East his
fructifying power is the greatest. The specimens which we possess of
this group belong to classical art and to times later than Alexander;
but we can scarcely suppose the idea to have been Occidental. The
Western artists would naturally adopt the symbolism of those from whom
they took the rites, merely modifying its expression in accordance with
their own aesthetic notions.

Towards the close of the Empire two other gods emerged from the
obscurity in which the lower deities of the Zoroastrian system were
shrouded during the earlier and purer period. Vohu-manu, or Bah-man,
and Amerdat, or Amendat, two of the councillors of Ormazd, became the
objects of a worship, which was clearly of an idolatrous character.
Shrines were built in their honor, and were frequented by companies
of Magi, who chanted their incantations, and performed their rites
of divination in these new edifices as willingly as in the old
Fire-temples. The image of Bah-man was of wood, and was borne in
procession on certain occasions.

Thus as time went on, the Persian religion continually assimilated
itself more and more to the forms of belief and worship which prevailed
in the neighboring parts of Asia. Idolatries of several kinds came
into vogue, some adopted from abroad, others developed out of their
own system. Temples, some of which had a character of extraordinary
magnificence, were erected to the honor of various gods; and the
degenerate descendants of pure Zoroastrian spiritualists bowed down to
images, and entangled themselves in the meshes of a sensualistic and
most debasing Nature-worship. Still, amid whatsoever corruptions, the
Dualistic faith was maintained. The supremacy of Ormazd was from first
to last admitted. Ahriman retained from first to last the same character
and position, neither rising into an object of worship, nor sinking into
a mere personification of evil. The inquiries which Aristotle caused to
be made, towards the very close of the Empire, into the true nature of
the Persian Religion, showed him Ormazd and Ahriman still recognized
as Principles, still standing in the same hostile and antithetical
attitude, one towards the other, which they occupied when the first
Fargard of the Vendidad was written, long anterior to the rise of the
Persian Power.

CHAPTER VII. CHRONOLOGY AND HISTORY.

"I saw the man pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so
that no beast might stand before him, neither was there