babylonians and Medes. 2 The river Tigris certainly bounded Media on the west, for it was fortified by a line of strong places, of which Mespila and Larissa are mentioned by name. (Xenoph. Anab. Op. pp. 308, 309.) At the same time ASIA. CHAP. I. Establish arrangement was upset by the revolutions which attended the establishment of the Persian empire. The mountainous territory of Persis had originally ment of the belonged to the old Assyrian empire, but had subpire of Cy- sequently been subjugated by the Medes. It was inhabited by nomad hordes, who, with the celebrated Cyrus at their head, rushed from their native fastnesses, and overwhelmed all the nations of southern Persian em rus. Asia, except the Arabians. The empires of the Medes, the Babylonians, and the Lydians were in their turn swept away. Cyrus was succeeded by Cambyses, and Aegypt was subjected to this new dominion. Darius Hystaspis at length ascended the throne. His rule extended over all the Asiatic nations known to Herodotus, with the exception of the Colchians in the north, the Indians in the east, Division in- and the Arabians in the south. This immense emto twenty satrapies by pire he divided into twenty satrapies for the Darius Hys- of taxation; nineteen being included in Asia, and one in the continent of Libya. A list of the satrapies, with the amount of tribute paid by each, has been preserved by Herodotus, and was probably taken from the Persian archives; but before we examine this valuable document, it will be necessary to inquire into our author's own actual knowledge of the countries therein noticed. taspis. 2 purposes First of all, we may state boldly that the regions it is plain from the lamentations of contemporary Jewish writers, (Isaiah In the book of Esther (i. 1) it is stated that there were 127 provinces of the Persian empire, which extended from India to the Libyan Aethiopia. There is no occasion however for supposing that these provinces were satrapies, but tribes or nations, of which several were included in each satrapy; and by a comparison with chap. viii. verse 9, this would appear to be the case. 2 iii. 90-93. Ecbatana' were cer- ASIA. CHAP. L. travels in General ac nicia and Babylon. beyond the cities of Susa and tainly unknown to Herodotus. limits he was more or less acquainted with the Extent of country by ocular observation. He resided some Herodotus's time at the city of Tyre in Phoenicia,' and was not Asia. only well informed respecting the western coast of quaintance Asia Minor, which he so minutely describes,' but with Phoehad apparently penetrated the interior. Lydia and Asia Minor. its city of Sardis were undoubtedly known to him.* He saw also the Euphrates and Tigris, and visited Visited Babylon in its reduced splendour. That he reached Travelled Susa seems certain, for he mentions the so-called along the Indian ants preserved in the royal palace, and way be evidently saw the curious well at Ardericca, which dis and Susa was only 210 stadia,' or about 26 English miles, distant from the city. Probably he travelled along the royal high-road which led from Ephesus by Sardis to Susa, for he was well acquainted with all its stations, and describes the distance as being exactly ninety days' journey. 9 great high tween Sar batana very Whether he got as far as Ecbatana is doubtful. Visit to EcDahlmann seems to think that he must have visited doubtful. this city, or he would not have so minutely described the fortifications, or have said that the outermost wall was as large in circumference as the city of Athens. It must however be confessed that the tone of the narrative, and especially the vagueness of the description of the site and dimensions of the city, seem all to imply that Herodotus derived his information from others, and not from a personal survey. One thing seems positive, that he did not travel beyond these two cities; otherwise he would have spoken of the Persian Gulf and river Araxes in a different manner, and especially would have done greater justice to the actual extent and size of Asia. 1 Herodotus calls this city Agbatana. Its site has been identified by Col. Rawlinson with the ruins of Takhti-Soleiman in northern Media, or Atropatene. This subject however will be further discussed in a future chapter. 5 i. 178-193. 2 ii. 44, 104. 6 iii. 102. 3 i. 142-149. 7 vi. 119. 4 iii. 5. 8 V. 52-54. 9 i. 98. Comp. Dahlmann, Life of Herod, chap. iv. sect. 5. ̧ ASIA. CHAP. I. Examination of the list of twenty satrapies. This then is all we can learn of our author's personal knowledge of Persian Asia; it now remains for us to ascertain how far these results will illustrate or explain the list of satrapies. In the document preserved by Herodotus we see an attempt made, apparently for the first time, to provide for the regular collection of tribute throughout the Persian empire. In the reign of Cyrus indiscriminate plunder probably supplied the place of systematic taxation, and even at a later period taxes were arbitrarily imposed under the name of offerings or presents, which were not the less oppressive from being indefinite. Darius Hystaspes was the first to institute a regular system, and to divide the empire at large into provinces or satrapies, but his arrangement is not a geographical division of districts, but merely a rude classification of the differReasons for ent subject nations. Herodotus even tells us that including distant tribes in the same satrapy. remote tribes were occasionally included under the same satrapy,' and this in some instances is most certainly the case, though it is next to impossible to divine the reasons for it.2 Great difficulty however must have been experienced in mapping out correctly large masses of territory, which in many cases could have been only half explored, and we may wonder that Herodotus did not notice more serious errors.3 Particular attention was also most likely paid in the classification to the easiest mode of collecting the tribute; and the arrangement may therefore to some extent have depended upon the situation of defiles through mountains, or roads along valleys or the banks of rivers. This seems the more likely, as it is certain that several of the mountain tribes often made themselves independent, and were enabled to defy or avoid the collectors of tribute, and therefore the getting at them would be 3 We need not for a moment suppose that Herodotus was himself able from his own geographical knowledge to detect the errors in the classification of the tribes into satrapies, but it is most probable that he was made acquainted with them by the officers who had the care of the Persian archives. considered of more importance than geographical ASIA. exactness. A more minute and correct knowledge CHAP. I. of central Asia will probably explain many a dis crepancy. want of geo order aris ignorance of tant satra pies. Another difficulty in the list is the order of the General several satrapies, which is even less in accord- graphical ance with actual geography than the satrapical ar- ing from rangement of tribes. Many unsuccessful attempts Herodotus's have been made to explain this difficulty: it can the more dishowever only be solved by a consideration of our author's actual knowledge of the country. In this case there is no reason for supposing that Herodotus copied his list exactly from one original document, but we may believe that he compiled and abridged it from a variety of authorities. Accordingly those countries with which he was acquainted he placed in tolerable geographical order, beginning at the western coast of Asia Minor; but those of which he was ignorant he put down indiscriminately.' The relative situations of Asia Minor, Syria, and Aegypt he knew perfectly well, and accordingly we find the first six satrapies, which embraced those countries, given in exact order. His journey to Susa however, and even his notions respecting the four great nations of central Asia, could but little assist him in forming any definite notions of the relative bearings of the other satrapies. He considered the city of Susa to lie to the south of Babylon, and therefore the 8th, 9th, and 10th satrapies come in 1 Herodotus catalogues the twenty satrapies in the following order. 1. Ionians, Asiatic Magnesians, Aeolians, Carians, Lycians, Milyans, and Pamphylians. 2. Mysians, Lydians, Lasonians, Cabalians, and Hygennians. 3. Asiatic Hellespontines, Phrygians, Asiatic Thracians, Paphlagonians, Mariandynians, and Syri-Cappadocians. 4. Cilicians. 5. Phoenicia, Palestine, and Cyprus. 6. Aegypt and Libya. 7. Sattagydae, Gandarians, Dadicae, and Aparytae. 8. Susa and the rest of the Cissians. 9. Babylon and the rest of Assyria. 10. Ecbatana and the rest of Media, and Paricanians and Orthocorybantes. 11. Caspians, Pausicae, Pantimathians, and Dareitae. 12. Bactrians as far as the Aeglae. 13. Pactyica and Armenians, and neighbouring people as far as the Euxine. 14. Sagartians, Sarangae, Thamanaeans, Utians, Mycians, and islands of the Erythraean. 15. Sacae and Caspians. 16. Parthians, Chorasmians, Sogdians, and Arians. 17: Paricanians and Asiatic Aethiopians. 18. Matienians, Saspeires, and Alarodians. 19. Moschians, Tibarenians, Macrones, Mosynoecians, and Marsians. 20. Indians. |