with the stories of the.Shahnameh, excepting a few names,
«and'they appear to «furnish a conclusive;* evidence against
the existence of an ancient monarchy in the east of Persia
prior to the Ach semen idse.
A second opinion,, which rests partly on the authority
of the Mohammedan story, or on a prejudice-taken up from
that quarter, is the origin of Persian power and civilisation,
and the seat of government, and of the Magian literature,
in the remote East. It is now maintained, that Zoroaster
and the early Magian priests, and the earliest ^sovereigns
of Iran, had their abode not in Media, hut in Balkh or
ancient Bactria,’ or in some'country to the northward of
Khorasan, and beyond the' boundaries of Persia. I shall
have'OCcasion to refer again to this hypothesis when- Considering
the history of the Zendish literature, and the
Magian religion. I only advert to it in this> püace as connected
with my present subject: ”\As Fferdusi lived iu
the East, at Ghazni, or Ghazna", he naturally' wa| -led*, to
place the scene of his epos in thgi-counfriekwlth w^hihh he
and his readers were acquainted. Khorasan and Turan are’
the theatres which it might be supposed* that he would
choose for the adventures of Feridun* and‘Rustam and
Afrasiab. Even the successor of 'Gyru^-whal^iigt have
been Cambyses/ is made to hold.* his «court in Balkh,—e
how truly every one knows. It may*be suspected that the
general representation given of Persian antiquitjfeby thé'
Shahnameh has had more influence-On the judgement.of
some modern writers than they are fully aware. I allude to
thosë who place the seat of the early Persian civilisation,
and the Magian literature, not in Media or Persia, but
in Balkh, and on the borders of Turkistan. I shall make
some further observations on this' hypothesis, which is
maintained by some of the most learned oriental scholars
of the present day.
S e c t io n III.-—Ethnological Investigation*
As the records of historians carry us back with certainty
to no very distant era in the subject of these researches,
we must have recource to a different kind of investigation,
namely, an inquiry into the languages, ancient monuments,
and relicâ of early literature and mythology, which may
throw light on the history of Iran and its ancient inhabitants.
Paragraph 1.—Name.-^-Topographical Divisions.-—
Languages.
The proper appellation of thé ancient Median people,
was Arians, or *Apioi.* This name appears to have included
the whole Persian raçe, of the whole assemblage of nations
who Ispoke dialects of the Median language. The Greek
geographers, lay down a region in the East, which they
term Aria and Ariana, and which appears to have been
ÿe'ièxtênsive with the Iran of oriental writers. Its name
first ibçGuraïiN annêxtract from thq Division of the Habitable
World,4 fyy^Eratosthenes.f In «this, Ariana is termed the
secópd great-region.after. India. It is .said to have had the
foiinof a parallelogram', its .eastern side being defined
l lj a h e «Indus, and its western, by a line drawn from the
I Gasman .Gate»-tö-,th^i extremity of Carmania, bordering
^ön^the Persian Gulph.W^rabo gives to Ariana, which he
âlso^beigns, Aria, the- same extent. He èndeavours to define
■its boundaries with g^eater precision. He says, that Ariana
had the^same boundaries;towards the,north and south as
India, namely, the Indian Ocean ön one side, and the same
chain of mountains on the othef-fn He means to intimate
that the same series of hills, which bounds India towards
the north* is continued go'as to form the northern border
of Iran. é The eastern limit of Ariana,” says Strabo, | ç is the
r i v e r I n d u s , which separates it from India. The outline of
the whole country is a quadrilateral %urè, reaching from
the Indus . tO an imaginary line drawn from the Caspian
gates to Carmania. This seems to exclude from Ariana
some Of the western provinces of the Persian empire, as
well as countries to the northward,.ihhabited by the. same
* Herod, lib. 7. c. 62. t Strabo, Geogr.lib. 2. p. 78. Ed. Casaub.