Spread of the
Cushites to
Syria ;
also into
Khuzistân,
Media,
Persia,
and Central
Asia.
the ancient writers Herodotus and Strabo: they have been
described subsequently by Moses Choronensis, and in later
times by De Guignes, Cumberland, Jackson, Hyde, Faber,
&c.; but the learned Bryant appears to have been the first
who, in a satisfactory manner, traced the routes followed by
the different branches of the human family.
In describing the supposed site of Paradise, the countries
occupied by the first Ethiopians have already been partially
considered in connexion with the Asiatic Cush; 1 and in the
preceding chapter of this volume, it is shown that, up to the
time of the dispersion, the line of Ham occupied the chief part
of Syria, in addition to the countries along the shores of the
Bed Sea, and also a part of the mountainous districts lying
north-westward of Babylon. The followers of Nimrud retained
Babel, also part of the territory eastward of the Tigris.
For it appears that the name of Kush, the Chaldean Chuth,
or Kushasdan, land of the Sun,2 also that of the Cathai and
Cesi,3 or Cosscei, and the modern Khuzistan, was carried to the
latter country.4 The Cushites, the reputed ancestors of the
Huns, are described as having quitted the plains of Shinar in
two great bands.5 One of these, after occupying the Cosscean
mountains, spread onward, and probably became the Budii of
Media:6 they subsequently extended eastward of the latter
territory ; for it appears that the whole of Persia had at one
time the name of Kush, and that the people were called Kush-
anians; which name, observes Saint Martin, comes to us, with
accessories denoting a Syriac origin.7 The name of Kush was
likewise applied to the western side of India, at least; 8 the
adjoining territory of I ’ran being called Kusdi Khorasan or
Kush, westward of the Indus. This tract comprised Bactria,
Sogdiana, Chorasmia, Hyrcania, and Parthia; and Khusru
Nushirvan, one of the monarchs of I ’ran, was styled King
1 See vol. I ., chap. xii. 2 Vol. I., p. 281.
8 Plin., lib. V I., cap. vii., xx., and xxvii.
4 See above, vol. I., pp. 202-205 and 281.
5 De Guignes, Hist, des Huns, vol. I. p. 1.
6 Ritter, Erdkunde, vol. I I ., p. 89C.
7 St. Martin, Mem. sur l’Armenie, tome I I ., p. 392.
8 Kitab al Bolden, No. 617, in the library at the East India House.
of the Cushites, who, it may be observed, are expressly called
the ancestors of the Persians and Indians.1 The central
situation of I ’ran not only afforded an easy intercourse with
India itself, but likewise with Tartary and China: and, that
such connexion existed, may be gathered from the incidental
notices of Diodorus Siculus and Herodotus. The tract west- india,
ward of the Indus was the country of the straight-haired or
Asiatic Ethiopians of Herodotus,2 as well as of Eusebius,
who says, that beyond Carmania there is a country called
Ethiopia looking towards India.3 This territory, with that
of the Paracanians, formed the seventeenth Satrapy, and paid
400 talents.4 The Indi, who constituted one branch of the Origin of the
eastern Ethiopians, are called the wisest of mankind,6 and mmj?’and
it is understood, that from them were derived the Magi o fBuddhists-
Central Asia, as well as the Brahmins,6 and a still more
numerous and influential class, the Buddhists. The Brahmins
were at first seated on the borders of the Black Sea,7 and
afterwards became powerful in India. The leader of the
Buddhists, the Hermes of the East,8 and the well-known Budd,
is supposed to have been Phut, the son of Ham,2 whose worship
was carried by the spread of mankind in this direction ;
namely, through Central Asia to China, the Djénasdan of thè
Armenians, the Tchinistan of the Persians, the Sin of the
Arabians,10 and land of Sinim.11 It may here be mentioned,
in corroboration of what has been said, that the Kuzari, or
, V Kitab al Bolden, No. 617, in the library at the East India House, compared
with vol. I I ., p. 373 of St. Martin.
8 Herod., lib. V II., cap. lxx.
8 Chronicon Pasch., p. 29, edition 1688. 4 Herod., lib. I I I . , c. xciv.
5 Philostratus, Vit. Apollon., lib. IV ., p. 6.
8 Maurice’s Hist, of Hindustan, vol. I I ., p. 187.
7 Cedrenus, tome I., p. 203, and Syncellus, p. 239.
8 Creuzer, Symbolik, tome I ., p. 15.
8 Bot in Arabia, Bod in Persia, Pout or Poutti in Siam ; in Tibet Pout,
Pott, Pot, and P oti ; in Cochin China But ; in China Proper Fo or Fo-hi (De
Guignes) ; in Japan Bo, in Celtic Bud, in India Buda, and in Egypt Phtha.
See Sprengel ; Ehrman’s Bibl. der Reisebeschreibungen, vol. X X X I I I ., p.
.155, compared with Harcourt’s Doctrine of the Deluge, vol. I., p. 405.
10 St. Martin, Mémoires sur L ’Arménie, tome l i . , p. 15.
11 Isaiah, chap. X L IX ., v. 12.
VOL. II. D