PERSIAN (pEr'shan), (Heb. fiar-see', a Parsite). Its modern name of Fars, or Farsistan, is considered a corruption of its original appella tion.
It is the name of a people and nation not found in the older records of the Bible, but after the Babylonish period it occurs frequently (2 Chron.
XXXVi :20, 22 ; Ezra iv:5, Sq.; Vi :14, Sq.; Esth. 3; Dan. vi :8; _Mace. i:1), meaning the great Persian kingdom founded by Cyrus, which in the period of its highest glory comprised all Asiatic countries from the Mediterranean to the Indus, from the Black and Caspian Sea to Arabia and the Indian Ocean. In the later periods of the Biblical history it is not referred to for the most part except in conjunction with thc Mcdcs (see MEDES)-a conjunction which tends to confirm the truth of the sacred records, since the most re spectable historical authorities have found reason to conclude that the Medes and Persians were in truth but one nation, only that at an earlier period the Medes, at a later period the Persians, gained the upper hand and bore sway. This ascendancy, in the case of the Persians, as gen erally in the ancient Asiatic governments, was owing to the corrupting and enervating influence of supreme and despotic power on the one side, and on the other to the retention on the part of mountaineers, or of tribes seated remotely from the center of the empire, of primitive simplicity, -in laborious lives, hard fare, and constant ex posure, which create patient endurance, athletic strength, manly courage, independence: qualities which in their turn refuse or throw off a yoke, and convert a subject into a conquering and rul ing nation. At what precise time this great change was brought about in regard to the Medes and Persians, we are not in a condition to de termine historically.
(1) Domination of Persian Dynasty. With Cyrus the elder, however, begins (B. C. 558) the domination of the Persian dynasty which held rule over Media as well as Persia. Whether Cyruscame to the throne by inheritance, as the son-in-law of Camhyses II, according to Xenophon, or whether he won the throne by vanquishing Asty ages, the last Median king, agreeably to the state ments of Herodottis. is one of those many points ..onnected with early eastern history which, for want of documents, and in the midst of historical discrepancies, must remain probably forever un certain.
(2) Return of Captives. The most interest ing event to the theologian in the history of Cyrus, is the permission which he gave (13. C. 536) to the captive Jews to return to their native land. After a prosperous reign of the unusual length in Asiatic monarchies of thirty years,Cyrus was gathered to his fathers (B. C. 529). He was succeeded by Cambyses (B. C. 529), who, ac cording to Herodotus, reigned seven years and five months. Then came (B. C. 522) Smerdis, nominally brother of Cambyses, but in reality a Magian; and as the Magi were of Median blood, this circumstance shows that, though the Medes had lost the sovereignty, they were not without great power.
(3) Darius. Smerdis being assassinated, Darius Hystaspis was elected king. He favored the Jews, and permitted them to resume and complete the building of their temple. which had been broken off by reason of jealousy on the part of the heterogeneous populations of Samaria (Ezra iv: 2 ; 2 Kings xvii :24). and the influence which they. exerted at the Persian court (Ezra iv:1 t). (See the article Dwatus.) The last monarch had for successor Xerxes, who is probably the Ahasuerus of Esther and Mordecai. (See AHAs uEaus.) After a reign of twenty years, Xerxes was murdered by Artabanus, who, however, en joyed his booty only for the short period of seven months. The next in order was Artaxerxes (I) Longintanus, who enjoyed his power for the sur prisingly long period of forty years, and then quietly handed the scepter over to his son Xerxes 11 (B. _C. 424), who reigned but two months. (See ARTAXERXES.) He was followed by his step brother Sogdianus (B. C. 424), whose rule came to an end in seven months; thus making way for Darius Nothus, whose reign lasted nineteen years. Artaxerxes (II) Mnemon next took the throne, and is reported to have reigned forty or forty three years (Diod. Sicul. xiii, to8; xv, 93). His successor was Artaxerxes Ochus (B. C. 364), who occupied the throne for twenty-six years. Then came Arses (B. C. 338), reigning three years. At last Darius Codomannus (B. C. 335) ascended the throne.