BABYLON AND PERSIA

ARYAAr MYTHS. 55who crowd the borderland between myth and his¬tory, whose disembodied spirits were worshipped astutelary deities, and whose earthly careers, haloedwith the glory transferred to them from the divinechampions of Sky and Cloud-land, are the materialsout of which races weave their National Epos andHeroic Poetry. The Epos of Eran is rich with suchmythical heroes, and knows of whole dynasties ofthem, the reputed ancient kings of the race. But apresentation of them does not lie within the scopeof the present work. If some of them confront usand claim our attention, we shall account for theraas we go.