"قاموس، فارسي، عربي، إنجليزي، مع أطروحة عن لغات أمم المشرق وآدابها وعاداتها" [و‎‎٢‎٢] (١٨٢٦/٤٨)

DISSERTATION.
XXVll
ferent Persian monarchs of the Kayanian dynasty
had a partiality for different cities in their exten
sive empire. Lohorasb was so remarkably fond of
Balkh in Khurasan, that he is often called Balkhu
His successor Kishtasb gave the preference to
Istakhar or Persepolis. Bahaman might have lived
occasionally in Media ; and possibly have marched
from thence, attended by CTrreshy on the expedition
against Babylon. Queen Humay was particularly
attached to PersepoUs y where the Asiatic historians
say she built the celebrated palace which they name
Chihalminar, afterwards destroyed by Alexander;
and, as this became the favourite abode of her suc
cessors till the Macedonian conquest, we accord
ingly find that every subsequent event, mentioned
in the Sacred Writings, is referred to the time of
Darius the Persian ; though comprehending a pe
riod far beyond the reign of that prince ; a circum
stance which has induced Sir Isaac Newton to sup
pose Darius the Persian to include Darius Nothus
as well as Darius Codomannus; a theory by no
means satisfactory, as it will not account for the
silence of Scripture with regard to the intermediate
princes, Artaxerxes Mnemon, Artaxerxes Ochus,
and Arogus. The whole endeavours of the learned,
indeed, to reconcile the Persian kings of Scripture
to the Persian kings of the Greeks, appear only to be
productive of embarrassment ; but if the theory
now proposed is found to be just, of considering
many of the Scripture names as mere royal titles,
it will correspond perfectly with the sublime figu
rative language of the Sacred Writers, and pave the
way for removing several perplexing difficulties.
The only Babylonish and Persian princes found in
the Bible are Nebuchadnezzar, Evil Merodach,
Belshazzar, Ahasuerus, Darius the Mede, CTrt'esh,
and Darius the Persian : Artaxerxes is also men
tioned in Neh e mi ah. The first Babylonish prince
corresponds exactly in name, era, and actions with
the Persian historians. The next two are not
named by them ; being only in general considered
as governors or feudatory princes under the Great
King; and the others, I apprehend, are simply
epithets, given indiscriminately to any of the Per
sian monarchs, like Coesar or Czar in Europe.
Ahasuerus or Achasuerus has, in particular, been
the subject of much etymological investigation.
Sir Isaac Newton, by inadvertency, makes him, in
one place, to be Cyaxares, and, in another, Xerxes.
Archbishop Usher supposes him to be Darius
Hystaspes ; Scaliger, Xerxes; Josephus, the Sep-
tuagint, and Dr. Hyde, Artaxerxes Longimanus.
Now each of these conjectures contradicts the
other; and none of them coincide with the common
chronology of the Bible, excepting Usher. Four
different princes are named ; and a range is taken
of 187 years: the reign of the first, according to
Newton, commencing 611 years, and the last dying
424, B. C. As such disagreements amongst our
most learned men show clearly that the basis must
be wrong, there can be no impropriety in adding
one conjecture more, which is, that Ahasuerus,
like Darius, is not the name of any individual
prince, but a title ; and probably derived, by a very
simple Persian etymology, from Khusraxv ; which
signifies a Great King. Khusraw, or Kay Khusraw,
was the third prince of the Kayanian dynasty :
whose successful wars against the Turanians or
Scythians, the old hereditary enemies of Persia,
had greatly extended and firmly established the
empire. His reputation was high in Asia: he was
almost adored by his subjects, and by after genera
tions. The names of distinguished men in the East
have frequently been assumed as titles by succeed
ing princes; and they have been often given to
them by foreign nations, whether they assumed
them or not. Many kings of the Ashkanian and
Sassanian dynasties bore the name of this ancient
Persian monarch, by way of adjunct or surname,
as Khusravo Parvlz, or Khusi'aw Nushirvdn ; and
the Romans gave the name of Cosroes to almost
every sovereign of the Sassanian race. That
foreigners might, in older times, have done the
same with respect to the Kayanian princes, is en
tirely consistent with probability ; and upon this
ground we shall obviate another difficulty, with
regard to Ahasuerus, which seems difficult to be
reconciled on other principles ; and furnishes, at
e 2