the ancients, generally, they were considered as a people of Media. The Messabatæ, also, inhabited the district of Mesobatene, which is a Greek appellation, meaning the midland country, or tract between Media and Susiana, and which is probably derived from the Chaldee Misa, or middle. The facts respecting Elymais and the Elymeans appear to be these that a number of tribes were included together under that denomination, as being either the principal tribe that gave name to the tract so called, or that they were collectively thus denominated, and that it (Elymais) included the whole south-west part of the modern Irac Ajemi, bounded by the alluvial district Susiana on the south, and comprehending all the mountain ranges, called the Looristan and Bactiari mountains, a tract almost unknown to Europeans, and terminated by Fars or Persia on the south-east. The terms Elymais and Elymeans, do not occur in the writings of an cient historians till after the Macedonian conquest, when they are spoken of as an independent and ferocious nation, neither subject to the Syro-Macedonians, nor the Parthians, and altogether distinct from the Persians properly so termed. Persia proper was bounded on the north and north-west by Media or Irak Ajemi; on the south by the Persian Gulf; on the east by Carmania or Kerman; and on the west by Susiana or Khusistan. The extent of this country, according to Chardin's estimate, is as large as France: this, however, forms but a small portion of what is now denominated Persia. This extent of country contained the tribes of the Persæ, Pasagardæ, Arteatæ, Maraphii, and Maspians. Of these the Pasagarda were the noblest, and to the chief clan of which, called the Achæmenidæ, the royal family of Persia belonged. In addition to these tribes, Herodotus mentions three agricultural tribes, called the Panthialæ, Derusiæ, and Germanii; and four nomadic tribes, denominated the Dai, Mardi, Dropici, and Sangartii. The Persæ and Pasagardæ inhabited the middle part, or what Strabo has happily denominated Cava, or Hollow Persia, corresponding to the vale of Istaker, and the celebrated plain of Shiraz. It is not known what part the Arteatæ inhabited, but the agricultural tribes probably inhabited the quarter near Kerman or Carmania; the others were mountain tribes. Such was Persia proper: the empire of Persia, as before stated, was of far greater limits. How great it was will be seen in the following masterly geographical arrangement of the Western, Middle, and Eastern provinces of the empire, by Major Rennell, who compiled it from a curious original document, furnished by Herodotus. In it will be discerned, also, the annual revenue of this once potent empire, an empire that was master of almost all the then known world. 1. WESTERN PROVINCES. S. Talents. 1. The Ionians and Magnesians of Asia, the Æolians, Carians, Lycians, Melyeans, and Pamphylians. These occupied an extent of 450 geographical miles of sea coast in Asia Minor, from the Gulf of Adramyttium, and the Troade, on the north, round by Cnidus to Cilicia on the east. 2. The Mysians, Lydians, Alysonians, Cabalians, and Hygennians The greatness of the tribute paid by this, the smallest of the twenty satrapies, was the result of the gold and silver mines of Lydia, and the gold sands of the river Pactolus. The riches of Croesus were proverbial. 3. On the east side of the Hellespont, the Phrygians and the Thracians of Asia, the Paphlagonians, Maryandinians, and Syrians, or Cappadocians 4. The Cilicians These four provinces composed the whole of Asia Minor. 5. Phenicia, the Syrian Palestine, and the isle of Cyprus; from the city of Posidæum, on the frontiers of Cilicia and Syria, as far as Mount Casius and the Sirbonic Lake, bordering on Egypt 6. Egypt, and the Africans, bordering on Egypt, as far as Cyrene and Barce . .†400 500 360 500 350 700 These people were probably the same with the Milyans, of whom Herodotus speaks. Sometimes they were called Minyans, from Minos, king of Crete. + Reckoning each talent at 1931. 15s. See p. 14. These people lived on the coast of Bithynia, where was said to be the Acherusian cave, through which Hercules dragged Cerberus up to the light, whose foam then produced aconite. "That sacred plain, where as the fable tells, Dionysius Perieget: S. Talents. This tribute was exclusive of the produce of the fishery of the lake Maris, amounting to 240 talents per annum, which was a perquisite to the queen of Persia, says Diodorus, for dress and perfumes; and also of 700 talents, for the value of Egyptian corn, to supply 120,000 Persian and auxiliary troops, in garrison at Memphis, etc. 7. [0.*] Babylon, including Assyria Proper, and Mesopotamia .1000 This was one of the most extensive, as it was the richest of the provinces of the empire. Before the time of Cyrus, it was reckoned, in point of revenue, equal to the third part of Asia. 8. Susa, and Susiana, or Chusistan Next to the Lydian satrapy, this was the smallest of the whole; but it contained Susa, at that time the capital of the empire, where the king's treasures were deposited. 300 II. CENTRAL PROVINCES. 9. [10.] Ecbatana, the rest of Media, the Parycanii, and the Orthocorybantes Media Proper occupies the midland and elevated tract between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf. It was then the central part of the great Persian empire, and from climate, verdure, and richness of soil, the most beautiful of its provinces. It is now the most western province of modern Persia, Mount Zagros forming the common boundary between Persia and Turkey. Ispahan, the present capital, is situate in the north-east corner of ancient Media. 10. [11] The Caspians, Pausica, Pantimithi, and Darita, (including Hyrcania) 11. [18.] The Matieni, Saspirians, and Alarodians The Saspirians occupied the eastern part of Armenia. 12. [13.] Pactyica, the Armenians, etc. The Armenia of Herodotus extended westward to the Euphrates, and southward to Mount Masius in Mesopotamia, including the sources of the Euphrates northwards, and Mount Ararat eastwards. This province, though mountainous, abounded in mines of gold and sil 450 200 200 400 The numbers included in the brackets were the original numbers of Herodotus. S. Talents. ver, copper and iron, at Argana and Kebban, which will account for its high tribute. 13. [19] The Moschi, Tibareni, Macrones, Mosynæci, and Mardians This satrapy is a narrow strip of land, between the Armenian mountains of Caucasus and the Euxine Sea. It abounds in iron mines. III. EASTERN PROVINCES. 14. The Sangartians, Sarangæns, (of Sigistan,) the Thamancans, Utians, and Mencians, (of Carmania,) with the islands of the Red Sea, or Persian Gulf, to which the king banished state offenders The intermediate country of Persia proper, whose principal tribes were the Arteate, Persæ, Pasagardæ, Maraphii, and Maspians, were not compelled to pay any specific taxes, but only presented a regular gratuity. 15. [16.] The Parthians, Chorasmians, Sogdians, and Arians These occupied the mountainous tract between Hyrcania, Margiana, Asia, and the desert of Chorasmia. 16. [7] The Sattagydians, the Gandarii, Dadicæ, and Assartyæ of Margiana 17. [12] The Bactrians, as far as Aglos. Or from Balk to Khilan or Ghilan. 18. [15.] The Saca and Caspii, (or, rather, Casians of Kashgur) 19. [17] The Paricanii, and long-haired Ethiopians of Asia These were the Oritæ of Alexander and Nearchus, and inhabited Haur, Makran, and other provinces in the south-east angle of Persia towards India. The sum total . 20. The Indians. 300 . 600 300 170 . 360 250 400 . 7740 These inhabited the extensive provinces of Kabul, Kandahar, and Scindia, west of the Indus, and the Panjab, that rich stripe of coast east of the Indus. They paid (600) 360 talents in gold ingots, differing, in this respect, from the other satrapies, whose payments were in silver talents. Such was the extent of the empire of ancient Persia, which is now no more. It spread terror to, and worked desolation in the nations around; but those who wielded its power have long since mouldered in the grave. Concerning the financial statement in the foregoing extract, Dr. Hales remarks after Herodotus: "If the standard of the Babylonian talent, in which the tribute from the first nineteen provinces was paid, be reduced to the standard of the Euboic talent, the amount will be 9880 silver talents. And if the tribute from the Indians, of 360 gold talents, be estimated at thirteen times the value of the silver, it will amount to 4680 Euboic talents more. So that the sum total of the tribute paid to Darius was 14,560 Euboic talents." This number of talents, reckoning with Arbuthnot, the Euboic or Attic talent at 1931. 15s., would amount to 2,821,000l., . which was a very moderate sum for so extensive an empire. There were, however, a few minor tributes, both from these provinces and other nations, which Herodotus did not reckon: probably these might have made the sum total 3,000,000%. sterling, which is still a moderate sum compared with the revenues of modern states. This leads to a review of the several provinces into which the country of Persia was anciently divided, as mentioned by Strabo, Pliny, and other writers, and as marked on the best modern maps. Geographers, indeed, at the present day, from the frequent changes of the limits of the provinces of modern Persia, preserve the ancient division, though, in this respect, also, some changes have been introduced. In our notice of these provinces, much information concerning the condition they are now in, will be blended with that in which they once were. GEDROSIA. Gedrosia, or Mekran, including the district of the Oritæ, extends from the eastern range of the Brahooick mountains that separate it from Sinde to Cape Iask on the frontiers of Laristaun, or, from the sixty-eighth degree east longitude, to the fifty-eighth degree of the same, a space containing 120,000 miles. In the eastern part this province does not exceed 100 miles, it being separated between 62° and 66° E. longitude from the desert of Beloochistaun by the northern branch that projects from the Brahooick mountains in 28° N, latitude, called Wushutee, and, also, Much, or the Palm, as that tree grows in great abundance there. The northern extremity of the Kohistaun may be called a northern |