Page:Next-of-kin Marriages in Old Iran.djvu/47

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NEXT-OF-KIN MARRIAGES.

be remembered that Cambyses utterly disregarded his priesthood, defied the old sanitary ordinances of his people, and set small store by his religion.^[1] He gave proof of this by attempting to encourage in his kingdom the practice of interring the dead amongst a people by whom it was detested. It is not, therefore, unreasonable to assume that the alleged marriage of Cambyses with his sister was suggested by his familiarity with such marriages among the Egyptians and the Greeks conquered by the Persians, and that it was carried into effect by a man of such

↑ Compare S. B. E., Vol. IV., 'The Zend-Avestâ' by Prof. Darmesteter, Part I., p. XLV.:—"If we pass now from dogma to practice, we find that the most important practice of the Avestâ law was either disregarded by the Achæmenian kings, or unknown to them. According to the Avesta, burying corpses in the earth is one of the most heinous sins that can be committed. We know that under the Sasanians a prime minister, Ceoses, paid with his life. for an infraction of that law. Corpses were to be laid down on the summits of mountains, there to be devoured by bird and dogs; the exposure of corpses was the most striking practice of Mazdian profession, and its adoption was the sign of conversion. Now under the Achæmenian rule, not only the burial of the dead was not forbidden but it was the general practice."

[1] Compare S. B. E., Vol. IV., 'The Zend-Avestâ' by Prof. Darmesteter, Part I., p. XLV.:—"If we pass now from dogma to practice, we find that the most important practice of the Avestâ law was either disregarded by the Achæmenian kings, or unknown to them. According to the Avesta, burying corpses in the earth is one of the most heinous sins that can be committed. We know that under the Sasanians a prime minister, Ceoses, paid with his life. for an infraction of that law. Corpses were to be laid down on the summits of mountains, there to be devoured by bird and dogs; the exposure of corpses was the most striking practice of Mazdian profession, and its adoption was the sign of conversion. Now under the Achæmenian rule, not only the burial of the dead was not forbidden but it was the general practice."

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