PERSIS (mod. Fars, q.v.), the south-western part of Iran (Persia), named from the inhabitants, the Iranian people of the Parsa (Fars) ; their name was pronounced by the Ionians Persai, with change from a to e, and this form has become dominant in Greek and in the modern European languages. The natural fea tures of Persis are described very exactly by Nearchus, the ad miral of Alexander the Great (preserved by Arrian Indic. 4o and Strabo xv. 727). The country is divided into three parts, of very different character and climate : the coast is sandy and very hot, without much vegetation except date palms ; it has no good har bours, and the climate is very unwholesome; the population is scanty. About 5om. from the coast rise the chains of the moun tains, through which some steep passes lead into the interior valleys (called KoLX17 Hepois, Strabo xv. 729), which lie about 5,000ft. above the sea. Here the climate is temperate, the country watered by many rivers and lakes, the soil fertile, the vegetation rich, the cattle numerous. These regions, which were thickly populated, form the real Persis of history. "This land Persis," says Darius, in an inscription at Persepolis, "which Ahuramazda has given to me, which is beautiful and rich in horses and men, according to the will of Ahuramazda and myself it trembles be fore no enemy." The third part is the north, which belongs to the central plateau, still much higher, and therefore rough and very cold in the winter. Towards the north-west it borders on the Median district of Paraetecene (about Isfahan) ; towards the north and north-east it soon passes into the great desert, of which only the oasis of Yezd (Isatichai in Ptolem. vi. 4, 2) is inhabit able. In the east, Persis proper is separated by a desert (Laristan) from the fertile province of Carmania (Kerman), a mountainous region inhabited by a Persian tribe. To Carmania belonged also the coast, with the islands and harbours of Hormuz and Bander Abbasi. In the west Persis borders on the mountains and plains of Elam or Susiana. For the ancient topography cf. Tomaschek, "Beitrage zur historischen Topographie von Persien," in Sitzungs ber. der Wiener Akademie, Phil. Cl. cii. cviii. cxxi.
The Persians are not mentioned in history before the time of Cyrus ; the attempt to identify them with the Parsua, a district in the Zagros chains south of Lake Urmia, often mentioned by the Assyrians, is not tenable. Herodotus i. 125, gives a list of Persian tribes : the Pasargadae (at Murghab), Maraphii, Maspii, Pan thialaei (in western Carmania), Derusiaei, Germanii (i.e. the Carmanians) are husbandmen, the Dahae (i.e. the "enemies," a general name of the rapacious nomads, used also for the Turanian tribes), Mardi, Dropici, Sagartii (called by Darius Asagarta, in the central desert; cf. Herod. vii. 85) are nomads. The kings of the Pasargadae, from the clan of the Achaemenidae, had become kings of the Elamitic district Anshan (probably in 596, cf. CYRus). When, in 553, Cyrus, king of Anshan, rebelled against. Astyages, the Maraphians and Maspians joined with the Pasar gadae ; after his victory over Astyages all the Persian tribes ac knowledged him, and he took the title of "king of Persia." But from then only the inhabitants of Persia proper were considered as the rulers of the empire, and remained theref ore in the organi zation of Darius free from taxes (Herod. iii. 97). Carmania, with the Sagartians, the Utians (called by Darius Yautiya), and other tribes, formed a satrapy and paid tribute (Herod. iii. 93) ; the later authors therefore always distinguished between Carmania and Persis. Names of other Persian tribes, partly of very doubt ful authority, are given by Strabo xv. 727,' and Ptolem. vi. 4 and 8.
The Persians of Cyrus (see PERSIA : Ancient History) were a vigorous race of husbandmen, living in a healthy climate, accus tomed to hardship, brave and upright ; many stories in Herodotus (especially ix. 122) point the contrast between their simple life and the effeminate nations of the civilized countries of Asia. They were firmly attached to the pure creed of Zoroaster (cf. Herod. i. 131 sqq. and the inscriptions of Darius).