Persians. Even the name of the priests of the Persian religion of
Zoroaster, Mag or Magi, is of Sanscrit derivation.

The Persians kept up an enormous army, which was spread through all the
various provinces and Satrapies, and consisted in great part of paid
auxiliaries. In at least the later period of Persian power the Greeks
were preferred to all others, and in the time of Cyrus the Younger they
composed the flower of the Persian army, and were employed in
garrisoning most of the chief cities of Asia Minor.

The description given by Herodotus of the vast army and fleet prepared
for the expedition of Xerxes against the Greeks gives us an idea of the
extent of the Persian power, and of the wide range of countries and
nations over which they held sway. The review held on the Plain of
Doriscus was perhaps the greatest military spectacle ever beheld either
before or since. Herodotus enumerates no less than 56 different nations,
all of them in their national dress and arms. Besides the Persians there
were “Medes and Bactrians; Libyans in war chariots with four horses;
Arabs on camels; Sagartians, wild huntsmen who employed, instead of the
usual weapons of the time, the lasso; the nomadic tribes of Bucharia and
Mongolia; Ethiopians in lions’ skins, and Indians in cotton robes;
Phœnician sailors, and Greeks from Asia Minor.” All these and many
others were there assembled by the despotic power of the Persian king.

The system of government employed by the Persians, and the constant
reports and tributes sent from every province to the central court of
the king, were well calculated to bring to it, as to a focus, the
curious lore of the various nations who came in contact with or were
subdued by them.