Sykes' History of Persia - Heritage Institute

428
HISTORY OF PERSIA
of Ardeshir, who, to support the fiction, sent a force to
pursue him. The murder was accomplished, and, as the
assassin was drowned in the Araxes while fleeing from
Artaxata, Ardeshir achieved his object without paying the
price for it. He speedily overran and annexed Armenia,
but failed to seize the infant son of Chosroes, who was
safely conveyed out of the country. This successful
campaign ended the military career of the founder of the
Sasanian dynasty.
Ardeshir^ the Reviver of the Good Religion.— It has been
shown in Chapter XXXII. that the Parthians who adopted
the tenets of Zoroastrianism had partially forsaken it and
had gradually ceased to carry out its precepts ; indeed,
their religion had rather become a worship of the Sun, of
the Moon, and of ancestral images, in combination with
old Semitic incantations and invocations. In con-
many
sequence, the fire-altars had fallen into ruins, and in many
cases the sacred flame had been extinguished ; nor were
the Magi any longer a power in the land.
Ardeshir began by restoring to the Magi their privi-
leges, and it was laid down that the monarch was closely
connected with the teachers of the Good Religion, who
formed the council of the nation. He also not only gave
them broad lands but instituted tithes for their benefit.
As a result images were destroyed, the worship of the Sun
and Moon was swept away, and the whole nation rallied
to the ancient faith of Zoroaster.
To ensure a united people, an Assembly of the Magi
was convoked and seven of the holiest priests were
selected, who in turn chose Arda-Viraf, a young Mohed
of noted sanctity, as their representative. According to
the Persian narrative, the chosen priest, after undergoing
elaborate ablutions, was given an opiate, under the in-
fluence of which he slept
for seven days, watched by the
King and seven great nobles. Upon awaking he dictated
the entire faith of Ormuzd to a scribe, and this was
accepted as wholly authoritative by the priests and people.
As may be supposed, the zeal of Ardeshir and of the
Mobeds would not tolerate other forms of religion, and
this led to religious persecutions, directed especially against