Chapter IX: The Law of the Priests (2)

With the exception of Herodotus, Strabo, and Agathias, the Western writers give us only very exaggerated accounts of the peculiar mode of burial in use among the Persians. Herodotus has already told us that the corpses of the Magians were exposed to dogs and birds; with regard to the corpses of the rest he had no accurate knowledge, for a mystery was made of the matter.[417] Onesicritus relates that those Bactrians, who were weakened by disease and age, were thrown to dogs brought up for the purpose and called buriers of the dead; and Strabo says that among the Caspians, parents, when they had reached seventy years of age, were shut up by their children, and so killed by starvation;[418] though he also observes that the Magians gave over the corpses to birds.[419] Cicero narrates that it was not the custom of the Magians to bury the corpses of their dead before they had been torn by wild animals: in Hyrcania a peculiar kind of dog was reared--by the lower classes in common; of the wealthier men each had his own--by which they might be torn after death, and this was considered the best kind of burial.[420] From Eusebius we hear that the Medes gave the dying to carefully-reared dogs; the Hyrcanians and Caspians those who were still alive; the Bactrians the old; others the dead.[421] Agathias, on the other hand, tells us, that the dead among the Persians were carried out before the gates of the cities naked and without a coffin, and eaten by dogs, so that the bones lay about in the fields. If any man's corpse was not at once eaten, the Persians believed that he had been of an unholy mind, that his soul was unjust and wicked, and so had come into the power of the evil spirits, and would be carried into hell. Such men were lamented by their friends, because they had no part in the better lot. Those who were most quickly eaten up, the Persians praised as fortunate; they called their souls the best, and like the gods, and said of them that they had gone into the good land.[422]

The Greeks maintained that the Achaemenids were buried at Pasargadae and Persepolis, and that the corpse of Cyrus rested at Pasargadae.[423] Of Darius we are told that even in his lifetime he caused his tomb to be prepared on the summit of a mountain. The corpses of Artaxerxes I. of Damaspia, and of his son Xerxes, were buried, according to Ctesias, in Persia.[424] The last Darius was buried by Alexander in the royal sepulchre, when he had already given the honours of burial to the Persian queen Statera.[425] Diodorus tells us that these tombs were on the eastern side of the citadel of Persepolis, at a distance of four hundred feet, in the "royal mountain." The rock was hewn out, and contained several chambers. But these tombs had no entrance; the corpses were drawn up by machines to the summit, and so laid in them.[426]

The burial-places of the rulers of ancient Persia can still be recognised. Some hundred paces to the east of the remains of the royal palace at Persepolis, towards the rising of the sun, precisely as Diodorus describes the place, are three stone pictures in Mount Rachmed. Sculptures which begin three hundred feet above the ground on the perpendicular front of the mountain form three high facades, with pillars, which present a gateway with woodwork, supporting a large canopy, on which are seen several rows of dogs; the same animals are to be seen on the lower lines of ornamentation. Within this framework are the pictures of the buried sovereigns. In the left hand is the bow without a string; the right is raised in an attitude of prayer, and the figures are standing before an altar of burning fire. The king is supported on a foundation upheld by the arms of several rows of men, who represent the conquered lands. Two leagues to the north of Persepolis are four great sculptures, now called Naksh-i-Rustem, _i.e._ pictures of Rustem, of a similar kind, but beginning only sixty or seventy feet from the ground, deeply cut in the perpendicular wall of two hundred feet in length. Three of these pictures are close together; the fourth is on a spur of the rock, at right angles to the other three. The centre of the three marks the tomb of Darius, the son of Hystaspes. It is the only one among the seven monuments which has inscriptions.[427]

The corpses of the princes might have been exposed to the sun, the dogs, and birds on the summit above these pictures. In that case they would merely mark the place of exposure, and these rocks would be burial-places like those of the modern Parsees in Bombay. But behind the sculptures, though not accessible from them, sepulchral chambers have been discovered. From this, and from the description which the Greeks give us of the tomb of Cyrus, we must draw the conclusion that the Persian custom of burial did not agree with the rule of the Avesta--with the exception of the priests, whose corpses, as Herodotus expressly states, were exposed. The Vendidad laments that in certain districts of the East, Arachosia and Chakhra, the dead were burned, or buried.[428] Under the Sassanids exposure was strictly observed both in the East and West, as is clear from the account of Agathias already quoted, and all the statements which relate to this later period.

The regulations of the book of the law with regard to the burial of corpses and the places of exposure are still strictly observed by the Parsees. Great care is taken at the erection of a Dakhma that the rain-water can run off from the bier of the corpse. At the last moment a dog is brought into the presence of the dying person, so that its eye may be directed on him; and when a woman with child dies two dogs are brought, because two lives are in question. The eye of the dog has the power to keep the evil spirits at a distance. But every one must remain at nine paces distance from the dying person. After death the two corpse-bearers at once strip the body--their hands are protected from immediate contact by napkins made of old clothes--and carry it on a bier of iron--for metal contracts less pollution than wood--accompanied by the prayers of the priests, to the place of burial. The kinspeople follow the corpse in silence to within ninety paces of the Dakhma. For the first three nights the priests and kinsmen repeat continually the prescribed prayers for the soul of the dead; in the third night the decision is made at the bridge of Chinvat (p. 178). The burial-places of the Parsees at Bombay are situated on a mountain on the coast, on the summit of which several hollows have been cut. From a distance the relatives look eagerly to this summit, to see whether the vultures are already attacking the corpse, and which part of it they first consume. For the first year after death a prayer is said daily before meals for the soul of the dead to the Fravashis of the pure,[429] and a service is held on the day of the month on which the death took place. In the years that follow, on the fourth, tenth, and thirtieth day of each month, as the book prescribes, but above all on the festival of all souls--_i.e._ on the feast of the ten nights during which the Fravashis come down (p. 224)--prayers are said for the dead.

It is hardly possible to ascertain the arrangement and life of the state from the very scanty and obscure traits in the existing fragments of the law. We have no rules on the rights and duties of the monarchy, though these were included in the Avesta, if we may trust the list of contents.[430] But the splendour of majesty as it dwelt with the rulers of old time, with Yima, Thraetaona, and Kerecacpa, and was imparted to Cyavarshana and Vistacpa, is brought strongly into prominence; and among the Amesha Cpentas we found the spirit of good order, of good government. Of the position of the orders so much only is clear--that the priests claimed precedence over the warriors and husbandmen; that the Avesta allows them certain privileges of moderate extent (p. 187); and that the priestly families did not form exclusive castes, though the priestly functions were hereditary in them. Still less can we learn of the families of the warriors. We do not hear that they enjoyed a favoured position; they are merely mentioned before the husbandmen; and the Vendidad also gives us some information about their armour. It should consist of a coat of mail and helmet, a girdle and greaves, a bow with thirty arrows, a sling with thirty stones, a sword, a club, and a lance.[431] Under the Achaemenids there were rich families in Bactria and Sogdiana, in which we may no doubt venture to find descendants of the old military families, enjoying an influential position in politics; under the Sassanids the knightly nobility of Iran comes plainly to the front. The Avesta speaks of great and intermediate houses, of important and unimportant inhabitants of the villages. We also read of rich and poor, men who have property and beggars; and mention is made of tradespeople and slaves. The Avesta rises from the lord of the house to the lord of the village or community (_vic_), then to the lord of the tribe or canton (_zantu_) and to the lord of the province (_danhu_); an arrangement which corresponds to the Indian government as fixed by Manu's regulations. When Alexander of Macedon forced his way to Bactria and Sogdiana, he met with resistance from the native overseers of cantons or chieftains, whom he had summoned to Zariaspa, "the largest city" in Bactria (p. 12).[432] When the castles of the most powerful had been taken, and their lords had submitted, he sought to gain them by marrying their daughters to the captains of his army, while he himself took to wife the daughter of the Bactrian Oxyartes.

The protection of property is obviously a matter of great importance in the Avesta. The utility of dogs is frequently mentioned, which protect flocks and villages from thieves and wolves. Theft is looked on as especially wicked, because the thief leads a roving life, eats raw and unprepared food, and carries on his evil work in the darkness.[433] In regard to contracts the Vendidad distinguishes six kinds, according as they are concluded by word, by the pledge of hands, and are concerned with the value of a head of small cattle, a beast of draught, a man (_i.e._ a slave), and a piece of land. Anyone who violates the first kind is to receive 300 blows with the rod, and 300 with the whip, and the punishment increases in the violation of the other kinds up to 1000 stripes with both instruments.[434] To check injury of the person the Vendidad lays down the rule, that anyone who lifts up his weapon against a man without beating him, is to receive twice five stripes the first time, and twice two hundred on the seventh occasion of committing the offence, if he has not expiated the preceding six offences; if he has expiated them, the measure of the first offence is dealt out on each occasion. Anyone who attacks another not in anger but with malice, is to be punished with twice fifteen, and on the sixth occasion with 200 stripes, in case he has not expiated the former offences. Anyone who inflicts a wound on another, is punished the first time with twice thirty, the fifth time with twice two hundred stripes. The same punishment is inflicted on a man who breaks the bones of another, if he does not expiate the offence. If the wound proves fatal, he is to be punished with twice ninety stripes, and on a second offence with twice two hundred.[435]

We have but few indications in the Avesta from which to draw conclusions as to the state of civilisation. The amounts to be paid to the purifier and the physician are given in animals; the series of contracts is determined according to the value of small cattle, beasts of draught, slaves, and landed property. But other property may be given in place of the animals; we find mention of money (_shaeta_),[436] and, as has been observed, of tradespeople; of mats and carpets, vessels of earth, silver, and gold, rich garments, palaces with pillars and turrets, ovens for smelting and for glass. The art of the physician cannot have been in a primitive stage, when so much space is devoted to remedies (p. 223), and the physicians who heal with the knife are designated as a separate class. So far as I can see, the Avesta betrays a state of civilisation, which, beginning from the pastoral condition, has remained in close connection with cattle-breeding and agriculture, but has also reached a more advanced stage. The unions of the tribes seem dissolved, and neither the previous importance of the warlike families nor their present position is brought prominently forward. This, no less than the liberal imposition of bodily punishment, shows that long before the dominion of the Achaemenids, the East of Iran must have been in the hands of princes who ruled with despotic power.

FOOTNOTES:

[342] "Mihr Yasht," 38, 116, 117.

[343] "Vend." 1, 18, 20; 18, 22-32.

[344] Herod. 1, 136; Plato, "Alcib. I." p. 122; Xen. "Cyri instit." 8, 8, 2; Diod. 16, 43.

[345] "Vend." 18, 35-42; 53-57.

[346] "Vend." 3, 105 ff.

[347] _Loc. cit._ 3, 1-20.

[348] Herod. 7, 31.

[349] "Oeconom." 4, 13 ff.

[350] Ibid. 4, 20-24.

[351] Ibid. 4, 8-12; "Cyri instit." 8, 6, 16.

[352] Darmesteter, "Haurvatat et Ameretat," p. 64 ff.

[353] "Vend." 13, 125-162.

[354] "Vend." 15, 2, 3, 4.

[355] "Vend." 15, 5, 20, 21, according to Goldner's translation. [Cf. Darmesteter.]

[356] "Vend." 13, 97-105.

[357] "Vend." 13, 26-47.

[358] It is not certain whether the _udra_ of the Vendidad is the water-dog (spaniel?) or the otter.

[359] "Vend." 13, 169-174; 14, 4-75.

[360] Agath. 2, 24.

[361] "Vend." Farg. 17.

[362] "Wer den Urin mit vorgestrecktem Fusse laesst macht die Drudsch schwanger," so dass sie neue Unholde gebaeren.

[363] "Vend." 5, 45-55, 136-157; 7, 158-182.

[364] Herod. 1, 133; Xen. "Cyri instit." 1, 2, 16; 8, 9, 11; Plin. "H. N." 28, 19.

[365] "Vend." 9, 161.

[366] "Vend." 9, 187.

[367] "Vend." 5, 23-25.

[368] "Vend." 3, 140-147; 8, 87.

[369] "Vend." 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 26-28.

[370] "Vend." 8, 275, 276.

[371] "Vend." 9, 119-158; 19, 69-80.

[372] "Vend." 5, 83-108; 7, 4 ff.

[373] "Vend." 9, 168-171; Farg. 10.

[374] "Vend." 5, 124-135.

[375] "Vend." 12, 1-59.

[376] "Vend." 4, 130-133.

[377] "Vend." 14, 64-66.

[378] "Vend." 18, 123-133, after Harlez' translation. [Cf. Darmesteter.]

[379] "Vend." 15, 126.

[380] "Vend." 15, 125.

[381] "Vend." 18, 115.

[382] "Vend." 18, 23.

[383] Herod. 1, 135, 136.

[384] Plato, "Aloib. I."; p. 121.

[385] Herod. 1, 137.

[386] "Ethic. Nicom." 8, 10, ed. Zell.

[387] Curt. 5, 9; Plut. "Artax." c. 5.

[388] Ammian, 23, 6.

[389] Herod. 3, 70, 88; Dinon. fragm. 17, ed. Mueller; Ctes. "Pers. Ecl." 44.

[390] Plut. "Themist." c. 26.

[391] Herod. 3, 31; Diogen. Laert. Prooem. 6; Plut. "Artax." c. 26; Ctes. "Pers. Ecl." 44; Agathias, 2, 23; Heracl. Cum. fragm. 7 ed. Mueller.

[392] The regulations respecting sexual intercourse, abortion, etc., which here follow in the German text will be found in "Vend." 16, 33-40; 18, 100-122, 136, 152; _ib._ 15, 9-17, 60; 18, 115; _ib._ 18, 115-119; _ib._ 8, 74-82; _ib._ 8, 96-106.

[393] "Rigveda," 10, 97, 17; "Atharvaveda," 2, 10, 2; 8, 1, 18 in Darmesteter _loc. cit._ 73, 76.

[394] "Vend." 20, 19, 25.

[395] "Vend." 22, 7-38.

[396] "Vend." 21, 3-19.

[397] Justi, "Bundehesh," c. 24.

[398] West, "Mainyo-i-Khard," c. 62. Above, p. 172.

[399] "Vend." 20, 11-20.

[400] "Vend." 7, 118, 121.

[401] "Vend." 7, 105, 117.

[402] "H. N." 30, 1.

[403] Von Gutschmid ("Das iranische Wandeljahr, Berichte der K. Saechsischen Gesellschaft der Wiss." 1862) places the establishment of the cycle, by which, in order to bring the year of 365 days into agreement with the natural time, a month was inserted every 120 years, and consequently the introduction of the East Iranian calendar into the whole kingdom, in the year 411, or between 428 and 381 B.C. That the beginning of the year was universally placed in the spring after the introduction of this calendar, and fixed between March and the middle of June, would follow from the importance of the Farvardin festival, even if it were not sufficiently vouched for by other evidence. The Bundehesh (c. 25) speaks of the year as fixed, inasmuch as it reckons the shortening of the days from a certain day in the month of Tir, and puts the shortest day on the 20th of the month of Din, yet it adds that the priests reckoned on this basis, and that the lunar year did not correspond to the year thus calculated. The Cappadocian names for the months are those of the East Iranian calendar; and the Cappadocians cannot have obtained these till the calendar was current throughout the whole kingdom of the Achaemenids. On this ground also Von Gutschmid's dates do not seem to be too high.

[404] "Vend." 1, 48; 6, 6 and _loc. cit._

[405] "Vend." 7, 65-71.

[406] "Vend." 3, 122-136.

[407] "Vend." 6, 93-95; 8, 13; 3, 50-54.

[408] "Vend." 5, 13, 14, 47, 48.

[409] "Vend." 6, 98 ff.

[410] "Vend." 6, 106.

[411] "Vend." 7, 126-147.

[412] "Vend." 8, 34-36; 130-228.

[413] "Vend." 8, 38-64.

[414] "Vend." 8, 271-310; 9, 164-166.

[415] "Vend." 5, 15-21, according to Geldner's rendering.

[416] "Vend." 5, 1-22; 7, 189-191.

[417] Herod. 1, 140; 3, 16.

[418] Strabo, p. 517.

[419] Strabo, p. 735. Cf. p. 520.

[420] "Quaest. Tuscul." 1, 45.

[421] Euseb. "Praep. Evang." p. 277.

[422] Agath. 2, 23.

[423] Diod. 17, 71; Arrian, "Anab." 3, 22; 6, 29.

[424] Ctes. "Pers. Ecl." 44, 46; Strabo, p. 730.

[425] Arrian, l. c.; Justin, 11, 15; Aelian, "Var. Hist." 6, 8; Plut. "Alex." c. 30.

[426] Diod. 17, 71; cf. Ctes. "Pers. Ecl." 15.

[427] K. Niebuhr, "Reise," 2, 150 ff.

[428] "Vend." 1, 46, 48, 60, 64; cf. above, p. 137, 138.

[429] "Yacna," 26.

[430] Above, p. 52. The Mainyo-i-Khard contains some rules on the duties of the king. The prince is to defend the city and land against enemies and risings, to respect water and fire, to keep at a distance bad laws and customs, and promote the worship of Auramazda, and good works, and to bring back to the right way those who have left it. A king of this kind is like the Yazatas and Amesha Cpentas: c. 15, 20, 33, 68, ed. West.

[431] "Vend." 14, 32-40.

[432] Arrian, "Anab." 4, 1, 5.

[433] "Vend." 13, 143-145.

[434] "Vend." 4, 4-53 according to Harlez.

[435] "Vend." 4, 54-113. Even after all that has been advanced by De Harlez, "Avesta," p. 101, I cannot convince myself that the stripes appointed here and elsewhere in the Vendidad are to fall, not on the guilty, but on animals of Angromainyu. If animals are to be killed, we are told so expressly in the Vendidad, and this duty is often mentioned along with the stripes (p. 209). To kill twice 90 or 200 flies or lizards is no equivalent for murdering a man. I allow that no one could endure blows by thousands, if they were given in earnest, yet in running a "muck" five and six hundred very severe blows have been endured. In my opinion the punishments of the Avesta are not intended for legal penalties; they mark what was needed, in the opinion of the priests, to expel the evil disposition, which could recur again and again.

[436] "Vend." 4, 120; "Astad Yasht," 1; Justi, "Handbuch," _sub. voc._