The plateau of Iran varies in actual elevation. The
south-eastern corner, Belhchistan, is a high country, and
the table-land of Kel&t rises, according to Pottinger’S
estimate, to the elevation of 8000 feet; at K&bul the eastern
border has still the elevation of 6006 feet ; towards the
interior and the inland lake of Zareh, and the country of
its tributary streams, and the valley, of the Hindwend,
and the desert plains which surround the lake, the level
gradually subsides, but not so far as to render this region
one of low or depressed surface. Accurate measurements,
are wanting in this eastern region of Iran. The
elevations of its western parts are better" known, chiefly
through the estimates of Mr. Fraser, which have been
systematised by Oltmann and Knorr. From these we
obtain what Ritter terms a profile of the Surface of the
plateau, in a line from Abushir through Shiraz, Isfahan,
Tehran, and thence eastward to Nishapfif and Meshed,
which gives us the medium height betweefi Isfahan and
Tehran, 3900 feet. Above this point, particular tracts rise
1000 feet higher. Mount Demavend exceeds thd average
elevation by 7000 feet, while no part is depressed 1000
feet below the general level.*
S ection II.—O f three different Historical sources óf information
respecting the Old Persian Race.—Principal dis-
■ crepancies,
The pepple who formed the principal inhabitants'of
the extensive region now described, are one of the great
branches of the Indo-European family of nations. Intermediate
between the Indians and the Greeks, they
resembled. both those races in some of their principal
traits of organisation, but yet constituted a peculiar tribe
marked by decided characters of their own. A distinct
people from the earliest ages, they preserved among themselves
an ancient poetical theogony and a mythical history
of their origin, and a sacred literature handed down from
early times, of which the Magi, a sacerdotal caste corres-
* The greater part of this outline is taken from Professor Karl Ritter’s ,
admirable “ Uebersicht ties Iran-plateaus.” Erdk-v-Asien. B. 6.
ponding in many respects to the Brahmans of the Hindoos,
were the guardians and depositories. Remains of this
ancient literature, and a part of ,the sacred books of the
Magi, have been discovered .by European scholars in the
bands of the Parsees, in India* who are the descendants of
the ancient; Persians ; but although the authenticity of
thèfié%poks is now ge^rally allowed, a great difference
of opinion yet ëxiste as ^ (th e ^ ra of their origin, and even '
as tqfithe country wheW they were composed. By some
it hal'been maintained that,the compositions, attributed- to
Zoroaster or to his „followed;,were written during the reigns
of the celebrated p rin e e ^ f Persia, the successors of Qyrus,
inv'Susa, or Persepolis, or at least in the Persia known to
.the ancient Greeks: others refer . them to an era long
antecedent to th esu g e^ f Cyrus; andasuppose then; to
have been composed in Bactria, or in a country beyond
the* - limiter of Persia. Although thespjdocuments afford
us some valuable information respecting the ancient mythology,
and the language of P ersian ce, yet
Sm f history of, the pedpj^pas is .obvious from,,what has
rbeën ’said, still requires elucidation which it has not
^obtained from this quarter.
In attempting, to . explore; the< history of Persiayr,there
are two- classes of writers from whom we may expect to
dëritè some information. These. arq the Greek writers
who liveJftnéar; in respect öf time, to the events which
;, we have to investigate, and the native historians of Persia,
fborn in the Country, hut at a much later period.'; *£ V * VThe
Greek history of Persia, as we have observed,
scarcely begins before the agte öF thh%fbat Cyrus. ^ The
father of that prince was Cambyses^ probably a.chieftain
of Parsis, or Farsistan, of whom we know nothing hut
his name and country. The royal clan, or family, were
the Achsemenidse. According to some accounts, Cyrus
was the third in succession from the foundation of the
monarchy by a Median warrior.* Even the history of
* MjjSoc yap ijv o irpurog jjye/xwv arg a ro f ^ .
TjOtroe d’ & it* avrov Kvpog, evSaifuov avijp. _ ^
iEscbylus, in Pers.