Per'sia. (pure, splended). Per'sia and Per'sians. Persia proper was a
tract of no very large dimensions on the Persian Gulf, which is still known as Fars
or Farsistan, a corruption of the ancient appellation. This tract was
bounded on the west by Susiana or Elam, on the north by Media on the south by
the Persian Gulf and on the east by Carmania. But the name is more commonly
applied, both in Scripture and by profane authors to the entire tract, which
came by degrees to be included , within the limits of the Persian empire.
This empire extended at one time from India on the east to Egypt and
Thrace on the west, and included. Besides portions of Europe and Africa, the
whole of western Asia between the Black Sea, the Caucasus, the Caspian and the
Jaxartes on the north, the Arabian desert the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean
on the south. The only passage in Scripture, where Persia designates the tract
which has been called above "Persia proper" is Eze_38:5. Elsewhere the empire is intended. The
Persians were of the same race as the Medes, both being branches of the great
Aryan stock.
Character of the nation. -- The Persians were a people of lively and
impressible minds, brave and impetuous in war, witty, passionate, for Orientals
truthful, not without some spirit of generosity: and of more intellectual
capacity, than the generality of Asiatics. In the times anterior to Cyrus, they
were noted for the simplicity of their habits, which offered a strong contrast
to the luxuriousness of the Medes; but from the late of the Median overthrow,
this simplicity began to decline. Polygamy was commonly practiced among them.
They were fond of the pleasures of the table. In war, they fought bravely, but
without discipline.
Religion. -- The religion which the Persians brought with there into Persia
proper seems to have been of a very simple character, differing from natural
religion, in little, except that it was deeply tainted with Dualism. Like the
other Aryans, the Persians worshipped one supreme God. They had few temples,
and no altars or images.
Language. -- The Persian language was closely akin to the Sanskrit, or ancient
language of India. Modern Persian is its degenerate representative, being
largely impregnated with Arabic.
History. -- The history of Persia begins with the revolt from the Medes, and the
accession of Cyrus the Great, B.C. 558. Cyrus defeated Croesus, and added the
Lydian empire to his dominions. This conquest was followed closely, by the
submission of the Greek settlements on the Asiatic coast, and by the reduction
of Caria and Lycia. The empire was soon, afterward, extended greatly toward the
northeast and east. In B.C. 539 or 538, Babylon was attacked, and after a stout
defence, fell into the hands of Cyrus.
This victory first brought the Persians into contact with the Jews. The
conquerors found in Babylon an oppressed race -- like themselves, abhorrers of
idols, and professors of a religion in which, to a great extent, they could
sympathize. This race, Cyrus determined to restore to their own country: which
he did by the remarkable edict recorded in the first chapter of Ezra. Ezr_1:2-4. He was slain in an expedition,
against the Massagetae or the Derbices, after a reign of twenty-nine years.
Under his son and successor, Cambyses, the conquest of Egypt took place,
B.C. 525. This prince appears to be the Ahasuerus of Ezr_4:6. Gomates, Cambyses' successor, reversed the policy of
Cyrus, with respect to the Jews, and forbade, by an edict, the further building
of the Temple. Ezr_4:17-22. He reigned,
but seven months, and was succeeded by Darius.
Appealed to, in his second year, by the Jews, who wished to resume the
construction of their Temple, Darius, not only granted them this privilege, but
assisted the work, by grants from his own revenues, whereby, the Jews were able
to complete the Temple, as early as his sixth year. Ezr_6:1-15.
Darius was succeeded by Xerxes, probably, the Ahasuerus of Esther.
Artaxerxes, the son of Xerxes, reigned for forty years after his death, and is,
beyond doubt, the king of that name who stood in such a friendly relation
toward Ezra, Ezr_7:11-28 , and
Nehemiah. Neh_2:1-9; etc. He is the
last of the Persian kings, who had any special connection, with the Jews, and
the last but one mentioned in Scripture.
His successors were Xerxes II, Sogdianus Darius Nothus, Artaxerxes
Mnemon, Artaxerxes Ochus, and Darius Codomannus, who is probably, the
"Darius, the Persian" of Nehemiah, Neh_12:22.
These monarchs reigned from B.C. 424 to B.C. 330. The collapse of the empire,
under the attack of Alexander the Great, took place B.C. 330.
Source:
Smith’s Bible Dictionary
Persia
pûr´sha, -zha (פּרס, pāraṣ; Περσίς,
Persís; in Assyrian Parsu, Parsua; in Achemenian
Persian Pārsa, modern Fārs): In the Bible (2Ch_36:20, 2Ch_36:22,
2Ch_36:23; Ezr_1:1,
Ezr_1:8; Est_1:3,
Est_1:14, Est_1:18;
Est_10:2; Eze_27:10;
Eze_38:5; Dan_8:20;
Dan_10:1; Dan_11:2)
this name denotes properly the modern province of Fars, not the whole Persian
empire. The latter was by its people called Airyaria, the present Iran
(from the Sanskrit word ārya, “noble”); and even now the Persians
never call their country anything but Iran, never “Persia.” The province of
Persis lay to the East of Elam (Susiana), and stretched from the Persian Gulf
to the Great Salt Desert, having Carmania on the Southeast. Its chief cities
were Persepolis and Pasargadae. Along the Persian Gulf the land is low, hot and
unhealthy, but it soon begins to rise as one travels inland. Most of the
province consists of high and steep mountains and plateaus, with fertile
valleys. The table-lands in which lie the modern city of Shiraz and the ruins
of Persepolis and Pasargadae are well watered and productive. Nearer the
desert, however, cultivation grows scanty for want of water. Persia was
doubtless in early times included in Elam, and its population was then either
Semitic or allied to the Accadians, who founded more than one state in the
Babylonian plain. The Āryan Persians seem to have occupied the
country in the 8th or 9th century BC.
Source:
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Persia
An ancient empire, extending from the Indus to Thrace, and from the
Caspian Sea to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. The Persians were originally a
Medic tribe which settled in Persia, on the eastern side of the Persian Gulf.
They were Aryans, their language belonging to the eastern division of the
Indo-European group. One of their chiefs, Teispes, conquered Elam in the time
of the decay of the Assyrian Empire, and established himself in the district of
Anzan. His descendants branched off into two lines, one line ruling in Anzan,
while the other remained in Persia. Cyrus II., king of Anzan, finally united
the divided power, conquered Media, Lydia, and Babylonia, and carried his arms
into the far East. His son, Cambyses, added Egypt to the empire, which,
however, fell to pieces after his death. It was reconquered and thoroughly
organized by Darius, the son of Hystaspes, whose dominions extended from India
to the Danube.
Source:
Easton’s Bible Dictionary