322 PERSIA was acknowledged as sovereign of the united nation of Medes and Persians, in which hence- forth the Persians had the predominance. He conquered Asia Minor and Babylon with j its dependencies Assyria, Susiana, and Syria, I and founded a great empire, the dominant | religion of which was Zoroastrianism. Ec- batana, Persepolis, Susa, and Babylon were its capital cities. At his death in 529 he was succeeded by his son Cambyses, who added Egypt and adjoining parts of northern Africa to the empire. During a tyrannical reign of seven years he committed great outrages, not only on the Egyptians, but on the principal men of Persia. Among others, he put to death on suspicion of treason his brother Bardius, whom the Greek writers erroneously call Smer- dis. At length in 522, while he was yet absent in Egypt, the magians or priestly aristocracy brought forward one of their own number named Gomates, whom they imposed upon the people as the murdered Bardius, to whom he bore some personal resemblance. The people, disgusted with the tyranny of Cambyses, read- ily accepted the usurper as king ; and Camby- ses, on learning the news of the revolt, com- mitted suicide according to the Behistun in- scription, or according to the Greek writers died from a wound which he accidentally gave himself. After a reign of eight months the usurper was detected, arid he was put to death by a conspiracy of Persian chiefs, one of whom, Darius Hystaspis, was made king. Darius, in a reign of 36 years, organized and considerably enlarged the empire, making ex- tensive conquests in the east in the regions bordering on the Indus, and in the west car- rying his arms into Europe and overrunning Thrace and Macedonia. In an attempt to subdue the Greeks his forces were complete- ly routed at Marathon in 490. Four years af- terward he died, and was succeeded by his son Xerxes, who renewed the invasion of Greece in person, and at first with a certain degree of success, but finally lost both his immense fleet and army at Salamis, Platsea, and Mycale, and was assassinated in 465. His successors were Artaxerxes I. (465-425) ; Xerxes II., who reigned 45 days, and was murdered by Sogdianus, who assumed the throne, and was himself slain about six months later; Darius Nothus, who reigned 19 years; his son Arta- xerxes Mnemon, who succeeded him in 405 or 404, and overcame his brother and rival Cyrus in the battle of Cunaxa, September, 401 ; Artaxerxes III. (about 359-338), also known as Ochus, who was murdered by his chief minister and succeeded by his youngest son Arses, who had reigned but two years when he was slain by the same courtier ; and Darius Codomannus (336-330), the last sov- I ereign of the dynasty of the great Cyrus. ' Persia, which for two centuries had been the leading power of the world, with a dominion extending over an area of 3,000,000 square miles or more, parts of which were densely peopled, submitted to Alexander the Great, who invaded it in 334 with an army of 35,000 Greeks, and, after defeating the Persians in the great battles of the Granicus, Issus, and Arbe- la, became on the death of Darius the undis- puted master of the empire. In the contest for the division of Alexander's dominions Seleucus Nicator finally became master of Persia in 312, and it was included in the kingdom of the Se- leucidaB, which he transmitted to his succes- sors Antiochus Soter and Antiochus Theos. In the reign of the latter, about 248, the Par- thians, a tribe inhabiting the north of Khora- san, who from remote times had been subject to the Persians, revolted under Arsaces and founded the third Persian dynasty, the Arsa cidse of the classic writers, the Ashkanians of. the Persians. This dynasty lasted till A. D. 226, under about 30 monarchs. (See PAETHIA.) In the beginning of the 3d century the victo- ries of the Roman generals threw Parthia into such confusion that Artaxerxes, or Ardeshir as he is called by the native historians, claim- ing to be a descendant of the ancient royal family of Cyrus, revolted, and overthrew and put to death Artabanns IV., the last of the Arsacidse, and proclaimed himself sovereign of the new Persian monarchy. He also restored the ancient religion of Zoroaster and the au- thority of the magi, which had fallen into dis- credit. The dynasty which he founded, under the name of the Sassanidse (see ARDESHIR), consisted of 28 or 29 monarchs, and continued upward of 400 years. Among the most fa- mous of these kings were Sapor or Shahpur, the son of Ardeshir, who carried on a suc- cessful war with the Romans, in which he de- feated and took prisoner the emperor Vale- rian ; Sapor II., whose reign began with his birth in 309 or 310, lasted 71 years, and was marked by bloody wars with the Roman em- perors Constantius and Julian, the latter of whom was defeated and slain in the contest (363); Varanes V. or Bahran Gour, who was celebrated for his munificence and generosity, and for his successful repulse of a Tartar in- vasion ; and Chosroes or Khosru Nushirvan, who is considered by the Persians a model of justice, generosity, and sound policy, and who was both a great ruler and great conqueror, compelling the emperor Justinian to a disgrace- ful peace, and advancing the Persian arms to the Mediterranean on the west, beyond the Oxus and the Indus on the east, and into Ara- bia on the south. His reign of 48 years, from 531 to 579, was the golden age of modern Per- sia. His grandson, Khosru Parviz or Chosroes II. (590-628), who succeeded him after an in- terval of two short reigns, is also famous for his conquests, which extended through Syria and Palestine into Egypt, and even to Tripoli and Carthage, while at the same time and sub- sequently his victorious armies were for 12 years encamped near Constantinople. He is still more celebrated in the East for his luxury and magnificence, and oriental history abounds
