Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/31

i6 History op Art in Antiquitv. of but little change, no violent far-reachinj; revolution, such as ¥fould raise an impassable barrier between past and present, having taken place. The political centre was displaced ; yet, under one name or another, there always existed here a powerful state, whose religion and moral code were more or less intimately allied to the precepts of Mazdaism, a state whose chief action and influence were more specially exercised in the western provinces, Mesopo- tamia, Syria, Asia Minor, and Armenia. To one capable of taking a lofty and comprehensive view of affairs, the events that occurred during that long period may be likened to a kind of see>saw movement between northern and southern tribes. Those enervated and used up by vices that follow in the train of power, after a number of generations, had to give way to others whose frugal, simpler mode of life had kept free from this chronic evil. Thus, in the seventh century B.C, through the eneigy of the Medes, Iran was advanced to the post of honour and Nineveh and Assyria were incorporated with the new empire. But towards the middle of the following century they succumbed in their turn to the Persians. These* under the leadership of the Achaemenidae, not content to reduce haughty Babylon to the posi- tion of a provincial town, overran the whole of Central Asia, and attacked the Afric and European continents as well. Here they encountered the free states of Greece, and hostilities between Asiatics and Hellenes then began, which lasted two hundred years. Alexander put an end to them with those strokes of good luck and genius known as Issus and Arbela (334- 330). Then, for the first time, Persia was subject to a master who did not worship Ahuri- Mazda; yet, before another hundred years had passed, she reap- peared as unhurt as a rock whose face has been momentarily sub> merged, in the full possession of her independence, language, customs, and the fund of her ancient beliefs. The restoration was due to the Parthians, a northern tribe who wielded power down to B.C. 226. Again, for the fourth time, the fate of Iran trembled in the balance, and with the Sassanidae southern tribes became once more dominant (236-652). The very thin veneer of Greek culture which the Macedonian conquest and the Philhellenism of the Par- thian kings had seemingly laid over the surface of Iran was loosened and fell off. The stream of life and favour flowed back to doctrines that, under the rule of the Seleucidae and the Parthians, had had a hard struggle for existence, and in remote districts alone uiLjiii^ed by Google