Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
An ancient empire, extending from the Indus to Thrace, and from the Caspian Sea to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. The Persians were originally a Medic tribe which settled in Persia, on the eastern side of the Persian Gulf. They were Aryans, their language belonging to the eastern division of the Indo-European group. One of their chiefs, Teispes, conquered Elam in the time of the decay of the Assyrian Empire, and established himself in the district of Anzan. His descendants branched off into two lines, one line ruling in Anzan, while the other remained in Persia.
, king of Anzan, finally united the divided power, conquered Media, Lydia, and Babylonia, and carried his arms into the far East. His son, Cambyses, added Egypt to the empire, which, however, fell to pieces after his death. It was reconquered and thoroughly organized by Darius, the son of Hystaspes, whose dominions extended from India to the Danube.
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1863)
(pure, splended), Per’sians. Persia proper was a tract of no very large dimensions on the Persian Gulf, which is still known as Fars or Farsistan, a corruption of the ancient appellation. This tract was bounded on the west by Susiana or Elam, on the north by Media on the south by the Persian Gulf and on the east by Carmania. But the name is more commonly applied, both in Scripture and by profane authors to the entire tract which came by degrees to be included within the limits of the Persian empire.
This empire extended at one time from India on the east to Egypt and Thrace on the west, and included. besides portions of Europe and Africa, the whole of western Asia between the Black Sea, the Caucasus, the Caspian and the Jaxartes on the north, the Arabian desert the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean on the south. The only passage in Scripture where Persia designates the tract which has been called above “Persia proper” is (Ezekiel 38:5) Elsewhere the empire is intended. The Persians were of the same race as the Medes, both being branches of the great Aryan stock.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898) & Schaff's Bible Dictionary
), a country in Central Asia. The term is generally applied in Scripture to the entire Persian empire, but in Eze 38:5 it appears to designate Persia proper. The latter country was bounded by Media on the north, Carmania on the east, Susiana on the west, and the Persian Gulf on the south. The Persian empire, however, extended from the Indus on the east to Thrace on the west, and from the Black and Caspian Seas on the north to the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea on the south. It included all Western Asia and portions of Europe and Africa.
Persia proper was in general an unproductive country, low and sandy on the gulf, hilly and mountainous inland. The interior was a great plateau, having an average elevation of 4000 feet above the sea, broken by mountains and valleys and interspersed with fruitful plains. History. c. 880. They were brave and enterprising, and divided into ten castes or tribes, of which the Pasargadae were the nobles. Their language was closely allied to the Sanscrit, and in their religion they were dualists, believing in one supreme god and in one great power of evil.
These good and evil beings were regarded as co-eternal and coequal. c. 588. c. 539 over Babylon, where the Persians came into contact with the captive Jews, Cyrus issuing a decree permitting these captives to return to their own land. 2 Chr 36:20-23; Ezr 1:8. c. 529, and his tomb is still pointed out near the ancient capital, now known as Murghab. A later king, called Artaxerxes in Scripture, forbade the rebuilding of the temple, but Darius Hystaspes authorized the work to go on. Ezr 4:5-24; Ezr 6:7-12.
Xerxes, who was probably the Ahasuerus of the book of Esther, succeeded him, and was defeated by the Greeks, assassinated, and succeeded by his son Artaxerxes Longimanus, who was friendly to the Jews. Ezr 7:11-28; Neh 2:1-9. Only one of his successors is noticed in Scripture, Darius the Persian. Neh 12:22. c. 330, and followed by the Macedonian, the third great world-empire. Dan 8:3-7. Present Condition. - Persia now has an area of about 500,000 square miles and a population of about 10,000,000.
Its principal seaport-town is Bushire, a city of 30,000 inhabitants having considerable trade with England. The chief ruler is called the Shah. The province of Shiraz is properly the ancient kingdom of Persia before Cyrus. Within it are the ruins of Persepolis, the palace of Darius, which was burned by Alexander the Great when in a drunken frolic, fire-temples, inscriptions, altars, and various mementoes of the old Persian faith, which is still held by the Parsees.
Christian missions have been established among the Nestorians in Persia by the American Congregational, and the American Presbyterian Board of Missions, which have met with encouraging success.
Hitchcock's Bible Names (1869)
that cuts or divides; a nail; a gryphon; a horseman