9 The answer to this question must ever rest upon mere conjecture of more or less probability. To confine ourselves, however, to the tribes composin<^ the Iranian group to which we belong, it seems pretty well proved that they approached the plateau from the north, and, skirting the border mountains, they moved south- ward from valley to valley in the direction of the Persian Gulf* A glance at the map suffices to show that the clans did not come straight from India, for they would have had to traverse the inhospitable stretches of Eastern Iran ; whereas by following the base of the northern chain of Caucasus on to the Elburz range, the present boundary line between Russia on the one side and Afghanistan and Persia on the other, they found everywhere an abundance of grass for their herds, and from stage to stage reached, without too much hardship, the southern belt of the Caspian, where they could reckon upon an unfailing supply of water, timber, and fodder. Once here, they were able at one bound to enter the plateau through the valley of Sefi-Rud or one of the numerous mountain passes. Whether the Aryans when they entered Iran found there those Turanian tribes, or, to use a more popular term, those Turkish dans which later on were to contend with them for supremacy, is uncertain. But those best qualified to pass judgment on this question are unanimous in refusing to accept the hjrpothesis which would connect the Medes with the Turanian family. That the Medes and Persians were related to each other, their language, religion, manners, and customs attest' The only difference between them resides in this, that the Medes, as nearer neighbours and in daily contact with the Assyrians, were the first to emerge from barbarism, and to form themselves into a compact body, social and political. This affinity is incidentally proved by
- With the aid of Assyrian texts, Amiaud (" Cyras roi de Perse," ia MUanges
KenUr, 1886, pp. 241-260) thinks he is able to follow the migratory movement of the Persian tribe from the borders of Lake Urumiyeh, which they stil! inhabited in the time of Sbalmanezer IL, on to Fars, where their arrival is posterior to the reign of Sargon.
- See NoBLDBKB, under the headug of Persia," p. 56s, Bntydeptedia BrUamtUay
9th edit., torn, xviii,, 1885 ; J. Darmesteter, article in the Revue critique, June 21, 1880, bearing on Oppert's work, Le peuple et la langue des Afedes (8vo, Paris, Maisonneuve, 1880), and Coup d'atil sur V histoire fU la Ftne^ p. 14 (1885, jamo, Leroux). Spiegel expresses himself in the same tense. 'O/i^Xwnvt «^ fUMp^, sayi Stiabo^ p. 1054.-1^8. Digitized by Google
