We must content ourselves with the bare statement, and can only call to mind how Chosroes I. (Anushirwan, " the Just") founded an empire whose extent was little less than that of the colossal kingdom of the ancient Persians, and in which, through military prowess and executive ability, a state of prosperity arose in the highest degree noteworthy; and how his grandson, Chosroes II. (Eberwiz), carried his victorious arms as far as Constantinople on the one side and to the borders of Ethiopia on the other.
28 presents illustrations of two of the Sassanide kings (figs. 18, 19), taken from a bas-relief made of silver and plated with gold preserved in the Hermitage of St. Petersburg. The names of the kings represented are engraved in the Pehlevi character, which is not vet sufficiently understood to enable us to decipher them. The rather gay costume there shown has departed widely from the Old Persian. It is difficult to determine the elements out of which it was developed, and to which no doubt many nationalities entirely unknown to history con tributed. After the migration of the Aryans, whose original habitation was Central Asia,' and who began to spread over Europe two thousand years before the commencement of our era, Tartaric and other tribes, coming probably from the North-cast, poured into the ancient abodes of the former and pushed farther southward and westward.
Technical best-known contribution of the Neo-Persians to modern Europe is the game of chess. Extant specimens of workmanship in the precious metals, like the relief above mentioned, also silks of pecu liar patterns, give evidence of the industrial skill of the people, the prod ucts of which supplied the most distant countries. Such silks, the manufacture of which was adopted by the Arabs, remained models for imitation, and for a long time gave the fashion to the Christian coun tries of the West. Indeed, the technical skill of the Neo-Persians was transplanted by the Arabs through Sicily and Spain into northern coun tries, where the weaving of artistic fabrics thus became naturalized.
Ceramic Art.—The same is true of the art of pottery, the remains of which, on account of the frailty of the material, can scarcely be attrib uted to so remote a period as that of the Sassanides, but which, at all events, belong to Arabic antiquities (pl. 28, figs. 2o-24). This art, which included glazing and enamelling-, together with the production of majol ica ware, reached us by the same route.
The Sephians.—Before proceeding to the cori3ideration of the nations of modern history we will devote a few words to one other nation, which, although it did not succeed in developing a proper civilization of its own, stood in such intimate relation to that of the most remote antiquity, as well as to the culture of modern times, that we cannot entirely overlook it. The people to whom we refer are the Scythians, of whom Homer already had an imperfect knowledge.
Origin.—They were believed by Herodotus to be of Asiatic origin; and his account of them, taken in connection with the description given by Hippocrates of their physical peculiarities, has led to the belief that they were a part of the great Mongolian race which has wandered from unknown antiquity over the steppes of Central Asia. Another view
assigns them to the Iranian branch of the Aryans. (See Vol. I. p. 385.) Herodotus says that they were driven out of their abodes in Asia, north of the Araxes (Aras), by the Massagetre, and that, migrating into Europe, they drove out the Cimmerians. If this be true, it may account for the irruption of the Cimmerians into Asia Minor in the reign of the Lydian king Ardys, about 640 B. C.
.Va/idnai Lift.—Herodotns refers pretty clearly to the steppes of South ern Russia as the abode of this people. He mentions, it is true, not a few names of the tribes inhabiting those regions, which have but little meaning for us, as traces of them can no longer be found. They were probably simply separate divisions of warlike hordes belonging to a sin gle tribe nomadically wandering over those boundless plains. Aischy Ins agrees with later writers when he describes the Scythians as dwelling in wicker-work huts on wagons and as constantly carrying the bow and arrow. They were a nomad people who roamed over a vast tract of coun try at their pleasure and according to the wants of their flocks and herds. They kept large troops of horses, and were expert in cavalry exercises and archery; it was almost impossible for an invading army to act against them. They simply retreated, wagons and all, before the enemy, harass ing him with their light cavalry, and leaving famine and exposure, on their bare steppes, to do the rest. They were divided into several hordes, the chief of whom were called the Royal Scytliiaus, and to these all the rest owed sonic degree of allegiance. Their government was a sort of patriarchal chieftainship. An important modification of their habits had, however, taken place, to a certain extent, before Herodotus described them. The fertility of the plain on the north of the F,uxine, and the influence of Greek settlements at the mouth of the Borysthenes (Dnieper) and along the coast, had led the inhabitants of this part of Scythia to settle down as cultivators of the soil. As early as the seventh century u. c. the Greeks had had mercantile relations with them and had founded colonies on the shores of the Black Sea. In consequence of the stimulus given by the latter, a sense of higher culture had been awakened among this barbarous people. ' Excavations made in Southern Russia have brought to light graves of barbaric kings which contain costly articles evidently the work of Greek hands. The golden vase (pi. 22, jig. 71) before mentioned, upon which are represented scenes taken from the life of this nation, was found in one of these graves. These masterpieces of illustration perfectly agree with the descriptions of the habits of this people left us by ancient wri ters. The group shown in Figure 13 (pi. 34) is taken from the engrav ings upon the vase. A glance suffices to convince us that we are dealing with the ancestors of the nations at this day inhabiting that country— the Cossacks and other peoples of the Ukraine.