I., AT SUSA

Frontispiece.

EXHUMED BY MR. DIEULAFOY, IN 1785.

THE STORY

OF

MEDIA, BABYLON, AND PERSIA

INCLUDING A STUDY OF THE ZEND-AVESTA OR RELIGION
OF ZOROASTER

MEMBER OF THE

AMERICAN ORIENTAL SOCIETY ; OF THE SOCIÉTÉ ETHNOLO-
GIQUE OF PARIS; ASSOCIATE OF THE VICTORIA
""
INSTITUTE OF LONDON, ETC.

"He (Carlyle) says it is part of his creed that history is poetry, could we tell it right."-
EMERSON.

"Da mihi, Domine, scire quod sciendum est."-" IMITATION OF CHRIST."

("Grant that the knowledge I get may be the knowledge worth having."-Matthew
Arnold's Translation.)

CLASSIFIED CONTENTS.

I.

A NOTABLE RELIGIOUS SURVIVAL :

THE PARSIS-

PAGE

I.

ANQUETIL DUPERRON

§ 1. The Parsis, descendants of the Persians and followers

of Zoroaster.-§ 2. The Parsis not heathens.-$ 3. Con-

quest of Persia by the Arabs.-$ 4. Oppression and con-

version of the country.-S 5. Self-exile of the Zoroastrians.

-6. Their wanderings and settlements in India.-§ 7.

Principal tenets of their religion.-§ 8. Discovery of Parsi

manuscripts.-S$ 9. Anquetil Duperron and his mission.-

§ 10. His departure for India. -§ 11. Obstacles and hard-

ships.- 12. His translation of the Zend-Avesta.-§ 13.

He is attacked by William Jones.-§ 14. His mistakes and

disadvantages.—§ 15. Eugène Burnouf, the founder of

Eranian scholarship.-§ 16. Advance and results of Eranian

studies.

I-16

II.

THE PROPHET OF ERÂN-THE AVESTA

17-33

§ 1. The religions that have sacred books, and their de-

mands. § 2. They claim to be supernaturally revealed.—

§ 3. The Veda and the Zend-Avesta―the sacred books of

the Hindus and Aranians.-§ 4. "Zend-Avesta" a mis-

nomer.-SS 5, 6. 'Pehlevi" the Persian language of the

Sassanian period.—§ 7. Uncertainty and obscurity of most

points concerning the Avesta.- 8. Ancient writers on

Zoroaster.-§ 9. The "Gâthas" (songs) the oldest portion

of the Avesta.-§ 10. Scant information on Zarathushtra

(Zoroaster) in the Avesta.-§ 11. King Vishtâspa, the friend

and follower of Zarathushtra.-§ 12. Loss of the greatest
part of the Zoroastrian literature.-§ 13. Survival of some
texts. The parts of the Avesta as we have it.—§ 14. The
Bundehesh: its lateness and its contents.

III.

ARYAN MYTHS

34-55

e.-$ 3.

SS 1, 2. Impossibility of invention in a strict sense.-

Zarathushtra not an inventor, but a reformer.-§ 4. The

Hindus and Eranians-sister nations of the Aryan or Indo-

European race.—§ 5. The Airyâna-Vaêja, or first Aryan

home of Eranian tradition.—§ 6. The Rig-Veda, the most

ancient sacred book of the Aryan Hindus, and its indica-

tions concerning the religion of the primitive Âryas.-§ 7.

The powers of nature-the gods of the Aryas.-§ 8. The

Aryan sky-gods, Dyâus and Váruna.—§ 9. The Aryan

light-god, Mitra.—§ 10. The Aryan fire-god, Agni.-

§ 11. Aryan-dualism. Gods and demons, light and dark-

ness, rain and drought.-§ 12. Aryan storm-myth.-

§ 13. Indra, the god of the thunderbolt.-§ 14. Vritra and

Ahi, the cloud-fiends.-SS 15, 16. Soma, plant, beverage

and drink.—17, 18. Efficacy of sacred texts-Mantra—and

of sacrifice.- 19. Grossness of some of these concep-

tions.- 20. Richness of Aryan mythical epos.-§ 21.

King Yama and the Pitris.-§ 22. Aryan reverence toward

the spirits of the departed-the Pitris.-§ 23. The Pitris

pass into heroic epos.

IV.

ARYAN MYTHS IN THE AVESTA-THEIR ALLEGORI-

CAL TRANSFORMATION

56-94

§ 1. Enervating influence of the Indian climate on the
Aryan population.—§ 2. Bracing and hardening influence of
the soil and climate of Erân. The nature of Erân all in ex-
tremes. 3. It intensifies the feeling of dualism, and de-
velops the battle-myth almost exclusively.—§ 4. Spiritual
transformation of Aryan myths in Erân.-S§ 5. Ahura-
Mazda, the supreme God and Creator, the successor of the