Category: Iran

This is part of a series of an overview of Iranian history–please refer to my post of 5.10.

***

With no clear successor to Alexander the Great following his early death, now Iran became part of a dynasty founded by one of his generals, Seleucus. Around 250 BC, the Seleucid empire was largely conquered by the Parthians (of Central Asian Turkic origin). Parthian rule of now Iran, characterized in part by a rivalry with Rome, lasted from 250 BC to 224 AD. A brief post on the Seleucids and Parthians perhaps to come.

The Sassanid dynasty was founded in 226 AD, when Ardeshir defeated the Parthian Emperor Artabanus IV.

A bas relief, showing the victory of Ardeshir over Artabanus IV. On the right is an anthropomophized Ahura Mazda, the god of Zoroastrianism, handing a ring of royal authority to Ardeshir. Under Ardeshir’s horse is Artabanus, while the God of Evil lies under Ahura Mazda’s horse.

Ruins of Gur, the first capital of the Sassanids, located about an hour and a half southwest of Shiraz

Ardeshir’s palace. This building is notable in particular for its great domes, said to be the first to be built over a square base by use of the squinch.

Zoroastrianism became an orthodox state religion under the Sassanids, led largely by the priest Kartir, who served six different Sassanid emperors over a period of fifty years. The Sassanid Empire practiced a form of Zoroastrianism that is said to have been contaminated by Mithraism, another local faith. Also, gone was the religious tolerance of the Achaemenids–at times, violence toward those of other religions (especially Christians, who were seen as favorably disposed to the Christian Byzantine Empire) was promoted by the state. In one inscription, Kartir speaks proudly of his destruction of the temples of Jews, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and Greeks throughout the Sassanid Empire. It has been suggested that the decline of Zoroastrianism was due in part to its close association with the Sassanid state. [Post on Zoroastrianism to come.]

A water, or Anahita, temple at the city of Bishapur. When used, the central courtyard would have been flooded along with channels that run around an interior perimeter within the walls, on the other side of the doors that are visible.

On and off for almost its entire duration, the Sassanid Empire fought with the Roman/Byzantine Empire (first based in Rome, and then Constantinople). Earlier on our trip, we visited the site of one Sassanid victory, the city of Dura Europos, described in my post of 4.24. One ally of the Romans against the Sassanids was the city-state of Palmyra, described in my post of 5.2.

In AD 256, Sassanid Emperor Shapur I captured Roman Emperor Valerian following a battle at Edessa (in now Turkey). In this bas relief, Roman Emperors Philip the Arab (kneeling) and Valerian are shown defeated by Shapur. [Philip founded Philippopolis, now Shahba, Syria, one of the “dead cities” of the Hauran.] Emperor Valerian is said to have been held captive in the city of Bishapur until his death.

The Sassanid Empire ended with the Arab (Islamic) conquest of now Iran in the seventh century. While in the ninth and tenth centuries there were smaller dynasties, especially in the eastern part of now Iran, that at times claimed independence from the Islamic Caliph, first based in Damascus and then Baghdad, the next truly great empire to incorporate all of now Iran would be the Seljuk Turks’, itself followed by the coming of the Mongols.

Iranian history, to many of us in the West, is something of an unknown. We know that the civilization of Iran is an ancient one, and that various Persian Empires have contested the great powers of European history, but beyond that–nothing (or worse than nothing, in the case of the recent movie “300”). In a series of posts, I hope to acquaint you with some basic information about some of the dynasties that have controlled what is now Iran over the past 2500 years, with some context to show their relevance to world history.

While it would be ideal to proceed chronologically, I will instead be working in the order of sites we visit. Fortunately, we started our trip in Shiraz, nearby some of the greatest relics of the Achaemenid and Sassanid Empires, which come fairly early in Persian history, and it is those two periods I wish to cover in this and the next post.

***

The Achaemenids came to power around 550 BC, when Cyrus the Great consolidated rule over now Iran. Cyrus was able to extend his empire as far east as Pakistan and Central Asia and as far west as Egypt and the Greek cities of Asia Minor (now Turkey). Soon after Cyrus’s reign was Darius the Great’s, who was in turn followed by his son Xerxes–all names familiar to Western readers as the foes of the Greeks. The Achaemenid Persian Empire was arguably the first great empire of the world, incorporating many nations in a wide stretch of the Near East.

Perhaps the greatest construction of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, and a great source of pride for Iranian people of today, was Persepolis, which lies approximately an hour from the modern city of Shiraz. Not a true city, but more a religious or festival complex, the site was constructed for the celebration of Nowruz, or the Persian New Year, which is still celebrated around the time of the Spring Equinox in Iran and Central Asia. [All of the pictures in this post are from Persepolis and nearby tombs.]

Gate of All Nations, Persepolis

A symbol of Nowruz–a lion attacking a bull

During the Nowruz celebrations, representatives of all of the nations within the Persian Empire would come to Persepolis to pay tribute to the Persian emperor. Our guide noted that the gifts brought were not necessarily the most valuable items from a given region but the items that were most locally distinctive. The procession of the nations is recorded in reliefs that have survived in near pristine condition.

Note how each delegation is led (on left), hand in hand, by a Mede or Persian–the two “home” nations of the Persian Empire.

The Lydian delegation, carrying bowls and vases

The Achaemenids were followers of Zoroastrianism, said by some to be the world’s first monotheistic religion. [Post on Zoroastrianism (including its survival in modern Iran) to come.] However, the Achaemenids permitted freedom of worship within the empire, and Persians proudly state that Cyrus “invented” human rights in a famous charter known as the Cyrus Cylinder. The Achaemenid rulers called themselves Kings of Kings, and recognized that they were rulers over a multiethnic and multilingual domain.

The faravahar, a symbol of Zoroastrianism

Inscriptions at Persepolis and other Achaemenid sites are in three languages, Elamite, Neo-Babylonian and Old Persian, all written in cuneiform.

The Greeks were among the Persians’ greatest foes, and the Achaemenids suffered famous defeats at Marathon in 490 BC and at Salamis in 480 BC. The Empire persisted, however, until the rise of Macedonian Alexander the Great, whose armies swept over Asia as far as now Pakistan. Alexander defeated the Persian Empire around 330 BC, commencing a period of Greek control of now Iran that lasted through around 250 BC. Persepolis was destroyed by a fire at the time of Alexander’s conquest, although it is not known whether this was deliberate (as revenge for Xerxes’ destruction of Athens) or accidental.

The acinaces, a dagger used by Persian soldiers. We were told that the length of these daggers was a great strategic disadvantage relative to the Greeks’ longer swords. Note at the bottom the row of twelve-petaled flowers, a symbol representing the twelve months of the year that is repeated everywhere in Persepolis.

Four of the Achaemenid emperors were buried near Persepolis, at a site now called Naqst-e Rostam. The tomb on the right belongs to Darius the Great.

Detail of carvings above tomb. Note the emperor above being supported by the 28 nations of the Persian Empire while paying respect toward the faravahar and another symbol of Zoroastrianism, the fire of the fire temple.