PERSIANS, the name of a people and nation which occurs only in the later periods of the Bib lical history, and then for the most part in conjunc tion with the Medes [MEDES]—a conjunction which tends to confirm the truth of the sacred records, since the most respectable 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 ascendency, in the case of the Persians, as generally 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 the mountaineers, or of tribes seated remotely from the centre of the empire, of primitive simplicity,— in laborious lives, hard fare, and constant exposure, 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 ruling 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 determine historically. 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 Cyrus came to the throne by inheritance, as the son-in law of Cambyses II., according to Xenophon, or whether he won the throne by vanquishing Asty ages, the last Median king, agreeably to the state ments of Herodotus, is one of those many points connected with early eastern history which, for want of documents, and in the midst of historical discrepancies, must remain probably for ever un certain. Meanwhile the existence of Cyrus and the great tenor of his influence remain the same, though on this and on other points historians give irrecon cilable statements—a remark which we make the rather because a certain school of modern theology has attempted to destroy the general historical credibility of the Gospels, on the ground that the several narrators are found to disagree.
The most interesting event to the reader of the Bible in the history of Cyrus, is the permission which he gave (B.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 died (B.c. 529). He was succeeded by Cambyses (B.c. 529), who, according to Herodotus, reigned seven years and five months. He is probably the Ahasuerus of Ezra iv. 6. Then came (B.c. 522) Smerdis, nominally brother of Cambyses, but in reality a Magian named Go mates ; 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. Smerdis being assassinated (B.c.
52t), Darius Hystaspis was elected king. He favoured 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. t). The last monarch had for successor Xerxes (B.c. 485), who is probably the Ahasuerus of Esther and Mordecai. After a reign of twenty years, Xerxes was murdered by Artabanus, who, how ever, enjoyed his booty only for the short period of seven months. The next in order was Artaxerxes (I.) Longimanus (B.c. 465), who enjoyed his power for the surprisingly long period of forty years, and then quietly handed the sceptre over to his son Xerxes II. (B.c. 424), who reigned but two months. 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 (B.c. and is reported to have reigned forty or forty-three years (Diod. Sicul. xiii. to8 ; xv. 93). His succes sor 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. But the valour, hardihood, and discipline which had gained the dominion, and which, as the length of several reigns in the succession shows, had sustained it with a firm and effectual hand, were almost at an end, having been succeeded by the effeminacy, the luxuriousness, and the vices which had caused the dissolution of earlier Asiatic dynasties, and among them that of the Medes, which the Persians had set aside. this relaxation of morals has once taken place, a dynasty or a nation only waits for a conqueror. In this case one soon appeared in the person of Alexander, misnamed the Great, who assailing Darius on several occasions, finally over came him at Arbela (B. c. 330), and so put a period to the Persian monarchy after it had existed for 219 years. On this the country shared the fate that befell the other parts of the world which the Mace donian madman had overrun ; but, more fortunate than that of other eastern nations, the name of Persia and of Persians has been preserved even to the present day, as the representative of a people and a government.