As to the old king, he honored him as a father, and made him Satrap (governor) of Hyrcania. There is a tradition that the king of Armenia, TIGRANES I., a monarch with whom began a long and famous line, aided Kyros in his revolt, although his own sister had lately become second wife to Astyages. Armenian historians add that the perfidious old Mede had invited his new brother-in-law to visit him, with the intent of murdering him, but that Tigranes was warned in time by his sister. It is further reported that it was on this occasion Tigranes, who always remained Kyros' devoted friend and ally, adopted the Zoroastrian religion and introduced it into Armenia. This report must be taken for what it may be worth, as there is no evidence that could be called proof, to confirm it. It may have been owing to the Armenian alliance that Kyros within the next two years extended his rule westward as far as the Halys -i. e., to the farthest boundary of the Median Empire on the western side. He does not seem to have encountered much resistance in this quarter, as Herodotus merely remarks: "The Cappadocians submitted to Kyros, after having been subject to the Medes." There is a tradition to the effect that the king of Cappadocia was married to a sister of Kambyses, the father of Kyros; but it may have been an invention, to give a plausible and creditable color to his submission.

7. We do not know how much time and labor Kyros expended on the countries of Eastern Erân that made up so important a portion of the Median inheritance which he claimed and systematically

gathered under his rule. It is probable that their reduction and the necessity of keeping them in a state of submission provided him with occupation for the rest of his life, and that at intervals between the acts of the great undertakings in the West, to which his ambition chiefly inclined him, he may have personally headed an expedition into the East and North-east. It would be as vain as unprofitable to try and follow the fortunes of all the obscure nations -Bactrians, Sogdians, Chorasmians, Hyrcanians, Saki (i. e., Scythians, Aryan and Turanian,) etc., who are little more than names in the history of the world. In his treatment of them, as in all other respects, Kyros showed himself superior to all the conquerors the world had yet seen. He is said to have left it to the peoples he subdued to fix the figure and nature of the tribute they were able and willing to pay.

8. His just and mild rule soon reconciled the Medes to the change of masters, and he made special efforts to secure their devotion. He never forgot, indeed, that his first favor and duty was owing to his own people, the Persians, and made it understood at once that they were to be the first in the new empire, by exempting them from tribute and selecting his generals and Satraps (governors) from their number, besides having his choicest troops composed of Persians. His chief wife, his queen, was herself an Akhæmenian; her name, as given by the Greeks, was KASSANDANÊ; she is frequently spoken of as a woman of great mental power and real influence. Kyros was deeply attached to her, and when

she died, caused "a great mourning" to be made for her throughout the empire. But the second place was ungrudgingly allotted to the Medes. After the first excitement of war and victory, they were never treated as a conquered nation, but as a brother-people. In war and in peace, in the army and the council, in attendance on the royal person, they always come next to the Persians; indeed we find Medians entrusted with important military commands scarcely ten years after the fall of the Median Empire. Unity of race and, to a great extent, of language and religion must have largely contributed to this result, which, however, might not have been as easily achieved under a monarch less temperate and judicious than Kyros proved himself throughout. If he really did marry the daughter of Astyages, the connection must have helped to smooth matters, though the Median princess never could claim precedence over the Persian one, the two queens faithfully representing in their relative position that of their respective countries. Still the fusion was so complete as to become invisible to the eyes of foreigners, who speak of "the Medes and Persians' jointly, as of one people, not infrequently using one name for the other.

9. It has been asked: What was the capital of the Persian Empire? and it is a question not easy to answer. In reality, there were several, according as the kings resided in the royal city of this or that of the countries which composed the empire. Kyros, indeed, true to his nation and ancestry, apparently conferred this dignity on his

own clan-city PASARGADÆ, He built a palace there, and a treasury, and his body rested there in death. A great sacredness attached to the place in consequence, and every Akhæmenian king went there for his inauguration. But it did not possess the conditions that go to make a thriving, populous centre, and became neglected as a residence. It is now represented by a knot of ruins, not very striking or numerous, in the valley of MURGHÂB, watered by the PULWAR, a scant and insignificant stream, formerly named after the great king himself, KYROS; it is uninteresting and short-lived, as most watercourses of this arid region, and after receiving a single tributary, ends in a salt lake. A few truncated columns, and many more bases without columns, a few gate-pillars, and a platform with a casing of very fine stone masonry, are all that remains of these constructions. Interesting as they are, they are eclipsed by two relics which appeal more powerfully to the fancy of the beholder: one is a square, isolated, and very massive stone pillar, bearing a basrelief representing a human figure with four unfolded wings and a most peculiar head-dress (see ill. 41). That this strange figure is meant for Kyros is placed beyond doubt by the inscription which we read at some height above its head. But there is some reasonable doubt as to whether it was intended for the living king, or rather for an ideal representation of his glorified Fravashi after death. The other relic is the great king's tomb, or rather grave-chamber, which stands well preserved, but open and empty, on its base of seven retreating stages or high steps, all of solid