The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient
Eastern World, Vol 3. (of 7): Media, by George Rawlinson

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Title: The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 3. (of 7): Media
The History, Geography, And Antiquities Of Chaldaea,
Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, And Sassanian
or New Persian Empire; With Maps and Illustrations.

Author: George Rawlinson

Illustrator: George Rawlinson

Release Date: July 1, 2005 [EBook #16163]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEVEN GREAT MONARCHIES ***

Produced by David Widger

THE SEVEN GREAT MONARCHIES

OF THE

ANCIENT EASTERN WORLD;

OR,

THE HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, AND ANTIQUITIES OF CHALDAEA, ASSYRIA

BABYLON, MEDIA, PERSIA, PARTHIA, AND SASSANIAN,

OR NEW PERSIAN EMPIRE.

BY

GEORGE RAWLINSON, M.A.,

CAMDEN PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOLUME II.

WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

THE THIRD MONARCHY.

MEDIA.

[Illustration: MAP]

CHAPTER I. DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY.

Along the eastern flank of the great Mesopotamian lowland, curving
round it on the north, and stretching beyond it to the south and the
south-east, lies a vast elevated region, or highland, no portion of
which appears to be less than 3000 feet above the sea-level. This
region may be divided, broadly, into two tracts, one consisting of lofty
mountainous ridges, which form its outskirts on the north and on the
west; the other, in the main a high flat table-land, extending from the
foot of the mountain chains, southward to the Indian Ocean, and eastward
to the country of the Afghans. The western mountain-country consists,
as has been already observed, of six or seven parallel ridges, having
a direction nearly from the north-west to the south-east, enclosing
between them, valleys of great fertility, and well watered by a large
number of plentiful and refreshing streams. This district was known to
the ancients as Zagros, while in modern geography it bears the names of
Kurdistan and Luristan. It has always been inh