. The eastern nations and Greece. Fig. 68. The Behistun Rock(After Rawlmson) lOO THE PERSIAN EMPIRE [§106 affairs, will be told when we come to narrate the history of the Greekcity-states. We need now simply note the result — the wreck of thePersian plans of conquest and the opening of the great days of The Decline and Fall of the Persian Empire. The power andsupremacy of the Persian monarchy passed away with the reign ofXerxes. The last one hundred and forty years of the existence of the empire was a time ofweakness and rebel-lions of satraps andnations, and presentsnothing that n
. The eastern nations and Greece. Fig. 68. The Behistun Rock(After Rawlmson) lOO THE PERSIAN EMPIRE [§106 affairs, will be told when we come to narrate the history of the Greekcity-states. We need now simply note the result — the wreck of thePersian plans of conquest and the opening of the great days of The Decline and Fall of the Persian Empire. The power andsupremacy of the Persian monarchy passed away with the reign ofXerxes. The last one hundred and forty years of the existence of the empire was a time ofweakness and rebel-lions of satraps andnations, and presentsnothing that needclaim our attentionin this place. In the year 334 the Great,king of Macedonia,led a small army ofGreeks and Mace-donians across theHellespont intent up-on the conquest ofAsia. His succeedingmovements and theestablishment of theshort-lived Macedo-nian monarchy uponthe ruins of the Persian Empire are matters that properly belong toGrecian history, and will be related at a later stage of our Fig. 69. RocK-cuT Tomb of Darius I, nearPersepolis. (After Flandin and Coste) II. GOVERNMENT, RELIGION, AND ARTS 107. The Extent and Population of the Empire. The extent ofthe Persian Empire and the number of races it embraced justifiedthe claim of the Persian rulers to a universal dominion. Theyassumed the title of king of kings, and proclaimed themselves as the lord of all men from the sun-rising to the sun-setting. § 108] THE GOVERNMENT lOi The population of the empire, including Egypt, was probablyabout fifty million, which is eight or nine million more than thesame lands contain to-day. Of this number only about one-halfmillion were genuine Persians.^ 108. The Government. Before the reign of Darius I the govern-ment of the Persian Empire was like that of all the great empiresthat had preceded it, save the Assyrian in a measure and for a shortspace of time; that is to say, it consisted of a great number of sub-ject states, which were allowed to retain their own
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