30. Not long after the reign of Nebuchadnez' zar, we find Belshaz' zar, probably a grandson of the former, on the throne of Babylon. Nothing is recorded of him but the circumstances of his death, which are related in the fifth chapter of Daniel. He was probably slain in a conspiracy of his nobles. (B. C. 553.) In the meantime, the kingdom of Media' had risen to eminence under the successive reigns of Phraor' tes, Cyax' ares, and Asty' ages,' the former of whom is supposed to be the Ahasuerus mentioned in the book of Daniela While some writers mention a successor of Asty' ages, Cyax' ares II., who has been thought to be the same as the Daríus of Scripture, others assert that Asty' ages was the last of the Median kings. In accordance with the latter and now generally-received account, Cyrus, a grandson of Asty' ages, but whose father was a Persian, roused the Persian tribes against the ruling Medes, defeated Asty' ages, and transferred the supreme power to the Persians. (558 B. C.)b

31. Cyrus the Great, as he is often called, is generally considered the founder of the Persian empire. Soon after his accession to the throne his dominions were invaded by Croe' sus, king of Lydia; but Cyrus defeated him in the great battle of Thymbria, and afterwards, besieging him in his own capital of Sardis, took him prisoner, and obtained possession of all his treasures. (B. C. 546.) The subjugation of the Grecian cities of Asia Minor by the Persians soon followed. Cyrus next laid siege to Babylon, which still remained an independent city in the heart of his empire. Babylon soon fell beneath his power, and it has been generally asserted that he effected the conquest by turning the waters of the Euphrátes from their channel, and marching his troops into the city through the dry bed of the stream; but this account has been doubted, while it has been thought quite as probable that he owed his success to some internal revolu tion, which put an end to the dynasty of the Babylonian kings. (B. C. 536.) The prophetic declarations of the final and utter de- 1

1. Media, the boundaries of which varied greatly at different times, embraced the country immediately south and south-west of the Caspian Sea, and north of the early Persia. (Map No. V.)

2. These kings were probably in a measure subordinate to the ruling king at Babylon. a. Daniel, ix. 1. Hale's Analysis, iv. 81.

b. Niebuhr's Lect. on Ancient Hist. i. 135. Grote's Greece, iv. 183.

c. The accounts of the early history of Cyrus, as derived from Xen' ophon, Herod' otus, Ctésias, &c., are very contradictory. The account of Herod' otus is now generally preferred, as containing a greater proportion of historical truth than the others. Grote calls the Cyropo' dia of Xen' ophon a "philosophical novel." Niebuhr says, "No rational man, in our days, can look apon Xenophon's history of Cyrus in any other light than that of a romance."

struction of Babylon, which was eventually to be made a desolate waste-a possession for the bittern-a retreat for the wild beasts of the desert and of the islands-to be filled with pools of water-and to be inhabited no more from generation to generation, have been fully verified.

32. In the year that Babylon was taken, Cyrus issued the famous decree which permitted the Jews to return to their own land, and to rebuild the city and temple of Jerusalem-events which had been foretold by the prophet Isaiah more than a century before Cyrus was born. Cyrus is supposed to have lived about seven years after the taking of Babylon-directing his chief attention to the means of increasing the prosperity of his kingdom. The manner of his death is a disputed point in history, but in the age of Strabo his tomb bore the inscription: "O man, I am Cyrus, who founded the Persian empire: envy me not then the little earth which covers my remains."

33. Camby' ses succeeded his father on the throne of Persia. (530 B. C.) Intent on carrying out the ambitious designs of Cyrus, he invaded and conquered Egypt, although the Egyptian king was aided by a force of Grecian auxiliaries. The power of the Persians was also extended over several African tribes: even the Greek colony of Cyrenaica' was forced to pay tribute to Camby' ses, and the Greek cities of Asia Minor remained quiet under Persian governors; but an army which Camby' ses sent over the Libyan desert to subdue the little oasis where the temple of Júpiter Am' mon' was the centre of an independent community, was buried in the sands; and another army which the king himself led up the Nile against Ethiopia, came near perishing from hunger. The Persian king would have attempted the conquest of the rising kingdom of Carthage, but his Phoenician allies or subjects, who constituted his naval power, were unwilling to lend their aid in destroying the indepen dence of their own colony, and Camby'ses was forced to abandon the project.

34. On the death of Camby' ses (B. C. 521), one Smer' dis, an

1. Cyrenaica, a country on the African coast of the Mediterranean, corresponded with the western portion of the modern Barca. It was sometimes called Pentap' olis, from its having five Grecian cities of note in it, of which Cyrène was the capital. (See p. 95, also Map No. V.) 2. The Temple of Jupiter Am' mon was situated in what is now called the Oasis of Siwah, a fertile spot in the desert, three hundred miles south-west from Cairo. The time and the cir cumstances of the existence of this temple are unknown, but, like that of Delphi, it was famed for its treasures. A well sixty foot deep, which has been discovered in the oasis, is supposed to mark the site of the temple.

impostor, a pretended son of Cyrus, seized the throne; but the Persian nobles soon formed a conspiracy against him, killed him in his palace, and chose one of their own number to reign in his stead. The new monarch assumed the old Median title of royalty, and is known in history as Daríus, or Daríus Hystas' pes. Babylon having revolted, he was engaged twenty months in the siege of the city which was finally taken by the artifice of a Persian nobleman, who pretending to desert to the enemy, gained their confidence, and having obtained the command of an important post in the city, opened the gates to the Persians: Daríus put to death three thousand of the citizens, and ordered the one hundred gates to be pulled down, and the walls of the proud city to be demolished, that it might never after be in a condition to rebel against him. The favor which this monarch showed the Jews, in permitting them to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, has already been mentioned.

35. The attention of Daríus was next turned towards the Scythians,' then a European nation, who inhabited the country along the western borders of the Euxine, from the Tan' ais or Don' to the northern boundaries of Thrace. Daríus indeed overran their country, but without finding an enemy who would meet him in battle; for the Scythians were wise enough to retreat before the invader, and desolate the country through which he directed his course. When the supplies of the Persians had been cut off on every side, and their strength wasted in useless pursuit, they were glad to seek safety by a hasty retreat.

36. The next important events in the history of Daríus we find connected with the revolt, and final subjugation, of the Greek colonies of Asia Minor, an account of which has already been given. Still Daríus was not a conqueror like Cyrus or Camby'ses, but seems to have aimed rather at consolidating and securing his empire, than

1. Scythia is a name given by the early Greeks to the country on the northern and western borders of the Euxine. In the time of the first Ptolemy, however, the early Scythia, together with the whole region from the Baltic Sea to the Caspian, had changed its name to Sarmatia, while the entire north of Asia beyond the Himalaya mountains was denominated Scythia. (Map Nos. V. and IX.)

2. The Don (anciently Tan' ais), rising in Central Russia, flows south-east until it approaches within about thirty-six miles of the Volga, when it turns to the south-west, and enters the north-eastern extremity of the Sea of Azof (anciently Palus Mootis). (Map No. IX.)

3. Thrace, embracing nearly the same as the modern Turkish province of Rumilia, was bounded on the north by the Hamus mountains, on the east by the Euxine, on the south by the Propon' tis and the ' gean Sea, and on the west by Macedónia. Its principal river was the Hébrus (now Maritza), and its largest towns, excepting those in the Thracian Cherson us (see p. 96.) were Hadrianopolis and Byzantium. (Map No. III. and IX.)

at enlarging it. The dominions bequeathed him by his predecessors comprised many countries, united under one government only by their subjection to the will and the arbitrary exactions of a common ruler; but Daríus first organized them into one empire, by dividing the whole into twenty satrapies or provinces, and assigning to each its proper share in the burdens of government.

37. Under Daríus the Persian empire had now attained its greatest extent, embracing, in Asia, all that, at a later period, was contained in Persia proper and Turkey; in Africa, taking in Egypt as far as Nubia, and the coast of the Mediterranean as far as Barca ; and in Europe, part of Thrace and Macedonia-thus stretching from the E' gean Sea to the Indus, and from the plains of Tartary' to the cataracts of the Nile. Such was the empire against whose united power a few Grecian communities were to contend for the preservation of their very name and existence. The results of the contest may be learned from the following chapter. (See Map No. VII.)

1. Tartary is a name of modern origin, applied to that extensive portion of Central Asia which extends eastward from the Caspian Sea to the Pacific Ocean.

CHAPTER IV.

THE AUTHENTIC PERIOD OF GRECIAN HISTORY.

SECTION I.

GRA HISTORY FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE FIRST WAR WITH PERSIA TO THE ES TABLISHMENT OF PHILIP ON THE THRONE OF MACEDON:

490 TO 360 B. C. = 130 YEARS.

ANALYEIS. FIRST PERSIAN WAR. 1. Preparations of Darius for the conquest of Greece, Mardonius. Destruction of the Persian fleet. [Mount A'thos.] Return of Mardonius.-2. Renewed preparations of Darius. Heralds sent to Greece. Their treatment by the Athenians and Spartans. The Eginétans. [Ægina.]-3. Persian fleet sails for Greece. Islands submit. Euboea. Percians at Mar' athon. The Plata' ans aid the Athenians. Spartans absent. [Marathon, Plate'a.]-4. The Athenian army. How commanded.-5. Battle of Mar' athon. -6. Remarks on the battle. Legends of the battle.-7. The war terminated. Subsequen history of Miltiades. [Paros.] Themis' tocles and Aristides. Their characters. Banishment of the latter. [Ostracism.]-9. Death of Darius. SECOND PERSIAN WAR. Xerxes invades Greece. Opposed by Leon' idas. [Thermop' ylæ.] Anecdote of Dien' eces.-10. Treachery. Leonidas dismisses his allies. Self-devotion of the Greeks.-11. Eurytus and Aristodėmus. -12. The Athenians desert Athens, which is burned by the enemy. [Trezene.] The Greeks fortify the Corinthian Isthmus.-13. The Persian fleet at Sal' amis. Eurybiades, Themis' tocles, and Aristides.-14. Battle of Sal' amis. Flight of Xerxes. [Hel' lespont.] Battle of Platæ'a of Myc' ale. [Myc' ale.] Death of Xerxes.-15. Athens rebuilt. Banishment of Themis'tocles. Cimon and Pausanias. The Persian dependencies. Ionian revolt. [Cyprus. Byzan' tium.]-16. Final peace with Persia.-17. Dissensions among the Grecian States. Per' icles. Jealousy of Sparta, and growing power of Athens.-18. Power and character of Sparta. Earthquake at Sparta. Revolt of the Hélots. THIRD MESSE' NIAN WAR. Migration of the Messenians.-19. Athenians defeated at Tan' agra. [Tan' agra.] Subsequent victory gained by the Athenians.

20. Causes which opened the FIRST PELOPONNE' SIAN WAR. [Corcy' ra. Potidæ' a.]—21. The Spartan army ravages At' tica. The Athenian navy desolates the coast of the Peloponnésus. [Meg' ara.]-22. Second invasion of At' tica. The plague at Athens, and death of Per'icles. Potidæ a surrenders to Athens, and Platæ' a to Sparta.-23. The peace of Nicias. Pretexts for renewing the struggle.-24. Character of Alcibiades. His artifices. Reduction of Melos. [Mélos.]-25. THE SICILIAN EXPEDITION. Its object. [Sicily. Syracuse.] Revolt and flight of Alcibiades.-26. Operations of Nicias, and disastrous result of the expedition. 27. SECOND PELOPONNE' SIAN WAR. Revolt of the Athenian allies. Intrigues of Alcibiades. Revolution at Athens. [Erétria Cys' icus.] Return of Alcibiades.-28. He is again banished. The affairs of Sparta are retrieved by Lysan' der. Cyrus the Persian.-29. The Athenians are defeated at Æ' gos-Pot' amos. Treatment of the prisoners.-30. Disastrous state of Athenian affairs. Submission of Athens, and close of the war.-31. Change of government at Athens. The Thirty Tyrants overthrown. The rule of the democracy restored.-32. Character, accusation, and death of Soc' rates.-33. The designs of Cyrus the Persian. He is aided by the Greeks, -34. Result of his expedition.-35. Famous retreat of the Ten Thousand.-36. The Creek cities of Asia are involved in a war with Persia. The THIRD PELOPONNE' SIAN WAR. [Coronéa.] The peace of Antal' cidas. [Im' brus, Lem' nos, and Scy' rus.]-37. The designs of the Persian king promoted by the jealousy of the Greeks. Athens and Sparta-how affected by the peace. -38. Sparta is involved in new wars. War with Mantinea. With Olyn' thus. [Mantinda.

D