Media, Babylon and Persia : including a study of the Zend-Avesta or religion of Zoroaster, from the fall of Nineveh to the Persian war . me, and the other gods that are,that I was not wicked, nor was I a liar [ daraiijha-na = Avestan ^ dnijva>i ], nor was I a tyrant. 6. From these passages, which breathe the spiritrather of the Gathas than of the Yasna or Vendidad,we may conclude that King Dareios was a Mazda-yasnian of the early uncorrupted school, and, withmuch probability, that the alterations introducedinto the doctrine and ritual by the Median Magi(see p. 271) had not been adopted by t
Media, Babylon and Persia : including a study of the Zend-Avesta or religion of Zoroaster, from the fall of Nineveh to the Persian war . me, and the other gods that are,that I was not wicked, nor was I a liar [ daraiijha-na = Avestan ^ dnijva>i ], nor was I a tyrant. 6. From these passages, which breathe the spiritrather of the Gathas than of the Yasna or Vendidad,we may conclude that King Dareios was a Mazda-yasnian of the early uncorrupted school, and, withmuch probability, that the alterations introducedinto the doctrine and ritual by the Median Magi(see p. 271) had not been adopted by the least they do not appear to have followed theprescriptions of the Vendidad in their treatment ofthe dead,—certainly not strictly. Their kings wefind entombed in elaborately wrought sepulchres,not exposed to the birds. But we saw that this cus-tom is a borrowed one, a fact betrayed by the veryword Dakhma, which originally meant the place DARIEOS I.: CIVIL WARS. 371 of burning, showing that the early Eranians, Hketheir brethren of India, were famiHar with crema-tion.* Herodotus has a curious passage, from which C\ 1. 56. DETAIL OF AKH/EMKNIAN TOMIi.(Compare Lycian rock-tombs, ch. viii.) it would seem that the practice of exposing the deadwas gaining ground in Persia in his time (middle ofthe fifth century ), but in a sort of underhand * Justi, Geschichte des Allen r<rsiciis, p. S8. 372 MEJ)IA, CABYLON, AND PERSIA. wa}% being introduced and favored—as we mightexpect—by the Magi : There is anollier custom wliicli is spoken of witli reserve, andnot openly, concerning their tlead. It is said that the body of a malePersian is never buried, until it has been torn cither by a doj^ or abird of prey. That the Magi have this custom is beyond a doubt,for they practise it without any concealment. The dead bodies arccovered with wax and then buried in the ground. Tliis last practice looks very mucli like a conces-sion to the Magian teachings, as a kiycr of wax mayb
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