tenth) took place under the emperor Diocletian, at the instigation of his ministers, Galerius and other enemies of the Christians, in 303. Throughout the Roman empire, their churches were destroyed, their sacred books collected and burned, and all imaginable means of inhuman violence employed to induce them to renounce their faith. As they were accused, moreover, of a rebellious spirit, and of kindling a conflagration in the royal palace at Nicomedia, thousands suffered martyrdom. Constantius Chlorus, a sovereign favourable to them, was unable to protect them entirely in his Gallic and British provinces; and in Greece, Illyria, Italy, and Spain, Galerius, Maximinus, and Licinius pursued them with imprisonments and executions, principally directed against the clergy, till 310. These were the last oppressions of the Christians under the Roman government. Constantine the Great (312 and 313) restored to the Christians full liberty, and the use of their churches and goods; and his conversion to Christianity made it the established religion in the Roman empire. Christianity afterwards experienced oppression without the limits of the Roman empire; for instance, in 343 and 414 in Persia, and from 437, with little interruption, till the commencement of the sixth century, in the African kingdom of the Vandals; but the efforts of some Roman emperors favourable to heathenism, as Julian and Eugenius, for the res toration of the pagan worship in the Roman empire, were more prejudicial to themselves than to the Christians. After the establishment of islamism, the caliphs in Asia and Africa laboured, with success, for the extirpation of Christianity, and spared only particular schismatic sects, which still enjoy, under the protection of the Mohammedans, the free exercise of their religion.

their secret meetings for religious exercises, often | ed by his violent death. A severe persecution (the held by night, were sufficient to furnish materials for suspicion; and the extravagant expectations which many among them entertained of the near return of Christ, their zeal against heathen manners and customs, and their open opposition to the worship of idols, from which they annually converted thousands, excited the heathen priests and magistrates against all that bore the name of Christian, Yet the followers of the new religion, being almost entirely confined to the lower class, and being split into a variety of sects, chiefly Gnostics, which were continually increasing, were objects rather of contempt than of fear; and, next to the protection of an overruling Providence, it is principally owing to this circumstance that, notwithstanding several occasions for new persecutions, and notwithstanding the zeal with which their doctrines were assailed by heathen philosophers (as, for example, Celsus, who wrote against Christianity about 140), they enjoyed above fifty years of undisturbed tranquillity, until the fourth persecution so called. In Asia Minor, they were violently assailed, about the year 160, by the heathen populace; and the Christian apologist Justin Martyr, and the bishop of Smyrna, Polycarp, were put to death. About the year 177, Marcus Aurelius treated the new congregations in Gaul, at Vienne and Lyons, with great severity, and many Christians suffered martyrdom (fourth persecution). About the end of the second century, a strong disposition was manifested to unite the congregations, which had been hitherto independent of one another, into one church. The spiritual teachers, too, growing bolder with the increase of their distinctions and privileges, showed a disposition to grasp more authority, and often came into collision with the civil magistrates; and the Christians, having become numerous and powerful, openly derided the pagan worship, now sinking into decline. These circumstances led to wild outbreaks of the heathen populace, bent on revenging the insults offered to their gods (about 192), and a dreadful slaughter ensued. The emperor Septimius Severus, moreover, in 202, forbade the accession of new converts to the Jewish and Christian religions, and this decree was followed by still severer oppressions of the Christians. See Martyrs, and Saints.

Christians themselves, after it had become a crime to be a heretic (see Heretic and Inquisition), persecuted one another most bitterly; and the outrages which the early Christians had suffered from the heathens were tolerable, compared to the religious wars which they waged against each other in the middle ages, and to the sufferings inflicted on heretics, so called, by the inquisition, and by fanatical princes, even to the eighteenth century. But, as heathen Rome could not stop the spread of Christianity, so Protestantism, in later times, rooted itself the more firmly in proportion to the tempests which assailed it; for the direct tendency of persecution is to awaken a spirit of heroic resistance, and a zeal to make sacrifices for the cause of truth.

PERSEPHONE. See Proserpine.

PERSEPOLIS. In a northern direction from the Persian capital of Shiraz are the ruins of ancient structures of different ages, among which are the only remains of ancient Persian architecture, belonging to the most flourishing period of that powerful nation. There are other architectural remains, with inscriptions, belonging to the time of the modern Persian empire, which originated in the third century of the Christian era, out of the Parthian empire. (See Parthians.) These latter remains lie about

After this fifth persecution, the Christians enjoyed toleration and peace from 211, under Caracalla, Macrinus, and Heliogabalus, and, under Alexander Severus, even privileges and distinction. The restraints imposed upon them by the emperor Maximian (235) received the name of the sixth persecution, although, properly speaking, only Christian teachers and clergymen were oppressed by this emperor; but the oppressions which many of the congregations underwent were inflicted without his command. Private hatred, in fact, often led to outrages against the Christians, and excited the populace to assail them. This happened at Alexandria, in the latter years of the reign of the emperor Philip the Arabian, who was, personally, well-affected towards them. But his successor, Decius, began his reign (249) with a persecution of the Christians (the seventh) through-four or five miles from the ruins of Persepolis proper, out his kingdom. The universality of this persecution, and the perseverance and cruelty with which it was pursued, made it plain that the emperor's purpose was to extirpate them entirely, and induced many to fall from their faith. Fortunately, however, from the rapid changes in the government at this period, the persecuting policy was not very steadily followed. Valerian, in 257, put to death few but the clergy (eighth persecution); and the execution of the edict of Aurelian against the Christians (274, the ninth persecution, as it was called) was prevent

and consist partly of works of sculpture, partly of inscriptions in the ancient Pehlvi language, cut in the rocks. They are called, by the Arabs, Nakshi Rustam (the image of Rustam) because they were regarded as intended to commemorate the deeds of this ancient hero; but, according to De Sacy's satisfactory explanation, they relate to the kings of the modern Persian race (the Sassanides). (See Persia.) Many inscriptions in Arabic, the later Persian, and other languages, were put here in the century after Mohammed. The ancient Persian monuments differ

the mountains. After the death of a king, his apparel, utensils, and even his treasures, were preserved here, as the tomb of the king was considered a fit dwelling to be provided with all necessaries. For this reason, not only numerous guards protected the palace, but also the most important officers of the deceased king, perhaps even his wives, were obliged to remain near the tomb. Alexander, after overcoming Darius, gratified his revenge by the destruction of Persepolis. (See Alexander.) The mechanical execution of these monuments is very perfect, and no country on earth, Egypt only, perhaps, excepted, can show such masonry as these ruins. The character of this architecture, however, is totally opposite to that of the Egyptian monuments. Surprising assiduity and minuteness of execution are shown in the ornamental work. The inscriptions on these ruins are in a threefold character-comprised under the general name of arrow-headed characterand also in three different languages. The oldest character, undoubtedly, consisting of letters, is, according to the unanimous opinion of critics, in the Zend language, a sacred idiom of the Magians: the characters of the second kind seem to belong to the rian or Babylonian. Grotefend and Lichtenstein have been particularly successful in the explanation of these characters. Drawings, still more exact than those of captain Keppel, and accounts of newly discovered bass-reliefs in Persepolis, have been given by Jam. Edw. Alexander, in his Travels from India to England, through Persia, Asia Minor, &c., 1825

essentially from all the rest of the ruins. These are the ruins of the proper palace of Persepolis, called, by the Arabs, Chilminar, i. e. the forty (used indefinitely to signify many) columns, with two tombs near it; four tombs towards the north-east, near Nakshi Rustam, called the tombs of the kings, with the ruins of some other ancient buildings; and lastly many remains and columns of unfinished tombs between Chilminar and Nakshi Rustam. All these remains are represented in Chardin's Travels through Persia, and in Niebuhr's Travels to Arabia. The chief monument is Chilminar, undoubtedly the remains of a great and magnificent structure, encircled in the rear by rocky mountains, which open in the form of a crescent, and consisting of three divisions, one above the other, and built entirely of the most beautiful gray marble, the immense blocks of which are put together with admirable art, without mortar. Marble stairs, so wide and easy of ascent, that ten horsemen can ride up them abreast, lead from the lower divisions to the higher. At the entrance of the portico, to which the steps belonging to the first division lead, fabulous animals are seen, wrought in the still remaining pilasters, as if to guard the palace. Similar steps lead to the second division, to a colon-Pehlvi language; and the third are, perhaps, Assynade, several columns of which still exist, fifty feet high, and of such a circumference that three men can hardly clasp them. This colonnade leads to several detached buildings, of which the largest stands in the same division; the others, farther back, form the third division. These houses contain a number of chambers, of different sizes, and seem to have been real dwellings. They are ornamented-1826 (London, 1827, 4to). with a number of images representing processions, PERSEUS; son of Danae and Jupiter. Polydecpeople of all ranks, combats of fabulous animals with tes, king of Seriphos, an island in the Archipelago, one another and with men. In the wall of the rock who had received him with his mother, soon wished against which the building stands, are two large to remove from his court the young and daring hero. tombs. At a considerable height from the ground, a Under pretence, therefore, of suing for the daughter façade is hewn in the rock itself, behind which is a of Enomaus, he requested from his friends presents chamber that can be entered only by a passage bro- of rarities to make his wedding feast more splendid. ken through, as no regular entrance has been found. Perseus promised him the head of the Gorgon (MeBeneath, the rock is cut perpendicularly, in order to dusa). Beyond the ocean, just on the borders of make the monument entirely inaccessible. The best eternal night, dwelt the formidable Gorgon race, representation of the ruins is to be found in Niebuhr. with serpent-locks and serpent-girdles, of whom The result of the most recent investigations, com- Medusa alone was mortal. Conducted by Mercury pared with the information contained in the ancient and Minerva, he first went to the three Graiæ, on writers, is, that the monuments of Persepolis are actu- the western coast of the ocean; who had but one ally of Persian origin, and the tombs those of Persian eye and one tooth, in common. Perseus got posseskings, belonging to the buildings called Chilminar, sion of these, and promised to restore them on conwith which they are connected by subterranean pas-dition that they would bring him to the nymphs, who sages. Though the buildings belong to Persian antiquities, yet it is probable that the Persians themselves did not construct them, but caused them to be erected by others; and their truly Asiatic character affords foundation for the supposition that they were built in imitation of the architecture of the Medes (to whom the Persians were indebted, in general, for their civilization), under the direction of the priests. The ruins of Persepolis proper are most probably not all of the same age, but the work of several Persian kings. Persepolis was not destined for a temple, for the Persians, professing the religion of the Magians, had no temples; nor was it a palace of the kings, because, though it may have originated, as most of the capitals of Asia did, from the residence of the kings of the first conquerors, it soon ceased to be their actual abode. But the ideas of country, power, and religion attached to it, made it the receptacle of the royal dead, and the sanctuary of the people. The various images represent the whole private life of the king, as it was strictly prescribed by the Magians. Immediately after their accession to the throne, the Persian kings proceeded to Persepolis to be invested with the garment of Cyrus, and, at certain times, visited this holy place to sacrifice on the summits of

kept the instruments which he needed in this enterprise, the talaria, or winged shoes, the bag, and the helmet of Pluto, which made its wearer invisible. They agreed to the condition, and Perseus obtained from the nymphs what he desired. Other accounts say, that he was furnished by Mercury and Vulcan. Led by Mercury and Minerva, he reached the slumbering Gorgons. With his face averted, he ap proached the monsters, whose look transformed the spectator into stone, saw the head of Medusa by reflection in his brazen shield, and cut it off. From the drops of blood sprang Pegasus and Chrysaor. With the head in his bag, he escaped from the pursuing sisters, by means of the helmet of Pluto. On the winged sandals of Mercury, he now hovered over various regions, seeking adventures. He went to king Atlas, who had been informed by an oracle, that a son of Jupiter would strip his garden of the golden apples which it bore, and therefore refused to Perseus the rites of hospitality, who, presenting to his eyes the Gorgon's head, changed him into a rock, which was doomed to support the heavens. He then delivered Andromeda (q. v.). By her he became the father of Perses, whom he left in the care of his grandfather Cepheus, and returned with Andromeda

to Seriphos. Here he found his mother at the altar matter. The mountains are naked; the hills dry of Minerva, to which she had fled with his foster- and barren. On account of the scarcity of water, father Dictys, to escape the violence of Polydectes. but a small portion of the plains is cultivated; the He transformed the latter, with all his associates, remainder is either naked, or merely bears some into stone; and having placed Dictys upon the throne succulent plants, which soon wither. There are, of Seriphos, he returned to Mercury the talaria, the however, some fertile tracts. The country supplies bag, and the helmet, and gave to Minerva the Gor- | excellent horses and asses, dromedaries, cattle, broadgon's head, which she fixed in the centre of her tailed sheep, silk, grain, rice, pulse, melons, sesame, shield, or, according to some, on her breastplate. saffron, madder, hemp, flax, tobacco, poppies, liquo Perseus then went to Argos with Danae and Andro- rice, sugarcane, date-palms, cassia, mastic, rich meda, to visit his grandfather Acrisius. To avoid wines, cotton, manna, gum tragacanth, senna, galthe predictions of an oracle, Acrisius had filed to banum, assafoetida, rhubarb, all the fruits of the temThessaly; but he could not escape his destiny; for perate zone, and fine tropical fruits, gall-nuts, copPerseus followed him there, and killed him acci- per, iron, lead, saltpetre, sulphur, salt, &c. dentally with the discus, of which he was the inventor. In consequence of this event, he refused to ascend the throne of Argos, which had thus fallen to him, and exchanged it for Tirynthus, the kingdom of Megapenthes. Here he founded Mycena. Besides Perses, the founder of the Persian nation, Andromeda also became the mother of Alcæus, Sthenelus, Eleus, Mestor, Electryon, and a daughter named Gorgophone. After his death, Perseus was worshipped as a hero, and placed among the stars. The fable of Perseus has been, by some writers, derived from Persia, and been interpreted as typical of the introduction of agriculture from Upper Asia or Persia into Greece. He is the Bersin of the Shahnameh.

PERSIA (Iran, Chahistan); a country of Asia, between 25 and 40 N. lat., and 44° and 64° E. lon.; bounded N. by Russia, the Caspian sea, and Independent Tartary, W. by Turkey, S. by the Persian gulf, and E. by Beloochistan and Afghanistan; comprising about 390,000 square miles, with a population of about 6,500,000. The centre of Persia is an elevated plain, containing several deserts of sand. The northern provinces, in which rises the chain of the Ararat, and the western parts of the country, are mountainous. To the east of the Tigris, and nearly parallel with it, is a granitic ridge, called by the ancients Zagros; and also parallel with the same is the Orontes (now Elwind), which separates into two branches, one of which, to the west of the Caspian sea, is connected with the Elbour, or the Caspian chain, a prolongation of the Taurus. The country on the Caspian is lower than the coasts on the ocean, and is surrounded by a semicircular barrier of mountains, which are a continuation of the Taurus and Caucasus, and present a much steeper descent towards the Caspian than on the land side. In the southern part of Persia, the elevation of the country is more gradual than in the north and west; and along the Persian gulf, there is a narrow strip of low land, which is uninhabitable in summer on account of the heat. As we recede from the sea, and approach the mountains, the climate becomes cooler. The elevated northern and western regions are temperate, and, in winter, cold. Earthquakes are not uncommon: in 1824, a shock, which continued six days and six nights, destroyed the city of Shiraz (50,000 inhabitants) and Kazroun; mountains disappeared without leaving a trace behind. It is remarkable that so extensive a country has no considerable river, although it contains many high mountains. There are a few small rivers that lose themselves in the sand, or are consumed by canals, which serve the purpose of irrigation. Persia, however, contains several lakes, among which are that of Erivan and Bakteghian or Salt lake. All the water is impregnated with salt; the lakes are all saline, and wherever water has stood in winter, the soil is found to .have become salt. The extensive plains are, many of them, covered with water in winter, and in summer present a bare, hot surface, coated with saline

The inhabitants are partly Tadshiks, consisting of a mixed race of Parsee, Arabic, &c., origin, Parsees, or fire-worshippers, and Armenians; and partly nomads, among whom the Curds are the principal nation. The Tadshiks (modern Persians) are superior to the Ottomans in civilization, and manifest a strong passion for the arts and sciences. They are Mohammedans, of the sect of Ali, or Shiites. A peculiar Mohammedan sect, the Sabians, worship the cross, have a sort of baptism, and call themselves disciples of St John. The Ishmaelites also form a distinct sect. The Parsees are Guebers, of the philosophical sect of Sophis. (See Sophis) Jews and Christians are tolerated in Persia. The Persians are simple in eating, and use little animal food-pilau, or rice stewed, and fruits, being their favourite dishes. But they luxuriate in baths, and almost the very poorest of them endeavour to possess a horse. They are also splendid in their attire, lavishing on their dress gold, silver, and precious stones. The | following cuts represent the costume of Persian females:

The women of rank never appear in public without long veils. The annexed cut represents the costume of a Persian of rank.

The Persians are distinguished for their skill in dyeing, and in silk and woollen manufactures. They manufacture shagreen, morocco, work in gold and silver to great perfection, and make excellent sword-blades, and a great number of articles of copper-ware. In agriculture they make great use of artificial irrigation,

which is at present a monopoly of the government. The satraps hastened the decline of the empire, and the commerce, which is considerable, is chiefly carried on Persians were obliged to acknowledge independent by caravans to India, Turkey, and Arabia. The navi- kings in Egypt. But the internal troubles in Greece, gation of the Persian gulf is mostly in the bands of of which the Persians artfully took advantage, saved foreigners. The navigation of the Caspian sea is them, for a time, from a united attack by the Greeks. open to the Russians and Persians; but the latter, Artaxerxes II., Memnon, or Mnemon (until 361 by the terms of the treaty of 1828, are excluded | B.C.), was entirely under the influence of his mother, from maintaining ships of war in its waters. Arts | Parysatis. His brother Cyrus, supported by 10,000 and sciences are held in esteem, but are by no means Greeks under Xenophon, attempted to dethrone in a flourishing condition. The study of the Koran, him, (400 B. C.), but was defeated and killed. divination, astrology, a sort of ethics, medicine, and Domestic dissensions obliged the Lacedæmonians poetry, are the chief departments of education. The to abandon their advantages in Asia Minor, and to style of architecture is simple, sculpture almost un- conclude the disadvantageous peace of Antaicidas known, the music detestable. The government is (387 B. C.) Artaxerxes III., Ochus (until 338 an absolute despotism; at the head of it is the shah, B. C.), son of Mnemon, secured his throne by with unlimited power. Jaubert estimated his income putting to death his numerous brothers. He reat £2,250,000. The twelve provinces into which covered Egypt (350 B. C.); but his eunuch, the kingdom is divided are governed by khans. The Bagoas, poisoned him on account of his cruelty, nomadic tribes enjoy a sort of independence under successively murdered all his sons, and gave the their chiefs, and form the main body of the military crown to Darius Codomannus, a prince of the force. Abbas Mirza, the heir apparent, has endea- blood, who was conquered by Alexander in three voured to form troops with the European discipline.decisive actions, on the Granicus, at Issus, and Persia has no naval force, owing partly to a want of Gaugamela, and lost his life (330 B. C.); after ship-timber. The largest town is Ispahan, formerly which Alexander made himself master of the whole one of the principal cities of Asia, now much re- empire (329 B. C.) On the dissolution of the duced. The capital is Teheran (50,000 inhabitants Macedonian empire, after the death of Alexander in winter; 10,000 in summer.) (323), the Seleucides (see Seleucus) ruled over Persia History. The history of Persia first emerges from until 246 B. C. They were succeeded by the the obscurity of antiquity with Cyrus. The dynasty Arsacides, who founded the empire of the Parthians, of the Mahabads is mentioned by Oriental writers as which existed until 229 A. D. Ardshir Babekan the first. It was followed by that of the Pishdadians (Artaxerxes) then obtained the sovereignty of Cen(coeval with our Assyrian empire). After the Pish-tral Asia, and left it to his descendants, the Sassadadians, the Kajanides ruled for 718 years. Gustasp (Hystaspes), the Median Cyaxares, or his contemporary, under whom Zerdusht (Zoroaster) lived, belongs to the uncertain time before Cyrus. With Cyrus, 559-529 B. C., began the period of Persian power in the West. By uniting the Persians and Medes under his sceptre, he made them the ruling nation in Western Asia; he conquered Croesus, took Babylon, and reduced Asia Minor. He was succeeded by his son Cambyses (529–522), who conquered Tyre, Cyprus, and Egypt. After him, a Magian ruled for | a short time, who gave himself out as Smerdis, brother of Cambyses. He was dethroned, and Darius Hystaspes obtained the crown by lot, or the choice of his colleagues (521-487 B. C.) He reduced the revolted kingdom of Babylon, and subdued Thrace, Macedonia, (512 B. C.), and a small part of India; but his attempt to conquer the Scythians beyond the Danube was unsuccessful. He reduced the Greek colonies in Asia Minor, which had attempted to shake off the Persian yoke (501 B. C.); but he was unfortunate in his war against the European Greeks, and Egypt revolted from him. His son Xerxes (487-467 B. C.) effected the submission of Egypt, but was defeated by the Greeks on the field of Marathon and at Salamis, and was obliged to defend himself against their attacks in a disastrous war. Under Artaxerxes Longimanus, the Ahasuerus of the Scriptures (until 425 B. C.), the first symptoms of decline became visible. Egypt again revolted, and was again conquered, after a bloody struggle. The Greek war terminated disadvantageously in 449 B. C. (See Cimon.) Megabyzus excited a dangerous insurrection. The weak king was governed by his mother and wife. The next changes of government were rapid and violent. Xerxes II., his only legitimate son, was murdered, after a reign of forty-five days, by his natural brother Sogdianus, who suffered the same fate six months afterwards, by the hands of another illegitimate son of Artaxerxes,-Ochus, who assumed the name of Darius II., and reigned until 404 B. C., under the influence of his wife Parysatis. The revolts of his

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nides, who ruled 407 years. With them begins, according to Hammer, the romantic character of Persian chivalry; and the six most renowned rulers of this dynasty, among whom are Behramgur, Chosroes, Parwis, and Nushirvan, are the subjects of Persian romances. Ardshir, son of Sassan, ruled from 218 to 241. The wars which he carried on with the Romans were continued under his successor, Shapur (Sapor I., until 271), against Gordian and Valerian (the latter of whom fell into the hands of Sapor, and was treated in a most revolting manner), and were not terminated until the peace of king Narses with Diocletian (303). When Sapor the Great (from 309 to 380) had become of full age, the empire again recovered strength. He punished the Arabs for their incursions, and took the king of Yemen prisoner, and demanded from the emperor of Constantinople the cession of all the country to the Strymon, as Ardshir had once done. Constantine the Great, Constantine II., and Julian resisted his demands; but Jovian purchased peace by a cession of the five provinces in question and the fortress of Nisibis. Sapor also extended his conquests into Tartary and India. War and peace successively followed, without any important events, after the death of Sapor. Under Artaxerxes II. (until 383), Sapor III. (until 388), and Vararanes IV. (until 399), the empire flourished. Arabs, Huns, and Turks successively appear on the field, as allies or enemies of Persia. Yezdegerd I. (until 420), a friend of the Christians, conquered Armenia in 412. In the year 420, Vararanes V. ascended the throne by the aid of the Arabs. He was victorious against Theodosius II., defeated the Huns who invaded his empire, and conquered the kingdom of Yemen. He was succeeded by Vararanes VI. (until 457) and Hormisdas III. În the year 457, Firus (Pheroses) ascended the throne by the assistance of the Huns, but afterwards made war against them, and lost his life in battle in 483. Valens, or Balash (from 488 to 491) was stripped of a part of his territories by the Huns, and obliged to pay them a tribute for two years. The Sassanides, however, soon regained