Listed 3 sub titles with search on: Biographies for destination: "IRAN Country PERSIAN GULF".
Achaemenes. The ancestor of the Persian kings, who founded the family of the Achaemenidae (Achaimenidai), which was the noblest family of the Pasargadae, the noblest of the Persian tribes. Achaemenes is said to have been brought up by an eagle. According to a genealogy given by Xerxes, the following was the order of the descent: Achaemenes, Teispes, Cambyses, Cyrus, Teispes, Ariaramnes, Arsames, Hystaspes, Darius, Xerxes. (Herod. i. 125, vii. 11; Aelian, Hist. Anim. xii. 21.) The original seat of this family was Achaemenia in Persis. (Steph. s.v. Achaimenia.) The Roman poets use the adjective Achaemenius in the sense of Persian. (Hor. Carm. iii. 1. 44, xiii. 8; Ov. Ar. Am. i. 226, Met. iv. 212.)
(Hakhamanisiya): royal dynasty of ancient Persia, named after its legendary
founder Achaemenes (Hakhamanis).
The Achaemenid or Persian empire was founded by Cyrus the Great, who
became king of Persis in 559 BCE and defeated his overlord Astyages of Media
in 550. The size of the Median empire is not exactly known, but it seems to have
included Cappadocia and Armenia
in the west and Parthia, Aria and Hyrcania in the east. Cyrus added Lydia
(547), Bactria and Sogdiana,
campaigned in India, and
captured Babylon in 539.
His capital was Pasargadae, built on the site where he had defeated Astyages.
In 530, Cyrus was killed during a campaign against the Massagetae, a Scythian
tribe.
He was succeeded by his son Cambyses, who conquered Egypt
(525). Three years later, civil war broke out when his courtier Gaumata revolted.
Cambyses returned home but died in Syria.
A distant relative of Cambyses, the Achaemenid prince Darius, however, killed
Gaumata. After the second coup in one year, many provinces of the Achaemenid empire
revolted; the most important rebellions were those of Phraortes of Media
and Nidintu-Bel of Babylonia. After nineteen battles, tranquillity returned to
the Achaemenid empire. Darius described his victory in the Behistun inscription,
in which he presents himself as the faithful servant of the Persian supreme god
Ahuramazda. (We do not know whether the Achaemenids adhered to the teachings of
the Bactrian prophet Zarathustra, although later Persian dynasties certainly were
Zoroastrians.)
Darius reorganized the empire and created satrapies, territorial units
that also served as tax districts. He also founded Persepolis,
where many administrative texts were discovered, and built a palace in Susa.
Capable generals like Mardonius added new countries to the empire, which now extended
from Macedonia in the west
to Pakistan in the east,
and from the river Syrdar'ya and the Caucasus mountains in the north to the Libyan
desert and the Persian Gulf in the south.
During the reign of Darius' son Xerxes, the expansion of the empire
came to an end. Gandara and Taxila in the far east were lost. The Greek researcher
Herodotus of Halicarnassus describes in his Histories Xerxes' ill-fated campaign
against the Greeks (480-479), but fails to explain why the Persians were unsuccessful:
because the Babylonian Samas-eriba revolted. In the west, Macedonia, Thrace and
several Greek towns in Asia Minor became independent. However, Xerxes was able
to keep the empire intact during the transition from an expansionist to a more
static organization.
Under his successors Artaxerxes I Makrocheir (465-424) and Darius
II Nothus (423-404), the empire remained as it was: the strongest power on earth.
In several regions (e.g., Asia
Minor) we detect strong Persian cultural influence. In Greece,
the Athenians copied many institutions of their powerful neighbor. They were not
the only ones. To the north of the Achaemenid empire, the Cadusians learned how
to organize itself. The war against this tribe was to flare up several times in
the fourth century.
After the death of Darius II, civil war broke out between Artaxerxes
II Mnemon and his younger brother Cyrus, who marched with an army of Greek mercenaries
to the east, but was defeated at Cunaxa near Babylon.
This event was important, because it was now obvious that the Persian infantry
was no match to the Greek hoplites. The Achaemenids developed a policy of dividing
the Greek powers (Athens, Sparta, Thebes) and were able to strengthen their grip
on Asia Minor, where the
Greek towns were again subdued.
On the other hand, Egypt became independent under Amyrtaeus. Several
times, the Persians tried to reconquer the former satrapy, usually employing Greek
mercenaries. (The Egyptians did the same.) These attempts came to nothing until
two generals of king Artaxerxes III Ochus (358-338), Bagoas and Mentor of Rhodes,
were finally successful and forced the last pharaoh of independent Egypt, Nectanebo
II, to flee (342/341).
For unknown reasons, Artaxerxes III was murdered by Bagoas and there
was a crisis in the Achaemenid dynasty. The new king was Artaxerxes IV Arses,
but after a brief reign, he was replaced by a distant relative, Darius III Codomannus
(336-330). Several satrapies revolted, but Darius immediately put down these rebellions.
However, in the meantime, the Macedonian king Alexander the Great had invaded
Asia Minor. Although Darius sent out a Greek mercenary leader, Memnon of Rhodes,
and a Persian admiral, Pharnabazus, the Macedonians were able to reach Syria,
where they defeated Darius at Issus (333).
The Persians built a new army, but two years later, they were defeated
at Gaugamela. Darius was murdered (330) and Alexander started to reign as an Achaemenid
king, keeping the empire together. After Alexander's death in Babylon
(11 June 323), his empire was divided into three parts: Macedonia was ruled by
Antipater, Ptolemy reconstituted the Egyptian kingdom, and Seleucus ruled the
Asian parts of Alexander's realms. In fact, the Seleucid empire was a continuation
of the Achaemenid empire.(...)
Jona Lendering, ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Livius Ancient History Website URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
Last native dynasty to reign in Persia before the Arab conquest.
The name 'Sassanids' is derived from a Persian priest named Sassan,
the ancestor of the dynasty. One of his sons was Papak, who dethroned the king
of Persia, Artabazus V, in 224 CE. The capital of the new king was Istakhr, not
far from ancient Persepolis.
At that moment, Persia was a vassal of the Parthian empire, but Papak's
son Ardasir I, who succeeded his father, did not behave himself as was expected
from a vassal. War broke out between him and his overlord. Ardasir was successful:
in 226, he took Ctesiphon, the capital of the Parthian empire. This meant the
end of Parthia and the beginning of the Sassanid empire. Ctesiphon became the
city where the Sassanid kings were to be inaugurated; Ardasir wanted to be called
'king of kings', the title that had been used by the Parthian kings and -centuries
ago- the Achaemenid rulers of Persia.
Under the descendants of the priest Sassan, Zoroastrianism became
the state religion. In their inscriptions, the Sassanid kings describe themselves
as 'Mazda-worshipping kings', i.e., believers in the supreme god Ahuramazda. King
Ardasir conferred many privileges to the Magians, the religious specialists of
Zoroastrianism, who gained great political power. For example, they played a role
in the inauguration ceremony in Ctesiphon, served as judges and served as tax
collectors.
As a consequence, there was little room for new religious ideas. Christians
were persecuted, and the prophet Mani (216-276), who had tried to combine Christianity
and Zoroastrianism, was crucified. When the Roman empire, the arch-enemy of the
Sassanid empire, had become Christian, the persecution of the Christians increased;
being a Christian was considered treason.
It should be noted, however, that the Zoroastrianism of the Sassanid
age was not the 'pure' monotheism that it had once been. Ahuramazda was no longer
the omnipotent creator of the world, but one of two gods. His rival Angra Mainyu,
who had always been a mere creature of the supreme god, was now considered Ahuramazda's
equal. Evil was, therefore, no longer an accidental mistake in the creation, but
an eternal cosmological force. Of course, Angra Mainyu was not worshipped, but
the recognition of his independent existence meant the end of pure monotheism.
Moreover, two other gods were venerated: the mother goddess Anahita and the sun-god
Mithras.
The conflict with Rome,
which had started in 231 with some fighting on the Euphrates, escalated under
Ardasir's son and successor Shapur I (241-272). He made territorial claims: he
wanted to restore the Achaemenian empire and demanded all Roman territories in
Asia, a claim that was implied in his title 'king of Iran and non-Iran'. After
he had invaded Syria and
looted Antioch, a Roman counterattack
was inevitable. The emperor Gordian III invaded Iraq and was very successful,
but he died during a battle near Ctesiphon (244). His successor, Philip the Arab,
was forced to conclude a shameful peace treaty.
A second war was even more disastrous to the Romans. Their emperor
Valerian was not just defeated, Shapur even captured the luckless Roman leader
(260). The other captive Romans were settled in a city that was called Veh-Antiok-Shapur,
'Shapur's city, better than Antioch'. The humiliation could not be more complete.
However, under the emperor Diocletian (284-305), the Romans restored their fortunes
and in 298, a peace treaty was concluded in which the Persians had to give up
territories in northern Mesopotamia.
Rome was not the only enemy. Shapur also attacked the Kushans, who
ruled the region known as Gandara, the valley of the river Kabul. The Persians
took their capital Peshawar and deposed the ruling dynasty.
The loot of Peshawar and Antioch was put to good use. Surveys in Iran
have shown that large tracts of previously unused land came under cultivation.
New trade routes with India and Arabia were opened, and new banking systems were
developed (our word 'cheque' has a Persian root).
The conflict with Rome remained an unsolved problem. Sometimes it
was just smouldering, sometimes it was blazing. King Shapur II (309-379) attacked
the Roman possessions in Mesopotamia, and defeated and killed the Roman emperor
Julian who had come to punish the attacker (363). The Romans were forced to give
up the conquests of 298. Like his namesake, Shapur II also attacked the Kushan
kingdom, which he overthrew. The sphere of influence of the Sassanid empire now
reached to the borders of China.
Shapur also invaded Arabia. Other enemies were the so-called White Huns, who invaded
the Sassanid empire during the fifth century.
After the reign of Shapur II, the western front became settled. There
were many wars, but no large-scale conflicts. E.g., the city of Nisibis was besieged
frequently by both parties, but the neighboring provinces were left alone. The
Byzantine historian Procopius (507-c.556) suggests that full-scale war was meaningless
because the frontier zone had become too devastated. It is true that the Roman
emperor Theodosius II defeated the Sassanid king Bahram V, but this did not mean
the end of Persia; Bahram was still able to defeat the White Huns. In 451, Yazdgard
II invaded the Roman province Armenia;
and Khusrau I invaded both Armenia and Syria,
but in the end, the borders remained unchanged.
The final struggle of the Roman empire -now called Byzantium- and
Persia started under Khusrau II 'the victorious' (590-628). Again, the Sassanids
were the aggressor. The Byzantines were weakened, because Italy had been invaded
by the Langobards, the Slavs were taking hold of the Balkans, and Andalusia was
lost to the Visigoths. It was the perfect moment to attack the Byzantine empire,
and Khusrau acted accordingly. His armies ravaged the cities of Syria and sacked
Jerusalem in 614. (The Jews
welcomed the Persians, because the Christians had often persecuted them.) One
of the objects the Persians took away was the relic of the True Cross.
Khusrau's armies went on to invade Egypt
-Alexandria was captured
in 619- and in 626, their advance-guards paused only a mile from Constantinople.
The Persians even raided Cyprus
and occupied Rhodes. It seemed
as if the Achaemenian empire was restored.
However, the Byzantine emperor Heraclius was to prove a match for
Khusrau. He took some time to train an army, and in 627, he successfully invaded
Assyria and Mesopotamia.
His campaign was extremely successful: he did not even return to his own empire
during the winter, but stayed far behind the enemy lines. The Persian army mutinied
and Khusrau was murdered (November 628). His successor Ardasir III made peace
and the relic of the True Cross was restored to Jerusalem.
Heraclius' victory meant the end of Persia. There were four Sassanid
kings in four years, and because there was no real authority, the Arabs -Muslims-
were able to defeat the Persians, who were still Zoroastrians. The last Persian
king was Yazdgard III, whose reign began in 632. In 636, the Arabs took Ctesiphon,
and in 651, the last Sassanian king died as a fugitive.
The lasting heritage of the Sassanid empire is the Avesta, the holy
book of Zoroastrianism. Under Khusrau II, the Zoroastrian high priest Tansar established
the canon of religious texts. It contained hymns of great antiquity and younger
texts, but also books on cosmogony and law, a biography of the prophet Zarathustra,
apocalypses and several expositions of doctrine. Although parts of this codex
were destroyed by the Muslims, the remainder still inspires thousands of people.
Jona Lendering, ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Livius Ancient History Website URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
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