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Western Asia 37 powerful were the Medes and the Persians. The Medes first es- tablished an extensive empire east of the Tigris. After the fall of the Assyrian Empire (606 B.C.) the Medes became an object of dread to their neighbors, especially to the Chaldeans of Babylonia. 53. The Religion of Zoroaster. The Medes and Persians were as yet far inferior in civilization to the Semites of the Fertile Crescent, but in one respect they had made a great advance. Two or three hundred years earlier a religious teacher had appeared among them, Zoroaster, who had thought out a religion that was destined to influence us down to the present day. He pondered much on the good and evil in life and the ceaseless struggle be- tween them. The Good became for him a divine being whom he called Mazda, or Ahuramazda, and regarded as God. Ahura- mazda was surrounded by a group of helpers much like angels, of whom one of the greatest was the Light, called "Mithras." Opposed to Ahuramazda and his helpers was an evil group led by a great Spirit of Evil named Ahriman. It was he who later became the Satan of the Jews and Christians. Thus the faith of Zoroaster called upon every man to stand on one side or the other, to fill his soul with the Good and the Light or to dwell in the Evil and the Darkness. Whatever course a man pursued, he must expect a judgment hereafter. This was the earliest appearance in Asia of belief in a last judgment. Zoroaster maintained the old Aryan veneration of fire as a visible symbol of the Good and the Light. The new faith had gained a firm footing among the Persians ; and Mithras, the god of light, was worshiped centuries later by many of the Romans, who preferred this religion to the newly introduced Christianity. 54. Cyrus and his Conquests. A great leader now arose among the Persians, Cyrus the Great. He first attacked and defeated his neighbors the Medes (549 B.C.), to whom the Persians had been subject, and made himself master of their territory. He then became the first great conqueror and empire-builder of Indo- European blood. With a powerful Persian army that he had rapidly built up, Cyrus marched far to the west into Asia Minor and conquered