A literary history of Persia

fORIGIN OF THE IRANIANS 33the race of Huvakhshatara " (Cyaxares, the third Medic kingof Herodotus), and so did Chitratakhma, who rebelled in Sagartia,(Arbira). We find,0thC retcnd^c'* i$ true 'Medic generals and soldiers fightingsup e by Da r?Js loyally f r Darius, but nevertheless between theMede and the Persian at this time such antagonismmust have existed as between Scotch and English in thedaysof the Edwards. Almostthe same in race and languageojUoyAwrroi irapa piicpov and probably the same in religion,the jealousy between Mede and Persian was at this time apowerful factor in history, and, as Darmesteter says, the Magianpriest of Media, though respected and feared in his priestlycapacity, and even held indispensable for the proper celebrationof religious rites,was none the less liable to the hatred andenmity of the southern Persian.As it is the aim of this book to trace the developments ofpost-Muhammadan literature and thought in Persia, or in otherwords the literary history of the last thousand years,Periods earlier ., t_.....thnn the Medic with only such reference to earlier times as isdistinguishable ,- , i- r i iin the history of requisite for a proper r understanding b of thissumect, Jthe Persian race... .\a more detailed discussion of the ancient times ofwhich we have been speaking would be out of place.In thischapter we have gone back to the beginning of the Medic power(about B.C. 700), at which point the historical period may besaid to commence ;but it is possible to distinguish,in the dimlight of antiquity, still earlier periods, as has been done bySpiegel in his excellent Erdnische Alterthumskundt (3 vols.,Leipzig, 1871-78). Putting aside the vexed question of anoriginal Aryan race spreading outwards in all directions from acommon centre, it at least seems pretty certain that theIranian race located somewhere in the Panjab. The prettytheory as to the causes which led to the cleavage of this com-Indian* and Persians were once united in a common Indo-munity which was so ingeniously advanced by Max Miiller J1See Max Miiller's Selected Essays (London, 1881), vol. ii, pp. 132-134,4