The
Achaemenid Empire or
Persian
Empire (550–330 BCE) was the successor state of the
Median Empire, ruling over significant
portions of what would become
Greater
Iran. The Persian and the Median Empire taken together are also
known as the
Medo-Persian Empire, succeeding the
Neo-Assyrian Empire. It was
succeeded in turn by the
Seleucid
Empire.
At the height of its power, the empire encompassed approximately 8
million km
2.
The empire was forged by Cyrus the Great, and spanned three
continents, including territories of Afghanistan
and Pakistan
, parts of
Central Asia, Asia Minor
, Thrace, much of the Black Sea
coastal regions, Iraq
, northern
Saudi
Arabia
, Jordan
, Israel
, Lebanon
, Syria
, and all
significant population centers of ancient Egypt
as far west
as Libya
. It
is noted in western history as the foe of the
Greek city states during the
Greco-Persian Wars, for freeing the
Jews from their
Babylonian captivity, and for
instituting
Aramaic as the empire's official
language. It was
invaded and
conquered by
Alexander the
Great in 330 BCE.
In universal history the role of the Persian empire founded by
Cyrus the Great lies in their very successful model for centralized
administration and a government working to the advantage and profit
of all.
Schmitt Achaemenid dynasty
(i. The clan and dynasty)
History
Origins
The Persian domination by the Achaemenid empire over the Iranian
people started by an extension of the Achaemenid dynasty who
expanded their earlier ruling clan over the Persians going,
possibly, back to the 9th century BCE. The founder of this dynasty
was
Achaemenes (
Old Persian:
Haxāmaniš, a
bahuvrihi compound translating to "having a
friend's mind").
Achaemenes built the state Parsumash and was succeeded by his son Teispes (Cišpi) who was the first to take
the title King of Anšān
after
seizing Anšān city from the Elamites
and enlarging his kingdom to include Persis
.
According to many inscriptions Teispes had a son called
Cyrus (
Kuruš) succeeding his
father as "King of Anshan". It has also been discussed that the
kingdom of Teispes was divided between
Cyrus and his brother
Ariaramnes (
Ariyāramna, 'Having the
Iranians at Peace').name=shahbazia-EI>A. Sh. Shahbazi,
Ariaramnes. See also R. Schmitt,
Schmitt Achaemenid dynasty (i. The clan
and dynasty) They were succeeded by their respective sons
Cambyses I of Anshan
(
Kambūjiya, "the Elder"), and
Arsames (
Aršāma "Having a Hero's Might") of
Iran (Persia), thus forming two
branches of the Achaemenid royal house.
Formation and expansion of the empire
The empire
took its unified virgin form with a central administration around
Pasargadae
erected by Cyrus the
Great. The empire ended up conquering and enlarging
the Median empire to include in addition Egypt and Asia Minor
. During the reigns of
Darius I and his son
Xerxes
I it engaged in military conflict with some of the major
city-states of
Ancient Greece, and
although it came close to defeating the Greek army this war
ultimately led to the empire's overthrow. However evidences of
elements of continuity including restoration of the empire
almost to the exact limits given to it by
Darius the Great and the maintenance of
system of
satrapies has made some modern
scholars to reconsider Alexander as the “last of the
Achaemenids“.
P. Briant
In 559 BCE, Cambyses I the Elder was succeeded as king of Anšān by
his son
Cyrus II the Great, who also
succeeded the still-living Arsames as King of Persia, thus
reuniting the two realms. Cyrus is considered to be the first true
king of the Persian empire, as his predecessors were subservient to
Media.
Cyrus II conquered Media, Lydia, and Babylon
.
Cyrus was politically shrewd, modeling himself as the "savior" of
conquered nations. To reinforce this image, he instituted policies
of religious freedom, and restored temples and other infrastructure
in the newly acquired cities. (Most notably the Jews of Babylon, as
recorded in the
Cyrus Cylinder and
the
Tanakh).
His immediate successors were less successful. Cyrus' son
Cambyses II conquered Egypt, but died in July
522 BCE as the result of either accident or suicide, during a
revolt led by a sacerdotal clan that had lost its power following
Cyrus' conquest of Media. These priests, whom Herodotus called
Magi, usurped the throne for one of their own,
Gaumata, who then pretended to be Cambyses II's younger brother
Smerdis (Pers.
Bardiya), who had
been assassinated some three years earlier. Owing to the despotic
rule of Cambyses and his long absence in Egypt, "the whole people,
Perses, Medes and all the other nations," acknowledged the usurper,
especially as he granted a remission of taxes for three years
(Herodotus iii. 68).
The claim that Gaumata had impersonated Smerdis, is derived from
Darius. Historians are divided over the possibility that the story
of the impostor was invented by Darius as justification for his
coup
[34437]. Dr. Ranajit Pal holds that Gaumata was the
same as Gotama Buddha. In his view, Davadatta, the adversary of
Gotama was Zoroaster. Darius made a similar claim when he later
captured Babylon, announcing that the Babylonian king was not, in
fact, Nebuchadnezzar III, but an impostor named Nidintu-bel.
[34438]
According
to the Behistun
Inscription
, pseudo-Smerdis ruled for seven months before being
overthrown in 522 BCE by a member of a lateral branch of the
Achaemenid family, Darius I (Old Persian
Dāryavuš "Who Holds Firm the Good", also known as
Darayarahush or Darius the Great). The Magi, though
persecuted, continued to exist, and a year following the death of
the first pseudo-Smerdis (Gaumata), had a second pseudo-Smerdis
(named Vahyazdāta) attempt a coup. The coup, though initially
successful, failed.
Herodotus writes that the native
leadership debated the best form of government for the Empire. It
was agreed upon that a
oligarchy would
divide them against one another, and democracy would bring about
mob rule resulting in a charismatic leader
resuming the monarchy. Therefore, they decided a new monarch was in
order, particularly since
they were in a position to
choose him. Darius I was chosen monarch from among the leaders. He
was cousin to Cambyses II and Smerdis, claiming Ariaramnes as his
ancestor.
The Achaemenids thereafter consolidated areas firmly under their
control. It was
Cyrus the Great and
Darius the Great who, by sound and
farsighted administrative planning, brilliant military maneuvering,
and a humanistic world view, established the greatness of the
Achaemenids and, in less than thirty years, raised them from an
obscure tribe to a world power.
It was during the reign of Darius I that
Persepolis
was built (518–516 BCE) and which would serve as
capital for several generations of Achaemenid kings.
Ecbatana
(Hagmatāna "City of Gatherings", modern
Hamadan
) in Media
was greatly expanded during this period and served as the summer
capital.
Darius I
attacked the Greek mainland, which had supported rebellious Greek
colonies under his aegis; but as a result of his defeat at the
Battle of
Marathon
, he was forced to pull the limits of his empire
back to Asia
Minor
.
Greco-Persian Wars
Nonetheless, by the 5th century BCE the
kings of Persia ruled over territories roughly encompassing today's
Iran
, Iraq
, Armenia
, Pakistan
, Afghanistan
, Tajikistan
, Usbekistan
, Turkey
, Bulgaria
, Egypt
, Syria
, Jordan
, Palestine, Lebanon
, Caucasia, many parts of Greece
, parts of
Central Asia, Libya
, and
northern parts of Arabia. Eventually
by 480 BCE the Achaemenids went on to hold the greatest percentage
of world population for an empire, and became the
largest empire in
ancient history.
Xerxes I (485–465 BCE, Old Persian
Xšayārša "Hero Among Kings"), son of Darius I, organised a massive invasion aiming to
conquer Greece
.
His army
entered Greece from the north, meeting little or no resistance
through Macedonia
and Thessaly, but was
delayed by a small Greek force for three days at Thermopylae
. A simultaneous naval battle at Artemisium
was tactically indecisive as large storms destroyed ships from both
sides. The battle was stopped prematurely when the Greeks received
news of the defeat at Thermopylae and retreated. The battle was a
strategic victory for the Persians, giving them uncontested control
of Artemisium and Aegean Sea.
Following
his victory at the Battle of Thermopylae
, Xerxes sacked the evacuated city of Athens
and prepared
to meet the Greeks at the strategic Isthmus of Corinth
and the Saronic Gulf
. In 480 BCE the Greeks won a decisive victory
at the Battle of Salamis and
forced Xerxes to retire to Sardis
. The
army which he left in Greece under
Mardonius was destroyed in 479 BCE at the
Battle of Plataea. The final defeat of the
Persians at
Mycale encouraged the
Greek cities of Asia to revolt, and marked if not the end of the
Greco-Persian Wars, at least
Persian expansion to
Europe.
The cultural phase
Xerxes I was followed by
Artaxerxes I
(465–424 BCE), who moved the capital from Persepolis to Babylon. It
was during this reign that
Elamite ceased to
be the language of government, and Aramaic gained in importance. It
was probably during this reign that the solar calendar (based on
the
Babylonian one) was
introduced as the national calendar. Under Artaxerxes I,
Zoroastrianism became the
de-facto
religion of state, and for this Artaxerxes I is today also known as
the
Constantine of that faith.
Artaxerxes I died in Susa, and his body was brought to Persepolis
for interment in the tomb of his forebears. Artaxerxes I was
immediately succeeded by his eldest son
Xerxes
II, who was however assassinated by one of his half-brothers a
few weeks later. Darius II rallied support for himself and marched
eastwards, executing the assassin and was crowned in his
stead.
From 412
Darius II (423–404
BCE), at the insistence of the able Tissaphernes, gave support
first to Athens, then to Sparta, but in 407 BCE, Darius' son
Cyrus the Younger was appointed to
replace Tissaphernes and aid was given entirely to Sparta which
finally defeated Athens in 404 BCE. In the same year, Darius fell
ill and died in Babylon. At his deathbed, his Babylonian wife
Parysatis pleaded with Darius to have her
second eldest son Cyrus (the Younger) crowned, but Darius
refused.
Darius was then succeeded by his eldest son
Artaxerxes II Memnon.
Plutarch relates (probably on the authority of
Ctesias) that the displaced Tissaphernes
came to the new king on his coronation day to warn him that his
younger brother Cyrus (the Younger) was preparing to assassinate
him during the ceremony. Artaxerxes had Cyrus arrested and would
have had him executed if their mother Parysatis had not intervened.
Cyrus was then sent back as Satrap of Lydia, where he prepared an
armed rebellion.
Cyrus and Artaxerxes met in the Battle of
Cunaxa
in 401 BCE, where Cyrus was killed.
Artaxerxes II (404–358 BCE), was the
longest reigning of the Achaemenid kings and it was during this
45-year period of relative peace and stability that many of the
monuments of the era were constructed. Artaxerxes moved the capital
back to Persepolis, which he greatly extended. Also the summer
capital at Ecbatana was lavishly extended with gilded columns and
roof tiles of silver and copper (Polybius, 10.27.12).
The extraordinary
innovation of the Zoroastrian shrine cults can also be dated to his
reign, and it was probably during this period that Zoroastrianism
was disseminated throughout Asia Minor
and the Levant, and from
there to Armenia
. The temples, though serving a religious
purpose, were however not a purely selfless act: they also served
as an important source of income. From the Babylonian kings, the
Achaemenids had taken over the concept of a mandatory temple tax, a
one-tenth tithe which all inhabitants paid to the temple nearest to
their land or other source of income (Dandamaev & Lukonin,
1989:361–362). A share of this income called the
quppu ša
šarri, "kings chest"—an ingenious institution originally
introduced by
Nabonidus—was then turned
over to the ruler. In retrospect, Artaxerxes is generally regarded
as an amiable man who lacked the moral fibre to be a really
successful ruler. However, six centuries later
Ardeshir I, founder of the second Persian Empire,
would consider himself Artaxerxes' successor, a grand testimony to
the importance of Artaxerxes to the Persian psyche.
Fall of the empire
[[File:Battleofissus333BC-mosaic.jpg|thumb|200px|The
battle of
Issus
, between Alexander
the Great on horsebackto the left, and Darius III in the chariot to the right,
represented in a Pompeii mosaic dated first
century BCE - National Museum of Archaeology in Naples
.]]According to Greek sources , Artaxerxes'
successor
Artaxerxes III (358 BCE–338
BCE) came to the throne by bloody means, ensuring his place upon
the throne by the assassination of eight of his half-brothers. In
343 BCE Artaxerxes III defeated
Nectanebo
II, driving him from Egypt, and made Egypt once again a Persian
satrapy. In 338 BCE Artaxerxes III died under unclear circumstances
(natural causes according to cuneiform sources but Diodorus, a
Greek historian, reports that Artaxerxes was murdered by Bagoas,
his minister). while
Philip of
Macedon united the Greek states by force and began to plan an
invasion into the empire.
Artaxerxes III was succeeded by
Artaxerxes IV Arses, who before he could
act was also poisoned by Bagoas. Bagoas is further said to have
killed not only all Arses' children, but many of the other princes
of the land. Bagoas then placed
Darius
III (336–330 BCE), a nephew of Artaxerxes IV, on the
throne.
Darius III, previously
Satrap of
Armenia, personally forced Bagoas to swallow poison. In 334
BCE, when Darius was just succeeding in subduing Egypt again,
Alexander and his battle-hardened Macedonian troops
invaded Asia Minor.
At two
different times, the Achaemenids ruled Egypt
although the
Egyptians twice regained temporary independence from Persia.
After the practice of
Manetho,
Egyptian historians refer to the
periods in Egypt when the Achaemenid dynasty
ruled as the twenty-seventh
dynasty of Egypt, 525–404 BCE, until the death of Darius II, and
the thirty-first dynasty of Egypt, 343–332 BCE, which began after
Nectanebo II was defeated by the
Persian king Artaxerxes
III.
Alexander
defeated the Persian armies at Granicus (334 BCE), followed by Issus
(332 BCE),
and last at Gaugamela (331
BCE).
Afterwards, he marched on Susa
and
Persepolis
which surrendered in early 330 BCE. From
Persepolis, Alexander headed north to Pasargadae where he treated
the tomb of Cyrus II with respect.
From there he headed to Ecbatana
, where Darius III had sought refuge.
Darius III was taken prisoner by
Bessus, his
Bactrian satrap and
kinsman. As Alexander approached, Bessus had his men murder Darius
and then declared himself Darius' successor, as Artaxerxes V,
before retreating into Central Asia leaving Darius' body in the
road to delay Alexander, who brought it to Persepolis for an
honorable funeral.
The Achaemenid Empire was succeeded by the
Seleucid Empire, ruled by the generals of
Alexander and their descendants. They in turn would be succeeded by
the
Parthian Empire.
Istakhr, one of the vassal kingdoms of the Parthian Empire, would
be overthrown by Papak, a priest of the temple there. Papak's son,
Ardašir I, who named himself in
remembrance of Artaxerxes II, revolted against the Parthians,
defeated them and established the
Sassanid Empire.
Government
The Achaemenids were absolutists who allowed a certain amount of
regional autonomy in the form of the a
satrapy system. A satrapy was an administrative unit,
usually organized on a geographical basis. A
satrap (governor) administered the region, a general
supervised military recruitment and ensured order, and a state
secretary kept official records. The general and the state
secretary reported directly to the central government.
Accomplishments of Darius' reign included
codification of the data, a universal legal system upon which much
of later Iranian law would be based, and construction of a new
capital at Persepolis
, where vassal states would offer their yearly
tribute at the festival celebrating the spring
equinox.
The practice of slavery in Achaemenid Persia was generally banned,
although there is evidence that conquered and/or rebellious armies
were sold into captivity. Zoroastrianism, the de facto religion of
the empire, explicitly forbids
slavery, and
the kings of Achaemenid Persia followed this ban to varying
degrees, as evidenced by the freeing of the Jews at Babylon, and
the construction of Persepolis by paid workers.
The
twenty three satrapies were linked by a 2,500-kilometer highway,
the most impressive stretch being the Royal
Road from Susa
to Sardis
, built by
command of Darius I. Relays of mounted couriers could reach
the remotest of areas in fifteen days. Despite the relative local
independence afforded by the satrapy system, royal inspectors, the
"eyes and ears of the king", toured the empire and reported on
local conditions. The king also maintained a personal bodyguard of
10,000 men, called the
Immortals.
Darius revolutionized the economy by placing it on a silver and
gold coinage system. Trade was extensive, and under the Achaemenids
there was an efficient infrastructure that facilitated the exchange
of commodities in the far reaches of the empire. Tariffs on trade
were one of the empire's main sources of revenue, along with
agriculture and tribute.
The
vexilloid of the Achaemenid Empire was
a
gold falcon on
a field of
crimson.
Culture
The Achaemenid Empire,which at the height of its power had more
than 23 nations under its control, was built on the most basic
principles - that of
truth and
justice, which formed the bases of the Achaemenid
culture. Based on the Zoroastrian doctrine, it was the strong
emphasis on honesty and integrity that gave the ancient Persians
credibility to rule the world, even in the eyes of the people
belonging to the conquered nations (except for the frequent
rebellions i.e. the Ionian rebellion and the fierce resistance put
up to it from all of the sovereign nations they invaded such as the
Scythians, Egyptians, Ionians).
Herodotus, in his mid-5th century BCE
account of Persian residents of the Pontus, reports that Persian
youths, from their fifth year to their twentieth year, were
instructed in three things -
to ride a horse, to draw a bow,
and to speak the Truth.
He further notes that:
- the most disgraceful thing in the world [the Perses] think,
is to tell a lie; the next worst, to owe a debt: because, among
other reasons, the debtor is obliged to tell lies.
Truth for the sake of truth,
was the universal motto and the very core of the Achaemenid culture
that was followed not only by the great kings, but even the
ordinary Persians, who made it a point to adhere to this code of
conduct.
In Achaemenid Persia, the lie,
druj, is considered to be a
cardinal sin, and it was
punishable by death in some extreme cases.
Tablets discovered by
archaeologists in the 1930s at the site of Persepolis
give us adequate evidence about the love and
veneration for the culture of truth during the Achaemenian
period. These tablets contain the names of ordinary
Iranians, mainly traders and warehouse-keepers.
According to
Professor Stanley Insler of Yale University
, as many as 72 names of officials and petty clerks
found on these tablets contain the word truth.
Thus, says Insler, we have
Artapana, protector of truth,
Artakama, lover of truth,
Artamanah,
truth-minded,
Artafarnah, possessing splendour of truth,
Artazusta, delighting in truth,
Artastuna, pillar
of truth,
Artafrida, prospering the truth and
Artahunara, having nobility of truth. It was Darius the
Great, who laid down the
ordinance of good regulations
during his reign. King Darius' testimony about his constant battle
against the lie is found in
cuneiform
inscriptions.
Carved high up in the Behistun
mountain on the road to Kermanshah
, Darius testifies :
- I was not a lie-follower, I was not a doer of
wrong ... According to righteousness I conducted
myself. Neither to the weak or to the powerful did I do
wrong. The man who cooperated with my house, him I
rewarded well; who so did injury, him I punished well.
Darius had his hands full dealing with large-scale rebellion which
broke out throughout the empire. After fighting successfully with
nine traitors in a year, Darius records his battles against them
for posterity and tells us how it was the
lie that made
them rebel against the empire. At Behistun, Darius says:
- I smote them and took prisoner nine kings. One was
Gaumata by name, a Magian; he lied; thus he said: I am Smerdis, the
son of Cyrus...One, Acina by name, an Elamite; he lied; thus he
said: I am king in Elam... One, Nidintu-Bel by name, a
Babylonian; he lied; thus he said: I am Nebuchadnezzar, the son of
Nabonidus. King Darius then tells us, The Lie made them
rebellious, so that these men deceived the people.
Then an advice to his son
Xerxes,
who is to succeed him as the great king:
- Thou who shalt be king hereafter, protect yourself
vigorously from the Lie; the man who shall be a lie-follower, him
do thou punish well, if thus thou shall think. May my
country be secure!
Languages
[[File:Silver ryhton Iran.jpg|thumb|200px|Silver
rhyta such as this were ubiquitous and used as a
drinking vessels inPersia, underscoring the eclectic taste of the
Achaemenids; the fanciful beast that forms its base is both mammal
and bird.]]
During
the reign of Cyrus and Darius, and as long as the seat of
government was still at Susa
in Elam
, the
language of the chancellory was Elamite. This is primarily attested in the
Persepolis fortification and treasury tablets that reveal details
of the day-to-day functioning of the empire. In the grand rock-face
inscriptions of the kings, the Elamite texts are always accompanied
by
Akkadian and
Old Persian inscriptions, and it appears that in
these cases, the Elamite texts are translations of the Old Persian
ones. It is then likely that although Elamite was used by the
capital government in Susa, it was not a standardized language of
government everywhere in the empire. The use of Elamite is not
attested after 458 BCE.
Following the conquest of Mesopotamia, the
Aramaic language (as used in that
territory) was adopted as the "vehicle for written communication
between the different regions of the vast empire with its different
peoples and languages. The use of a single official language, which
modern scholarship has dubbed Official Aramaic or
Imperial Aramaic, can be
assumed to have greatly contributed to the astonishing success of
the Achaemenids in holding their far-flung empire together for as
long as they did." In 1955, Richard Frye questioned the
classification of Imperial Aramaic as an "official language",
noting that no surviving edict expressly and unambiguously accorded
that status to any particular language. Frye reclassifies Imperial
Aramaic as the "
lingua
franca" of the Achaemenid territories, suggesting then
that the Achaemenid-era use of Aramaic was more pervasive than
generally thought. Many centuries after the fall of the empire,
Aramaic script and - as ideograms - Aramaic vocabulary would
survive as the essential characteristics of the
Pahlavi writing system.
Although Old Persian also appears on some seals and art objects,
that language is attested primarily in the Achaemenid inscriptions
of Western Iran, suggesting then that Old Persian was the common
language of that region. However, by the reign of Artaxerxes II,
the grammar and orthography of the inscriptions was so "far from
perfect" that it has been suggested that the scribes who composed
those texts had already largely forgotten the language, and had to
rely on older inscriptions, which they to a great extent reproduced
verbatim.
Customs
Herodotus mentions that the Persians were given to great birthday
feasts, which would be followed by many desserts, a treat which
they reproached the Greeks for omitting from their meals. He also
observed that the Persians drank wine in large quantities and used
it even for counsel, deliberating on important affairs when drunk,
and deciding the next day, when sober, whether to act on the
decision or set it aside.
On their methods of greeting, he asserts that equals kissed on the
lips, persons of some difference in rank kissed on the cheek, and
the lowest ranks would prostrate on the ground to the upper ranks.
It is known that men of high rank practiced
polygamy, and were reputed to have a number of
wives and a greater number of concubines. On their same-sex
relations, high ranked men kept favorites, such as
Bagoas who was one of
Darius III's favorites and who later became
Alexander's eromenos. Persian
pederasty and its origins were debated even in
ancient times. Herodotus claimed they had learned it from the
Greeks, however,
Plutarch asserts that the
Persians used eunuch boys to that end long before contact between
the cultures.
Also from Herodotus we learn that the Persians had a very high
regard for truth, teaching the respect of truth to their children
and despising nothing so much as a lie. On the education of the
children, we learn that from the age of five until twenty they were
taught to ride, shoot the bow, and speak the truth. Until the age
of five children spent all their time among the women and never met
the father, so that, should they die in infancy, he would not
sorrow over their loss. (Herodotus,
The History,
passim)
Religion
It was during the Achaemenid period that
Zoroastrianism reached South-Western Iran,
where it came to be accepted by the rulers and through them became
a defining element of Persian culture. The religion was not only
accompanied by a formalization of the concepts and divinities of
the traditional (Indo-)Iranian
pantheon but also introduced several novel
ideas, including that of
free
will.
Under the patronage of the Achaemenid kings, and by the fifth
century BCE as the
de-facto religion of the state,
Zoroastrianism would reach all corners of the empire.
During the reign of Artaxerxes I and Darius II, Herodotus wrote
"[the Perses] have no images of the gods, no temples nor altars,
and consider the use of them a sign of folly. This comes, I think,
from their not believing the gods to have the same nature with men,
as the Greeks imagine." He claims the Persians offer sacrifice to:
"the sun and moon, to the earth, to fire, to water, and to the
winds. These are the only gods whose worship has come down to them
from ancient times. At a later period they began the worship of
Urania, which they borrowed from the Arabians
and Assyrians.
Mylitta is the name by which
the Assyrians know this
goddess, whom the
Arabians call
Alitta, and the Persians
Anahita." (The original name here is
Mithra, which has since been explained to be
a confusion of Anahita with Mithra, understandable since they were
commonly worshipped together in one temple).
From the Babylonian scholar-priest
Berosus,
who—although writing over seventy years after the reign of
Artaxerxes II Mnemon—records that the emperor
had been the first to make
cult statues of
divinities and have them placed in temples in many of the major
cities of the empire (Berosus, III.65). Berosus also substantiates
Herodotus when he says the Persians knew of no images of gods until
Artaxerxes II erected those images. On the means of sacrifice,
Herodotus adds "they raise no altar, light no fire, pour no
libations." This sentence has been interpreted to identify a
critical (but later) accretion to Zoroastrianism. An altar with a
wood-burning fire and the
Yasna service at
which libations are poured are all clearly identifiable with modern
Zoroastrianism, but apparently, were practices that had not yet
developed in the mid-fifth century. Boyce also assigns that
development to the reign of Artaxerxes II (fourth century BCE), as
an orthodox response to the innovation of the shrine cults.
Herodotus also observed that "no prayer or offering can be made
without a
magus present" but this should not be
confused with what is today understood by the term
magus,
that is a
magupat (modern Persian:
mobed), a
Zoroastrian priest. Nor does Herodotus' description of the term as
one of the tribes or castes of the Medes necessarily imply that
these
magi were Medians. They simply were a hereditary
priesthood to be found all over Western Iran and although
(originally) not associated with any one specific religion, they
were traditionally responsible for all ritual and religious
services. Although the unequivocal identification of the
magus with Zoroastrianism came later (Sassanid era,
third–seventh century CE), it is from Herodotus'
magus of
the mid-fifth century that Zoroastrianism was subject to doctrinal
modifications that are today considered to be revocations of the
original teachings of the prophet. Also, many of the ritual
practices described in the
Avesta's
Vendidad (such as
exposure of the dead)
were already practiced by the
magu of Herodotus '
time.
Art and architecture
Art, like religion, was a blend of many elements. Just as the
Achaemenids were tolerant in matters of local government and
custom, as long as Persians controlled the general policy and
administration of the empire, so also were they tolerant in art so
long as the finished and total effect was Persian.
At Pasargadae
(Pāsargad), the capital of Cyrus II and Cambyses
II, and at Persepolis
, the neighboring city founded by Darius the Great
and used by all of his successors, one can trace to a foreign
origin almost all of the several details in the construction and
embellishment of the architecture and the sculptured reliefs; but
the conception, planning, and overall finished product are
distinctly Persian.
Moreover, when Cyrus chose to build Pasargadae, he had a long
artistic tradition behind him that probably was distinctly Iranian
already and that was in many ways the equal of any. The columned
hall in architecture can now be seen as belonging to an
architectural tradition on the Iranian Plateau that extended back
through the Median period.
The rich Achaemenid gold
work, which inscriptions suggest may have been a specialty of the
Medes, was in the tradition of the delicate metalwork found in
Iron Age II times at Hasanlu
and still earlier at Marlik.
This artistic style is particularly evident at Persepolis: with its
carefully proportioned and well-organized ground plan, rich
architectural ornament, and magnificent decorative reliefs, the
palace there is one of the great artistic legacies of the ancient
world. In its art and architecture, Persepolis celebrates the king
and the office of the monarch and reflected Darius' perception of
himself as the leader of a conglomerate people to whom he had given
a new and single identity. The Achaemenids took the art forms and
the cultural and religious traditions of many of the ancient Middle
Eastern peoples and combined them into a single form.
In describing the construction of his palace at Susa, Darius
records that "The cedar timber from there (a mountain by name
Lebanon) was brought, the
yaka
timber was brought from
Gandara and from
Carmania.
The gold was brought from Sardis
and from
Bactria . . . the precious
stone lapis-lazuli and carnelian . . . was brought
from Sogdiana. The turquoise from
Chorasmia, the silver and ebony from
Egypt
, the ornamentation from Ionia,
the ivory from Ethiopia
and from Sindh
(Pakistan)
and from Arachosia. The stone-cutters who
wrought the stone, those were Ionians and Sardians
. The goldsmiths were
Medes and
Egyptians. The men
who wrought the wood, those were Sardians and Egyptians. The men
who wrought the baked brick, those were Babylonians. The men who
adorned the wall, those were Medes and Egyptians."
This was an imperial art on a scale the world had not seen before.
Materials and artists were drawn from all corners of the empire,
and thus tastes, styles, and motifs became mixed together in an
eclectic art and architecture that in itself mirrored the empire
and the Persian understanding of how that empire ought to
function.
Achaemenid kings and rulers
Unattested
- *Achaemenes of Persia
- The epigraphic evidence for these rulers cannot be
confirmed and are often considered to have been invented by
Darius I
- *Ariaramnes of Persia, son
of Teispes and co-ruler with Cyrus I
- *Arsames of Persia, son of
Ariaramnes and co-ruler with Cambyses I
Attested
- *Teispes of Anshan, son of
Achaemenes
- *Cyrus I of Anshan, son of
Teispes
- *Cambyses I of Anshan, son
of Cyrus I
- *Cyrus II, the Great, son of
Cambyses I, ruled from c.550-530 BCE E(ruler of Anshan c. 559 BCE –
conquered Media 550 BCE)
- *Cambyses II, son of Cyrus the
Great, ruled 529-522 BCE
- *Smerdis (Bardiya), alleged son of Cyrus
the Great, ruled 522 BCE (Possibly a usurper)
- *Darius I the Great,
brother-in-law of Smerdis and grandson of Arsames, ruled 521-486
BCE
- *Xerxes I the Great, son of
Darius I, ruled 485-465 BCE
- *Artaxerxes I Longimanus,
son of Xerxes I, ruled 465-424 BCE
- *Xerxes II, son of
Artaxerxes I, ruled 424 BCE
- *Sogdianus, half-brother and
rival of Xerxes II, ruled 424-423 BCE
- *Darius II Nothus,
half-brother and rival of Xerxes II, ruled 423-405 BCE
- *Artaxerxes II Mnemon,
son of Darius II, ruled 404-359 BCE (see also Xenophon)
- *Artaxerxes III Ochus,
son of Artaxerxes II, ruled 358-338 BCE
- *Artaxerxes IV Arses, son of
Artaxerxes III, ruled 338-336 BCE
- *Darius III Codomannus,
great-grandson of Darius II, ruled 336-330 BCE
Gallery
File:Tresury relief.JPG|Relief of Xerxes I the Great at Persepolis
in Iran
.File:Persepolis 06.jpg|
Panorama of
Persepolis RuinsFile:Persepolis recreated.jpg|Ruins of Throne
HallFile:Achaemenid coin daric 420BC front.jpg|Achaemenid
coinFile:Model of a chariot from the Oxus Treasure by Nickmard
Khoey.jpg|Gold chariotFile:Gold artifacts from the Oxus Treasure by
Nickmard Khoey.jpg|Gold artifacts from the Oxus
TreasureFile:Chopped gold pieces from the Oxus Treasure by Nickmard
Khoey.jpg|Chopped gold piecesFile:Gold statuettes from the Oxus
Treasure by Nickmard Khoey.jpg|Gold statuetteFile:Gold and Silver
objects from the Oxus Treasure by Nickmard Khoey.jpg|Gold and
Silver objects from the Oxus TreasureFile:Persepolis
Pot.jpg|Achaemenid potteryFile:Gold fish shaped vessel from the
Oxus Treasure by Nickmard Khoey.jpg|Fish shaped gold
vesselFile:Persepolis stone dishes.jpg|Persepolis stone
dishFile:Archers frieze Darius palace Louvre AOD487.jpg|Archers
friezeFile:Bull capital Apadana Louvre AOD1.jpg|Bull
capitalFile:Ibex rhyton
AO3115.jpg|RhytonFile:APC235336.JPG|Persepolis
CastFile:Lion-persepolis.JPG|LionFile:Persepolis - statue of a
mastiff.jpg|MastiffFile:Cylinder seal Louvre AOD108.jpg|Cylinder
sealFile:Persepolis_reliefs_2005a.jpg|Persepolis
reliefsFile:PersepolistwoPersianSoldiers.jpg|Two Persian Soldiers
in PersepolisFile:Persepolis The Persian Soldiers.jpg|Apadana Hall,
Persian and Median soldiers at PersepolisFile:Nowruz
Zoroastrian.jpg|Nowruz ZoroastrianFile:Persepolis
gifts.jpg|Persepolis giftsFile:khanjar-acha.jpg|artistic dagger
relief.
Notes
- Vasseghi, Sheda, " The other Iran story: Re-engineering the nation's
cultural DNA", Breaking... WorldTribune.com World
Tribune News, (12 October 2009).
- Stewart, Basil, " Restoration of Palestine", (In reference to
the Achaemenid Empire), p. 3 (2003).
- Schlerath p. 36, no. 9. See also Iranica in the Achaemenid
Period p. 17.
- e. g. Cyrus Cylinder Fragment A. ¶ 21.
- Ranajit Pal, "Non-Jonesian Indology and Alexander", New Delhi,
2002.
- While estimates for the Achaemenid Empire range from 10-80+
million, most prefer around 50 million. Prevas (2009, p. 14)
estimates 10 million 1. Langer (2001, p. 40) estimates around 16
million 2. McEvedy and Jones (2001, p. 50) estimates 17
million 3. Strauss (2004, p. 37) estimates about 20
million 4. Ward (2009, p. 16) estimates at 20 million
5. Aperghis (2007, p. 311) estimates 32 million
6. Scheidel (2009, p. 99) estimates 35 million
7. Zeinert (1996, p. 32) estimates 40 million
8. Rawlinson and Schauffler (1898, p. 270)
estimates possibly 50 million 9. Astor (1899, p. 56) estimates almost 50
million 10. Lissner (1961, p. 111) estimates probably
50 million 11. Milns (1968, p. 51) estimates some 50
million 12. Hershlag (1980, p. 140) estimates nearly 50
million 13. Yarshater (1996, p. 47) estimates by 50
million 14. Daniel (2001, p. 41) estimates at 50
million 15. Meyer and Andreades (2004, p. 58) estimates
50 million 16. Pollack (2004, p. 7) estimates about 50
million 17. Jones (2004, p. 8) estimates over 50
million 18. Safire (2007, p. 627) estimates in 50
million 19. Dougherty (2009, p. 6) estimates about 70
million 20. Richard (2008, p. 34) estimates nearly 70
million 21. Mitchell (2004, p. 16) estimates over 70
million 22. Hanson (2001, p. 32) estimates almost 75
million 23. West (1913, p. 85) estimates about 75
million 24. Zenos (1889, p. 2) estimates exactly 75
million 25. Cowley (1999 and 2001, p. 17) estimates
possibly 80 million 26. Cook (1904, p. 277) estimates exactly 80
million 27.
- Historical Estimates of World Population U.S. Census
Bureau.
- Chr. Walker, "Achaemenid Chronology and the Babylonian
Sources," in: John Curtis (ed.), Mesopotamia and Iran in the
Persian Period: Conquest and Imperialism, 539-331 BCE (London
1997), page 22.
- M. Dandamayev, “Foreign Slaves on the Estates of the Achaemenid
Kings and their Nobles,” in Trudy dvadtsat' pyatogo mezhdunarodnogo
kongressa vostokovedov II, Moscow, 1963, pp. 151-52
- In .
- From
- p. 251
- p. 457.
- pp. 249ff.
- p. 53
- p. 20.
- Herodotus.
Histories. "[...]moreover they adopt all kinds of luxuries
when they hear of them, and in particular they have learnt from the
Hellenes to have commerce with boys[...]"
- Plutarch. On
the Malice of Herodotus. "The same Herodotus says that the
Persians learned the defiling of the male sex from the Greeks. And
yet how could the Greeks have taught this impurity to the Persians,
amongst whom, as is confessed by many, boys had been castrated
before ever they arrived in the Grecian seas?"
See also
References
Modern Sources
- Stronach, David "Darius at Pasargadae: A
Neglected Source for the History of Early Persia,"
Topoi
- Stronach, David "Anshan and Parsa: Early
Achaemenid History, Art and Architecture on the Iranian Plateau".
In: John Curtis, ed., Mesopotamia and Iran in the Persian Period:
Conquest and Imperialism 539–331, 35–53. London: British Museum
Press 1997.
Further reading
- There have been a number of editions since
1996.
- A collection of articles by different
authors.
- From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of
the Persian Empire, Pierre
Briant, Eisenbrauns: 2002, ISBN 978-1-57506-0316
- The Greco-Persian Wars, Peter
Green
- The Greek and Persian Wars 499–386
BCE, Philip De Souza
- The Heritage of Persia, Richard N. Frye
- History of the Persian Empire,
A.T. Olmstead
- The Persian Empire, Lindsay
Allen
- The Persian Empire, J.M.
Cook
- Persian Fire: The First World Empire
and the Battle for the West, Tom Holland
- Pictorial History of Iran: Ancient
Persia Before Islam 15000 B.C.–625 A.D., Amini Sam
- Timelife Persians: Masters of the
Empire (Lost Civilizations)
- Dandamaev, M.A. A Political History of
the Achaemenid Empire. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 1989
(ISBN 90-04-09172-6).
- Hallock, R., Persepolis
Fortification Tablets
External links