CHAPTER VI.  RELIGION.

The original form of the Persian religion has been already described under the head of the third or Median monarchy.  It was identical with the religion of the Medes in its early shape, consisting mainly in the worship of Ahura-Mazda, the acknowledgment of a principle of evil—­Angro-Mainyus, and obedience to the precepts of Zoroaster.  When the Medes, on establishing a wide-spread Empire, chiefly over races by whom Magism had been long professed, allowed the creed of their subjects to corrupt their own belief, accepted the Magi for their priests, and formed the mixed religious system of which an account has been given in the second volume of this work, the Persians in their wilder country, less exposed to corrupting influences, maintained their original faith in undiminished purity, and continued faithful to their primitive traditions.  The political dependence of their country upon Media during the period of the Median sway made no difference in this respect; for the Medes were tolerant, and did not seek to interfere with the creed of their subjects.  The simple Zoroastrian belief and worship, overlaid by Magism in the now luxurious Media, found a refuge in the rugged Persian uplands, among the hardy shepherds and cultivators of that unattractive region, was professed by the early Achaemenian princes, and generally acquiesced in by the people.

The main feature of the religion daring this first period was the acknowledgment and the worship of a single supreme God—­“the Lord God of Heaven”—­“the giver (i.e. maker) of heaven and earth”—­the disposer of thrones, the dispenser of happiness.  The foremost place in inscriptions and decrees was assigned, almost universally, to the “great god, Ormazd.”  Every king, of whom we have an inscription more than two lines in length, speaks of Ormazd as his upholder; and the early monarchs mention by name no other god.  All rule “by the grace of Ormazd.”  From Ormazd come victory, conquest, safety, prosperity, blessings of every kind.  The “law of Ormazd” is the rule of life.  The protection of Ormazd is the one priceless blessing for which prayer is perpetually offered.

While, however, Ormazd holds this exalted and unapproachable position, there is still an acknowledgment made, in a general way, of “other gods.”  Ormazd is “the greatest of the gods” (mathista baganam).  It is a usual prayer to ask for the protection of Ormazd, together with that of these lesser powers (hada bagaibish).  Sometimes the phrase is varied, and the petition is for the special protection of a certain class of Deities—­the Dii familiares—­or “deities who guard the house.”

The worship of Mithra, or the Sun, does not appear in the inscriptions until the reign of Artaxerxes Mnemon, the victor of Cunaxa.  It is, however, impossible to doubt that it was a portion of the Persian religion, at least as early as the date of Herodotus.  Probably it belongs, in a certain sense, to primitive Zoroastrianism, but was kept in the background during the early period, when a less materialistic worship prevailed than suited the temper of later times.