Media, Babylon and Persia : including a study of the Zend-Avesta or religion of Zoroaster, from the fall of Nineveh to the Persian war . food, owing to the climate, which is so hot asto make exertion unwholesome and a spare vegetablediet the only rational one. The Aryan conquerors,as they spread through the land and dwelt in it, sue- * See Story of Chaklca, pp. 294, and ARYAN MYTHS LV THE A VESTA. 57 cumbed to these influences, lost much of their origi-nal hardiness and active virfor, and were gradually-transformed into arace of, physically,somewhat effemi-nate men, of dwin-dled stature
Media, Babylon and Persia : including a study of the Zend-Avesta or religion of Zoroaster, from the fall of Nineveh to the Persian war . food, owing to the climate, which is so hot asto make exertion unwholesome and a spare vegetablediet the only rational one. The Aryan conquerors,as they spread through the land and dwelt in it, sue- * See Story of Chaklca, pp. 294, and ARYAN MYTHS LV THE A VESTA. 57 cumbed to these influences, lost much of their origi-nal hardiness and active virfor, and were gradually-transformed into arace of, physically,somewhat effemi-nate men, of dwin-dled stature and del-icate proportions,in whom leisure andhabitual idleness ofbody developed anextraordinary facul-ty for spiritual con-templatio!! and aninordinate exuber-ance of fancy —which two qualitiescombined give colorand tone to theirentire mythology,religious and philo-sophical specula-tion, and poetry. 2. Very differentwere the influencesto which that branchof the Aryan familywas subjected whichwandered into theregion west of Cen-tral Asia, the different countries of which co- le underthe general name of Eran. Their westward migra-. < < o< 1=1 W < u Q <A W « 58 MEDIA, HABYLON, A\D PERSIA. lion, after taklni; llicni throu^li pleasant lands ofhills and valleys and streams, of woods and pastures,little differing from their older home, and where theyfounded prosperous settlements and states—Bactriabeing the chief of them,—brought them to a regionof novel and forbidding aspect, a region of sharpcontrasts, na)-—-contraries, where nature seemed atwar with herself, and of which nothing could give amore vivid picture than an admirable page fromMax Dunckers Ancient History, which we willproceed to borrow : The centre of Eran was formed of avast desert ; to the north andsouth stretched far away arid tablelands ; the favored districts mightalmost be called oases. Immediately on the most fertile valleysand slopes bordered endless steppes ; blooming plains, denselyshaded
Size: 945px × 2644px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookpublishernewyorkgpputnamsso
