Population.
nomination were included all the wide regip^r tp ^the S. and W, o f the
river Oxus," or Gihon, the Amu o f the Ruffians and Tatars; while the
countries fubjeft to Perfia beyond that celebrated river, were, in' ancient
times, ftyle'd -Aniran. Hence the infcriptions on the ancient Perfian
coins recently interpreted by two able orientalifts, Sacy and Sir William
Oufeley, bear “ the worfhippcr o f Ormuzd, the excellent Ardeftrir,
king o f the kings o f Iran and Aniran, celeftially defcended from the-
gods,” Sacy-fuppofes that the name Aniran {,imply implies the negative
of Iran, or the various fubjedt countries not contained within
its limits; and probably what, in more modern times, has been ftyled
Taurant which in a wide acceptation- may extend to Tatary, or the
weftern part o f central Afia‘, but in a more limited fenfe means Great
and Little Bucharia.
Prom the mountains and defarts which, with the river Araba,. con-
ftitute the eaftern frontier towards Hindoftan, Perfia extends mor.e. than
1200 miles in length, to the weftern mountains o f Elwend, and "other
limits o f Afiatic Tnrkey. Fronrfoufh to north, from the deleft!1 on the
Indian fea, in all ages left to the Ichthyophagi, or wild tribes o f Arabs
who live on fifh, to ‘ the other defarts near the fea o f Aral'are. about
i o-oo B. miles.; '
T h e originat population o f the mountainous country o f Perfia ap~
. pears to have been indigenous, that is no preceding nation can be
traced ; and in the opinion o f all the moft learned and ikilful enquirers,
from Scaliger and Lipfius, down toS ir WilliamJ'ones, this-nation' is-
Scythic, or Gothic,. and the very fource and fountain o f all the celebrated
Scythian nations. While the fouthera Scythians o f Iran gradually
became a fettled and civilized people, the barbarous northern
tribes fpread' around the Cafpian and Euxine feas; andbefides. the-
powerful fettlements o f the Getse and Maflagetas, the Gog and Magog
o f oriental authors, and others on the north and eaft of the great ridge
o f mountains called Imaus, or Belur Tag, they- detached- victorious
colonies into the greater part of Europe many, centuries- before the
ehriftian sera.*
* See the Author’s-Differtation.on the Scythians,, or Goths, in. his Enquiry into the Hiftory
e£ Scotland, two vols. 8»o..
I I The-
-iThe ancient Med:e'SijandlTaTthiansy in ■ the north of Perfia, appear* Póruna-
however to havéitte;e’05of'§arftiatic;t»oT ^SjaMsnie ^r^inp^H’d^to have TA0N"
fpread -from thëh native .Tegtön^fei^fe' Volga, towards the 'Giucafian
mountains;;, along which ridge they palled to the fouth of the Cafpian,
the ancient fite of Media andf^.fthié'fie.i'^tTlilb^-itediGhain of Cau’cafns
forms a kind of central point üftïmnrigratiön^M? éndgraïk^fl-önr' the*
E; and.W. whence the gfekt variety^ of nations and languages-that-are
tmeed even in modern- titneSi 1 The late very learned and excellent 'Si'f
Williani. Jones, ;who did hölhriur to his country and century, has repeatedly
exprefled.his 'opinion ’that-while the Parfi and Zend, 'o'riprOpéi-
apd: p’héuliar Pdrfian ■ lan^u'age^i'sadf the • fa?me>‘n|i^tewifhuiheO@6tffic,s
’'Greek,4 knd‘ Latin g the oriGhalptm; This teftittiony }
rirhér militates 'againft that of Many illuftrip||i;;clafficai authors ;-as we
fhould'hxpedt'the PehJavi,'Orfh’»other WSrdfnny f f eear i ddi al edf
in'this -eountry/tb have bë^rir^laV^iïiV'hiMfrtóv the} IWc^Wns-^n
the e-coins-^, o f aifdyna%, confeffedly -and peehliariiy-Peffia-n,' which ire
Pehlavic,'it appears that this Was m er e l y m o r e -péliflfed "dMle®,7'
adopted'fitöm thêfe%eftern -’neight)Öörs!©f-Syria; ''4vho'ifrorSsë£(è'n&irei'
cêfchhïéïfce and othêf* advantages?, *haidlheabfnê^®r€topufeM,: Mtlftig’èhf,''
aM'-ciVilizedl > "This -öffis¥erië*é mét-wé^n! theiwrittfeh'tóri^ufe^ubd'thé'1
colloquial is even now^ commón •in'rma'üy Öriërit&l':<^ötri$s .
ftancé'thefBinthansitónpttfe and'Siam : and5 Oriental hrffibders 1fe%'<^be3h'
perpetually the Ta-th e. ■ It. is'.probable that the Slavonic, languagëfofl fhèv
Parthians and Medes, though 'fonaetimës1 fuperior and 'rulirig'tribes,■ VraS 1
foon- loft, as ufual,- in that of thé greater number, .and: Is-little tb be
diftinguïfhed • from that o f the Perfian natives; In- nmfiein ‘ t-i:ries the '•"
Arabs and the Turcomans have ruled in\> Perfia, and the. Afglïis; probably
a'Cau eafi ati'itfibe;:’: in. Hindoftan, without c'ffeÖriaSg'ikhy-chahge in
the native language. ' ■
'The conteftstof ancient Perfia, with Greece and ‘the Greek cp lo n iè^ B ^ ^ S
eflablithed in Afia Minor, then within thé wide limit s'pf t h e j j b P c r ‘irin /
empire, have rendered the ancient ^geogftPphy of -tliis iJcoüMry - not ’a
little luminous. Herodotus,, „the father o f aüHal^carnafliis,'
One1 of- thefè^cèteniés-'; and -Hi's account >of the twenty Sa!trapies,; . -
or..gfeat - provinces of ''the Perfian empire, in the réigii'ibf "Darius"'
Vox. il. r . T T . • | Hyftafpes,