The posts in this weblog are mainly about history, heritage, language, art, and culture of Persia (that is named Iran since 1934). Persia is, therefore, equal to Iran, and Persian is equal to Iranian. Note that Persian is a nationality not an ethnicity. Pars (or Fars) is the major ethnicity in Persia but there are also Persian Kurds or Arabs. Similarly, the official language in Persia is Persian (Farsi is the local name and may not be used internationally). For more details please read my posts.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
The first Persian Empire: Achaemenids
Many people in the West know only about the Persian Empire that was destroyed by Alexander the Great, but few people know that Persian Empire existed for many many years even after Alexander. Let me shortly tell you the story:
I'm sure you all know about the first Persian Empire more than 2500 years ago. The one which established by Cyrus the Great (in 648 BC) and was on its golden stage at the time of Darius the Great. Many of those Emperors are mentioned the Bible (the old testament). It was the largest and wealthiest country in the whole world. It's nice to know that the first human right was ordered by Cyrus the Great when he conquered Babylon. The story is written in details in the old testament, and its proof still exists as the Cyrus Cylinder, which is kept in the British Museum. The United Nation has announced the Cyrus Cylinder as "first charter of human rights".
The first Persian Empire is called Achaemenid Empire (Persia: امپراطوری هخامنشی), and was overtaken by Alexander the Great in 330 BC. He put Persepolis (the richest city in the world at its time) on fire. Historians believe that there was no war at Persepolis. Alexander has already defeated the Persian army when he arrived to Persepolis. Actually, Persepolis was not a military site, and there were no soldiers there. Burning Persepolis was only an act of anger against the royalty of the Persian Emperors. There were also wonderful gardens of the Persians in and around Persepolis, which were destroyed by Alexander's army. The name of those gardens in Persian language was پردیس (pronounce: pærdis, or pairida
za in old Persian). The word "paradise" is in fact driven from pærdis, which indicates the extreme beauty of those gardens.
After the death of Alexander, one of his generals, Seleucus I Nicator took power over Persia. The Seleucid Dynasty ruled over Persia for more than 150 years until the rise of the second Persia Empire.
There was a wonderful exhibition about Achaemenid Empire last year in the British Museum. I went there and it was a wonderful experience. I have already written about that exhibition in the Persian page of my blog (فخرالدینبلاگ). I will write about it also here before we move on together to the second and the third Persian Empires.
I'm sure you all know about the first Persian Empire more than 2500 years ago. The one which established by Cyrus the Great (in 648 BC) and was on its golden stage at the time of Darius the Great. Many of those Emperors are mentioned the Bible (the old testament). It was the largest and wealthiest country in the whole world. It's nice to know that the first human right was ordered by Cyrus the Great when he conquered Babylon. The story is written in details in the old testament, and its proof still exists as the Cyrus Cylinder, which is kept in the British Museum. The United Nation has announced the Cyrus Cylinder as "first charter of human rights".The first Persian Empire is called Achaemenid Empire (Persia: امپراطوری هخامنشی), and was overtaken by Alexander the Great in 330 BC. He put Persepolis (the richest city in the world at its time) on fire. Historians believe that there was no war at Persepolis. Alexander has already defeated the Persian army when he arrived to Persepolis. Actually, Persepolis was not a military site, and there were no soldiers there. Burning Persepolis was only an act of anger against the royalty of the Persian Emperors. There were also wonderful gardens of the Persians in and around Persepolis, which were destroyed by Alexander's army. The name of those gardens in Persian language was پردیس (pronounce: pærdis, or pairida
za in old Persian). The word "paradise" is in fact driven from pærdis, which indicates the extreme beauty of those gardens.After the death of Alexander, one of his generals, Seleucus I Nicator took power over Persia. The Seleucid Dynasty ruled over Persia for more than 150 years until the rise of the second Persia Empire.
There was a wonderful exhibition about Achaemenid Empire last year in the British Museum. I went there and it was a wonderful experience. I have already written about that exhibition in the Persian page of my blog (فخرالدینبلاگ). I will write about it also here before we move on together to the second and the third Persian Empires.
Labels: Persian history
¶ 8:40:00 pm
