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Persia

CONTENTS Empire, Culture, Religion, Language, Traditions And Customs, Mythology, Army, Navy, Physical Features, Art And Architecture, Contributions, Wealth, Battles With Greece, Persian Empire.

Empire

The Persian Empire is one of a series of imperial dynasties centered in Persia (modern–day Iran). The first of these was the Achaemenid Empire established by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC with the conquest of Median, Lydian and Babylonian empires[1]. It covered much of the Ancient world when it was conquered by Alexander the Great. Several later dynasties "claimed to be heirs of the Achaemenids". Persia was then ruled by the Parthian Empire which supplanted the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire, and then by the Sassanian Empire which ruled up until the mid-7th century.

While many of these empires referred to themselves as Persian, they were often ruled by ethnic Medes, Babylonians, or Parthians. Iranian dynastic history was interrupted by the Arab conquest of Persia in 651 AD, establishing the even larger Islamic caliphate, and later by the Mongol invasion.

The main religion of ancient Persia was the native Zoroastrianism, but after the seventh century, it was replaced by Islam.

The Safavid Empire was the first Persian empire established after Arab conquest of Persia by the Shah Ismail I. Safavids ruled Persia independently from the Arab and Ottoman Sunni [clarification needed] caliphates by making Shia Islam Persia's official religion, who became Persia's classical rival, like the pagan Romans and Christian Byzantines had been before. Since 1979 and the downfall of the last Persian monarchy Pahlavi dynasty during the Iranian Revolution, Persia has had a Shia Islamic theocratic government named the Islamic Republic. The Persian Empire was an empire that stretched from India to Europe from 550 B.C.E. to 331 B.C.E. It was ruled by a series of monarchs. An empire is defined as a geographically extensive set of states or peoples that are ruled either by a monarch or by an oligarchy, a small group of ruling elites. Although they gained power by conquering local people, the Persian Empire marked a period of peaceful rule and extensive trading for much of the Middle East. The Iranians slowly settled into specific regions and began establishing their own societies. Eventually, two groups established themselves as leaders in the region. In the South, the Persians governed the area between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf and began establishing their own society. In the North, the Medes formed a state called Media and united themselves under one king in 710 B.C.E. Once the Medes had established the rule of a central government authority in the form of a monarchy, they began to expand into Persian territory while at the same time allying with the neighboring Babylonian Empire to overthrow the Assyrian Empire in 612 B.C.E. In 550 B.C.E., Cyrus the Great, king of the Persians, successfully conquered the Medes and united the Iranian people together for the first time. Cyrus continued to expand the Persian territory to the west and to gain control of vital trade routes that crossed modern Iran. Persia was a land of towering mountains and flaming-hot deserts with a broad central plateau between the Tigris-Euphrates River Valley and the Indus River Valley. The high mountain peaks cut off the Persians from the sea and limited their ability to trade with neighboring states. Gaining access to seaports was of crucial importance to Cyrus and the development of the Persian Empire.

Cyrus' armies swept along the coast of Anatolia, securing both ports for trading and subduing nomadic tribes who lived in the area. When Cyrus moved his troops into the Babylonian Empire, the people of Babylon welcomed him as a liberator. Cyrus was an astute and benevolent conqueror. He allowed the people he conquered to continue to live according to their customs and restored sacred objects to religious minorities like the Jews, who had been treated cruelly under the Babylonians. Cyrus also spared the life of Croesus, the king of one of the states he conquered, and asked him to serve as a close friend and adviser. Cyrus' son Cambyses continued his father's method of benevolent conquest and expanded the Persian Empire into Egypt. Darius, Cambyses' successor, conquered Western India and created the Persian satrapy, or governorship, of the valley of the Indus River. Darius was succeeded by his son Xerxes, who unsuccessfully invaded Greece in 480 B.C.E. Xerxes' invasion of Greece was the subject of a popular graphic novel and film called 300. After the reign of Darius, the Persian Empire faced increasing rebellions by its citizens. The Persians and the Greeks battled over territory throughout this period. Their Egyptian lands were in rebellion for several years before being reintegrated into the empire. The Persian Empire eventually fell before the armies of a new empire builder, Alexander the Great, who conquered the Persian Empire in 331 B.C.E.

Culture

Indo-Europeans scattered throughout Europe and western Asia. Religion and Culture in Ancient Iran refers to beliefs, activities, and cultural events in ancient Iran or olden Persia. It also makes reference to a combination of several Aryans and non-Aryan tribes. Aryans, or ancient Iranians, worshiped natural elements such as the sun, sunlight and thunder, but they eventually shifted their attention mostly to a single god, whilst acknowledging others. The Iranian ancient prophet, Zoroaster, reformed Iranian religious beliefs to a form of Henotheism. The Gathas, hymns of Zoroaster's Avesta, brought monotheistic ideas to Persia, while through the Yashts and Yasna, mentions are made to Polytheism and earlier creeds. The Vedas and the Avesta have both served researchers as important resources in discovering early Aryan beliefs and ideas.

Religion

The ancient pre-Islamic religion of Persia that survives there in isolated areas, and more prosperously in India, where the descendants of Zoroastrian Persian immigrants are known as Parsis, or Parsees. In India the religion is called Parsiism. Founded by the Persian prophet and reformer Zoroaster, the religion contains both monotheistic and dualistic features. It influenced the other major Western religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The ancients saw in Zoroastrianism the archetype of the dualistic view of the world and of man's destiny. Zoroaster was supposed to have instructed Pythagoras in Babylon and to have inspired the Chaldean doctrines of astrology and magic. It is likely that Zoroastrianism influenced the development of Judaism and the birth of Christianity. The Christians, following a Hebrew tradition, identified Zoroaster with Ezekiel, Nimrod, Seth, Balaam, and Baruch, and even through the latter, with Christ himself. On the other hand, Zoroaster, as the presumed founder of astrology and magic, could be considered the arch-heretic. In more recent times the study of Zoroastrianism has played a decisive part in reconstructing the religion and social structure of the Persian peoples.

Language

The Language: The major language in Iran, former Persia, is Farsi. It is a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages which is a group of the Indo- European languages. Aside from Iran, Farsi is spoken in Afghanistan, Tajikistan and the Pamirs Mountains.

Tradition And Customs SizdahBedar1 SizdahBedar2 Sizdah-bedar is an Iranian festival tradition, celebrated in the thirteenth day of the Norouz (Persian New Year). Iranians have a tradition of spending the day outdoors on the 13th day of month Farvardin. Sizdah- means thirteen, and -bedar, means to get rid of, i.e "getting rid of thirteen". From the ancient times, Iranian peoples have enjoyed this day, although it is also the day that marks the end of the Norouz celebrations. The first 12 days of the year are very important, because they symbolise order in the world and in the lives of people. The 13th day marks the beginning of the return to ordinary daily life. It is customary on this day, for families to pack a picnic and go to a park or the countryside. It is believed that joy and laughter clean the mind from all evil thoughts, and a picnic is usually a festive, happy event. Sizdah-Bedar is also believed to be a special day to ask for rain. In ancient Iran, every day had its own name, and belonged to a different yazat (Zoroastrian deity). The 13th day of month of Farvardin denoted to the deity of rain, Tir, which is depicted as a horse. Sizdah-Bedar is also a day for competitive games, involving horses were often chosen as a victory of a horse represented, the deity of rain. A ritual performed at the end of the picnic day is to throw away the Sabzeh from the Norouz' Haftsin table. The sabzeh is supposed to have collected all the sickness, pain and ill fate hiding on the path of the family throughout the coming year! Touching someone else's sabzeh on this thirteenth day or bringing it home is, therefore, is considered bad omen, and may inviting other peoples' pain and hardship to oneself. Another tradition on the 13th, is the knotting of blades of grass by unmarried girls in the hope of finding a companion. The knotting of the grass represents love and the bondage of a man and a woman. Women's Lives in Ancient Persia Any analysis of women's lives and status in ancient times is a very complicated task and needs time and space. This very brief article intends to provide much needed basic information based on archaeological evidence and will primarily deal with women in Achaemenid times. The material is based on Fortification and Treasury texts discovered at Persepolis (509-438 BC) and documents recovered at Susa Babylonia and other major Mesopotamian cities of the period. These texts provide us with a unique insight into the social and economic situation of both the royal and non-royal women at the time. In the texts individual women are identified, payments of rations and wages for male and female workers are documented and sealed orders by the royal women themselves or their agents gives us valuable information on how these powerful women managed their wealth.

Mythology

In ancient Persian mythology they are demons who cause plagues and diseases and who fight every form of religion. They are the male servants (or followers) of Angra Mainyu, also known as Ahriman. The female servants are called the Drugs. Together they fight Ahuru Mazda (Ormazd) and his Amesha Spentas.

Army

The first Persian Empire (550 BC – 330 BC), called the Achaemenid Empire, is known for having an elite force of soldiers. Named the “Immortals” by Herodotus, this army consisted of a heavy infantry of 10,000 men, that never reduced in number or strength. The Immortals played an important role in Persian history, acting as both the Imperial Guard and the standing army during the expansion of the Persian Empire and the Greco-Persian Wars. The Immortals were called such because of the way in which the army was formed. When a member of the 10,000-strong force was killed or wounded, he was immediately replaced by someone else. This allowed for the infantry to remain cohesive and consistent in numbers, no matter what happened. Thus, from an outsider’s perspective, it would appear that each member of the infantry was ‘immortal’, and their replacement may have represented a resurrection of sorts. They were sophisticated, well-equipped, their armor glittering with gold. As described by Herodotus, their armament included wicker shields, short spears, swords or large daggers, bow and arrow. They wore a special headdress, believed to have been a Persian tiara. It is often described as a cloth or felt hat that could be pulled over the face to protect from dirt and dust. It is said that compared to the Greeks, the Immortals were “hardly armored”. Yet what they lacked in armor, they made up through psychological impact, as the sight of the well-formed and highly trained army was enough to strike fear into their enemies.

Navy

In the years after Marathon, and in the run-up to the second Persian invasion of 480-479 BC, Themistocles became the most prominent politician in Athens. He continued to advocate a strong Athenian navy, and in 483 BC he persuaded the Athenians to build a fleet of 200 triremes; these would prove crucial in the forthcoming conflict with Persia. During the second invasion, he in effective exercised command of the Greek allied navy at the battles of Artemisium and Salamis in 480 BC. Due to subterfuge on the part of Themistocles, the Allies lured the Persian fleet into the Straits of Salamis, and the decisive Greek victory there was the turning point in the invasion, which ended the following year with the defeat of the Persians at the land Battle of Plataea.

Location

Persia is the former name of Iran. The Persian Empire, founded by Cyrus the Great in the 6th century BC, was the largest empire of the ancient world, stretching from the borders of India and China in the east to large parts of Greece and Libya in the west. In the 4th century BC, Persia was conquered by Alexander the Great, who largely adopted Persian culture, and was subsequently ruled by Greeks before it was conquered by the Iranian Parthian tribe a century later.

Physical Features

Persia, today Iran, is located pretty much in the direct center between Africa, Europe, and Asia. To its north is the Caspian Sea, which is actually below sea level, and to its south is the Persian Gulf, which connects to the Arabian Sea. The western part of Iran connects to the river systems that sustained ancient Mesopotamia, today Iraq, and the center is a high-elevation plateau. For the most part, however, Iran is characterized by rugged and mountainous terrain. In fact, several peaks extend up to roughly 9,000 feet high. So, from the Caspian Sea to these mountains, there's a fair amount of elevation change across Iran. This landscape had some major impacts on the first settlements of what is now Iran, then Persia. The first permanent societies developed in mountain valleys and basins where fresh water collected and made the land more suitable for agriculture. Over the centuries, the rough terrain kept many of these villages fairly isolated from one another, and they developed strong, regional and town-based identities. As far as agriculture is concerned, only about 1/3 of the country actually has enough water and proper soil conditions to sustain farming, but those areas did fairly well throughout history. Many crops were being domesticated and harvested by around 5000 BCE, including grapes, peaches and spinach. The first things to be domesticated in Persia, however, were actually goats, which did much better than crops in the mountainous terrain and dry climate. Goats may have been domesticated in Persia as early as 10,000 BCE. The ancient Persians were also among the first to domesticate chickens as well.

Art And Architecture

Persian art or Iranian art has one of the richest art heritages in world history and has been strong in many media including architecture, painting, weaving, pottery, calligraphy, metalworking and sculpture. At different times, influences from the art of neighbouring civilizations have been very important, and latterly Persian art gave and received major influences as part of the wider styles of Islamic art. This article covers the art of Persia up to 1925, the end of the Qajar dynasty; for later art see Iranian modern and contemporary art, and for traditional crafts see arts of Iran. Iranian architecture is covered at that article. From the Achaemenid Empire of 550 BC–330 BC for most of the time a large Iranian-speaking state has ruled over areas similar to the modern boundaries of Iran, and often much wider areas, sometimes called Greater Iran, where a process of cultural Persianization left enduring results even when rulership separated. The courts of successive dynasties have generally led the style of Persian art, and court-sponsored art has left many of the most impressive survivals. In ancient times the surviving monuments of Persian art are notable for a tradition concentrating on the human figure (mostly male, and often royal) and animals. Persian art continued to place larger emphasis on figures than Islamic art from other areas, though for religious reasons now generally avoiding large examples, especially in sculpture. The general Islamic style of dense decoration, geometrically laid out, developed in Persia into a supremely elegant and harmonious style combining motifs derived from plants with Chinese motifs such as the cloud-band, and often animals that are represented at a much smaller scale than the plant elements surrounding them. Under the Safavid dynasty in the 16th century this style was used across a wide variety of media, and diffused from the court artists of the shah, most being mainly painters.

Contributions

Insurance by Government was started during Cyrus the Great of Persia. Weight, Money and Measurements were standardized in Persia, for the first time, some 2, 500 years ago Sanskrit, which is the mother of all modern languages, was born in Iran, before it went to India The Stone Age, which dates back some 70, 000 years ago, was started in Iran, the cradle of the earliest human civilization! In Iran today, there are 1.2 million historical sites, discovered so far, with some 70,000 historical moulds The first accounting tools were found in Iran, belonging to 9,000 years ago. . The first brick invention took place in Iran. The architecture of castles originated in Persia thousands of years ago. According to the Persian Holy Books--- Avesta, the first anesthesia was practiced in Persia 1,000 B.C.

Wealth

[The Persian quisling] Tiridates led Alexander [the Great] into a large building behind the palace of Xerxes [at Persepolis] that served as both an armory for the royal bodyguard and a repository for the king’s wealth. Diffused light filtered through a series of openings in the roof above and washed gently over the tons of gold and silver bullion that had been neatly and methodically stored there. Within the treasury building were 120,000 talents of bullion, the largest single concentration of wealth to be found anywhere in the ancient world.

Darius I had imposed a tribute of precious metals in addition to a tribute of goods on his satraps and on the subject nations of the empire. Instead of converting that tribute into coins that could then have been put into circulation, Darius and his successors had it melted and then formed into ingots of gold and silver. The bars were stored in the palace treasury, and when the kings of Persia needed to finance particular projects, wars, or adventures, the precious metals were cast into coins. It was Darius who had introduced the coining of money into the empire; hence, the Persian coin became known as the Daric. Until that time, the empire had been administered largely on the basis of barter.

Successive generations of Persian kings had dipped into the treasury and spent vast sums on themselves. Over the years, they had spent great amounts on administering and expanding the empire and had dispensed large sums in fighting, hiring, and bribing the Greeks. Yet no matter how much money the kings spent, every year at the New Year ceremony more came in to replenish and add to the royal coffers. In the treasury building at Persepolis, Alexander was shown the full measure of how wealthy the Achaemenid kings of Persia had been and how wealthy he had now become.

Battles With Greece

492 BCE Darius I of Persia invades Greece 11 Sep 490 BCE A combined force of Greek hoplites defeat the Persians at Marathon. 490 BCE - 470 BCE Corcyra does not participate in the Persian Wars Aug 480 BCE The indecisive battle of Artemision between the Greek and Persian fleets of Xerxes I. The Greeks withdraw to Salamis. Sep 480 BCE Battle of Salamis where the Greek naval fleet led by Themistocles defeats the invading armada of Xerxes I of Persia. Aug 480 BCE Battle of Thermopylae. 300 Spartans under King Leonidas and other Greek allies hold back the Persians led by Xerxes I for three days but are defeated. Jul 480 BCE Xerxes I makes extensive preparations to invade mainland Greece by building depots, canals and a boat bridge across the Hellespont. 480 BCE Thebes sides with Persia during Xerxes invasion of Greece. 480 BCE Cycladic states contribute to the victorious Greek forces against the Persians at the battle of Salamis. 479 BCE Eleusis is destroyed by the Persians. 479 BCE Cycladic city states contribute to the victorious Greek forces against the Persians at the battle of Plataea. 479 BCE Xerxes' Persian forces are defeated by Greek forces at Plataea effectively ending Persia's imperial ambitions in Greece. 449 BCE - 448 BCE Peace between Greece and Persia.

Persian Administration

Until its destruction, the Persians were the largest empire that the world had seen up until that point in time. In fact, some scholars estimate that more than 40% of the world's population was under Persian rule during its high point. Earlier empires had failed with much less land for reasons of administration, so it was apparent that the Persians would have to be adept administrators in order to ensure the survival of their new empire. In this regard, the Persians were particularly gifted.

One of their most notable achievements was the construction of the Royal Road, which stretched from the Persian homeland west to the Aegean Sea. This permitted the quick transmission of trade, edicts, and armies across the width of the empire. Persian roads were augmented by the use of state-sponsored inns that dotted the countryside. Open to private travelers and officials on assignment, these inns guaranteed safety, a warm meal, and for officials, a change of horses to keep the message moving as quickly as possible.

Such communication was important as the Persians divided their empire into a number of provinces called satrapies, each governed by a satrap. These governors had considerable power, but a number of officials, especially military and financial officers, reported straight to the Persian Emperor, or Shahashah. Administration of the empire was also aided by the relative openness of Persian officials regarding language. Unlike later empires, which would attempt to forcibly impose language upon newly conquered regions, the Persians worked instead to figure out what languages were already common across a region, then use them instead. For this reason, the Persian Empire had two primary languages: Persian in the East and Aramaic in the West.