1. Geographical Position and Extent

territory east of the Tigris. It was bor dared on the northwest by the territory of Man, later Armenia, on the north by the Caspian Sea, on the east by the great desert, and on the south by Elam. This great territory was divided between the complex of peoples known as Medea. The territory originally known as Persia was much smaller, and was located, in general, southeast of the larger Median possessions. Its western and southern border was the Persian Gulf, and its eastern was formed by Carmania. When the Persians rose to supremacy the name Persia was extended to the greater Median territory, and a new geographical signification was acquired by it. This is well

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expressed in the boasting words of Cyrus the Younger: "My father's kingdom extends so far to the south that men can not live there because of the heat, and northward to where they can not east because of the cold."

2. Climate; Fauna and Flora.

Media and Persia together comprise within their borders temperate, sub-tropical, and tropical conditions. On the extreme northwest the winters are long, and deep snows block the wild and almost trackless mountain-passes. In the neighborhood of the Persian Gulf torrid temperatures prevail, as severe in the plain as those of India. In the immediate neighborhood of the Caspian Sea, the summers are hot and humid, and bear an evil reputation for unhealthiness. The great tablelands have on the whole a temperate climate, but the heat of summer is often very excessive and the presence of deserts, large and small, contributes much sand to the atmosphere when the wind is high. These same table-lands are covered with snows in the winter. The distribution of rain over the entire territory is, even yet, not scientifically known, and estimates of observers vary greatly. In Persia proper ten inches per annum is supposed to represent fairly well the average. Without irrigartion, two-thirds of modern Persia would be a desert, and within the historic period the change can not have been great. The remainder of the country includes some of the most fertile portions of the earth, the praises of which poets have sung for centuries. The flora covers a very wide range, from the apple in the northwestern mountain regions to the peach, figs, pomegranates, and lemons of the warmer sections. Wheat grows on the great steppes, and in the south cotton, opium, tobacco, madder roots, henna, and the mulberry. The fauna is as widely varied as the flora.