314 PERSEUS PERSIA (vol. iii., 2d ed., London, 1871) ; and P. V. BT. Myers, " Remains of Lost Empires " (New York, 1875). PERSEUS, a Grecian legendary hero, the son of Jupiter and Danae. Acrisius of Argos, the father of Danae, having been warned that his daughter's son would cause his death, or- dered the mother and child to be placed in a chest and cast adrift at sea. The chest floated to the island of Seriphus, where Perseus was brought up by King Polydectes ; but the latter conceiving a passion for Danae, and desiring to rid himself of her son, sent him to fetch the head of the gorgon Medusa. Having ob- tained from the nymphs winged sandals to bear him through the air, a magic wallet, and the helmet of Pluto which rendered him invisible, from Mercury a sickle, and from Minerva a mirror in which he could see the reflection of Medusa, since a sight of the monster herself would change him to stone, he accomplished his errand while the gorgons were asleep. On his way back he saved Andromeda from being devoured by a sea monster, and married her. Arriving at Seriphus, he found his mother pur- sued by the violence of Polydectes, whom he metamorphosed with all his guests into stone by means of the gorgon's head. He then re- turned with his wife and mother to Argos, and Acrisius, remembering the oracle, fled to Larissa. Perseus, following him in order to persuade him to return, is said to have acci- dentally killed him with a discus. Unwilling to return to Argos, he exchanged that king- dom with Megapenthes for the government of Tiryns. He presented the gorgon's head to Minerva, who placed it on her shield. PERSEUS, or Perses, the last king of Mace- don, reigned from 179 to 168 B. 0. He was the son of Philip V., whom he persuaded to put to death a younger son Demetrius, sus- pected of ambitious designs. Immediately upon his accession he confirmed the treaty concluded by his father with the Romans, but began secretly to prepare for war, and en- deavored to form alliances with the states of Greece. Hostilities were hastened by an at- tempt of Perseus to assassinate Eumenes, king of Pergamus, who had reported to the senate the warlike preparations of the Macedonians. The senate pronounced Perseus an enemy of the republic (172), and the consul P. Licinius Orassus was sent with an army to invade his dominions. The war lasted four years, mostly with disadvantage to the Romans ; but at last the avarice of Perseus alienated his allies, and on June 22, 168, he was signally defeated near Pydna by the consul L. Paulus JEmilius. He took refuge in Samothrace, where he surren- dered, and in the following year was carried to Rome. Paulus ^Emilius, whose triumph he adorned, treated him kindly, and when he was afterward cast into a dungeon by order of the senate, procured his removal to a place of hon- orable captivity to Alba, where he died after a few years. PERSIA (Pers. Iran), a country of western Asia, extending from Turkey eastward to Af- ghanistan and Beloochistan, and from the Cas- pian sea southward to the Persian gulf. The western portion of its northern boundary is formed by the Russian territory of Trans- caucasia, and the eastern portion by Khiva, with the Caspian between them ; the S. E. corner of the kingdom borders the gulf of Oman in the Arabian sea. Persia lies be- tween lat. 25 30' and 39 50' K, and Ion. 44 and 62 E. ; greatest length, from N. W. to S. E., 1,200 m. ; greatest breadth, 850 m. ; area, about 600,000 sq. m. These dimensions are only approximate, as the country has not been surveyed, and the E. boundary is not precisely defined. The principal provincial divisions of Persia are as follows: Ghilan, Mazanderan, and Astrabad, in the north, between the El- burz mountains and the Caspian sea ; Azer- bijan, in the northwest, immediately S. of Transcaucasia ; Irak-Ajemi (anc. Media), S. of Azerbijan and the Caspian territories, embra- cing a portion of Kurdistan, which however belongs mostly to Turkey, and itself divided into several lesser political provinces, among which are Kermanshah, Hamadan, Ispahan, and Teheran; Luristan, S. of Irak-Ajemi; Khu- zistan (anc. 8usiana Farsistan (anc. Persis), Laristan, and Moghistan, bordering the Persian gulf from "W. to E. ; Kerman (anc. Carmania), adjoining Beloochistan, and separated from the Persian gulf by Laristan and Moghistan ; and Khorasan, the great N". E. province, comprising one quarter of the area of modern Persia, and including ancient Parthia ; and Yezd, occupy- ing the S. W. corner of Khorasan, in the cen- tral portion of the kingdom. A number of smaller provinces are embraced in Khorasan. The divisions of the monarchy for the purposes of political administration are varied from time to time, and do not precisely correspond with those above given ; but a knowledge of these principal provinces is requisite to an understanding of the general topographical features of the country. Persia is for the most part an elevated mountainous plateau, rising 3,000 or 4,000 ft. above the sea, bounded on all sides except the east by lofty ranges, preeminent among which is the mighty chain of the Elburz. This great range, striking off from the Caucasus, enters the kingdom at the N. frontier, which it covers with a gloomy mass of black peaks, and from Azerbijan runs parallel with the S. shore of the Caspian sea to Astrabad. Thence it passes in an easterly di- rection to the north of Meshed into Afghan- istan and Turkistan. Its loftiest peak, Mt, Demavend, N. E. of Teheran and about 40 m. S. of the Caspian, attains a height of more than 18,000 (according to recent surveys up- ward of 20,000) ft. above the sea. An off- shoot of this range, called the Sahund moun- tains, forms a prominent cluster immediately E. of Lake Urumiah, in Azerbijan, and ex- tends in various directions through that prov
