Persian location. Persia - what country is it now? Ancient Persia and modern Iran
The Persian state had a huge impact on the history of the Ancient World. Formed by a small tribal union, the state of the Achaemenids lasted about two hundred years. The splendor and power of the country of the Persians are mentioned in many ancient sources, including the Bible.
Start
For the first time, the mention of the Persians is found in Assyrian sources. In an inscription dated to the ninth century BC. e., contains the name of the land of Parsua. Geographically, this region was located in the Central Zagros region, and during the mentioned period, the population of this region paid tribute to the Assyrians. Tribal unions did not yet exist. The Assyrians mention 27 kingdoms under their control. In the 7th century the Persians, apparently, entered into a tribal union, since references to kings from the Achaemenid tribe appeared in the sources. The history of the Persian state begins in 646 BC, when Cyrus I became the ruler of the Persians.
During the reign of Cyrus I, the Persians significantly expanded the territories under their control, including taking over most of the Iranian plateau. At the same time, the first capital of the Persian state, the city of Pasargada, was founded. Part of the Persians was engaged in agriculture, part led
Rise of the Persian Empire
At the end of the VI century. BC e. the Persian people were ruled by Cambyses I, who was dependent on the kings of Media. The son of Cambyses, Cyrus II, became the lord of the settled Persians. Information about the ancient Persian people is scarce and fragmentary. Apparently, the main unit of society was the patriarchal family, headed by a man who had the right to dispose of the life and property of his loved ones. The community, at first tribal, and later rural, for several centuries was a powerful force. Several communities formed a tribe, several tribes could already be called a people.
The emergence of the Persian state came at a time when the entire Middle East was divided between four states: Egypt, Media, Lydia, Babylonia.
Even in its heyday, Media was actually a fragile tribal union. Thanks to the victories of King Cyaxares of Media, the state of Urartu and the ancient country of Elam were conquered. The descendants of Cyaxares could not keep the conquests of their great ancestor. The constant war with Babylon required the presence of troops on the border. This weakened the internal politics of Media, which the vassals of the Median king took advantage of.
Reign of Cyrus II
In 553, Cyrus II revolted against the Medes, to whom the Persians paid tribute for several centuries. The war lasted three years and ended in a crushing defeat for the Medes. The capital of Media (the city of Ektabani) became one of the residences of the ruler of the Persians. Having conquered the ancient country, Cyrus II formally retained the Median kingdom and assumed the titles of Median lords. Thus began the formation of the Persian state.
After the capture of Media, Persia declared itself as a new state in world history, and for two centuries played an important role in the events taking place in the Middle East. In 549-548 years. the newly formed state conquered Elam and subjugated a number of countries that were part of the former Median state. Parthia, Armenia, Hyrcania began to pay tribute to the new Persian rulers.
War with Lydia
Croesus, lord of the mighty Lydia, realized how dangerous adversary is the Persian state. A number of alliances were made with Egypt and Sparta. However, the Allies did not manage to start full-scale military operations. Croesus did not want to wait for help and went out alone against the Persians. In the decisive battle near the capital of Lydia - the city of Sardis, Croesus brought his cavalry to the battlefield, which was considered invincible. Cyrus II sent out warriors on camels. The horses, seeing unknown animals, refused to obey the riders, the Lydian horsemen were forced to fight on foot. The unequal battle ended with the retreat of the Lydians, after which the city of Sardis was besieged by the Persians. Of the former allies, only the Spartans decided to come to the aid of Croesus. But while the campaign was being prepared, the city of Sardis fell, and the Persians subjugated Lydia.
Expanding the boundaries
Then came the turn of the Greek policies that were on the territory.
At the end of the 6th century, the Persian state expanded its borders to the northwestern regions of India, to the cordons of the Hindu Kush and subjugated the tribes living in the basin of the river. Syrdarya. Only after strengthening the borders, suppressing rebellions and establishing royal power, Cyrus II turned his attention to powerful Babylonia. On October 20, 539, the city fell, and Cyrus II became the official ruler of Babylon, and at the same time the ruler of one of the largest powers of the Ancient World - the Persian kingdom.
Reign of Cambyses
Cyrus died in battle with the Massagetae in 530 BC. e. His policy was successfully carried out by his son Cambyses. After a thorough preliminary diplomatic preparation, Egypt, another enemy of Persia, found itself completely alone and could not count on the support of the allies. Cambyses carried out his father's plan and conquered Egypt in 522 BC. e. Meanwhile, in Persia itself, discontent was ripening and a rebellion broke out. Cambyses hurried to his homeland and died on the road under mysterious circumstances. After some time, the ancient Persian state provided an opportunity to gain power to the representative of the younger branch of the Achaemenids - Darius Hystaspes.
The beginning of the reign of Darius
The seizure of power by Darius I caused discontent and grumbling in the enslaved Babylonia. The leader of the rebels declared himself the son of the last Babylonian ruler and became known as Nebuchadnezzar III. In December 522 BC. e. Darius I won. The leaders of the rebels were put to public execution.
Punitive actions distracted Darius, and meanwhile rebellions rose in Media, Elam, Parthia and other areas. It took the new ruler more than a year to pacify the country and restore the state of Cyrus II and Cambyses to its former borders.
Between 518 and 512, the Persian empire conquered Macedonia, Thrace and part of India. This time is considered the heyday of the ancient kingdom of the Persians. The state of world significance united dozens of countries and hundreds of tribes and peoples under its rule.
The social structure of ancient Persia. Reforms of Darius
The Persian state of the Achaemenids was distinguished by a wide variety of social structures and customs. Babylonia, Syria, Egypt long before Persia were considered highly developed states, and the recently conquered tribes of nomads of Scythian and Arab origin were still at the stage of a primitive way of life.
Chain of uprisings 522-520 showed the inefficiency of the previous scheme of government. Therefore, Darius I held a series administrative reforms and created a stable system of state control over the conquered peoples. The result of the reforms was the first effective administrative system in history, which served the rulers of the Achaemenids for generations.
An effective administrative apparatus is a clear example of how Darius ruled the Persian state. The country was divided into administrative-tax districts, which were called satrapies. The sizes of the satrapies were much larger than the territories of the early states, and in some cases coincided with the ethnographic boundaries of the ancient peoples. For example, the satrapy of Egypt territorially almost completely coincided with the borders of this state before its conquest by the Persians. The districts were led by state officials - satraps. Unlike his predecessors, who were looking for their governors among the nobility of the conquered peoples, Darius I put only nobles of Persian origin in these positions.
Functions of governors
Previously, the governor combined both administrative and civil functions. The satrap of the time of Darius had only civil powers, the military authorities were not subordinate to him. The satraps had the right to mint coins, were in charge of the economic activities of the country, collected taxes, and ruled the court. In peacetime, the satraps were provided with little personal protection. The army was subordinated exclusively to military leaders, independent of the satraps.
The implementation of state reforms led to the creation of a large central administrative apparatus headed by the royal office. State administration was conducted by the capital of the Persian state - the city of Susa. The large cities of that time Babylon, Ektabana, Memphis also had their own offices.
Satraps and officials were under the vigilant control of the secret police. In ancient sources, it was called "the ears and the eye of the king." The control and supervision of officials was entrusted to the Khazarapat - the chief of the thousand. State correspondence was conducted on which almost all the peoples of Persia owned.
Culture of the Persian Empire
Ancient Persia left a great architectural heritage to the descendants. The magnificent palace complexes in Susa, Persepolis and Pasargada made a stunning impression on contemporaries. The royal estates were surrounded by gardens and parks. One of the monuments that have survived to this day is the tomb of Cyrus II. Many similar monuments that arose hundreds of years later took the architecture of the tomb of the Persian king as a basis. The culture of the Persian state contributed to the glorification of the king and the strengthening of royal power among the conquered peoples.
The art of ancient Persia combined the artistic traditions of the Iranian tribes, intertwined with elements of Greek, Egyptian, Assyrian cultures. Among the items that have come down to the descendants, there are many decorations, bowls and vases, various goblets, decorated with exquisite paintings. A special place in the finds is occupied by numerous seals with images of kings and heroes, as well as various animals and fantastic creatures.
The economic development of Persia in the time of Darius
A special position in the Persian kingdom was occupied by the nobility. The nobles owned large land holdings in all the conquered territories. Huge plots were placed at the disposal of the "benefactors" of the tsar for personal services to him. The owners of such lands had the right to manage, transfer allotments as inheritance to their descendants, and they were also entrusted with the exercise of judicial power over subjects. The system of land use was widely used, in which the plots were called allotments of a horse, bow, chariot, etc. The king distributed such lands to his soldiers, for which their owners had to serve in the army as horsemen, archers, and charioteers.
But as before, huge tracts of land were in the direct possession of the king himself. They were usually rented out. The products of agriculture and cattle breeding were accepted as payment for them.
In addition to the lands, canals were in the immediate royal power. The administrators of the royal property rented them out and collected taxes for the use of water. For the irrigation of fertile soils, a fee was charged, reaching 1/3 of the landowner's crop.
Persia workforce
Slave labor was used in all sectors of the economy. The bulk of them were usually prisoners of war. Bonded slavery, when people sold themselves, did not become widespread. Slaves had a number of privileges, for example, the right to have their own seals and participate in various transactions as full partners. A slave could redeem himself by paying a certain dues, and also be a plaintiff, witness or defendant in legal proceedings, of course, not against his masters. The practice of recruiting hired workers for a certain amount of money was widespread. The work of such laborers was particularly widespread in Babylonia, where they dug canals, made roads, and harvested crops from royal or temple fields.
Financial policy of Darius
Taxes were the main source of funds for the treasury. In 519, the king approved the basic system of state taxes. Taxes were calculated for each satrapy, taking into account its territory and land fertility. The Persians, as a conquering people, did not pay a cash tax, but were not exempt from tax in kind.
Various monetary units that continued to exist even after the unification of the country brought a lot of inconvenience, so in 517 BC. e. The king introduced a new gold coin, called the darik. The medium of exchange was the silver shekel, which was worth 1/20 of a darik and served in those days. On the reverse of both coins was placed the image of Darius I.
Transport routes of the Persian state
The spread of the road network contributed to the development of trade between the various satrapies. The royal road of the Persian state began in Lydia, crossed Asia Minor and passed through Babylon, and from there to Susa and Persepolis. The sea routes laid by the Greeks were successfully used by the Persians in trade and for the transfer of military force.
The sea expeditions of the ancient Persians are also known, for example, the voyage of the navigator Skilak to the Indian shores in 518 BC. e.
Ancient Persia (Iran) is a state in Western and Central Asia (the territory of modern Iran and Pakistan). In its heyday, this was a vast territory, starting from the coast of Asia Minor and reaching the Indus River in the east. This great empire, which united dozens of ancient Iranian tribes who called themselves "Aryans", became a mediator in the cultural dialogue between the West and the East.
The first mention of Persia
The life of the Persians in ancient times is known from Assyrian sources, which described conflicts with various mountain tribes. It is known that at the end of the VIII century BC. e. near Lake Urmia, a tribal union was formed under the leadership of the leaders of the noble Persian family of the Achaemenids. This land was first conquered by Assyria, and in the 7th century. BC e. Subdued Midia. King Astyages of Media married one of his daughters to the Persian king Cambyses I, great-grandson of the legendary founder of the Persian Achaemenid dynasty. In this marriage, Cyrus II was born, who later became the Great, the king of all Persian peoples. A legend is connected with his birth, which Herodotus brought to us in his History.
Legend of Kira
Once, the ruler of Media, Astyages, had a dream that from the womb of his daughter a vine grew, which first filled all of Media, and then Asia. He summoned the magicians to interpret the dream for him. According to them, this meant that the son of his daughter would capture Media and Asia during the life of Astyages. When the daughter gave birth to a son, Astyages panicked that the prophecy would come true and ordered his grandson Harpag to be killed. Harpagus did not want to dirty his hands himself and gave the boy to the shepherd, ordering him to be killed in the mountains, and then bring and show the body of the baby. At this time, the shepherd's wife gave birth to a stillborn child, the shepherd left the boy for himself, and Harpagu brought the body of his child. The boy was named Cyrus. So the prince grew up, not knowing about his origin.
Until one day the son of a nobleman appeared in the pasture and saw the game of the sons of the shepherds, playing "king". Cyrus was chosen as king, because he was a tall young man with a proud posture, others carried out his orders, guarded the palace. The official's son was also taken into this game. But he began to argue with the "king", for which he was punished and flogged with whips. Returning home, he complained to his father that he had been beaten by order of the Persian, the indignant father told Astyages everything. The king ordered that a shepherd and his son be brought to the palace. Then he interrogated Harpag, having learned the truth, the king, in a rage, ordered the execution of his son. Harpagus decided to take revenge on the cruel king at the first chance that came up.
The magicians dissuaded Astyages from killing his grandson, saying that the prophecy had come true, the boy was already the king in a child's game. Nevertheless, Astyages played it safe, ordering to guard all the ways so that not a single person could divulge the story of his origin to Cyrus. But Harpagus outwitted Astyages by writing a letter to Cyrus, he hid it in the belly of a hare. Having given the hare to his servant, he ordered to deliver it to the boy. Disguised as a hunter, the servant carried out the command of the master. On the way, the royal guards searched the servant, but did not find the letter. Thus, the letter fell into the hands of Cyrus, who learned from it who he really was.
Soon, Cyrus rebelled against Astyages (in 550 BC), gathering an army from the Persians. Having moved an army to Ecbatana, the capital of Media, Cyrus unexpectedly received help from the Medes themselves. Astyages sent his army, led by Harpagus, to meet the Persian army, confident that he remained loyal to him. However, Harpagus did not forgive the king for the death of his son and persuaded the Medes from noble families to treason. In addition, it was easy to do, many did not like the king for his cruelty. As a result, many Medes went over to the side of the enemy. The Persians managed to disperse the victorious Median army. The prophetic dream came true, Astyages executed the magicians. Gathering another army, he led him to the Persians. The Median warriors were known as excellent horsemen. Cyrus ordered his army to move on foot. The warriors covered themselves with shields from swords and arrows, managing to pull riders off their horses. Cyrus defeated the enemy army on his head, Astyages was captured, until the end of his life he spent in custody.
In 559 B.C. e. Cyrus II was proclaimed king. He founded the first capital of the Persian kingdom, Pasargada. Subsequently, the Persian army, led by Cyrus, continued the victorious conquest of other states: Lydia Croesus, himself big city of that time - Babylon, occupied the Eastern Iranian lands, regions of Central Asia, Afghan, Pakistani, Indian territories. Miletus and other states as far as Egypt submitted to Cyrus of their own free will. Many merchants advocated the formation of a powerful centralized state.
Cyrus set Egypt as his next target, but his plans failed to come true. During one of the campaigns against the Massagets (Massagets are nomadic tribes of Central Asia, related to the Sarmatians, Sakas and Scythians) led by Queen Tomiris, the army of the Persian king was defeated, and Cyrus himself died. For 25 years, Cyrus created a huge empire.
Rise of the Persian Empire
After the death of Cyrus II the Great, Cambyses II ascended the throne. It was he who conquered Egypt, making his father's dream a reality. The successful conquest of Egypt was predetermined, since the Egyptian kingdom was going through the worst times: a weak army, people's dissatisfaction with high taxes, the inept policy of Pharaoh Psammetichus III.
Before going to Egypt, Cambyses enlisted the support of the nomads of the Sinai desert, who helped him in the transition of troops to the city of Pelusium. Cambyses captured Memphis in 527 BC. e., where he showed cruelty to the Egyptians and their gods. He executed many noble people, destroyed temples, scourged their priests, executed the son of Psammetik III. The pharaoh himself was spared. Cambyses was proclaimed the Egyptian pharaoh.
Leaving Egypt, Cambyses launched two disastrous campaigns into Nubia and Libya. In the campaign to capture Libya, the army, crossing the desert, fell into a strong sandstorm, most of the army died in the sands, and Kamizu had to turn back. Returning to Egypt, where in his absence a rebellion broke out under the leadership of Psammetichus III, he crushed the rebellion and executed the former pharaoh.
Here news reached him that rebellions had begun in Persia against Persian hegemony. Leaving for Egypt, Cambyses, fearing a coup, got rid of his brother. The magician Gaumata, taking advantage of the absence of the king, seized power and led on behalf of the deceased brother Bardiya. Cambyses had been absent from his kingdom for three years, having received bad news, he went home. But he never made it home, he died on the way under unclear circumstances.
The magician Gaumata, who pretended to be the brother of Cambyses, began his ascent in Babylon, where he enlisted universal support, then captured the capital of Persia, Pasargada. While in power, he abolished duties and military service for three years, pursuing the goal of replacing the Persian top of the nobility with the Median. Gaumata was in power for 7 months. After some time, a conspiracy of representatives of seven eminent Persian families arose, who killed the impostor and proclaimed Darius king. He immediately returned preemptive rights Persians and began to unite the empire again, which crumbled like a house of cards. In Babylon, Parthia, Armenia, Margiana, Elam and other areas, impostors appeared, posing as Cambyses.
The rebellions that broke out throughout the empire, Darius brutally suppressed. After he gathered all the lands together, Darius erected the Behistun inscription, which is carved on a high rock. The image shows how the enslaved kings of the provinces of the Iranian Empire bring tribute to their Shahinshah Darius the Great. Darius is depicted much larger than the rest of the kings, which clearly indicates their subordinate position.
Reforms of Darius I
Darius was well aware that it was impossible to manage such an empire in the old ways, so at the beginning of his reign he engaged in reforms, which resulted in the creation of a reliable management system.
The results of the reformation of Darius I:
- Divided the empire into administrative districts - satrapies. Officials from the tribal nobility of Persia were appointed as the head of the province. The satraps had administrative, civil and judicial powers. They collected taxes, kept order in the economy. To maintain order and protect the borders, military formations were stationed in the districts, the command was appointed by the king himself. Remote territories (Cyprus, Cilicia) were under the self-government of local kings.
- A royal chancellery was created, which led the staff of officials. The main office was in the Persian capital, the city of Susa. Additional royal offices were located in big cities- Babylon, Memphis, Ecbatana. The head of the treasury (responsible for the treasury and taxes collected), judicial investigators, scribes, heralds worked here. Also, secret agents worked for the Shah - "the ears and the eye of the king." The official language was Aramaic, but other languages were also used. Important documents were written in several languages at once.
- A new post of "chief-chief" appeared, which supervised the officials and the personal guard of the king, also monitored the state administration.
- Legislation was harmonized. One set of laws was created for the entire population, while taking into account the ancient laws of the conquered countries. But still the Persians had privileges.
- He carried out a tax reform, now monetary taxes depended on the size of the territory, the fertility of the land and the population.
- A single monetary system was introduced for all satrapies - a golden darik, which was in circulation throughout the country.
- The main pillar of the country was the army, the highest staff was recruited from the Medes and Persians. The army was supported by 10 thousand "immortals", recruited from various Indo-Iranian peoples. The first thousand of the 10 thousand "immortals" were the Shahinshah's personal guard. Mercenary soldiers were often accepted into the ranks, mostly Greeks. The composition of the army - cavalry, chariots and infantry. Warriors from the nobility were recruited into the cavalry, they had to have equipment - an iron shell, a bronze shield and helmets, and weapons - two spears, a sword, a bow with arrows. The main weapon of the infantry was the bow. On the borders of the entire empire, military units were stationed in fortresses. These warriors were allotted land. Later, a military fleet was created, which included Greek ships, ships of the Phoenicians and Cypriots.
- The empire had a well-developed road network. Regular messengers and mail, road guards raised the message system to a high level.
Provincial uprisings
Having completed the reforms, restoring order in the empire, Darius decided to conquer Scythia, which he did not succeed. Then he decided to take over Greece. It was with the campaign of Darius that a series of military conflicts began, which were called the Greco-Persian wars. For wars, a full state treasury was needed, so taxes began to increase over time.
At the same time, the palace city of Persepolis was being built, which reached splendor under the heirs of Darius. Many artisans were sent to build it. All this worsened the situation in the country, the first to express dissatisfaction was Egypt, which rebelled against the Persians. Darius at this time was preparing for a second campaign against Greece. But Darius died without realizing his plans.
The Persian throne was occupied by the son of Darius Xerxes I. All his reign he had to suppress uprisings, it was he who suppressed the rebellion in Egypt, then the uprising in Babylon. At the same time, he acted harshly, he turned Babylonia into a simple satrapy, took the inhabitants into slavery and destroyed the city. Xerxes swore an oath to take revenge on Greece for the triumph over the Persians at Marathon, he dreamed of burning Athens. He did this in 480 BC. e., on the second trip.
The king of Persia took revenge - he burned Athens, but while Xerxes set fires, the Athenians and Spartans dealt a crushing blow to the Persian army, defeating it at sea near the island of Salamis and on land at Plataea. All the army of Xerxes died in the campaign against Greece and on the way home. Returning back to Persia with a small remnant of the army, Xerxes was mired in intrigues and ingloriously died at the hands of his chief of the palace guards.
Fall of an empire
After the death of Xerxes, the rest of the kings tried to preserve the territory of the empire and engaged in internecine squabbles for the throne. Thus, states gradually began to emerge from the Persian Empire: Lydia (413 BC), Egypt (404 BC), Cyprus, Cilicia, Khorezm, Sidon, Kariya, part of India (360 AD). BC.). But the main danger came from Macedonia, where the young commander subjugated states, territories, peoples. In 334 BC. e. Prince Alexander with his army turned to the East, all his attention was directed to the huge Persian Empire. During this period, Shahinshah Darius III was in power. The Persian troops in two main battles lost the army of Alexander the Great, after the defeat at Issus (333 BC), the royal family was captured by the enemy. After the second defeat (331 BC), Darius III fled with part of the troops to Bactria. The commander pursued the fugitives. In flight, Darius was killed by his own satrap. When Alexander caught up with the convoy, he found Darius dead. Thus, the last king of the Achaemenid dynasty perished. The Persian Empire - ended its existence, all the satrapies became part of the power of Alexander the Great.
In the west, to Turkey, in the north, also its territories extended through Mesopotamia to the Indus River in the east.
Today these lands belong to Iran. By the fifth century AD, the Persian Empire had become the largest in the world and surpassed the size of the previous Assyrian empires.
King Cyrus
In 539, King Cyrus decided to expand the borders of Persia. It all started with the conquest of Babylon.
Unlike the Assyrian kings, Cyrus was known for his mercy rather than his cruelty.
For example, he allowed Jews who had been captive in Babylon for fifty years to return to the holy city of Jerusalem instead of turning them into slaves.
He returned the stolen shrines to them, allowed them to restore the capital and the temple. The Jewish prophet Isaiah called Cyrus "God's shepherd."
King Cyrus, as a rule, cooperated with local rulers and interfered in their affairs as little as possible. All those who made up the administration of Cyrus respected the local traditions of the conquered peoples and even practiced some of the religious cults of their subjects themselves.
Instead of destroying cities, the Persians actively worked to expand trade throughout their empire.
The Persians created standards in the field of weights, and also applied their own monetary units. The rulers of the empire imposed a 20% tax on all agriculture and manufacturing.
Taxes also had to be paid to religious institutions (this was not the case before). The Persians themselves did not pay taxes.
Persian leaders - especially Cyrus, and later Darius I - developed a universal system of government big empire, which was later used by the rulers of other states.
The same laws were in force throughout the empire, and all residents obeyed them.
The Persians divided their empire into 20 provinces, which were ruled by the representatives of the king.
In addition, they gave residents land for rent - for growing various crops. But they demanded in exchange for this help during the hostilities: the inhabitants had to supply the army with the necessary products, as well as soldiers.
Cyrus is considered the founder of the first postal system in the world, and Darius built a network of roads that connected all corners of the empire and allowed important messages to be transmitted quickly enough.
A royal road of almost 3,000 km was built from Sardis to Sousse, one of the administrative capitals. Special facilities were built along the entire road, where the royal ambassadors could change horses and get fresh supplies of food and water.
Persian religion
The Persians also developed a religion based on monotheism, the belief in one god.
The founder of the creation of faith was Zoroaster, or Zarathustra (in the old Iranian language). Many of his ideas were collected in a cycle of poems called the Gathas. They became part of the sacred book of the Persians - the Avesta.
Zarathustra believed that the earthly life of people is just a training for what will happen after death.
Each person faces good and evil in life, and the choice in favor of the first or the second affects the future of a person. Some theologians believe that the ideas of Zarathustra were continued in the Christian religion, and also influenced the development of Hebrew.
Despite the rather soft form of government, the Persians constantly captured new territories. For example, during the reign of Xerxes, in 480, the empire wanted to expand its borders to.
The Greek city-states united and opposed the enemy, defeating the entire Persian fleet.
When he came to power in 331, he put an end to Persian dreams of expanding his empire. Over time, he conquered the entire Persian Empire.
It is believed that it was in Persia that heavy cavalry appeared.
There are several documents that indicate that the Persians had heavily armored cavalry regiments, which were used in battles as a powerful ram, causing a serious blow to the enemy.
Preference in the army was given to mercenaries.
The rulers of Persia were willing to pay for good service. This way of interacting with local residents gained great confidence, as it gave the population the opportunity to earn money, and the state to be sure that during the hostilities the army would always be ready.
Love for all things purple.
In ancient times, one of the most expensive materials in terms of rarity and monetary value, it was considered "sea purple coral", which contained bromine.
Natural purple It was obtained thanks to the secretions of murex - a special type of mollusk.
Kings, nobility and rich merchants were sure that the purple-violet color had magical properties protection and strength, and also emphasizes the high social status of a person.
That is why the kings preferred clothes in the appropriate colors.
What comes to mind most people when they hear the name of the state of Iran? Revolution, nuclear program, opposition to the West? Unfortunately, many people judge Iran by the press reports of the last thirty years, and that is exactly what it says. However, any Iranian will gladly tell you that his native country has a completely different story. The documented history of the state covers approximately 2500 years, up to the modern Islamic Republic of Iran. The republic was founded in 1979 as a result of a revolution, the main inspirer of which was the conservative clergy. This is probably the world's first modern constitutional theocracy and the greatest experiment: can religious leaders effectively rule the country, who oblige the people, who have the richest history of Persia, to live according to the law of Allah? The Iranian character cannot be decomposed into components - it combines Persian, Islamic, and Western. Moreover, Persian notes have nothing to do with Islamic culture.
In the 7th century, Persia became part of the Arab Caliphate. Since then, the heirs of the empire have been making every effort to preserve their national character, their identity.Fight for the right to be a slave. I was a guest in Iran, and a guest has the highest status here. At the table, he is assigned the best place, treated to the most juicy fruits. This is one of the rules of a complex system of courtesy - taarof. It defines all life here. Hospitality, courtship, family relationships, political negotiations - taarof is an unwritten code that determines how people should behave towards each other. This word comes from the Arabic "araf", which translates as "to know", "to receive knowledge." But the very idea of the taarof—to belittle oneself by exalting the other—is Persian in origin, argues William Beeman, a linguist-anthropologist at the University of Minnesota. He called it "a struggle for the right to be a slave to the position", but a struggle of exquisite refinement. In Iranian society, with its most complex hierarchical structure such interaction, paradoxically, allows people to communicate on an equal footing. True, sometimes Iranians get so carried away, trying to please each other (at least on the surface) and refusing offers (also on the surface), that it becomes difficult to understand what they really want. They chat at ease, alternately either making requests or refusing - and so on until they comprehend all the intentions of the interlocutor. Courtesy and external sincerity while hiding true feelings is a skillful pretense! - are considered the pinnacle of the taarof and a huge social achievement. “You can never show your intentions or your true nature,” explains a former Iranian political prisoner now living in France. “You have to make sure you don't put yourself in danger. And there are always plenty of dangers in Iran.” Territorial conflict. Indeed, Iran's long history is rife with wars and invasions. The cause of all conflicts is territorial. Wealth and a good strategic location provoked one invasion after another. Persia has gone through several ups and downs. Among the conquerors were the Turks, the Mongols and, most importantly, the Arabs, inspired by the new religion - Islam. It was they who managed in the 7th century to finally pacify Persia, which became part of the Arab Caliphate. Since then, the heirs of the empire have been making every effort to preserve their national character, their identity. The hearts and spirits of these people are not easy to change. With any invasion, the Persians managed to remain themselves, passing on traditions to the conquerors. So, Alexander the Great, having destroyed the conquered Persia, later adopted its customs and principles of the state structure. He even married a Persian woman (Roxanne) and ordered thousands of his warriors to follow his example. Iranians pride themselves on getting along with outsiders. Those customs of the invaders that they like, they accept, but they do not refuse their own. Cultural flexibility is the basis of the Persian character. In the ruins of the ancient capital, Persepolis, burned by Alexander the Great, images on stone walls have been preserved. The drawings indicate the friendly atmosphere that prevailed at that time: representatives of different nations present gifts to each other, affably put their hands on their shoulders. It seems that at that time, in an era of barbarism and cruelty, Persepolis demonstrated cosmopolitanism. The territory of today's Iran was inhabited ten thousand years ago. Aryans to whom Iran owes modern name(it comes from the word airan, which means "country of the Aryans"), began to inhabit these parts around 1500 BC. Scientists have to make many more discoveries related to the history of the country. There are already tens of thousands of archaeological sites in Iran. On one of them, in the south-east of the country, near the city of Jiroft, work began in 2000. It appeared thanks to a flash flood on the Khalil River, which exposed thousands of ancient tombs. Excavations have been carried out there for only a few seasons, but interesting objects have already been found. Among them is a bronze head of a goat, which is supposedly five thousand years old. Perhaps Jiroft is the center of civilization since ancient Mesopotamia.
In the VI century BC, King Cyrus the Great from the Achaemenid dynasty founded the First Persian Empire, which later became the largest and most powerful kingdom of antiquity. At its peak under Cyrus' successor Darius, the empire's possessions stretched from the Mediterranean to the Indus River.The excavations here are led by the famous archaeologist Yusef Majidzadeh. Some time ago, he headed the Department of Archeology at the University of Tehran, after the revolution he lost his job and went to France. But in recent years, according to him, much has changed in Iran - for example, interest in archeology has revived. And so he arrived at home to explore the tombs near Jiroft. Territory of sensations. What era does the find belong to? Yousef believes that these may be traces of the mythical Aratta, which existed around the 2700s BC. Some researchers believe that it was in Aratta that marvelous handicrafts were created, which then ended up in Mesopotamia. But there is no evidence yet, and other scientists are skeptical. In the VI century BC, King Cyrus the Great from the Achaemenid dynasty founded the First Persian Empire, which later became the largest and most powerful kingdom of antiquity. The king was a brave, modest, kind ruler. The empire he created is called the first power where religious and cultural tolerance existed. It united more than twenty-three peoples who peacefully coexisted under a single central authority, which at first concentrated in Pasargadae. At its peak under Cyrus' successor Darius, the empire's possessions stretched from the Mediterranean to the Indus River. It turns out that Persia was the first world superpower! “We would like to return to those times,” said Said Leilaz, a Tehran economist and political scientist. “Over the centuries, the borders have narrowed, but the memory of the superpower and its former greatness has remained.” Thoughts about the grandiose achievements of the past reinforce the finds of archaeologists. Among them is the Cyrus Cylinder, perhaps the most amazing item found in Iran. On a clay cylinder (the original is kept in London, in the British Museum) a decree is carved in cuneiform writing, which can be considered the first charter of human rights, and this document is almost two millennia older than the Magna Carta. The decree establishes religious and ethnic freedom, the prohibition of slavery and any oppression, the seizure of property by force or without compensation. And the conquered lands themselves decided whether to submit to the authority of Cyrus. “The top hat is far from the only example of Iran surprising the world,” said Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian lawyer and 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner. “Many foreigners are amazed when they learn that sixty-five percent of our college students are girls. And when they see Iranian painting, architecture, they do not believe their eyes! They judge us only by what they have heard over the past thirty years.”
“In addition to the Persians, many different nationalities live in Iran today,” says archaeologist Yusef. “But they all know Farsi, one of the oldest living languages in the world.”When I asked people what the world should know about them, they immediately answered: “We are not Arabs!” And then they added: “We are not terrorists!” The Arabs who conquered Iran are considered by many here to be something like the Bedouins, who had no culture of their own other than what they adopted from the Persians. The Iranians still talk about them with such dislike, as if not fourteen centuries had passed, but a couple of months. Rescue lines. To save themselves, the Persians continued to speak their native language. Poetry helped to keep him from dissolving in foreign speech. Iranians idolize Rumi, Saadi, Omar Khayyam, Hafiz. But still, the main national poet is Firdousi, who lived in the 10th century. When the Arabs first conquered Persia, its inhabitants could not openly express their thoughts, moreover, in their native language. Ferdowsi did it for them. The poet was a devout Muslim, but resisted Arab influence. Trying to use fewer Arabic words, he created the Shahnameh (Book of Kings) verse epic for thirty years. This masterpiece of world literature describes the stories of fifty monarchies: the accession of kings to the throne, their death, frequent abdications and coups. The epic ends with the Arab conquest, described as a disaster. The legends of the Shahnameh feature warring kings and warrior heroes, the latter almost always being morally superior to the rulers they serve. These stories raise the issue of righteous people being dominated by the evil or incompetent. Since the Shahnameh was written, the language has been somewhat Arabized, but its basis remains Old Persian. “In addition to the Persians, many different nationalities live in Iran today: Turkmens, Arabs, Azerbaijanis, Balochs, Kurds and others,” says archaeologist Yusef. “But they all know Farsi, one of the oldest living languages in the world.” The original "Shahnameh" has long been lost. One of the copies is kept in the Golestan Palace Museum in Tehran and dates back to around 1430. It was shown to me by the caretaker, a pretty girl Behnaz Tabrizi. The illustrations—twenty-two in all—are made with stone dust ink mixed with the juice of flower petals. Today, this book is considered one of the main relics of Iran. They say that any Iranian, educated or not, can quote Ferdowsi. Readings are regularly held - in colleges, at someone's home or in traditional Persian teahouses. In one of these teahouses, Azari (in the south of Tehran), where the walls are painted with scenes from the Shahnameh, I listened to a reader reciting passages from a great book. Then the musicians performed traditional songs to which the children danced. And the parents watching the dance sipped tea from elegant cups, snacking on dates and cookies.
When the Arabs came up with what they thought was a new idea of worshiping a single god, the Persians had known monotheism for over a thousand years.One holiday. Poetry is not the only means by which the Persians managed to preserve their culture. Take, for example, Navruz - the spring holiday of the equinox, which is also the New Year. Today it is celebrated not only in Iran, but also in the republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus. This is a thirteen-day extravaganza, during which everything is closed, and people walk, dance, read poetry. The tradition of Nowruz goes back to Zoroastrianism, the ancient religion of the Persians. The teachings of Zarathustra (Greek - Zoroaster) influenced many beliefs, including the main world religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. When the Arabs came up with what they thought was a new idea of worshiping a single god, the Persians had known monotheism for over a thousand years. "Heaven is forcing us!" And what happens to the ancient Persian traditions today? Until 1979, the country was ruled by Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who, hiding behind the great ideas of Cyrus, planted music, clothes, behavior and business interests of the West. In 1971, he tried to artificially instill national pride in people by arranging an ostentatious celebration in honor of the 2500th anniversary of the Persian Empire. At the entrance to Persepolis, a luxurious tent city was set up, food was brought from Paris, and important people from all over the world were invited. But the Iranians did not like the idea of the Shah. In 1979, as a result of the revolution, conservative Islamists came to power, who did not want to revive the Persian spirit - on the contrary! For example, they tried to downplay Nowruz by suggesting that the New Year be moved to the birthday of Imam Ali, the historical leader of the Shiites, who are the majority of Iranians. “The authorities even resorted to arrests,” my friend Ali told me. “But our holiday cannot be canceled - after all, it is more than two and a half thousand years old!” Today, reformist priests, one of the centers of Iranian power, are calling on Iranians to be Muslims without being Arabs, and also not to forget about ancient history. After the revolution, at first, people perceived the revival of Islam as a cleansing from the influence of the West. Meanwhile, many Iranians are by nature closer to the teachings of Zoroastrianism, according to which the goal of spiritual quest is self-knowledge. And although at first the Iranians did not object to the strengthening of the role of Islam in the life of society, they were not ready for the fact that the new order would be imposed so harshly. People never expected that religious leaders would begin to interfere in both the judicial system and everyday life. Punishments in the spirit of the Middle Ages were introduced (they have survived to this day): the guilty were stoned, hanged, their fingers and even limbs were cut off. Now the central authorities are preventing some of these rituals, but in the provinces, conservative mullahs adamantly uphold the traditions. All this is motivated by the righteous goal of serving Allah and preparing oneself for life in paradise. "Heaven is forcing us!" Ali thinks. Forward to the past. After the revolution, the doors to the West were closed for a decade. The ruling conservative clergy minimized any manifestations of culture dating back to the pre-Islamic period (in all Muslim countries it is called jahiliyya, the era of ignorance). Zoroastrian symbols were replaced with Islamic ones, streets were renamed, and references to the Persian Empire disappeared from textbooks. At one time, people also feared for the fate of Firdousi's burial place - a large mausoleum made of light stone in the suburbs of the sacred city of Mashhad, with an amazing mirror pond, over which the hubbub of birds winding around the columns is heard. Even Persepolis was threatened to be razed to the ground. “But they realized that then the people would rise up, and left everything in its place,” Ali said. It seems that the Islamic Revolution - the “second Arab invasion”, as it is called - only strengthened the connection with the past, which she tried so hard to eradicate. Young Iranians also keep the memory of the glorious Persian past. One of them is the underground rap artist Yas, a guy with black crew cut hair and stylish long sideburns. Around his neck is a silver fravahar, a Zoroastrian winged disc, symbolizing the elevation of the soul through pious thoughts, words and deeds. The young man belongs to the generation of revolution that has grown up since 1979, which makes up over two-thirds of the country's 70 million population. He sings about Persian poets, about ancient ancestors, about the history of Iran. Yas also criticizes fellow citizens for the fact that they only rest on the laurels of a great past. In recent years, that part of the national self-consciousness that is associated with the idea has begun to awaken among the Iranians: they are direct descendants of perhaps the most ancient human race. So, I was told about the recent action at the grave of Cyrus. Approximately two thousand people bought multiple entry tickets in one day, wanting to support the restoration of the burial. The action was unofficial - without speeches and solemn ceremonies. But new archaeological excavations, unfortunately, are moving slowly. “The country has many concerns, and archeology is not in the first place,” says researcher Yousef Majidzadeh. However, according to him, after the discoveries near Jiroft, all the provinces caught fire with excavations. Now the tiniest town dreams of telling the world its own history of Iran.
Persia is the ancient name of a country in Southwest Asia, which since 1935 has been officially called Iran. In the past, both names were used, and today the name "Persia" is still used when referring to Iran. In ancient times, Persia became the center of one of the greatest empires in history, stretching from Egypt to the river. Ind. It included all previous empires - Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians and Hittites. The later empire of Alexander the Great included almost no territory that would not have previously belonged to the Persians, while it was smaller than Persia under King Darius. Since its inception in the 6th c. BC. before the conquest by Alexander the Great in the 4th century. BC. for two and a half centuries, Persia occupied a dominant position in the ancient world. Greek domination lasted for about a hundred years, and after its fall, the Persian state was revived under two local dynasties: the Arsacids (Parthian kingdom) and the Sassanids (New Persian kingdom). For more than seven centuries, they kept Rome in fear, and then Byzantium, until in the 7th century. AD the Sassanid state was not conquered by Islamic conquerors.
The geography of the empire. The lands inhabited by the ancient Persians only roughly coincide with the borders of modern Iran. In ancient times, such boundaries simply did not exist. There were periods when the Persian kings were the rulers of most of the then known world, at other times the main cities of the empire were in Mesopotamia, to the west of Persia proper, and it also happened that the entire territory of the kingdom was divided between warring local rulers. A significant part of the territory of Persia is occupied by high arid highlands (1200 m), crossed by mountain ranges with individual peaks reaching 5500 m. Zagros and Elburs mountain ranges are located in the west and north, which frame the highlands in the form of the letter V, leaving it open to the east. The western and northern borders of the highlands roughly coincide with the current borders of Iran, but in the east it extends beyond the borders of the country, occupying part of the territory of modern Afghanistan and Pakistan. Three areas are isolated from the plateau: the coast of the Caspian Sea, the coast of the Persian Gulf and the southwestern plains, which are the eastern continuation of the Mesopotamian lowland. Directly to the west of Persia lies Mesopotamia, home to the world's most ancient civilizations. The Mesopotamian states of Sumer, Babylonia and Assyria had a significant impact on the early culture of Persia. And although the Persian conquests ended almost three thousand years after the rise of Mesopotamia, Persia was in many ways the heir to the Mesopotamian civilization. Most of the important cities of the Persian Empire were located in Mesopotamia, and Persian history is largely a continuation of Mesopotamian history. Persia lies on the paths of the earliest migrations from Central Asia. Slowly moving westward, the settlers skirted the northern tip of the Hindu Kush in Afghanistan and turned south and west, where, through the more accessible regions of Khorasan, southeast of the Caspian Sea, they entered the Iranian plateau south of the Elburz mountains. Centuries later, the main trade artery ran parallel to the early route, linking the Far East with the Mediterranean and providing control of the empire and the transfer of troops. At the western end of the highlands, it descended into the plains of Mesopotamia. Other important routes connected the southeastern plains through the heavily rugged mountains with the highlands proper. Away from a few main roads, the settlements of thousands of agricultural communities were scattered in long and narrow mountain valleys. They led a subsistence economy, due to their isolation from their neighbors, many of them remained aloof from wars and invasions and for many centuries carried out an important mission to preserve the continuity of culture, so characteristic of the ancient history of Persia.
STORY
Ancient Iran. It is known that the most ancient inhabitants of Iran had a different origin than the Persians and their kindred peoples, who created civilizations on the Iranian plateau, as well as the Semites and Sumerians, whose civilizations arose in Mesopotamia. During excavations in caves near the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, skeletons of people dated to the 8th millennium BC were discovered. In the north-west of Iran, in the town of Goy-Tepe, the skulls of people who lived in the 3rd millennium BC were found. Scientists have proposed calling the indigenous population the Caspians, which indicates a geographical connection with the peoples who inhabited the Caucasus Mountains to the west of the Caspian Sea. The Caucasian tribes themselves, as is known, migrated to more southern regions, to the highlands. The "Caspian" type, apparently, has been preserved in a greatly weakened form among the nomadic Lurs in modern Iran. For the archeology of the Middle East, the central issue is the dating of the appearance of agricultural settlements here. Monuments of material culture and other evidence found in the Caspian caves indicate that the tribes inhabiting the region from the 8th to the 5th millennium BC. engaged mainly in hunting, then switched to cattle breeding, which, in turn, approx. IV millennium BC replaced by agriculture. Permanent settlements appeared in the western part of the highlands before the 3rd millennium BC, and most likely in the 5th millennium BC. The main settlements include Sialk, Goy-Tepe, Gissar, but the largest were Susa, which later became the capital of the Persian state. In these small villages, adobe huts crowded together along winding narrow streets. The dead were buried either under the floor of the house or in the cemetery in a crooked (“uterine”) position. The reconstruction of the life of the ancient inhabitants of the highlands was carried out on the basis of a study of utensils, tools and decorations that were placed in the graves in order to provide the deceased with everything necessary for the afterlife. The development of culture in prehistoric Iran proceeded progressively over many centuries. As in Mesopotamia, they began to build here brick houses large sizes, to make objects from cast copper, and then from cast bronze. Carved stone seals appeared, which were evidence of the emergence of private property. Found large jugs for food storage suggest that stocks were made between harvests. Among the finds of all periods there are figurines of the mother goddess, often depicted with her husband, who was both her husband and son. The most notable is the huge variety of painted pottery, the walls of some of which are no thicker than shells. chicken egg. The bird and animal figurines depicted in profile testify to the talent of prehistoric artisans. Some pottery depicts the man himself, hunting or performing some rituals. Around 1200-800 BC painted pottery is replaced by one-color - red, black or gray, which is explained by the invasion of tribes from as yet unidentified regions. Pottery of the same type was found very far from Iran - in China.
Early history. The historical era begins on the Iranian plateau at the end of the 4th millennium BC. Most of the information about the descendants of the ancient tribes who lived on the eastern borders of Mesopotamia, in the mountains of Zagros, is gleaned from the Mesopotamian chronicles. (There is no information about the tribes that inhabited the central and eastern regions of the Iranian Highlands, because they had no ties with the Mesopotamian kingdoms.) The largest of the peoples inhabiting the Zagros were the Elamites, who captured the ancient city of Susa, located on a plain at the foot of Zagros, and founded the powerful and prosperous state of Elam there. The Elamite Chronicles began to be compiled c. 3000 BC and fought for two thousand years. Further to the north lived the Kassites, barbarian tribes of horsemen, who by the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. conquered Babylonia. The Kassites adopted the civilization of the Babylonians and ruled southern Mesopotamia for several centuries. Less significant were the tribes of the Northern Zagros, the Lullubei and Gutii, who lived in the area where the great Trans-Asian trade route descended from the western tip of the Iranian Highlands to the plain.
The Aryan Invasion and the Median Kingdom. Starting from the II millennium BC. waves of invasions of tribes from Central Asia hit the Iranian plateau one after another. These were the Aryans, Indo-Iranian tribes who spoke dialects that were the proto-languages of the present-day languages of the Iranian Highlands and Northern India. They also gave Iran its name ("homeland of the Aryans"). The first wave of conquerors surged approx. 1500 BC One group of Aryans settled in the west of the Iranian Highlands, where they founded the state of Mitanni, another group - in the south among the Kassites. However, the main flow of the Aryans passed Iran, turning sharply to the south, crossed the Hindu Kush and invaded North India. At the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. along the same path, a second wave of newcomers, the Iranian tribes proper, arrived in the Iranian Highlands, and much more numerous. Some of the Iranian tribes - Sogdians, Scythians, Sakas, Parthians and Bactrians - retained their nomadic lifestyle, others left the highlands, but two tribes, the Medes and Persians (Pars), settled in the valleys of the Zagros ridge, mixed with the local population and took their political , religious and cultural traditions. The Medes settled in the vicinity of Ecbatana (modern Hamadan). The Persians settled somewhat to the south, on the plains of Elam and in the mountainous region adjacent to the Persian Gulf, which was later called Persis (Parsa or Fars). It is possible that the Persians initially settled northwest of the Medes, west of Lake Rezaye (Urmia), and only later moved south under the pressure of Assyria, which was then at the peak of its power. On some Assyrian bas-reliefs of the 9th and 8th centuries. BC. battles with the Medes and Persians are depicted. The Median kingdom with its capital in Ecbatana gradually gained strength. In 612 BC the Median king Cyaxares (reigned from 625 to 585 BC) entered into an alliance with Babylonia, captured Nineveh and crushed the Assyrian power. The Median kingdom stretched from Asia Minor (modern Türkiye) almost to the Indus River. During just one reign, Media from a small tributary principality turned into the strongest power in the Middle East.
Persian state of the Achaemenids. The power of Media did not last longer than the life of two generations. The Persian dynasty of the Achaemenids (named after their founder Achaemenes) began to dominate Pars even under the Medes. In 553 BC Cyrus II the Great, Achaemenid, the ruler of Parsa, raised an uprising against the Median king Astyages, the son of Cyaxares, as a result of which a powerful alliance of the Medes and Persians was created. The new power threatened the entire Middle East. In 546 BC King Croesus of Lydia led a coalition directed against King Cyrus, which, in addition to the Lydians, included the Babylonians, Egyptians and Spartans. According to legend, the oracle predicted to the Lydian king that the war would end with the collapse of the great state. Delighted, Croesus did not even bother to ask which state was meant. The war ended with the victory of Cyrus, who pursued Croesus all the way to Lydia and captured him there. In 539 BC Cyrus occupied Babylonia, and by the end of his reign expanded the borders of the state from mediterranean sea to the eastern outskirts of the Iranian Highlands, making the capital of Pasargada, a city in southwestern Iran. Cambyses, son of Cyrus, conquered Egypt and proclaimed himself pharaoh. He died in 522 BC. Some sources claim that he committed suicide. After his death, a Median magician took over the Persian throne, but a few months later he was overthrown by Darius, a representative of the younger branch of the Achaemenid dynasty. Darius (ruled from 522 to 485 BC) - the greatest of the Persian kings, he combined the talents of a ruler, builder and commander. Under him, the northwestern part of India, up to the river, passed under the rule of Persia. Indus and Armenia to the mountains of the Caucasus. Darius even organized a trip to Thrace (modern territory of Turkey and Bulgaria), but the Scythians threw him back from the Danube. During the reign of Darius, the Ionian Greeks in the western part of Asia Minor revolted. Supported by the Greeks in Greece itself, it marked the beginning of the struggle against Persian domination, which ended only after a century and a half due to the fall of the Persian kingdom under the blows of Alexander the Great. Darius suppressed the Ionians and began a campaign against Greece. However, the storm swept away his fleet at Cape Athos (Chalcedon Peninsula). Two years later, he undertook a second campaign against Greece, but the Greeks defeated the huge Persian army at the Battle of Marathon, near Athens (490 BC). Darius' son Xerxes (reigned from 485 to 465 BC) renewed the war with Greece. He captured and burned Athens, but after the defeat of the Persian fleet at Salamis in 480 BC. forced to return to Asia Minor. Xerxes spent the remaining years of his reign in luxury and amusements. In 485 BC he fell at the hands of one of his courtiers. During the long years of the reign of his son Artaxerxes I (reigned from 465 to 424 BC), peace and prosperity reigned in the state. In 449 BC he made peace with Athens. After Artaxerxes, the power of the Persian monarchs over their vast possessions began to noticeably weaken. In 404 BC Egypt fell away, hill tribes rose up one after another, the struggle for the throne began. The most significant in this struggle was the rebellion raised by Cyrus the Younger against Artaxerxes II and ended with the defeat of Cyrus in 401 BC. in the battle of Kunaks, not far from the Euphrates. A large army of Cyrus, consisting of Greek mercenaries, fought their way through the crumbling empire to their homeland, Greece. The Greek commander and historian Xenophon described this retreat in his work Anabasis, which has become a classic of military literature. Artaxerxes III (reigned from 358/359 to 338 BC), with the help of Greek mercenaries, briefly restored the empire to its former borders, but soon after his death, Alexander the Great destroyed the former power of the Persian state.
Organization of the Achaemenid state. Apart from a few brief Achaemenid inscriptions, we draw the main information about the state of the Achaemenids from the works of ancient Greek historians. Even the names of the Persian kings entered the historiography as they were written by the ancient Greeks. For example, the names of the kings known today as Cyaxares, Cyrus, and Xerxes are pronounced in Persian as Uvakhshtra, Kurush, and Khshayarshan. The main city of the state was Susa. Babylon and Ecbatana were considered administrative centers, and Persepolis - the center of ritual and spiritual life. The state was divided into twenty satrapies, or provinces, headed by satraps. Representatives of the Persian nobility became satraps, and the position itself was inherited. Such a combination of the power of an absolute monarch and semi-independent governors was a characteristic feature of the political structure of the country for many centuries.
All provinces were connected by postal roads, the most significant of which, the "royal road" 2400 km long, ran from Susa to the Mediterranean coast. Despite the fact that a single administrative system, a single monetary unit and a single official language were introduced throughout the empire, many subject peoples retained their customs, religion and local rulers. The reign of the Achaemenids was characterized by tolerance. The long years of peace under the Persians favored the development of cities, trade and agriculture. Iran was experiencing its golden age. The Persian army differed in composition and tactics from the previous armies, for which chariots and infantry were typical. Home strike force Persian troops were mounted archers, bombarding the enemy with a cloud of arrows, without coming into direct contact with him. The army consisted of six corps of 60,000 soldiers each and elite formations of 10,000 people, selected from members of the noblest families and called "immortals"; they also constituted the personal guard of the king. However, during campaigns in Greece, as well as during the reign of the last Achaemenid king Darius III, a huge, poorly controlled mass of horsemen, chariots and foot soldiers went into battle, unable to maneuver in small spaces and often significantly inferior to the disciplined infantry of the Greeks. The Achaemenids were very proud of their origin. The Behistun inscription, carved on a rock by order of Darius I, reads: "I, Darius, the great king, king of kings, king of countries inhabited by all peoples, have long been the king of this great land that stretches even further, son of Hystaspes, Achaemenides, Persian, son Persian, Aryan, and my ancestors were Aryans. However, the Achaemenid civilization was a conglomeration of customs, culture, social institutions and ideas that existed in all parts of the Ancient World. At that time East and West came into direct contact for the first time, and the resulting exchange of ideas never ceased thereafter.
Hellenic dominion. Weakened by endless rebellions, uprisings and civil strife, the Achaemenid state could not resist the armies of Alexander the Great. The Macedonians landed on the Asian continent in 334 BC, defeated the Persian troops on the river. Granik and twice defeated the huge armies under the command of the mediocre Darius III - in the battle of Issus (333 BC) in the south-west of Asia Minor and at Gaugamela (331 BC) in Mesopotamia. Having captured Babylon and Susa, Alexander went to Persepolis and set it on fire, apparently in retaliation for the burning of Athens by the Persians. Continuing to move east, he found the body of Darius III, who had been killed by his own soldiers. Alexander spent more than four years in the east of the Iranian Highlands, founding numerous Greek colonies. He then turned south and conquered the Persian provinces in what is now West Pakistan. After that, he went on a hike in the Indus Valley. Returning in 325 BC in Susa, Alexander began to actively encourage his soldiers to take Persian women as their wives, cherishing the idea of a single state of Macedonians and Persians. In 323 BC Alexander, at the age of 33, died of a fever in Babylon. The huge territory conquered by him was immediately divided between his military leaders, who competed with each other. And although the plan of Alexander the Great to merge together Greek and Persian culture was never realized, the numerous colonies founded by him and his successors for centuries retained the originality of their culture and had a significant impact on local peoples and their art. After the death of Alexander the Great, the Iranian Highlands became part of the Seleucid state, which got its name from one of its commanders. Soon the local nobility began the struggle for independence. In the satrapy of Parthia, located southeast of the Caspian Sea in the area known as Khorasan, a nomadic tribe of Parns rebelled, expelling the governor of the Seleucids. The first ruler of the Parthian state was Arshak I (ruled from 250 to 248/247 BC).
Parthian state of the Arsacids. The period following the uprising of Arshak I against the Seleucids is called either the Arsacid period or the Parthian period. Constant wars were waged between the Parthians and the Seleucids, ending in 141 BC, when the Parthians, under the leadership of Mithridates I, took Seleucia, the capital of the Seleucids on the Tigris River. On the opposite bank of the river, Mithridates founded the new capital of Ctesiphon and extended his dominion over most of the Iranian plateau. Mithridates II (reigned from 123 to 87/88 BC) further expanded the borders of the state and, having taken the title "king of kings" (shahinshah), became the ruler of a vast territory from India to Mesopotamia, and in the east to Chinese Turkestan. The Parthians considered themselves the direct heirs of the Achaemenid state, and their relatively poor culture was replenished by the influence Hellenistic culture and traditions introduced earlier by Alexander the Great and the Seleucids. As before in the Seleucid state, the political center moved to the west of the highlands, namely to Ctesiphon, so few monuments testifying to that time have been preserved in Iran in good condition. During the reign of Phraates III (ruled from 70 to 58/57 BC), Parthia entered into a period of almost continuous wars with the Roman Empire, which lasted almost 300 years. The opposing armies fought over a vast area. The Parthians defeated the army under the command of Marcus Licinius Crassus at Carrhae in Mesopotamia, after which the border between the two empires ran along the Euphrates. In 115 AD Roman emperor Trajan took Seleucia. Despite this, the Parthian power resisted, and in 161 Vologes III devastated the Roman province of Syria. However, long years of war bled the Parthians, and attempts to defeat the Romans on the western borders weakened their power over the Iranian highlands. Riots broke out in a number of areas. The satrap of Fars (or Parsa) Ardashir, the son of a religious leader, declared himself ruler as a direct descendant of the Achaemenids. After defeating several Parthian armies and killing the last Parthian king Artaban V in battle, he took Ctesiphon and inflicted a crushing defeat on the coalition trying to restore the power of the Arsacids.
State of the Sassanids. Ardashir (reigned from 224 to 241) founded a new Persian empire known as the Sassanid state (from the ancient Persian title "sasan" or "commander"). His son Shapur I (reigned from 241 to 272) retained elements of the former feudal system but created a highly centralized state. The armies of Shapur first moved east and occupied the entire Iranian Highlands up to the river. Indus and then turned west against the Romans. At the Battle of Edessa (near modern Urfa, Turkey), Shapur captured the Roman emperor Valerian along with his 70,000-strong army. The prisoners, among whom were architects and engineers, were forced to work on the construction of roads, bridges and irrigation systems in Iran. Over the course of several centuries, about 30 rulers changed in the Sassanid dynasty; often successors were appointed by the higher clergy and the feudal nobility. The dynasty waged continuous wars with Rome. Shapur II, who ascended the throne in 309, fought three times with Rome during the 70 years of his reign. The greatest of the Sassanids is Khosrow I (ruled from 531 to 579), who was called the Just or Anushirvan ("Immortal Soul"). Under the Sassanids, a four-tier system of administrative division was established, a flat rate of land tax was introduced, and numerous artificial irrigation projects were carried out. In the southwest of Iran, traces of these irrigation facilities are still preserved. Society was divided into four estates: warriors, priests, scribes and commoners. The latter included peasants, merchants and artisans. The first three estates enjoyed special privileges and, in turn, had several gradations. From the highest gradation of the estate, the Sardars, governors of the provinces were appointed. The capital of the state was Bishapur, the most important cities were Ctesiphon and Gundeshapur (the latter was famous as a center of medical education). After the fall of Rome, Byzantium took the place of the traditional enemy of the Sassanids. Violating the treaty on eternal peace, Khosrow I invaded Asia Minor and in 611 captured and burned Antioch. His grandson Khosrow II (reigned from 590 to 628), nicknamed Parviz ("Victorious"), briefly returned the Persians to their former glory of the Achaemenid times. During several campaigns, he actually defeated the Byzantine Empire, but the Byzantine emperor Heraclius made a bold throw at the Persian rear. In 627 Khosrow II's army suffered a crushing defeat at Nineveh in Mesopotamia, Khosrow was deposed and slaughtered by his own son Kavad II, who died a few months later. The powerful state of the Sassanids found itself without a ruler, with a destroyed social structure, depleted as a result of long wars with Byzantium in the west and with the Central Asian Turks in the east. Within five years, twelve half-ghostly rulers were replaced, unsuccessfully trying to restore order. In 632, Yazdegerd III restored central authority for several years, but this was not enough. The exhausted empire could not withstand the onslaught of the warriors of Islam, irresistibly rushing north from the Arabian Peninsula. They struck the first crushing blow in 637 at the battle of Kadispi, as a result of which Ctesiphon fell. The final defeat of the Sassanids was in 642 at the Battle of Nehavend in the central part of the highlands. Yazdegerd III fled like a hunted beast, his assassination in 651 marked the end of the Sassanid era.
CULTURE
Technology. Irrigation. The entire economy of ancient Persia was based on agriculture. Rainfall in the Iranian Plateau is insufficient for extensive agriculture, so the Persians had to rely on irrigation. The few and shallow rivers of the highlands did not provide irrigation ditches with sufficient water, and in summer they dried up. Therefore, the Persians developed a unique system of underground canals-ropes. At the foot of the mountain ranges, deep wells dug through the hard but porous layers of gravel to the underlying impermeable clays that form the lower boundary of the aquifer. Gathered in wells melt water from mountain peaks covered in winter with a thick layer of snow. From these wells erupted underground conduits the height of a man with vertical shafts located at regular intervals, through which light and air entered for the workers. Water pipes came to the surface and all year round served as a source of water. Artificial irrigation with the help of dams and canals, which originated and was widely used on the plains of Mesopotamia, also spread to the territory of Elam, similar in natural conditions, through which several rivers flow. This area, now known as Khuzistan, is densely indented with hundreds of ancient canals. Irrigation systems have reached their highest development during the Sasanian period. Numerous remains of dams, bridges and aqueducts built under the Sassanids still survive today. Since they were designed by captured Roman engineers, they are like two drops of water reminiscent of similar structures found throughout the Roman Empire. Transport. The rivers of Iran are not navigable, but in other parts of the Achaemenid Empire, water transport was well developed. So, in 520 BC. Darius I the Great reconstructed the canal between the Nile and the Red Sea. In the Achaemenid period, extensive construction of land roads was carried out, but paved roads were built mainly in swampy and mountainous areas. Significant sections of narrow, stone-paved roads built under the Sassanids are found in the west and south of Iran. The choice of the road construction site was unusual for that time. They were laid not along the valleys, along the banks of the rivers, but along the ridges of the mountains. Roads descended into the valleys only to make it possible to cross to the other side in strategically important places, for which massive bridges were erected. Along the roads, at a distance of a day's journey from one another, postal stations were built, where horses were changed. A very efficient postal service operated, with postal couriers covering up to 145 km per day. Since time immemorial, the breeding center of horses has been a fertile region in the Zagros Mountains, located next to the Trans-Asian trade route. Iranians from antiquity began to use camels as beasts of burden; this "mode of transport" came to Mesopotamia from Media ca. 1100 BC
Economy. The basis of the economy of Ancient Persia was agricultural production. Trade also flourished. All the numerous capitals of the ancient Iranian kingdoms were located along the most important trade route between the Mediterranean and the Far East or on its branch towards the Persian Gulf. In all periods, the Iranians played the role of an intermediate link - they guarded this route and kept part of the goods transported along it. During excavations in Susa and Persepolis, beautiful items from Egypt were found. The reliefs of Persepolis depict representatives of all the satrapies of the Achaemenid state, offering gifts to the great rulers. Since the time of the Achaemenids, Iran has exported marble, alabaster, lead, turquoise, lapis lazuli (lapis lazuli) and carpets. The Achaemenids created fabulous stocks of gold coins minted in various satrapies. Unlike them, Alexander the Great introduced a single silver coin for the entire empire. The Parthians returned to gold monetary unit, and during the time of the Sassanids, silver and copper coins prevailed in circulation. The system of large feudal estates that developed under the Achaemenids survived until the Seleucid period, but the kings in this dynasty greatly facilitated the position of the peasants. Then, during the Parthian period, huge feudal estates were restored, and this system did not change under the Sassanids. All states sought to obtain maximum income and established taxes on peasant farms, livestock, land, introduced poll taxes, and collected tolls on roads. All these taxes and fees were levied either in imperial coin or in kind. By the end of the Sassanid period, the number and magnitude of taxes became an unbearable burden for the population, and this tax pressure played a decisive role in the collapse social structure states.
Political and social organization. All Persian rulers were absolute monarchs who ruled over their subjects according to the will of the gods. But this power was absolute only in theory, but in reality it was limited by the influence of hereditary large feudal lords. The rulers tried to achieve stability through marriages with relatives, as well as by taking as wives the daughters of potential or actual enemies, both internal and foreign. Nevertheless, the rule of monarchs and the continuity of their power were threatened not only by external enemies, but also by members of their own families. The Median period was distinguished by a very primitive political organization, which is very typical for peoples moving to a settled way of life. Already among the Achaemenids, the concept of a unitary state appears. In the state of the Achaemenids, the satraps were fully responsible for the state of affairs in their provinces, but could be subjected to an unexpected check by inspectors, who were called the eyes and ears of the king. The royal court constantly emphasized the importance of the administration of justice and therefore constantly moved from one satrapy to another. Alexander the Great married the daughter of Darius III, retained the satrapies and the custom of prostrating himself before the king. The Seleucids adopted from Alexander the idea of the fusion of races and cultures in the vast expanses from the Mediterranean Sea to the river. Ind. During this period there was fast development cities, accompanied by the Hellenization of the Iranians and the Iranianization of the Greeks. However, there were no Iranians among the rulers, and they were always considered outsiders. Iranian traditions were preserved in the area of Persepolis, where temples were built in the style of the Achaemenid era. The Parthians tried to unite the ancient satrapies. They also played an important role in the fight against the nomads from Central Asia advancing from east to west. As before, satrapies were headed by hereditary governors, but a new factor was the lack of natural continuity of royal power. The legitimacy of the Parthian monarchy was no longer undeniable. The successor was chosen by a council made up of the nobility, which inevitably led to an endless struggle between rival factions. The Sasanian kings made a serious attempt to revive the spirit and the original structure of the Achaemenid state, partly reproducing its rigid social organization. In descending order were vassal princes, hereditary aristocrats, nobles and knights, priests, peasants, slaves. The state administrative apparatus was led by the first minister, to whom several ministries were subordinate, including the military, justice and finance, each of which had its own staff of skilled officials. The king himself was the supreme judge, while justice was administered by the priests.
Religion. In ancient times, the cult of the great mother goddess, a symbol of childbearing and fertility, was widespread. In Elam she was called Kirisisha, and throughout the Parthian period her images were cast on Luristan bronzes and made in the form of statuettes of terracotta, bone, ivory and metals. The inhabitants of the Iranian Highlands also worshiped many deities of Mesopotamia. After the first wave of Aryans passed through Iran, such Indo-Iranian deities as Mithra, Varuna, Indra and Nasatya appeared here. In all beliefs, a pair of deities was certainly present - the goddess, personifying the Sun and the Earth, and her husband, personifying the Moon and the natural elements. The local gods bore the names of the tribes and peoples who worshiped them. Elam had its own deities, primarily the goddess Shala and her husband Inshushinak. The Achaemenid period was marked by a decisive turn from polytheism to a more universal system reflecting the eternal struggle between good and evil. The earliest inscription from this period, a metal tablet made before 590 BC, contains the name of the god Aguramazda (Ahuramazda). Indirectly, the inscription may be a reflection of the reform of Mazdaism (the cult of Aguramazda), carried out by the prophet Zarathushtra, or Zoroaster, as narrated in the Gathas, ancient sacred hymns. The identity of Zarathushtra continues to be shrouded in mystery. He appears to have been born c. 660 BC, but possibly much earlier, and perhaps much later. The god Agura Mazda personified the good beginning, truth and light, apparently in opposition to Ahriman (Angra Mainu), the personification of the evil beginning, although the very concept of Angra Mainu could appear later. The inscriptions of Darius mention Aguramazda, and the relief on his grave depicts the worship of this deity at the sacrificial fire. Chronicles give reason to believe that Darius and Xerxes believed in immortality. Worship of the sacred fire took place both inside the temples and on open places. Magi, originally members of one of the Median clans, became hereditary priests. They oversaw the temples, took care of strengthening the faith by performing certain rituals. Ethical doctrine based on good thoughts, good words and good deeds was revered. Throughout the Achaemenid period, the rulers were very tolerant of local deities, and starting from the reign of Artaxerxes II, the ancient Iranian sun god Mithra and the goddess of fertility Anahita received official recognition. The Parthians, in search of their own official religion, turned to the Iranian past and settled on Mazdaism. Traditions were codified, and magicians regained their former power. The cult of Anahita continued to enjoy official recognition, as well as popularity among the people, and the cult of Mithras crossed the western borders of the kingdom and spread to most of the Roman Empire. In the west of the Parthian kingdom, Christianity was tolerated, which received here wide use. At the same time, in the eastern regions of the empire, Greek, Indian and Iranian deities united in a single Greco-Bactrian pantheon. Under the Sassanids, the continuity was preserved, but there were also some important changes in religious traditions. Mazdaism survived most of the early reforms of Zoroaster and became associated with the cult of Anahita. To compete on equal terms with Christianity and Judaism, the sacred book of the Zoroastrians Avesta, a collection of ancient poems and hymns, was created. The Magi still stood at the head of the priests and were the keepers of the three great national fires, as well as the holy fires in all important settlements. Christians by that time had long been persecuted, they were considered enemies of the state, since they were identified with Rome and Vi
- - cm....
Geographic Encyclopedia
- - the general name of the territory of the ancient Greek states in the south of the Balkan Peninsula, the islands of the Aegean Sea, the coast of Thrace, the western coastal strip of Asia Minor, as well as in the territory of Southern Italy, eastern ...
- - ancient - the country of the ancients. civilization. Already in the 4th - 3rd millennium BC. on the territory modern Iran had a primitive culture. Ancient The inhabitants of the country were hunting and cattle breeding...
- - A vast country in Central Asia, inhabited by Persians. Under Cyrus, it became an independent monarchy, which expanded its limits far and reached great power and prosperity ...
Encyclopedia of mythology
- - Hellas - a group of slave owners. state-in, which occupied the south of the Balkan Peninsula, the islands of the Aegean, the coast of Thrace and west. coastal strip of M. Asia and spread their possessions during the Greek period. colonization in the south...
Soviet historical encyclopedia
