Ancient Persia: "From the Achaemenids to the Sassanids: Tracing Ancient Persia's Heritage"

 

Ancient Persia

    Persia (roughly modern-day Iran) is among the oldest inhabited regions in the world. Archaeological sites in the country have established human habitation dating back 100,000 years to the Paleolithic Age with semi-permanent settlements (most likely for hunting parties) established before 10,000 BCE.

    The ancient kingdom of Elam in this area was among the most advanced of its time (its oldest settlement, the archaeological site of Chogha Bonut, dates to c. 7200 BCE) before parts of it were conquered by the Sumerians, later completely by the Assyrians, and then by the Medes. The Median Empire (678-550 BCE) was followed by one of the greatest political and social entities of the ancient world, the Persian Achaemenid Empire (c. 550-330 BCE) which was conquered by Alexander the Great and later replaced by the Seleucid Empire (312-63 BCE), Parthia (247 BCE-224 CE), and the Sassanian Empire (224 - 651 CE) in succession. The Sassanian Empire was the last of the Persian governments to hold the region before the Muslim Arab conquest of the 7th century CE.

Early History

    Archaeological finds, such as Neanderthal seasonal settlements and tools, trace human development in the region from the Paleolithic through the Neolithic and Chalcolithic Ages. The city of Susa (modern-day Shushan), which would later become part of Elam and then Persia, was founded in 4395 BCE, making it among the oldest in the world. Although Susa is often equated with Elam, they were different polities; Susa was founded before even the Proto-Elamite Period (c. 3200-2700 BCE) though it was contemporaneous with Elamite culture.

    Aryan tribes are thought to have migrated to the region at some point before the 3rd millennium BCE and the country would later be referenced as Ariana and Iran – the land of the Aryans. 'Aryan' should be understood according to the ancient Iranian language of Avestan meaning “noble”, “civilized” or “free man” and designating a class of people, having nothing to do with race - or Caucasians in any way - but referring to Indo-Iranians who applied the term to themselves in the religious works known as the Avesta. The term 'Aryan' interpreted as referencing racial Caucasians was not advanced until the 19th century. Scholar Kaveh Farrokh cites the archaeologist J. P. Mallory in noting: As an ethnic designation, the word [Aryan] is most properly limited to the Indo-Iranians, and most justly to the latter where it still gives its name to the country Iran. (Shadows, 17)

    These Aryan tribes were made up of diverse people who would become known as Alans, Bactrians, Medes, Parthians, and Persians, among others. They brought with them a polytheistic religion closely associated with the Vedic thought of the Indo-Aryans – the people who would settle in northern India – characterized by dualism and the veneration of fire as an embodiment of the divine. This early Iranian religion held the god Ahura Mazda as the supreme being with other deities such as Mithra (sun god/god of covenants), Hvar Khsata (sun god), and Anahita (goddess of fertility, health, water, and wisdom), among others, making up the rest of the pantheon.

Achaemenid Empire

    Cyrus II overthrew Astyages of Media c. 550 BCE and began a systematic campaign to bring other principalities under his control. He conquered the wealthy kingdom of Lydia in 546 BCE (following the Battle of Thymbra of 547 BCE), Elam (Susiana) in 540 BCE, and Babylon in 539 BCE. By the end of his reign, Cyrus II had established an empire that stretched from the modern-day region of Syria down through Turkey and across to the borders of India. This was the Achaemenid Empire, named for Cyrus II's ancestor Achaemenes.

    Cyrus II is unique among ancient conquerors for his humanitarian vision and policies as well as encouraging technological innovations. Much of the land he conquered suffered from a lack of adequate water supply and so he had his engineers revive an older means of tapping underground aquafers known as a qanat, a sloping channel dug into the earth with vertical shafts at intervals down to the channel which would bring the water up to ground level.

    Although Cyrus II is often credited with inventing the qanat system, it is attested to earlier by Sargon II of Assyria (r. 722-705 BCE) in the inscription describing his 714 BCE Urartu campaign. Sargon II notes qanats in use around the city of Ulhu in Western Iran which created fertile fields far from any river. Cyrus II, it seems, developed the qanat across a much greater area but it was an earlier Persian invention as was the yakhchal – great domed coolers which created and preserved ice, the first refrigerators – whose use he also encouraged.

The Seleucid & Parthian Empires

    After Alexander died in 323 BCE, his empire was divided among his generals. One of these, Seleucus I Nicator (r. 305-281 BCE), took Central Asia and Mesopotamia, expanding the territories, founding the Seleucid Empire, and Hellenizing the region. Seleucus I kept the Persian model of government and religious toleration but filled top administrative positions with the Greeks. Even though Greeks and Persians intermarried, the Seleucid Empire favored Greeks and Greek became the language of the court. Seleucus I began his reign by putting down rebellions in some areas and conquering others but always maintaining the Persian governmental policies that had worked so well in the past.

    Even though this same practice was followed by his immediate successors, regions rose in revolt and some, like Parthia and Bactria, broke away. In 247 BCE, Arsaces I of Parthia (r. 247-217 BCE) established an independent kingdom that would become the Parthian Empire. The Seleucid king Antiochus III (the Great, r. 223-187 BCE) would retake Parthia briefly in c. 209 BCE, but Parthia was on the rise and shook off Seleucid rule afterward.

Sasanian Empire

    Even so, Rome's power was on the rise as an empire founded by Augustus (r. 27 BCE - 14 CE), and by 165 CE the Parthian Empire had been severely weakened by Roman campaigns. The last Parthian king, Artabanus IV (r. 213-224 CE) was overthrown by his vassal Ardashir I (r. 224- 240 CE), a descendant of Darius III and a member of the royal Persian house. Ardashir I was chiefly concerned with building a stable kingdom founded on the precepts of Zoroastrianism and keeping that kingdom safe from Roman warfare and influence. To this end, he made his son Shapur I (r. 240-270 CE) co-regent in 240 CE. When Ardashir I died a year later, Shapur I became king of kings and initiated a series of military campaigns to enlarge his territory and protect his borders.

    Shapur I was a devout Zoroastrian, like his father, but adhered to a policy of religious tolerance in keeping with the practice of the Achaemenid Empire. Jews, Christians, and members of other religious faiths were free to practice their beliefs, build houses of worship, and participate in government. The religious visionary Mani (l. 216-274 CE), the founder of Manichaeism, was a guest at Shapur I's court.

Uploader: M. Celio Durrani

Source: World History Encyclopedia