Persia from the Earliest Period to the Arab

HLsTORY OF PERSIA. 153
pointed out how the Greek writers generally assume
that Surena or Surenas, was the title of the chief
general under the monarch himself, if not his own
second title ; while the Armenian writers declare it
was really the name of one of the great Arsacidan
families who preserved their traditional lineage long
after the empire had passed from their house. We
meet with other and similar great families as the
Aspahapats (the Ispe'he'bids of the seventh and eighth
centuries) and the Mihrtfns.
Other points worthy of notice, as explanatory of
many confused passages in the history of the wars
between the Greeks and the Persians, are the certain,
clear, and definite objects every Sassanian ruler kept
constantly before his eyes. These were, speaking
generally, to extend ths boundaries of the Persian em-
pire to the west of the Euphrates ; to weaken, whenever
opportunity occurred, Armenia, as the northern
frontier and the key of Persia, held as this state was
at that period, by a population at variance from the
Persians in creed and race; to prevent the progress
of Christianity, not alone in their own dominions,
but in the provinces adjacent to them ; and to spread,
by all possible means, the pure faith of Zoroaster, as
distinguished from nature worship on one side and
Christianity on the other. These principles borne
in mind explain much of the subsequent history of
this people. Thus, when Armenia was in league with
the Byzantine Court, the Persians generally turned
their arms against her, and less rarely into the provinces
of the west and south : on the other hand, when
Armenia and Persia were allied and friendly, or the