File:Cyclopedia universal history - embracing the most complete and recent presentation of the subject in two principal parts or divisions of more than six thousand pages (1895) (14782780172).jpg

Identifier: cyclopediauniver1950ridp (find matches)
Title: Cyclopedia universal history : embracing the most complete and recent presentation of the subject in two principal parts or divisions of more than six thousand pages
Year: 1895 (1890s)
Authors: Ridpath, John Clark, 1840-1900
Subjects: World history Ethnology World history
Publisher: Boston : Balch Bros.
Contributing Library: UMass Amherst Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Library Consortium Member Libraries

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econd whichhad ruled in the old empire at the mouthof the two Mesopotamian rivers. It wascomposed of eight kings, Zoroaster be-ing the first; and there are good reasonsfor fixing the limits of this dynasty be-tween the years 2286 and 2052 B. C. Atthe close of this period it appears thatthe foreign, that is the Median, domina-tion in Chaldtea was broken and thethrone regained by native princes. Ithas been customary to make the date ofZoroaster about coincident with that ofAbraham, but the current chronologywould hardly admit of this construction.It may be accepted as approximatelycorrect that the founder of the Old Ira-nian faith flourished at about the timeindicated above. One of the principal errors into whichthe occasional student is likely to fall relative to the relations of Historical stu-dents do not ancient events is to fix sufficiently con- ,1 ., n , sider perspec- them, as it were, on a flat tive.surface, without allowing for perspective.In the present case, it must be remem-
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THE IRANIANS.—HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT. 607 bered that there was necessarily a longIranian history before the time of Zoro-aster. There was already an organizedpeople, developed from the tiibal stateand sufficiently high in thescale of unity and self-con-sciousness to receive the reve-lations and accept the ideaswhich he brought. The mi-gratory period of the Old Ai-yan departure, of the joint andcommon progress of the Indicand Iranic races, of their giad-ual separation into two distinctfamilies, and the developmentof institutional forms in each,all preceded by ages of inde-terminate, or at least undeter-mined, duration the apparitionof the great teacher and prophetof Ahura-Mazdao. It must be borne in mind thatthe Old Iranians,of whom we are ,here speaking, are f^a prehistoric peopie. That is to f Mi^say that their life -•and history ■ havebeen developed bywhat may be calledhistorical parallax.The data in pos-session of the eth-nographer and his-torian are sufficientto construct an

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