erialistic
worship prevailed than suited the temper of later times.

Nor can it be doubted that the Persians held during this early period
that Dualistic belief which has been the distinguishing feature of
Zoroastrianism from a time long anterior to the commencement of the
Median Empire down to the present day. It was not to be expected
that this belief would show itself in the inscriptions, unless in the
faintest manner; and it can therefore excite no surprise that they are
silent, or all but silent, on the point in question. Nor need we wonder
that this portion of their creed was not divulged by the Persians to
Herodotus or to Xenophon, since it is exactly the sort of subject on
which reticence was natural and might have been anticipated. Neither the
lively Halicarnassian, nor the pleasant but somewhat shallow Athenian,
had the gift of penetrating very deeply into the inner mind of a
foreign people; added to which, it is to be remembered that they were
unacquainted with Persia Proper, and drew their knowledge of Persian
opinions and customs either from hearsay or from the creed and practices
of the probably mixed garrisons which held Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt.

Persian worship, in these early times, was doubtless that enjoined by
the Zendavesta, comprising prayer and thanksgiving to Ormazd and the
good spirits of his creation, the recitation of Gathas or hymns, the
performance of sacrifice, and participation in the Soma ceremony.
Worship seems to have taken place in temples, which are mentioned
(according to the belief of most cuneiform scholars) in the Behistun
inscription. Of the character of these buildings we can say nothing.
It has been thought that those two massive square towers so similar in
construction, which exist in a more or less ruined condition at Murgab
and Nakhsh-i-Rustam, are Persian temples of the early period, built to
contain an altar on which the priests offered victims. But the absence
of any trace of an altar from both, the total want of religious emblems,
and the extremely small size of the single apartment which each tower
contains, make strongly against the temple theory; not to mention that a
much more probable use may be suggested for the buildings.

With respect to the altars upon which sacrifice was offered, we are not
left wholly without evidence. The Persian monarchs of the early period,
including Darius Hystaspis, represented themselves on their tombs in the
act of worship. Befor