BABYLON AND PERSIA

MEDLA .4ND THE RISE OF PERSIA. 287" Says Dareios the king : There are eight of my race who havebeen kings before me ; I am the ninth. In a doulde line we havebeen kins,s."The Behistun inscription was known and deci¬phered long before the discovery of the cylinders ofNabonidus and Kyros.Therefore the last words ofthe above passage (printed in italics), were found soextremely puzzling, that the decipherers entertainedgreat doubts about it, and intimated by the sign (?)that they considered the translation uncertain andprovisional.By comparing the whole passage, how¬ever, with the corresponding one from Kyros' pro¬clamation, given above (p. 282), we shall at once seehow beautifully the two complete each other :eachof the kings traces his separate line upwards, tillboth unite in their common ancestor, Teispes, theconqueror or annexer of Anshan.Evidently he di¬vided his kingdom between his two sons, Kyros I.and Ariaramnes, at his death, and the Akhaemenianhouse continued to reign " in two lines,"one in An¬shan, and one in Persia proper.And in numberingthose of the race who were kings before him, Dareios .clearly includes those of the Anshan line. Thisgives the following genealogical scheme :1. AKliyEMENES, founder of theI Persian royalty2. TeIspes, annexer of Anshan.Line of Anshan : 3. Kyros I. Line of Persia : 4. Ariaramnes.5. Kambyses I. 6. Arsames.- -u-,. ( reunites Anshan7. Kyros II. 1 j */,u ""