History of Ancient Persia
From approximately 600 to 559, Cambyses I ruled in Persia, who was a vassal of the Median kings.
In 558 BC. e. Cyrus II, the son of Cambyses I, became king of the settled Persian tribes, among which the Pasargadae played a leading role. The center of the Persian state was located around the city of Pasargadae, the intensive construction of which dates back to initial period reign of Cyrus. The social organization of Persia at that time can be judged only in the most general terms. The main social unit was a large patriarchal family, the head of which had unlimited power over all his relatives. The clan (and later rural) community, uniting a number of families, remained a powerful force for many centuries. The clans were united into tribes.
When Cyrus II became king of Persia, there remained four major powers in the entire Middle East, namely Egypt, Babylonia, Media and Lydia.
In 553, Cyrus rebelled against the Median king Astyages, from whom the Persians had been a vassal until that time. The war lasted three years and ended in 550 with the complete victory of the Persians. Ecbatana, the capital of the former Median power, now became one of the royal residences of Cyrus. Having conquered Media, Cyrus formally preserved the Median kingdom and adopted the official titles of the Median kings: “great king, king of kings, king of countries.”
From the time of the capture of Media, Persia entered the broad arena of world history in order to play a leading political role in it over the next two centuries.
Around 549, the entire territory of Elam was captured by the Persians. In 549 - 548 the Persians subjugated the countries that were part of the former Median state, namely Parthia, Hyrcania and, probably, Armenia.
Meanwhile, Croesus, the ruler of the powerful Lydian kingdom in Asia Minor, watched with concern the rapid successes of Cyrus and began to prepare for the upcoming war. On the initiative of the Egyptian pharaoh Amasis, around 549, an alliance was concluded between Egypt and Lydia. Soon Croesus concluded an agreement for assistance with Sparta, the most powerful state in Greece. However, the allies did not realize that it was necessary to act immediately and decisively, and meanwhile Persia was becoming more powerful every day.
At the end of October 547, near the river. Halys, in Asia Minor, a bloody battle took place between the Persians and Lydians, but it ended in vain, and neither side risked immediately entering into a new battle.
Croesus retreated to his capital Sardis and, deciding to prepare more thoroughly for war, approached the king of Babylonia, Nabonidus, with a proposal to conclude a military alliance. At the same time, Croesus sent messengers to Sparta with a request to send an army by spring (i.e., in about five months) to give the Persians a decisive battle. Croesus made the same request to other allies and, until the spring, disbanded the mercenaries who served in his army.
However, Cyrus, who was aware of the actions and intentions of Croesus, decided to take the enemy by surprise and, having quickly traveled several hundred kilometers, found himself at the gates of Sardis, the inhabitants of which did not at all expect such an attack.
Croesus led his supposedly invincible cavalry onto the plain in front of Sardis. On the advice of one of his generals, Cyrus placed all the camels traveling in the convoy ahead of his army, having previously placed the soldiers on them. The Lydian horses, seeing animals unfamiliar to them and smelling their scent, fled. However, the Lydian horsemen were not at a loss, jumped off their horses and began to fight on foot. A fierce battle took place, in which, however, the forces were unequal. Under pressure from superior enemy forces, the Lydians had to retreat and flee to Sardis, where they were besieged in an impregnable fortress.
Believing that the siege would be long, Croesus sent messengers to Sparta, Babylon and Egypt asking for immediate help. Of the allies, only the Spartans more or less willingly responded to the plea of the Lydian king and prepared an army to be sent on ships, but soon received news that Sardis had already fallen.
The siege of Sardis lasted only 14 days. The attempt to take the city by storm ended in failure. But one observant warrior from the army of Cyrus, who belonged to the mountain tribe of the Mards, noticed how a warrior descended from the fortress along a steep and inaccessible rock to pick up a fallen helmet, and then climbed back up. This part of the fortress was considered completely impregnable and therefore was not guarded by the Lydians. Mard climbed up the rock and was followed by other warriors. The city was taken and Croesus was captured (546).
After the capture of Lydia, it was the turn of the Greek cities of Asia Minor. The inhabitants of these cities sent messengers to Sparta asking for help. Danger threatened all the Greeks of Asia Minor, except for the inhabitants of Miletus, who had submitted to Cyrus in advance, and the island Hellenes, since the Persians did not yet have a fleet.
When the messengers of the cities of Asia Minor arrived in Sparta and stated their request, the Spartans refused to help them. Cyrus decided to entrust the conquest of the Greeks and other peoples of Asia Minor to one of his generals. The Persian Tabal was appointed governor of Lydia, and Cyrus himself went to Ecbatana to consider plans for campaigns against Babylonia, Bactria, the Saks and Egypt.
Taking advantage of Cyrus's departure to Ecbatana, the inhabitants of Sardis, led by the Lydian Pactius, who was entrusted with guarding the royal treasury, rebelled. They besieged the Persian garrison led by Tabal in the fortress of Sardis and persuaded the coastal Greek cities to send their military detachments to help the rebels.
To suppress the uprising, Cyrus sent an army led by the Mede Mazars, who was also ordered to disarm the Lydians and enslave the inhabitants of Greek cities who helped the rebels.
Pactius, having learned about the approach of the Persian army, fled with his followers, and this was the end of the uprising. Mazar began the conquest of the Greek cities of Asia Minor. Soon Mazar died of illness, and the Mede Harpagus was appointed in his place. He began to build high embankments near walled Greek cities and then take them by storm. Thus, Harpagus soon subjugated all Asia Minor, and the Greeks lost their military dominance in the Aegean Sea. Now Cyrus, if necessary, could use Greek ships in the navy.
Between 545 and 539 BC e. Cyrus subjugated Drangiana, Margiana, Khorezm, Sogdiana, Bactria, Areia, Gedrosia, the Central Asian Sakas, Sattagidia, Arachosia and Gandhara. Thus, Persian rule reached the northwestern borders of India, the southern spurs of the Hindu Kush and the river basin. Yaxart (Syr Darya). Only after he had succeeded in reaching the furthest extent of his conquests in a north-easterly direction did Cyrus move against Babylonia.
In the spring of 539 BC. e. The Persian army set out on a campaign and began to advance down the river valley. Diyala. In August 539, near the city of Opis near the Tigris, the Persians defeated the Babylonian army, commanded by Nabonidus' son Bel-shar-utsur. The Persians then crossed the Tigris south of Opis and surrounded Sippar. Nabonidus himself led the defense of Sippar. The Persians met only insignificant resistance from the garrison of the city, and Nabonidus himself fled from it. On October 10, 539, Sippar fell into the hands of the Persians, and two days later the Persian army entered Babylon without a fight. To organize the defense of the capital, Nabonidus hurried there, but the city was already in enemy hands, and the Babylonian king was captured. On October 20, 539, Cyrus himself entered Babylon and was given a solemn meeting.
After the capture of Babylonia, all countries to the west of it and to the borders of Egypt voluntarily submitted to the Persians.
In 530, Cyrus launched a campaign against the Massagetae, a nomadic tribe that lived on the plains north of Hyrcania and east of the Caspian Sea. These tribes repeatedly carried out predatory raids on the territory of the Persian state. To eliminate the danger of such invasions, Cyrus first created a number of border fortifications in the extreme northeast of his state. However, then, during a battle east of the Amu Darya, he was completely defeated by the Massagetae and died. This battle most likely took place at the very beginning of August. In any case, by the end of August 530, the news of the death of Cyrus reached distant Babylon.
Herodotus says that Cyrus first took possession of the Massaget camp by cunning and killed them. But then the main forces of the Massagetae, led by Queen Tomiris, inflicted a heavy defeat on the Persians, and Cyrus’s severed head was thrown into a bag filled with blood. Herodotus also writes that this battle was the most brutal of all the battles in which the “barbarians” took part, i.e. non-Greeks. According to him, the Persians lost 200,000 people killed in this war (of course, this figure is greatly exaggerated).
After the death of Cyrus in 530, his eldest son Cambyses II became king of the Persian state. Soon after ascending the throne, he began to prepare for an attack on Egypt.
After a long military and diplomatic preparation, as a result of which Egypt found itself in complete isolation, Cambyses set out on a campaign. The land army received support from the fleet of the Phoenician cities, which submitted to the Persians back in 538. The Persian army safely reached the Egyptian border city of Pelusium (40 km from modern Port Said). In the spring of 525, the only major battle took place there. In it, both sides suffered heavy losses, and the Persians won. The remnants of the Egyptian army and mercenaries fled in disarray to the capital of the country, Memphis.
The winners moved into the interior of Egypt by sea and land, meeting no resistance. The commander of the Egyptian fleet, Ujagorresent, did not give orders to resist the enemy and surrendered the city of Sais and his fleet without a fight. Cambyses sent a ship with a messenger to Memphis, demanding the surrender of the city. But the Egyptians attacked the ship and slaughtered its entire crew along with the royal messenger. After this, the siege of the city began, and the Egyptians had to surrender. 2,000 inhabitants were executed in retaliation for the murder of the royal messenger. Now all of Egypt was in the hands of the Persians. The Libyan tribes living west of Egypt, as well as the Greeks of Cyrenaica and the city of Barca, voluntarily submitted to Cambyses and sent gifts.
By the end of August 525, Cambyses was officially recognized as king of Egypt. He founded a new, XXVII dynasty of pharaohs of Egypt. According to official Egyptian sources, Cambyses gave his capture the character of a personal union with the Egyptians, was crowned according to Egyptian customs, used the traditional Egyptian dating system, took the title "king of Egypt, king of countries" and the traditional titles of the pharaohs "descendant of [the gods] Ra, Osiris" and etc. He participated in religious ceremonies in the temple of the goddess Neith in Sais, made sacrifices to the Egyptian gods and showed them other signs of attention. On reliefs from Egypt, Cambyses is depicted in Egyptian costume. To give the seizure of Egypt a legal character, legends were created about the birth of Cambyses from the marriage of Cyrus with the Egyptian princess Nitetis, the daughter of the pharaoh.
Soon after the Persian conquest, Egypt began to live a normal life again. Legal and administrative documents from Cambyses' time indicate that the first years of Persian rule did not cause significant damage to the economic life of the country. True, immediately after the capture of Egypt, the Persian army committed robberies, but Cambyses ordered his soldiers to stop them, leave the temple areas and compensate for the damage caused. Following the policy of Cyrus, Cambyses granted the Egyptians freedom in religious and private life. The Egyptians, like representatives of other nations, continued to hold their positions in the state apparatus and passed them on by inheritance.
Having captured Egypt, Cambyses began to prepare for a campaign against the country of the Ethiopians (Nubia). To this end, he founded several fortified cities in Upper Egypt. According to Herodotus, Cambyses invaded Ethiopia without sufficient preparation, without food supplies, cannibalism began in his army, and he was forced to retreat.
While Cambyses was in Nubia, the Egyptians, aware of his failures, rebelled against Persian rule. At the end of 524, Cambyses returned to the administrative capital of Egypt, Memphis, and began harsh reprisals against the rebels. The instigator of the uprising, former pharaoh Psammetichus III, was executed, and the country was pacified.
While Cambyses was in Egypt for three years, unrest began in his homeland. In March 522, while in Memphis, he received news that his younger brother Bardia had rebelled in Persia and become king. Cambyses headed to Persia, but died en route under mysterious circumstances, before he could regain power.
If you believe the Behistun inscription of Darius I, in fact Bardia was killed by order of Cambyses even before the conquest of Egypt and a certain magician Gaumata seized the throne in Persia, posing as the youngest son of Cyrus. It is unlikely that we will ever know for sure whether this king was Bardiya or a usurper who took someone else's name.
On September 29, 522, after seven months of reign, Gaumata was killed by conspirators as a result of a surprise attack by representatives of the seven most noble families of the Persians. Darius, one of these conspirators, became king of the Achaemenid state.
Immediately after the seizure of the throne by Darius I, Babylonia rebelled against him, where, according to the Behistun inscription, a certain Nidintu-Bel declared himself the son of the last Babylonian king Nabonidus and began to reign under the name Nebuchadnezzar III. Darius personally led the campaign against the rebels. December 13, 522 at the river. The Tigris Babylonians were defeated, and five days later Darius won a new victory in the area of Zazana near the Euphrates. After this, the Persians entered Babylon, and the leaders of the rebels were executed.
While Darius was busy with punitive actions in Babylonia, Persia, Media, Elam, Margiana, Parthia, Sattagidia, the Saka tribes of Central Asia and Egypt rebelled against him. A long, cruel and bloody struggle began to restore the state.
The satrap of Bactria Dadarshish moved against the rebels in Margiana, and on December 10, 522 the Margianas were defeated. This was followed by a massacre, during which the punitive forces killed more than 55 thousand people.
In Persia itself, a certain Vahyazdata acted as a rival to Darius under the name of the son of Cyrus, Bardin, and found great support among the people. He also managed to capture the eastern Iranian regions up to Arachosia. On December 29, 522, at the Kapishakanish fortress and on February 21, 521, in the Gandutava region in Arachosia, the troops of Vahyazdat entered into battle with the army of Darius. Apparently, these battles did not bring a decisive victory to either side, and Darius' army defeated the enemy only in March of that year. But in Persia itself, Vahyazdata still remained the master of the situation, and Darius’s supporters won a decisive victory over him at Mount Parga in Persia only on July 16, 521. Vahyazdata was captured and, together with his closest supporters, impaled.
But in other countries, uprisings continued. The first uprising in Elam was suppressed quite easily, and the leader of the rebels, Assina, was captured and executed. However, soon a certain Martya raised a new uprising in Elam. When Darius managed to restore his power in this country, almost all of Media ended up in the hands of Fravartis, who claimed that he was Khshatrita from the family of the ancient Median king Cyaxares. This uprising was one of the most dangerous for Darius, and he himself opposed the rebels. On May 7, 521, a major battle took place near the city of Kundurush in Media. The Medes were defeated, and Fravartish with part of his followers fled to the region of Raga in Media. But he was soon captured and brought to Darius, who brutally dealt with him. He cut off Fravartish's nose, ears and tongue and gouged out his eyes. After this, he was taken to Ecbatana and impaled there. Fravartish's closest assistants were also brought to Ecbatana and imprisoned in a fortress, and then flayed.
In other countries, the fight against the rebels was still ongoing. In various regions of Armenia, Darius’s commanders tried for a long time, but unsuccessfully, to pacify the rebels. The first major battle took place on December 31, 522 in the area of Izala. Then Darius's troops avoided active action until May 21, 521, when they took battle in the area of Zuzakhia. Six days later it happened near the river. Tiger new battle. But it was still not possible to break the tenacity of the rebel Armenians, and in addition to the troops of Darius, who was operating in Armenia, a new army was sent. After this, they managed to defeat the rebels in battle in the area of Autiara, and on June 21, 521, the Armenians near Mount Uyama suffered a new defeat.
Meanwhile, Vishtaspa, the father of Darius, who was the satrap of Parthia and Hyrcania, avoided battle with the rebels for many months. In March 521, the battle near the city of Vishpauzatish in Parthia did not bring him victory. Only in the summer was Darius able to send a sufficiently large army to help Vishtaspa, and after this, on July 12, 521, near the city of Patigraban in Parthia, the rebels were defeated.
But a month later the Babylonians made a new attempt to achieve independence. Now the head of the uprising was Urart Arakha, who pretended to be Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabonidus (Nebuchadnezzar IV). Darius sent an army led by one of his closest associates against the Babylonians, and on November 27, 521, Arahi’s army was defeated, and he and his comrades were executed.
This was the last major uprising, although there was still unrest in the state. Now, a little over a year after seizing power, Darius was able to strengthen his position and soon after restored the power of Cyrus and Cambyses to its old borders.
Between 519 - 512 the Persians conquered Thrace, Macedonia and the northwestern part of India. This was the time of the highest power of the Persian state, the borders of which began to extend from the river. Indus in the east to the Aegean Sea in the west, from Armenia in the north to Ethiopia in the south. Thus, a world power arose that united dozens of countries and peoples under the rule of the Persian kings.
In terms of its socio-economic structure, the Achaemenid state was distinguished by great diversity. It included the regions of Asia Minor, Elam, Babylonia, Syria, Phenicia and Egypt, which long before the emergence of the Persian Empire had their own state institutions. Along with the listed economically developed countries, the Persians also conquered backward nomadic Arab, Scythian and other tribes that were at the stage of decomposition of the tribal system.
Uprisings 522 - 521 showed the weakness of the Persian power and the ineffectiveness of governing the conquered countries. Therefore, around 519, Darius I carried out important administrative and financial reforms, which made it possible to create a stable system of government and control over the conquered peoples, streamlined the collection of taxes from them and increased the contingents of troops. As a result of these reforms being implemented in Babylonia, Egypt and other countries, an essentially new administrative system was created, which did not undergo significant changes until the end of the Achaemenid rule.
Darius I divided the state into administrative and tax districts, which were called satrapies. As a rule, the satrapies were larger in size than the provinces of earlier empires, and in some cases the borders of the satrapies coincided with the old state and ethnographic borders of the countries that were part of the Achaemenid state (for example, Egypt).
The new administrative districts were headed by satraps. The position of satrap existed since the emergence of the Achaemenid state, but under Cyrus, Cambyses and in the first years of the reign of Darius, local officials were governors in many countries, as was the case in the Assyrian and Median empires. Darius's reforms, in particular, were aimed at concentrating leadership positions in the hands of the Persians, and Persians were now, as a rule, appointed to the position of satraps.
Further, under Cyrus and Cambyses, civil and military functions were united in the hands of the same person, namely, the satrap. Darius limited the power of the satrap, establishing a clear division of the functions of satraps and military authorities. Now the satraps became only civil governors and stood at the head of the administration of their region, exercised judicial power, monitored the economic life of the country and the receipt of taxes, ensured security within the borders of their satrapy, controlled local officials and had the right to mint silver coins. In peacetime, the satraps had only a small personal guard at their disposal. As for the army, it was subordinate to military leaders who were independent of the satraps and reported directly to the king. However, after the death of Darius I, this requirement for the division of military and civil functions was not strictly observed.
In connection with the implementation of new reforms, a large central apparatus was created, headed by the royal office. The central government administration was located in the administrative capital of the Achaemenid state - Susa. Many high-ranking officials and minor officials from various parts of the state, from Egypt to India, came to Susa on state affairs. Not only in Susa, but also in Babylon, Ecbatana, Memphis and other cities there were large state offices with a large staff of scribes.
Satraps and military leaders were closely associated with the central government and were under constant control of the king and his officials, especially the secret police ("the ears and eyes of the king"). Supreme control over the entire state and supervision over all officials were entrusted to Hazarapatu(“chief of a thousand”), who was also the head of the king’s personal guard.
The satrap's office exactly copied the royal office in Susa. Under the command of the satrap there were many officials and scribes, including the head of the office, the head of the treasury, who accepted state taxes, heralds who reported state orders, accountants, judicial investigators, etc.
Already under Cyrus II, state offices in the western part of the Achaemenid state used the Aramaic language, and later, when Darius carried out his administrative reforms, this language became official in the eastern satrapies and was used for communication between state offices throughout the empire. From the center, official documents in Aramaic were sent throughout the state. Having received these documents locally, scribes who knew two or more languages translated them into the native language of those regional leaders who did not speak Aramaic.
In addition to the Aramaic language common to the entire state, scribes in various countries also used local languages to compile official documents. For example, in Egypt the administration was bilingual, and along with Aramaic, the Late Egyptian language (the language of demotic documents) was also used to communicate with the local population.
The Persian nobility occupied a special position in the state. She owned large land holdings in Egypt, Syria, Babylonia, Asia Minor and other countries. A vivid picture of farms of this type is given by letters from the satrap of Egypt in the 5th century. BC e. Arsham and other noble Persian nobles as their managers. These letters are mostly instructions on the management of the estates. Arshama had large land holdings not only in Lower and Upper Egypt, but also in six different countries on the route from Elam to Egypt.
The so-called “benefactors” of the tsar, who rendered great services to the latter, also received huge land holdings (sometimes entire regions) with the right of hereditary transfer and exemption from taxes. They even had the right to judge people living in the areas that belonged to him.
The owners of large estates had their own army and judicial-administrative apparatus with a whole staff of managers, heads of treasuries, scribes, accountants, etc. These large landowners usually lived in large cities - Babylon, Susa, etc., far from the countryside, on income from land holdings that were under the control of their managers.
Finally, part of the land was actually owned by the king; compared to the previous period under the Achaemenids, the size of the royal land increased sharply. These lands were usually leased. So, for example, according to a contract drawn up in 420 near Nippur, a representative of the business house Murash turned to the manager of the king’s crop fields, located along the banks of several canals, with a request to lease one field to him for a period of three years. The tenant agreed to pay annually as rent 220 hens of barley (1 hen - 180 l), 20 hens of wheat, 10 hens of emmer, as well as one bull and 10 rams.
In addition, the king owned many large canals. The king's managers usually rented out these canals. In the vicinity of Nippur, the royal canals were rented by the house of Murash, who, in turn, subleased them to groups of small landowners. For example, in 439, seven landowners entered into a contract with three tenants of the royal canal, including the house of Murashu. Under this contract, the subtenants were given the right to irrigate their fields for three days each month with water from the canal. For this they had to pay 1/3 of the harvest.
The Persian kings owned the Akes Canal in Central Asia, forests in Syria, income from fishing in Lake Merida in Egypt, mines, as well as gardens, parks and palaces in various parts of the state. A certain idea of the size of the royal economy can be given by the fact that in Persepolis about 15,000 people were fed daily at the expense of the king.
Under the Achaemenids, such a system of land use was widely used, when the king planted his warriors on the land, who cultivated the plots allocated for them collectively, in whole groups, served military service and paid a certain cash and in-kind taxes. These allotments were called allotments of bow, horse, chariot, etc., and their owners were required to perform military service as archers, horsemen and charioteers.
In the most developed countries of the Persian state, slave labor was quite widely used in the main sectors of the economy. Besides, a large number of slaves were used to perform various types homework.
When the owners could not use slaves in agriculture or the workshop, or considered such use unprofitable, the slaves were often left to their own devices with the payment of a certain standardized quitrent from the peculium that the slave owned. Slaves could dispose of their peculium as free people, lend, mortgage or lease property, etc. Slaves could not only participate in the economic life of the country, but also have their own seals and act as witnesses when concluding various business transactions between free and slaves. In legal life, slaves could act as full-fledged people and sue among themselves or with free people (but, of course, not with their masters). At the same time, apparently, there were no differences in the approach to protecting the interests of slaves and freemen. Further, slaves, like freemen, testified about crimes committed by other slaves and freemen, including their own masters.
Debt slavery in Achaemenid times was not widespread, at least in the most developed countries. Cases of self-mortgage, not to mention selling oneself into slavery, were a relatively rare occurrence. But in Babylonia, Judea and Egypt, children could be given as collateral. In case of failure to pay the debt on time, the creditor could turn the debtor's children into slaves. However, the husband could not give his wife as collateral, at least in Elam, Babylonia and Egypt. In these countries, a woman enjoyed a certain freedom and had her own property, which she could dispose of herself. In Egypt, a woman even had the right to divorce, unlike Babylonia, Judea and other countries where only a man had such a right.
In general, there were relatively few slaves in relation to the number of free people even in the most developed countries, and their labor was not able to displace the labor of free workers. The basis of agriculture was the labor of free farmers and tenants, and the craft was also dominated by the labor of a free artisan, whose occupation was usually inherited in the family.
Temples and private individuals were forced to resort on a large scale to the use of skilled labor of free workers in crafts, agriculture and, especially, to perform difficult types of work (irrigation structures, construction work, etc.). There were especially many hired workers in Babylonia, where they often worked on the construction of canals or in the fields in parties of several dozen or several hundred people. Some of the mercenaries who worked in the temple farms of Babylonia consisted of Elamites who came to this country during the harvest.
Compared to the western satrapies of the Achaemenid state, slavery in Persia had a number of unique features. At the time of the emergence of their state, the Persians knew only patriarchal slavery, and slave labor did not yet have serious economic significance.
Documents in the Elamite language, compiled at the end of the 6th - first half of the 5th century. BC e., contain exceptionally abundant information about the workers of the royal economy in Iran, who were called kurtash. Among them were men, women and teenagers of both sexes. At least some of the Kurtash lived in families. In most cases, the kurtash worked in groups of several hundred people, and some documents speak of parties of kurtash of more than a thousand people.
Kurtash worked on the royal farm all year round. Most of them were occupied construction work in Persepolis. Among them were workers of all specialties (stonemasons, carpenters, sculptors, blacksmiths, inlay makers, etc.). At the same time, at least 4,000 people were employed in construction work in Persepolis; the construction of the royal residence continued for 50 years. An idea of the scale of this work can be given by the fact that already preparatory stage about 135,000 sq.m. needed to be converted. m. of uneven rock surface into a platform of a certain architectural shape.
Many kurtash worked outside Persepolis. These were mainly sheep shepherds, winemakers and brewers, and also, in all likelihood, ploughmen.
As for the legal status and social status of the Kurtash, a significant part of them consisted of prisoners of war who were forcibly taken to Iran. Among the Kurtash there were also a number of subjects of the Persian king who served their labor service for a whole year. Apparently, the Kurtash can be considered semi-free people planted on royal land.
The main source of government revenue was taxes.
Under Cyrus and Cambyses, there was not yet a firmly settled system of taxes based on taking into account the economic capabilities of the countries that were part of the Persian state. Subject peoples delivered gifts or paid taxes, which were paid, at least in part, in kind.
Around 519, Darius I established a system of state taxes. All satrapies were obliged to pay strictly fixed monetary taxes for each region, established taking into account the size of the cultivated land and its fertility.
As for the Persians themselves, they, as the dominant people, did not pay monetary taxes, but were not exempt from natural supplies. The remaining nations paid a total of about 7,740 Babylonian talents of silver per year (1 talent was equal to 30 kg). Most of this amount was paid by the peoples of the most economically developed countries: Asia Minor, Babylonia, Syria, Phenicia and Egypt. Only a few churches received tax exemption.
Although the system of gifts was also preserved, the latter were by no means voluntary. The size of gifts was also set, but unlike taxes, they were paid in kind. At the same time, the overwhelming majority of subjects paid taxes, and gifts were delivered only by peoples living on the borders of the empire (Kolki, Ethiopians, Arabs, etc.).
The amounts of taxes established under Darius I remained unchanged until the end of the existence of the Achaemenid state, despite significant economic changes in the countries subject to the Persians. The situation of taxpayers was especially negatively affected by the fact that in order to pay taxes they had to borrow money against the security of real estate or family members.
After 517 BC e. Darius I introduced a single monetary unit for the entire empire, which formed the basis of the Achaemenid monetary system, namely the gold darik weighing 8.4 g. Theoretically, the medium of exchange was a silver shekel weighing 5.6 g, equal in value to 1/20 of the darik and minted as the main way in the Asia Minor satrapies. Both the darik and the shekels bore the image of the Persian king.
Silver coins were also minted by the Persian satraps in their residences, and the Greek cities of Asia Minor to pay mercenaries during military campaigns, and autonomous cities, and dependent kings.
However, Persian coins were little used outside Asia Minor and even in the Phoenician-Palestinian world of the 4th century. BC e. played a minor role. Before the conquests of Alexander the Great, the use of coins almost did not extend to countries far from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. For example, minted coins under the Achaemenids did not yet circulate in Babylonia and were used only for trade with Greek cities. Approximately the same situation was in Egypt of the Achaemenid period, where silver was weighed with the “royal stone” when paying, as well as in Persia itself, where workers of the royal economy received payment in uncoined silver.
The ratio of gold to silver in the Achaemenid state was 1 to 13 1/3. The precious metal, which belonged to the state, was subject to minting only at the discretion of the king, and most of it was stored in ingots. Thus, the money received as state taxes was deposited in the royal treasuries for many decades and was withdrawn from circulation, only a small part of this money came back as wages to mercenaries, as well as for the maintenance of the court and administration. Therefore, for trade there was not enough minted coins and even precious metals in bullion. This caused great harm to the development of commodity-money relations and forced them to maintain a subsistence economy or forced them to resort to direct exchange of goods.
In the Achaemenid state there were several large caravan roads that connected areas that were many hundreds of kilometers apart from each other. One such road began in Lydia, crossed Asia Minor and continued to Babylon. Another road went from Babylon to Susa and further to Persepolis and Pasargadae. The caravan road, which connected Babylon with Ecbatana and continued further to Bactria and the Indian borders, was also of great importance.
After 518, by order of Darius I, the canal from the Nile to Suez was restored, which had existed under Necho, but later became unnavigable. This canal connected Egypt by a short route through the Red Sea with Persia, and thus a road was also built to India. The expedition of the sailor Skilak to India in 518 was also of no small importance for strengthening trade ties.
To develop trade great importance There were also differences in the nature and climatic conditions of the countries that were part of the Achaemenid state. Babylonia’s trade with Egypt, Syria, Elam and Asia Minor became especially lively, where Babylonian merchants bought iron, copper, tin, scaffolding and semi-precious stones. From Egypt and Syria, the Babylonians exported alum for bleaching wool and clothing, as well as for glass production and medicinal purposes. Egypt supplied grain and linen to Greek cities, buying wine and olive oil from them in return. In addition, Egypt provided gold and ivory, and Lebanon - cedar wood. Silver was delivered from Anatolia, copper from Cyprus, and copper and limestone were exported from the upper Tigris regions. Gold, ivory and incense wood were imported from India, gold from Arabia, lapis lazuli and carnelian from Sogdiana, and turquoise from Khorezm. Siberian gold came from Bactria to the countries of the Achaemenid Empire. Ceramics were exported from mainland Greece to the countries of the East.
The existence of the Achaemenid state largely depended on the army. The core of the army were Persians and Medes. Most of the adult male population of the Persians were warriors. They began to serve, apparently, at the age of 20. In the wars waged by the Achaemenids, eastern Iranians also played a major role. In particular, the Saka tribes supplied for the Achaemenids a significant number of horse archers accustomed to constant military life. The highest positions in garrisons, at main strategic points, in fortresses, etc., were usually in the hands of the Persians.
The army consisted of cavalry and infantry. The cavalry was recruited from the nobility, and the infantry from the farmers. The combined actions of cavalry and archers ensured victories for the Persians in many wars. The archers disrupted the enemy's ranks, and after that the cavalry destroyed him. The main weapon of the Persian army was the bow.
Since the 5th century. BC BC, when, due to class stratification, the position of the agricultural population in Persia began to deteriorate, the Persian infantry began to retreat into the background, and they were gradually replaced by Greek mercenaries, who played a large role due to their technical superiority, training and experience.
The backbone of the army was 10 thousand “immortal” warriors, the first thousand of whom consisted exclusively of representatives of the Persian nobility and were the king’s personal guard. They were armed with spears. The remaining regiments of the “immortals” consisted of representatives of various Iranian tribes, as well as Elamites.
Troops were stationed in conquered countries to prevent uprisings by conquered peoples. The composition of these troops was varied, but they usually did not include residents of the area.
On the borders of the state, the Achaemenids planted warriors, giving them land plots. Of the military garrisons of this type, we know best of all the Elephantine military colony, created for guard and military service on the borders of Egypt and Nubia. The Elephantine garrison included Persians, Medes, Carians, Khorezmians, etc., but the bulk of this garrison were Jewish settlers who had served there under the Egyptian pharaohs.
Military colonies similar to the Elephantine one were also located in Thebes, Memphis and other cities of Egypt. Arameans, Jews, Phoenicians and other Semites served in the garrisons of these colonies. Such garrisons were a strong support for Persian rule and during the uprisings of the conquered peoples they remained loyal to the Achaemenids.
During the most important military campaigns (for example, the war of Xerxes with the Greeks), all the peoples of the Achaemenid state were obliged to provide a certain number of soldiers.
Under Darius I, the Persians began to play a dominant role at sea. Naval Wars were carried out by the Achaemenids with the help of ships of the Phoenicians, Cypriots, inhabitants of the islands of the Aegean Sea and other maritime peoples, as well as the Egyptian fleet.
In the VI century. BC e. Economically and culturally, among the Greek regions, the leading role belonged not to the Balkan Peninsula, but to the Greek colonies that were part of the Persian Empire on the coast of Asia Minor: Miletus, Ephesus, etc. These colonies had fertile lands, handicraft production flourished in them, the markets of the vast Persian state are accessible.
In 500 there was an uprising against Persian rule in Miletus. Greek cities in the south and north of Asia Minor joined the rebels. The leader of the uprising, Aristagoras, in 499 turned to the mainland Greeks for help. The Spartans refused any help, citing the distance. Aristagoras's mission failed, since only the Athenians and Eretrians on the island of Euboea responded to the call of the rebels, but they also sent only a small number of ships. The rebels organized a campaign against the capital of the Lydian satrapy of Sardis, captured and burned the city. The Persian satrap Artaphenes and his garrison took refuge in the acropolis, which the Greeks failed to capture. The Persians began to gather their troops and in the summer of 498 they defeated the Greeks near the city of Ephesus. After this, the Athenians and Eretrians fled, leaving the Asia Minor Greeks to their fate. In the spring of 494, the Persians besieged Miletus, which was the main stronghold of the uprising, from sea and land. The city was captured and completely destroyed, and the population was taken into slavery. In 493, the uprising was suppressed everywhere.
After the suppression of the uprising, Darius began preparations for a campaign against mainland Greece. He understood that Persian dominance in Asia Minor would be fragile as long as the Greeks of the Balkan Peninsula maintained their independence. At this time, Greece consisted of many autonomous city-states with different political systems, which were in constant hostility and wars with each other.
In 492, the Persian army set out on a campaign and passed through Macedonia and Thrace, which had been conquered two decades earlier. But near Cape Athos on the Chalkis Peninsula, the Persian fleet was defeated by a strong storm, and about 20 thousand people died and 300 ships were destroyed. After this, it was necessary to withdraw the ground army back to Asia Minor and prepare for the campaign again.
In 491, Persian envoys were sent to the cities of mainland Greece demanding “land and water,” i.e. submission to the authority of Darius. Most Greek cities agreed to the ambassadors' demands, and only Sparta and Athens refused to submit and even killed the ambassadors themselves. The Persians began to prepare for a new campaign against Greece.
In early August, the Persian army, with the help of experienced Greek guides, set sail for Attica and landed on the Marathon plain, 40 km from Athens. This plain stretches 9 km in length and its width is 3 km. The Persian army hardly numbered more than 15 thousand people.
At this time, heated debates took place in the Athenian people's assembly regarding the upcoming tactics of the war with the Persians. After a long discussion, it was decided to send the Athenian army, which consisted of 10 thousand people, to the Marathon plain. The Spartans promised to help, but were in no hurry to send an army, citing an ancient custom, according to which it was impossible to go on a campaign before the full moon.
At Marathon, both sides waited for several days, not daring to engage in battle. The Persian army was located on an open plain where cavalry could be used. The Athenians, who had no cavalry at all, gathered in a narrow part of the plain where the Persian horsemen could not operate. Meanwhile, the position of the Persian army became difficult, because the outcome of the war had to be decided before the arrival of the Spartan army. At the same time, the Persian cavalry could not move into the gorges where the Athenian warriors were located. Therefore, the Persian command decided to transfer part of the army to capture Athens. After this, on August 12, 590, the Athenian army quickly marched towards the enemy to give a general battle.
The Persian warriors fought courageously, crushed the Athenian ranks in the center and began to pursue them. But the Persians had fewer forces on the flanks, and there they were defeated. Then the Athenians began to fight the Persians, who had broken through in the center. After this, the Persians began to retreat, suffering heavy losses. 6,400 Persians and their allies and only 192 Athenians remained on the battlefield.
Despite the defeat, Darius did not abandon the thought of a new campaign against Greece. But preparing such a campaign required a lot of time, and meanwhile, in October 486, an uprising against Persian rule broke out in Egypt.
The reasons for the uprising were heavy tax oppression and the hijacking of many thousands of artisans for the construction of palaces in Susa and Persepolis. A month later, Darius I, who was 64 years old, died before he could restore his power in Egypt.
Darius I was succeeded on the Persian throne by his son Xerxes. In January 484, he managed to suppress the uprising in Egypt. The Egyptians were subjected to merciless reprisals, the property of many temples was confiscated.
But in the summer of 484 a new uprising broke out, this time in Babylonia. This uprising was soon suppressed, and its instigators were severely punished. However, in the summer of 482, the Babylonians rebelled again. This rebellion, which engulfed most of the country, was especially dangerous, since Xerxes at that time was already in Asia Minor, preparing for a campaign against the Greeks. The siege of Babylon lasted a long time and ended in March 481 with a brutal massacre. City walls and other fortifications were torn down, and many residential buildings were destroyed.
In the spring of 480, Xerxes set out on a campaign against Greece at the head of a huge army. All the satrapies from India to Egypt sent their contingents.
The Greeks decided to resist in a narrow mountain pass called Thermopylae, which was easy to defend, since the Persians could not deploy their army there. However, Sparta sent there only a small detachment of 300 soldiers led by King Leonidas. The total number of Greeks guarding Thermopylae was 6,500 people. They resisted steadfastly and for three days successfully repelled the enemy's frontal attacks. But then Leonidas, who commanded the Greek army, ordered the main forces to retreat, and he himself remained with 300 Spartans to cover the retreat. They fought bravely to the end until everyone died.
The Greeks adhered to such tactics that they had to attack at sea and defend on land. The combined Greek fleet stood in the bay between the island of Salamis and the coast of Attica, where the large Persian fleet was unable to maneuver. The Greek fleet consisted of 380 ships, of which 147 belonged to the Athenians and were recently built to suit all requirements military equipment. The talented and decisive commander Themistocles played a major role in leading the fleet. The Persians had 650 ships; Xerxes hoped to destroy the entire enemy fleet with one blow and thereby end the war victoriously. However, shortly before the battle, a storm raged for three days, many Persian ships were thrown onto the rocky shore, and the fleet suffered heavy losses. After this, on September 28, 480, the Battle of Salamis took place, which lasted twelve whole hours. The Persian fleet found itself pinned down in a narrow bay, and its ships interfered with each other. The Greeks won a complete victory in this battle, and most of the Persian fleet was destroyed. Xerxes with part of the army decided to return to Asia Minor, leaving his commander Mardonius with the army in Greece.
The decisive battle took place on September 26, 479 near the city of Plataea. Persian horse archers began shelling the Greek ranks, and the enemy began to retreat. Mardonius, at the head of a thousand selected warriors, burst into the center of the Spartan army and inflicted great damage on it. But the Persians, unlike the Greeks, did not have heavy weapons, and in the art of war they were inferior to the enemy. The Persians had first-class cavalry, but due to the terrain conditions, they could not take part in the battle. Soon Mardonius and his bodyguards died. The Persian army was split into separate units that acted uncoordinated.
The Persian army was defeated, and its remnants were transported by ship to Asia Minor.
At the end of autumn of the same year, 479, a major naval battle took place at Cape Mycale off the coast of Asia Minor. During the battle, the Asia Minor Greeks betrayed the Persians and went over to the side of the mainland Greeks; the Persians were completely defeated. This defeat served as a signal for widespread uprisings of the Greek states in Asia Minor against Persian rule.
The victories of the Greeks at Salamis, Plataea and Mycale forced the Persians to abandon the idea of capturing Greece. Now, on the contrary, Sparta and Athens transferred military operations to enemy territory, to Asia Minor. Gradually, the Greeks managed to expel the Persian garrisons from Thrace and Macedonia. The war between the Greeks and Persians continued until 449.
In the summer of 465, Xerxes was killed as a result of a conspiracy, and his son Artaxerxes I became king.
In 460, a rebellion broke out in Egypt led by Inar. The Athenians sent their fleet to help the rebels. The Persians suffered several defeats and had to leave Memphis.
In 455, Artaxerxes I sent the satrap of Syria Megabyzus with a strong ground army and a Phoenician fleet against the rebels in Egypt and their allies. The rebels, along with the Athenians, were defeated. IN next year the revolt was completely suppressed, and Egypt again became a Persian satrapy.
Meanwhile, Persia's war with the Greek states continued. However, soon, in 449, a peace treaty was concluded in Susa, under the terms of which the Greek cities of Asia Minor formally remained under the supreme authority of the Persian king, but the Athenians received the actual right to rule them. In addition, Persia pledged not to send its troops west of the river. Galis, along which the border line was supposed to run according to this agreement. For its part, Athens left Cyprus and pledged not to provide future assistance to the Egyptians in their fight against the Persians.
Constant uprisings of conquered peoples and military defeats forced Artaxerxes I and his successors to radically change their diplomacy, namely, to set one state against another, while resorting to bribery. When the Peloponnesian War broke out in Greece in 431 between Sparta and Athens, which lasted until 404, Persia helped one or the other of these states, being interested in their complete exhaustion.
In 424 Artaxerxes I died. After palace unrest in February 423, the son of Artaxerxes Ochus became king, who took the throne name of Darius II. His reign was characterized by further weakening of the state, increasing influence of the court nobility, palace intrigues and conspiracies, as well as uprisings of conquered peoples.
In 408, two energetic military leaders arrived in Asia Minor, determined to quickly and victoriously end the war. One of them was Cyrus the Younger, son of Darius II, who was the governor of several Asia Minor satrapies. In addition, he became the commander of all Persian troops in Asia Minor. Cyrus the Younger was a capable commander and statesman and sought to restore the former greatness of the Persian state. At the same time, the leadership of the Lacedaemonian army in Asia Minor passed into the hands of the experienced Spartan commander Lysander. Cyrus pursued a policy friendly to Sparta and began to help its army in every possible way. He, together with Lysander, cleared the Asia Minor coast and many islands of the Aegean Sea from the Athenian fleet.
In March 404, Darius II died and his eldest son, Arsaces, became king, taking the throne name Artaxerxes II.
In 405, a rebellion broke out in Egypt under the leadership of Amyrtaeus. The rebels won one victory after another, and soon the entire Delta was in their hands. The satrap of Syria, Abrokomus, gathered a large army to throw it against the Egyptians, but at this time, in the very center of the Persian power, Cyrus the Younger, satrap of Asia Minor, rebelled against his brother Artaxerxes II. Abrocom's army was sent against Cyrus, and the Egyptians received a respite. Amirtheus by the beginning of the 4th century. established his control over all of Egypt. The rebels carried hostilities even into Syria.
Cyrus gathered a large army to try to seize the throne. The Spartans decided to support Cyrus and assisted him in recruiting Greek mercenaries. In 401, Cyrus and his army moved from Sardis in Asia Minor to Babylonia and, without encountering any resistance, reached the area of Kunaxa on the Euphrates, 90 km from Babylon. The army of the Persian king was also there. The decisive battle took place on September 3, 401. Cyrus's Greek mercenaries were positioned on both flanks, and the rest of the army occupied the center.
In front of the king's army were sickle chariots, which with their sickles cut everything that came in their way. But the right flank of Artaxerxes’ army was crushed by Greek mercenaries. Cyrus, seeing Artaxerxes, rushed at him, leaving his soldiers far behind. Cyrus managed to wound Artaxerxes, but he himself was immediately killed. After this, the rebel army, having lost its leader, was defeated. 13 thousand Greek mercenaries who served Cyrus the Younger, at the cost of great effort and losses, managed to reach the Black Sea in the spring of 400, passing through Babylonia and Armenia (the famous “March of the Ten Thousand” described by Xenophon).
Around 360 Cyprus fell from the Persians. At the same time, uprisings took place in the Phoenician cities and unrest began in the satrapies of Asia Minor. Soon Caria and India fell away from the Persian Empire. In 358, the reign of Artaxerxes II ended, and his son Okh ascended the throne, who took the throne name Artaxerxes III. First of all, he exterminated all his brothers to prevent a palace coup.
The new king turned out to be a man of iron will and firmly held the reins of power in his hands, removing the eunuchs who were influential at court. He energetically set about restoring the Persian state within its former borders.
In 349, the Phoenician city of Sidon rebelled against Persia. Persian officials living in the city were captured and killed. King Tennes of Sidon hired Greek soldiers with money willingly provided by Egypt and inflicted two major defeats on the Persian army. After this, Artaxerxes III took command and in 345, at the head of a large army, marched against Sidon. After a long siege, the city surrendered and was brutally massacred. Sidon was burned and reduced to ruins. None of the inhabitants were saved, since at the very beginning of the siege, fearing cases of desertion, they burned all their ships. The Persians threw many Sidonians and their families into the fire and killed about 40 thousand people. The surviving inhabitants were enslaved.
Now it was necessary to suppress the uprising in Egypt. In the winter of 343, Artaxerxes set out on a campaign against this country, where Pharaoh Nectanebo II reigned at that time. The Pharaoh's army, which consisted of 60 thousand Egyptians, 20 thousand Greek mercenaries and the same number of Libyans, came out to meet the Persians. The Egyptians also had a strong navy. When the Persian army reached the border city of Pelusium, the commanders of Nectanebo II advised him to immediately attack the enemy, but the pharaoh did not dare to take such a step. The Persian command took advantage of the respite and managed to move their ships up the Nile, and the Persian fleet found itself in the rear of the Egyptian army. By this time, the position of the Egyptian army stationed at Pelusium had become hopeless.
Nectanebo II retreated with his army to Memphis. But at this time, the Greek mercenaries who served the pharaoh went over to the enemy’s side. In 342, the Persians captured all of Egypt and plundered its cities.
In 337, Artaxerxes III was poisoned by his personal physician at the instigation of a court eunuch. In 336, the throne was occupied by the satrap of Armenia Kodoman, who took the throne name Darius III.
While the top of the Persian nobility was busy with palace intrigues and coups, a dangerous enemy appeared on the political horizon. The Macedonian king Philip captured Thrace, and in 338 at Chaeronea in Boeotia he defeated the combined forces of the Greek states. The Macedonians became the arbiters of the fate of Greece, and Philip himself was chosen as the commander of the united Greek army.
In 336, Philip sent 10 thousand Macedonian soldiers to Asia Minor to capture the western coast of Asia Minor. But in July 336, Philip was killed by conspirators, and Alexander, who was only 20 years old, became king. The Greeks of the Balkan Peninsula were ready to rebel against the young king. With decisive actions, Alexander strengthened his power. He understood that much preparation was required for the upcoming war with Persia, and he recalled the Macedonian army from Asia Minor, thereby lulling the vigilance of the Persians.
Thus, Persia received a respite for two years. However, the Persians did nothing to prepare to repel the inevitable Macedonian threat. During this crucial period, the Persians did not even strive to improve their army and completely ignored the military achievements of the Macedonians, especially in the field of siege warfare. Although the Persian command understood the full advantage of the Macedonian weapons, it did not reform its army, limiting itself to only increasing the contingent of Greek mercenaries. In addition to inexhaustible material resources, Persia had superiority over Macedonia in the navy. But the Macedonian warriors were equipped with the best weapons for their time and were led by experienced commanders.
In the spring of 334, the Macedonian army set out on a campaign. It consisted of 30 thousand infantry and 5000 cavalry. The core of the army was the heavily armed Macedonian infantry and cavalry. In addition, there were Greek infantrymen in the army. The army was accompanied by 160 warships. The trip was carefully prepared. Siege engines were carried to storm cities.
Although Darius III had a larger army, in its fighting qualities it was much inferior to the Macedonian (especially heavy infantry), and the most persistent part of the Persian army were the Greek mercenaries. The Persian satraps boastfully assured their king that the enemy would be defeated in the first battle.
The first clash occurred in the summer of 334 on the banks of the Hellespont near the river. Granik. Alexander turned out to be the winner. After this, he captured Greek cities in Asia Minor and moved inland. Of the Greek cities of Asia Minor, Halicarnassus remained loyal to the Persian king for a long time and stubbornly resisted the Macedonians. In the summer of 333, the latter rushed to Syria, where the main forces of the Persians were concentrated. In November 333, a new battle took place at Issus, on the border of Cilicia with Syria. The core of the Persian army consisted of 30 thousand Greek mercenaries. But Darius III in his plans assigned a decisive role to the Persian cavalry, which was supposed to crush the left flank of the Macedonians. Alexander, in order to strengthen his left flank, concentrated the entire Thessalian cavalry there, and he and the rest of his army struck the enemy’s right flank and defeated him.
But Greek mercenaries broke into the center of the Macedonians, and Alexander and part of the army hurried there. The fierce battle continued, but Darius III lost his composure and, not waiting for the outcome of the battle, fled, abandoning his family, who were captured. The battle ended in complete victory for Alexander, and entry into Syria and the Phoenician coast was opened for him. The Phoenician cities of Arad, Byblos and Sidon surrendered without resistance. The Persian fleet lost its dominant position at sea.
But the well-fortified Tire offered fierce resistance to the invaders, and the siege of the city lasted seven months. In July 332, Tire was taken and destroyed, and its population was enslaved.
Having rejected Darius III's requests for peace, Alexander began to prepare to continue the war. In the fall of 332, he captured Egypt, and then returned to Syria and headed to the area of Gaugamela, not far from Arbela, where the Persian king was located with his army. On October 1, 331, a battle took place. The center of Darius III's army was occupied by Greek mercenaries, and the Macedonian infantry was positioned opposite them. The Persians had a numerical superiority on the right flank and upset the Macedonian ranks. But the decisive battle took place in the center, where Alexander, together with his cavalry, penetrated into the middle of the Persian army. The Persians brought chariots and elephants into battle, but Darius III, as at Issus, prematurely considered the ongoing battle lost and fled. After this, only Greek mercenaries resisted the enemy. Alexander won a complete victory and captured Babylonia, and in February 330 the Macedonians entered Susa. Then Persepolis and Pasargadae, where the main treasuries of the Persian kings were kept, fell into the hands of the Macedonians.
Darius and his entourage fled from Ecbatana to Eastern Iran, where he was killed by the Bactrian satrap Bessus, and the Persian state ceased to exist.
Persia (which country is now, you can find out from the article) existed more than two thousand years ago. It is known for its conquests and culture. Many peoples ruled on the territory of the ancient state. But they could not eradicate the culture and traditions of the Aryans.
From the middle of the sixth century BC, the Persians appeared on the stage of world history. Until this time, residents of the Middle East had heard very little about this mysterious tribe. They became known only after they began to seize lands.
Cyrus the Second, king of the Persians from the Achaemenid dynasty, was able to quickly capture Media and other states. His well-armed army began preparations to march against Babylon.
At this time, Babylon and Egypt were at enmity with each other, but when a strong enemy appeared, they decided to forget about the conflict. Babylon's preparation for war did not save it from defeat. The Persians captured the cities of Opis and Sippar, and then took control of Babylon without a fight. Cyrus the Second decided to further advance to the East. In a war with nomadic tribes, he died in 530 BC.
The successors of the deceased king, Cambyses the Second and Darius the First, managed to capture Egypt. Darius was able not only to strengthen the eastern and western borders of the power, but also to expand them from the Aegean Sea to India, as well as from the lands of Central Asia to the banks of the Nile. Persia absorbed the famous world civilizations of the ancient world and ruled them until the fourth century BC. Alexander the Great was able to conquer the empire.
Second Persian Empire
The Macedonian soldiers took revenge on the Persians for the destruction of Athens by burning Persepolis to ashes. At this point, the Achaemenid dynasty ceased to exist. Ancient Persia fell under the humiliating rule of the Greeks.
It was only in the second century BC that the Greeks were expelled. The Parthians did this. But they were not allowed to rule for long; Artaxerxes overthrew them. The history of the second Persian power began with him. In another way, it is usually called the power of the Sassanid dynasty. Under their rule, the Achaemenid Empire is revived, albeit in a different form. Greek culture is being replaced by Iranian culture.
In the seventh century, Persia lost its power and was incorporated into the Arab Caliphate.
Life in Ancient Persia through the eyes of other peoples
The life of the Persians is known from works that have survived to this day. These are mainly the works of the Greeks. It is known that Persia (what the country is now can be found out below) very quickly conquered the territories of ancient civilizations. What were the Persians like?
They were tall and physically strong. Life in the mountains and steppes made them hardened and resilient. They were famous for their courage and unity. In everyday life, the Persians ate moderately, did not drink wine, and were indifferent to precious metals. They wore clothes made from animal skins and covered their heads with felt caps (tiaras).
During the coronation, the ruler had to put on the clothes that he wore before becoming king. He was also supposed to eat dried figs and drink sour milk.
The Persians had the right to live with several wives, not counting concubines. Closely related ties were acceptable, for example, between an uncle and a niece. Women were not supposed to show themselves to strangers. This applied to both wives and concubines. Proof of this is the surviving reliefs of Persepolis, which do not contain images of the fair sex.
Persian achievements:
- good roads;
- minting your own coins;
- creation of gardens (paradises);
- The cylinder of Cyrus the Great is a prototype of the first charter of human rights.
Previously Persia, but now?
It is not always possible to say exactly which state is located on the site of an ancient civilization. The world map has changed hundreds of times. Changes are happening even today. How to understand where Persia was? What is the country in its place now?
Modern states on whose territory there was an empire:
- Egypt.
- Lebanon.
- Iraq.
- Pakistan.
- Georgia.
- Bulgaria.
- Türkiye.
- Parts of Greece and Romania.
These are not all the countries that are related to Persia. However, Iran is most often associated with the ancient empire. What is this country and its people like?
Iran's mysterious past
The country name is modern form the word "Ariana", which translates as "country of the Aryans". Indeed, from the first millennium BC, Aryan tribes inhabited almost all the lands of modern Iran. Part of this tribe moved to Northern India, and part went to the northern steppes, calling themselves Scythians and Sarmatians.
Later, strong kingdoms emerged in Western Iran. One of these Iranian formations was Media. It was subsequently captured by the army of Cyrus the Second. It was he who united the Iranians in his empire and led them to conquer the world.
How does modern Persia live (what country is it now, it became clear)?
Life in modern Iran through the eyes of foreigners
For many ordinary people, Iran is associated with revolution and the nuclear program. However, the history of this country spans more than two thousand years. She absorbed different cultures: Persian, Islamic, Western.
Iranians have elevated pretense to a true art of communication. They are very courteous and sincere, but this is only outer side. In fact, behind their obsequiousness lies the intention to find out all the plans of their interlocutor.
Former Persia (now Iran) was captured by the Greeks, Turks, and Mongols. At the same time, the Persians were able to preserve their traditions. They know how to get along with strangers, their culture is characterized by a certain flexibility - taking the best from the traditions of strangers without abandoning their own.
Iran (Persia) was under Arab rule for centuries. At the same time, its inhabitants were able to preserve their language. Poetry helped them with this. Most of all they honor the poet Ferdowsi, and Europeans remember Omar Khayyam. The preservation of culture was facilitated by the teachings of Zarathustra, which appeared long before the Arab invasion.
Although Islam now plays a leading role in the country, Iranians have not lost their national identity. They remember well their centuries-old history.
1987. , chapter 2 “Armenia from the Median Conquest to the Rise of the Artaxiads”. Harvard University Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and National Association for Armenian Studies and Research, 1987:
Original text (English)
Page 39
By 585 B.C., the power of the Medes extended as far as the Halys River; they were thus in possession of the entire Arm. plateau and the former territories of Urartu.
...
The Armenians, as we have seen, appear to have settled in the area of Van and in the northeast, in the region of Ararat. Numerous other peoples also inhabited the plateau: Herodotus mentions the Suspyrians, Alarodians and Matieni; and Xenophon met on his march the Chaldaeans, Chalybians, Mardi, Hesperites, Phasians and Taochi.
Page 45
Armenia was divided into two satrapies, the 13th and 18th, by the Persians, and several sites mentioned in the inscriptions at Behistun have been identified in the south and west of the Armenian plateau, in the provinces of Aljnik and Korcayk.
...
The 18th satrapy included the regions around Ararat; we shall discuss below the principal sites of the Achaemenian period from that region: Arin-berd (Urartean Erebuni) and Armawir (Urartean Argistihinili).
The satrap dynasty of the Orontes sat under the Achaemenids in eastern Armenia (in the 18th satrapy, the land of the Mathien-Hurrians, Saspeyrian-Iberians and Alarodians-Urartians; however, as the name itself shows, Armenians already lived here)…
Original text (Russian)
The Colchis from time to time sent symbolic tribute to the Achaemenids in slaves, possibly captured from neighboring mountain tribes, and supplied auxiliary troops, apparently at the disposal of the satrap of Western (or proper) Armenia (13th Achaemenid satrapy, originally called Melitene; Northeastern Armenia , which continued to be called Urartu, constituted the 18th satrapy and at that time, in all likelihood, had not yet been fully Armenianized in language; along with the Armenians, Urartians-Alarodias and Hurrians-Matiens, it also included eastern proto-Georgian tribes - Saspirs)
Original text (English)
Armenia is listed as the 10th satrapy in the Persian inscriptions at Naqsh-e Rostam. In the fifth century Herodotus mentions Armenians occupying the 13th satrapy, while the remnants of the Urartians (Alarodians) lived in the 18th satrapy. Armenians soon became the dominant force in those satrapies and subjugated or assimilated the other groups.
In ancient times, Persia became the center of one of the greatest empires in history, stretching from Egypt to the Indus River. It included all previous empires - the Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians and Hittites. The later empire of Alexander the Great included almost no territories that had not previously belonged to the Persians, and it was smaller than Persia under King Darius.
Since its inception in the 6th century. BC. before the conquest by Alexander the Great in the 4th century. BC. for two and a half centuries, Persia occupied a dominant position in the Ancient World. Greek rule lasted about a hundred years, and after its fall the Persian power was reborn under two local dynasties: the Arsacids (Parthian Kingdom) and the Sassanids (New Persian Kingdom). For more than seven centuries they kept first Rome and then Byzantium in fear, until in the 7th century. AD The Sassanid state was not conquered by Islamic conquerors.
Geography of the empire.
The lands inhabited by the ancient Persians only approximately coincide with the borders of modern Iran. In ancient times, such borders simply did not exist. There were periods when the Persian kings were the rulers of most of the then known world, at other times the main cities of the empire were in Mesopotamia, to the west of Persia proper, and it also happened that the entire territory of the kingdom was divided between warring local rulers.
A significant part of the territory of Persia is occupied by a high, arid highland (1200 m), intersected by mountain ranges with individual peaks reaching 5500 m. In the west and north are the Zagros and Elborz mountain ranges, which frame the highlands in the shape of the letter V, leaving it open to the east. The western and northern borders of the plateau approximately coincide with the current borders of Iran, but in the east it extends beyond the country, occupying part of the territory of modern Afghanistan and Pakistan. Three regions are isolated from the plateau: the coast of the Caspian Sea, the coast of the Persian Gulf and the southwestern plains, which are the eastern continuation of the Mesopotamian lowland.
Directly west of Persia lies Mesopotamia, home to the world's most ancient civilizations. The Mesopotamian states of Sumer, Babylonia and Assyria had a significant influence on the early culture of Persia. And although the Persian conquests ended almost three thousand years after the heyday of Mesopotamia, Persia in many ways became the heir to Mesopotamian civilization. Most of the most important cities of the Persian Empire were located in Mesopotamia, and Persian history is largely a continuation of Mesopotamian history.
Persia lies on the routes of the earliest migrations from Central Asia. Slowly moving west, the settlers skirted the northern tip of the Hindu Kush in Afghanistan and turned south and west, where through the more accessible areas of Khorasan, southeast of the Caspian Sea, they entered the Iranian plateau south of the Alborz Mountains. Centuries later, the main trade artery ran parallel to the earlier route, connecting the Far East with the Mediterranean and ensuring the administration of the empire and the movement of troops. At the western end of the highlands it descended onto the plains of Mesopotamia. Other important routes linked the southeastern plains through rugged mountains to the highlands proper.
Off the few main roads, thousands of agricultural communities were scattered along long, narrow mountain valleys. They led a subsistence economy; due to their isolation from their neighbors, many of them remained aloof from wars and invasions, and for many centuries they carried out an important mission to preserve the continuity of culture, so characteristic of the ancient history of Persia.
STORY
Ancient Iran.
It is known that the most ancient inhabitants of Iran had a different origin than the Persians and related peoples, who created civilizations on the Iranian plateau, as well as the Semites and Sumerians, whose civilizations arose in Mesopotamia. During excavations in caves near the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, human skeletons dating back to the 8th millennium BC were discovered. In the north-west of Iran, in the town of Goy-Tepe, skulls of people who lived in the 3rd millennium BC were found.
Scientists have proposed calling the indigenous population Caspians, which indicates a geographical connection with the peoples who inhabited the Caucasus Mountains to the west of the Caspian Sea. The Caucasian tribes themselves, as is known, migrated to more southern regions, to the highlands. The "Caspian" type appears to have survived in a greatly weakened form among the nomadic tribes of the Lurs in modern Iran.
For the archeology of the Middle East, the central question is the dating of the appearance of agricultural settlements here. Monuments of material culture and other evidence found in the Caspian caves indicate that the tribes inhabiting the region from the 8th to the 5th millennium BC. engaged mainly in hunting, then switched to cattle breeding, which, in turn, approx. IV millennium BC replaced by agriculture. Permanent settlements appeared in the western part of the highlands before the 3rd millennium BC, and most likely in the 5th millennium BC. The main settlements include Sialk, Goy-Tepe, Gissar, but the largest was Susa, which later became the capital of the Persian state. In these small villages, mud huts were crowded together along winding narrow streets. The dead were buried either under the floor of the house or in the cemetery in a crouched (“uterine”) position. The reconstruction of the life of the ancient inhabitants of the highlands was carried out on the basis of the study of utensils, tools and decorations that were placed in the graves to provide the deceased with everything necessary for the afterlife.
The development of culture in prehistoric Iran occurred progressively over many centuries. As in Mesopotamia, brick houses began to be built here large sizes, make objects from cast copper, and then from cast bronze. Seals made of stone with a carved pattern appeared, which were evidence of the emergence of private property. The discovery of large jars for storing food suggests that supplies were made for the period between harvests. Among the finds from all periods there are figurines of the mother goddess, often depicted with her husband, who was both her husband and son.
The most remarkable thing is the huge variety of painted clay products, the walls of some of them are no thicker than the shell of a chicken egg. The figurines of birds and animals depicted in profile testify to the talent of prehistoric artisans. Some clay products depict the man himself, engaged in hunting or performing some kind of rituals. Around 1200–800 BC painted pottery gives way to monochromatic ones - red, black or gray, which is explained by the invasion of tribes from as yet unidentified regions. Ceramics of the same type were found very far from Iran - in China.
Early history.
The historical era begins on the Iranian plateau at the end of the 4th millennium BC. Most of the information about the descendants of the ancient tribes who lived on the eastern borders of Mesopotamia, in the Zagros Mountains, is drawn from the Mesopotamian chronicles. (There is no information in the annals about the tribes that inhabited the central and eastern regions of the Iranian plateau, because they had no connections with the Mesopotamian kingdoms.) The largest of the peoples inhabiting the Zagros were the Elamites, who captured ancient city Susa, located on a plain at the foot of the Zagros, and founded there the powerful and prosperous state of Elam. The Elamite records began to be compiled ca. 3000 BC and lasted for two thousand years. Further to the north lived the Kassites, barbarian tribes of horsemen, who by the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. conquered Babylonia. The Kassites adopted the civilization of the Babylonians and ruled southern Mesopotamia for several centuries. Less important were the Northern Zagros tribes, the Lullubei and the Gutians, who lived in the area where the great Trans-Asian trade route descended from the western tip of the Iranian plateau onto the plain.
Invasion of the Aryans and the Kingdom of Media.
Starting from the 2nd millennium BC. The Iranian plateau was hit one after another by waves of tribal invasions from Central Asia. These were Aryans, Indo-Iranian tribes who spoke dialects that were the proto-languages of the current languages of the Iranian Plateau and Northern India. They gave Iran its name (“homeland of the Aryans”). The first wave of conquerors arrived ca. 1500 BC One group of Aryans settled in the west of the Iranian plateau, where they founded the state of Mitanni, another group - in the south among the Kassites. However, the main flow of Aryans passed Iran, turned sharply to the south, crossed the Hindu Kush and invaded Northern India.
At the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. along the same route, a second wave of aliens, Iranian tribes themselves, arrived on the Iranian plateau, and much more numerous. Some of the Iranian tribes - the Sogdians, Scythians, Saks, Parthians and Bactrians - retained a nomadic lifestyle, others went beyond the highlands, but two tribes, the Medes and Persians (Parsians), settled in the valleys of the Zagros range, mixed with the local population and adopted their political , religious and cultural traditions. The Medes settled in the vicinity of Ecbatana (modern Hamadan). The Persians settled somewhat further south, on the plains of Elam and in the mountainous region adjacent to the Persian Gulf, which later received the name Persida (Parsa or Fars). It is possible that the Persians initially settled northwest of the Medes, west of Lake Rezaie (Urmia), and only later moved south under pressure from Assyria, which was then experiencing the peak of its power. On some Assyrian bas-reliefs of the 9th and 8th centuries. BC. battles with the Medes and Persians are depicted.
The Median kingdom with its capital in Ecbatana gradually gained strength. In 612 BC. the Median king Cyaxares (reigned from 625 to 585 BC) entered into an alliance with Babylonia, captured Nineveh and crushed the Assyrian power. The Median kingdom extended from Asia Minor (modern Türkiye) almost to the Indus River. During just one reign, Media turned from a small tributary principality into the strongest power in the Middle East.
Persian Achaemenid state.
The power of the Medes did not last longer than two generations. The Persian dynasty of the Achaemenids (named after its founder Achaemen) began to dominate Pars even under the Medes. In 553 BC Cyrus II the Great, the Achaemenid ruler of Parsa, led a revolt against the Median king Astyages, son of Cyaxares, which created a powerful alliance of Medes and Persians. The new power threatened the entire Middle East. In 546 BC King Croesus of Lydia led a coalition directed against King Cyrus, which, in addition to the Lydians, included the Babylonians, Egyptians and Spartans. According to legend, an oracle predicted to the Lydian king that the war would end in the collapse of the great state. The delighted Croesus did not even bother to ask which state was meant. The war ended with the victory of Cyrus, who pursued Croesus all the way to Lydia and captured him there. In 539 BC Cyrus occupied Babylonia, and by the end of his reign expanded the borders of the state from the Mediterranean Sea to the eastern outskirts of the Iranian plateau, making Pasargadae, a city in southwestern Iran, the capital.
Organization of the Achaemenid state.
Apart from a few brief Achaemenid inscriptions, we draw the main information about the Achaemenid state from the works of ancient Greek historians. Even the names of the Persian kings entered historiography as they were written by the ancient Greeks. For example, the names of the kings known today as Cyaxares, Cyrus and Xerxes are pronounced in Persian as Uvakhshtra, Kurush and Khshayarshan.
The main city of the state was Susa. Babylon and Ecbatana were considered administrative centers, and Persepolis - the center of ritual and spiritual life. The state was divided into twenty satrapies, or provinces, headed by satraps. Representatives of the Persian nobility became satraps, and the position itself was inherited. This combination of the power of an absolute monarch and semi-independent governors was a characteristic feature of the country's political structure for many centuries.
All provinces were connected by postal roads, the most significant of which, the “royal road,” 2,400 km long, ran from Susa to the Mediterranean coast. Despite the fact that a single administrative system, a single currency and a single official language were introduced throughout the empire, many subject peoples retained their customs, religion and local rulers. The period of Achaemenid rule was characterized by tolerance. The long years of peace under the Persians favored the development of cities, trade and agriculture. Iran was experiencing its Golden Age.
The Persian army differed in composition and tactics from earlier armies, which were characterized by chariots and infantry. The main striking force of the Persian troops were horse archers, who bombarded the enemy with a cloud of arrows without coming into direct contact with him. The army consisted of six corps of 60,000 warriors each and elite formations of 10,000 people, selected from members of the noblest families and called “immortals”; They also constituted the king’s personal guard. However, during the campaigns in Greece, as well as during the reign of the last king from the Achaemenid dynasty, Darius III, a huge, poorly controlled mass of horsemen, chariots and infantrymen went into battle, unable to maneuver in small spaces and often significantly inferior to the disciplined infantry of the Greeks.
The Achaemenids were very proud of their origins. The Behistun inscription, carved on the rock by order of Darius I, reads: “I, Darius, the great king, the king of kings, the king of the countries inhabited by all peoples, have long been the king of this great land, extending even further, son of Hystaspes, Achaemenid, Persian, son Persians, Aryans, and my ancestors were Aryans.” However, the Achaemenid civilization was a conglomeration of customs, culture, social institutions and ideas that existed in all parts of the Ancient World. At that time East and West came into direct contact for the first time, and the resulting exchange of ideas was never interrupted thereafter.
Hellenic dominion.
Weakened by endless revolts, uprisings and civil strife, the Achaemenid state could not resist the armies of Alexander the Great. The Macedonians landed on the Asian continent in 334 BC, defeated Persian troops on the Granik River and twice defeated huge armies under the command of the mediocre Darius III - at the Battle of Issus (333 BC) in southwest Asia Minor and under Gaugamela (331 BC) in Mesopotamia. Having captured Babylon and Susa, Alexander headed to Persepolis and set it on fire, apparently in retaliation for Athens burned by the Persians. Continuing east, he found the body of Darius III, killed by his own soldiers. Alexander spent more than four years in the east of the Iranian plateau, founding numerous Greek colonies. He then turned south and conquered the Persian provinces in what is now West Pakistan. After this, he went on a campaign to the Indus Valley. Back to 325 BC in Susa, Alexander began to actively encourage his soldiers to take Persian wives, cherishing the idea of a unified state of Macedonians and Persians. In 323 BC Alexander, aged 33, died of fever in Babylon. The vast territory he conquered was immediately divided between his military leaders, who competed with each other. And although Alexander the Great’s plan to merge Greek and Persian culture was never realized, the numerous colonies founded by him and his successors maintained the originality of their culture for centuries and had a significant influence on local peoples and their art.
After the death of Alexander the Great, the Iranian plateau became part of the Seleucid state, which received its name from one of its generals. Soon the local nobility began to fight for independence. In the satrapy of Parthia, located southeast of the Caspian Sea in the area known as Khorasan, the nomadic Parni tribe rebelled and expelled the Seleucid governor. The first ruler of the Parthian state was Arshak I (ruled from 250 to 248/247 BC).
Parthian state of the Arsacids.
The period following Arsaces I's revolt against the Seleucids is called either the Arsacid period or the Parthian period. There were constant wars between the Parthians and the Seleucids, ending in 141 BC, when the Parthians, under Mithridates I, took Seleucia, the Seleucid capital on the Tigris River. On the opposite bank of the river, Mithridates founded a new capital, Ctesiphon, and extended his rule over most of the Iranian plateau. Mithridates II (ruled from 123 to 87/88 BC) further expanded the boundaries of the state and, taking the title “king of kings” (shahinshah), became the ruler of a vast territory from India to Mesopotamia, and in the east to Chinese Turkestan.
The Parthians considered themselves the direct heirs of the Achaemenid state, and their relatively poor culture was supplemented by the influence of Hellenistic culture and traditions introduced earlier by Alexander the Great and the Seleucids. As before in the Seleucid state, the political center moved to the west of the highlands, namely to Ctesiphon, so few monuments testifying to that time have been preserved in good condition in Iran.
During the reign of Phraates III (ruled from 70 to 58/57 BC), Parthia entered a period of almost continuous wars with the Roman Empire, which lasted almost 300 years. The opposing armies fought over a vast area. The Parthians defeated an army under the command of Marcus Licinius Crassus at Carrhae in Mesopotamia, after which the border between the two empires lay along the Euphrates. In 115 AD Roman Emperor Trajan took Seleucia. Despite this, the Parthian power held out, and in 161 Vologes III devastated the Roman province of Syria. However long years the wars bled the Parthians, and attempts to defeat the Romans on the western borders weakened their power over the Iranian plateau. Riots broke out in a number of areas. The Fars (or Parsi) satrap Ardashir, the son of a religious leader, declared himself ruler as a direct descendant of the Achaemenids. After defeating several Parthian armies and killing the last Parthian king, Artabanus V, in battle, he took Ctesiphon and inflicted a crushing defeat on the coalition attempting to restore Arsacid power.
Sassanid State.
Ardashir (reigned 224 to 241) founded a new Persian empire known as the Sassanid state (from the Old Persian title "sasan", or "commander"). His son Shapur I (ruled from 241 to 272) retained elements of the previous feudal system, but created in highest degree centralized state. Shapur's armies first moved east and occupied the entire Iranian plateau up to the river. Indus and then turned west against the Romans. At the Battle of Edessa (near modern Urfa, Turkey), Shapur captured the Roman Emperor Valerian along with his 70,000-strong army. The prisoners, who included architects and engineers, were forced to work building roads, bridges and irrigation systems in Iran.
Over the course of several centuries, the Sassanid dynasty changed about 30 rulers; often successors were appointed by the higher clergy and feudal nobility. The dynasty waged continuous wars with Rome. Shapur II, who ascended the throne in 309, fought three wars with Rome during the 70 years of his reign. The greatest of the Sassanids is recognized as Khosrow I (ruled from 531 to 579), who was called the Just or Anushirvan (“Immortal Soul”).
Under the Sassanids, a four-tier system of administrative division was established, a fixed rate of land tax was introduced, and numerous artificial irrigation projects were carried out. In southwest Iran, traces of these irrigation structures still remain. Society was divided into four classes: warriors, priests, scribes and commoners. The latter included peasants, traders and artisans. The first three classes enjoyed special privileges and, in turn, had several gradations. Governors of the provinces were appointed from the highest rank of class, sardars. The capital of the state was Bishapur, the most important cities were Ctesiphon and Gundeshapur (the latter was famous as a center of medical education).
After the fall of Rome, the place of the traditional enemy of the Sassanids was taken by Byzantium. Violating the treaty of perpetual peace, Khosrow I invaded Asia Minor and in 611 captured and burned Antioch. His grandson Khosrow II (reigned 590 to 628), nicknamed Parviz ("Victorious"), briefly restored the Persians to their former Achaemenid glory. During several campaigns he actually defeated Byzantine Empire, but the Byzantine emperor Heraclius made a bold attack on the Persian rear. In 627, the army of Khosrow II suffered a crushing defeat at Nineveh in Mesopotamia, Khosrow was deposed and stabbed to death by his own son Kavad II, who died a few months later.
The powerful Sassanid state found itself without a ruler, with a destroyed social structure, exhausted as a result of long wars with Byzantium in the west and with the Central Asian Turks in the east. Over the course of five years, twelve half-ghost rulers were replaced, unsuccessfully trying to restore order. In 632, Yazdegerd III restored central power for several years, but this was not enough. The exhausted empire could not withstand the onslaught of the warriors of Islam, who were uncontrollably rushing north from the Arabian Peninsula. They struck their first crushing blow in 637 at the Battle of Kadispi, as a result of which Ctesiphon fell. The Sassanids suffered their final defeat in 642 at the Battle of Nehavend in the central highlands. Yazdegerd III fled like a hunted animal, his assassination in 651 marking the end of the Sassanid era.
CULTURE
Technology.
Irrigation.
The entire economy of ancient Persia was based on agriculture. Rainfall in the Iranian Plateau is insufficient to support extensive agriculture, so the Persians had to rely on irrigation. The few and shallow rivers of the highlands did not provide the irrigation ditches with enough water, and in the summer they dried up. Therefore, the Persians developed a unique system of underground canals. At the foot of the mountain ranges, deep wells were dug, passing through hard but porous layers of gravel to the underlying impervious clays that form the lower boundary of the aquifer. The wells collected meltwater from mountain peaks, which were covered with a thick layer of snow in winter. From these wells, underground water conduits as tall as a man broke through, with vertical shafts located at regular intervals, through which light and air were supplied to the workers. Water conduits reached the surface and served as sources of water all year round.
Artificial irrigation with the help of dams and canals, which originated and was widely used on the plains of Mesopotamia, spread to the territory of Elam, similar in natural conditions, through which several rivers flow. This region, now known as Khuzistan, is densely cut by hundreds of ancient canals. Irrigation systems reached their greatest development during the Sasanian period. Today, numerous remains of dams, bridges and aqueducts built under the Sassanids are still preserved. Since they were designed by captured Roman engineers, they closely resemble similar structures found throughout the Roman Empire.
Transport.
The rivers of Iran are not navigable, but in other parts of the Achaemenid Empire water transport was well developed. So, in 520 BC. Darius I the Great reconstructed the canal between the Nile and the Red Sea. During the Achaemenid period, there was extensive construction of land roads, but paved roads were constructed mainly in swampy and mountainous areas. Significant sections of narrow, stone-paved roads built under the Sassanids are found in the west and south of Iran. The choice of location for the construction of roads was unusual for that time. They were laid not along valleys, along river banks, but along mountain ridges. Roads descended into valleys only to make it possible to cross to the other side in strategically important places, for which massive bridges were built.
Along the roads, at a distance of a day's travel from one another, post stations were built where horses were changed. There was a very efficient postal service, with postal couriers covering up to 145 km per day. The center of horse breeding since time immemorial has been the fertile region in the Zagros Mountains, located adjacent to the Trans-Asian trade route. Iranians began using camels as beasts of burden from ancient times; This “type of transport” came to Mesopotamia from Media ca. 1100 BC
Economy.
The basis of the economy of Ancient Persia was agricultural production. Trade also flourished. All the numerous capitals of the ancient Iranian kingdoms were located along the most important trade route between the Mediterranean and the Far East or on its branch towards the Persian Gulf. In all periods, the Iranians played the role of an intermediate link - they guarded this route and kept part of the goods transported along it. During excavations in Susa and Persepolis, beautiful items from Egypt were found. The reliefs of Persepolis depict representatives of all satrapies of the Achaemenid state presenting gifts to the great rulers. Since Achaemenid times, Iran has exported marble, alabaster, lead, turquoise, lapis lazuli (lapis lazuli) and carpets. The Achaemenids created fabulous reserves of gold coins minted in various satrapies. In contrast, Alexander the Great introduced a single silver coin for the entire empire. The Parthians returned to a gold currency, and during the Sasanian times silver and copper coins predominated in circulation.
The system of large feudal estates that developed under the Achaemenids survived into the Seleucid period, but the kings of this dynasty significantly eased the situation of the peasants. Then, during the Parthian period, the huge feudal estates were restored, and this system did not change under the Sassanids. All states sought to obtain maximum income and established taxes on peasant farms, livestock, land, introduced per capita taxes, and collected fees for travel on roads. All these taxes and fees were levied either in imperial coin or in kind. By the end of the Sasanian period, the number and magnitude of taxes had become an intolerable burden for the population, and this tax pressure played a decisive role in the collapse social structure states.
Political and social organization.
All Persian rulers were absolute monarchs who ruled their subjects according to the will of the gods. But this power was absolute only in theory; in fact, it was limited by the influence of hereditary large feudal lords. The rulers tried to achieve stability through marriages with relatives, as well as by taking as wives the daughters of potential or actual enemies - both domestic and foreign. Nevertheless, the reign of the monarchs and the continuity of their power were threatened not only by external enemies, but also by members of their own families.
The Median period was distinguished by a very primitive political organization, which is very typical for peoples transitioning to a sedentary lifestyle. Already among the Achaemenids the concept of a unitary state appeared. In the Achaemenid state, satraps were fully responsible for the state of affairs in their provinces, but could be subject to unexpected inspection by inspectors, who were called the eyes and ears of the king. The royal court constantly emphasized the importance of administering justice and therefore continuously moved from one satrapy to another.
Alexander the Great married the daughter of Darius III, retained satrapies and the custom of prostrating himself before the king. The Seleucids adopted from Alexander the idea of merging races and cultures in the vast expanses from the Mediterranean Sea to the river. Ind. During this period, rapid urban development occurred, accompanied by the Hellenization of the Iranians and the Iranianization of the Greeks. However, there were no Iranians among the rulers, and they were always considered outsiders. Iranian traditions were preserved in the Persepolis area, where temples were built in the style of the Achaemenid era.
The Parthians tried to unite the ancient satrapies. They also played an important role in the fight against nomads from Central Asia advancing from east to west. As before, the satrapies were headed by hereditary governors, but a new factor was the lack of natural continuity of royal power. The legitimacy of the Parthian monarchy was no longer indisputable. The successor was chosen by a council composed of nobles, which inevitably led to endless fighting between rival factions.
The Sasanian kings made a serious attempt to revive the spirit and original structure of the Achaemenid state, partly reproducing its rigid social organization. In descending order were vassal princes, hereditary aristocrats, nobles and knights, priests, peasants, and slaves. The state administrative apparatus was led by the first minister, to whom several ministries were subordinate, including military, justice and finance, each of which had its own staff of skilled officials. The king himself was the supreme judge, and justice was administered by the priests.
Religion.
In ancient times, the cult of the great mother goddess, a symbol of childbirth and fertility, was widespread. In Elam she was called Kirisisha, and throughout the Parthian period her images were cast on Luristan bronzes and figurines made of terracotta, bone, ivory and metals.
The inhabitants of the Iranian plateau also worshiped many Mesopotamian deities. After the first wave of Aryans passed through Iran, Indo-Iranian deities such as Mithra, Varuna, Indra and Nasatya appeared here. In all beliefs, a pair of deities was certainly present - the goddess, personifying the Sun and Earth, and her husband, personifying the Moon and natural elements. Local gods bore the names of the tribes and peoples who worshiped them. Elam had its own deities, most notably the goddess Shala and her husband Inshushinak.
The Achaemenid period marked a decisive turn from polytheism to a more universal system reflecting the eternal struggle between good and evil. The earliest inscription from this period, a metal tablet made before 590 BC, contains the name of the god Agura Mazda (Ahuramazda). Indirectly, the inscription may be a reflection of the reform of Mazdaism (the cult of Agura Mazda), carried out by the prophet Zarathushtra, or Zoroaster, as narrated in the Gathas, ancient sacred hymns.
The identity of Zarathushtra continues to be shrouded in mystery. Apparently he was born ca. 660 BC, but perhaps much earlier, and perhaps much later. The god Ahuramazda personified the good principle, truth and light, apparently, in contrast to Ahriman (Angra Mainyu), the personification of the evil principle, although the very concept of Angra Mainyu could have appeared later. Darius' inscriptions mention Ahuramazda, and the relief on his tomb depicts the worship of this deity at a sacrificial fire. The chronicles give reason to believe that Darius and Xerxes believed in immortality. Worship of the sacred fire took place both inside temples and in open places. The Magi, originally members of one of the Median clans, became hereditary priests. They supervised the temples and took care of strengthening the faith by performing certain rituals. An ethical doctrine based on good thoughts, good words and good deeds was revered. Throughout the Achaemenid period, rulers were very tolerant of local deities, and starting with the reign of Artaxerxes II, the ancient Iranian sun god Mithra and the fertility goddess Anahita received official recognition.
The Parthians, in search of their own official religion, turned to the Iranian past and settled on Mazdaism. Traditions were codified, and magicians regained their former power. The cult of Anahita continued to enjoy official recognition, as well as popularity among the people, and the cult of Mithra crossed the western borders of the kingdom and spread throughout most of the Roman Empire. In the west of the Parthian kingdom, Christianity, which became widespread there, was tolerated. At the same time, in the eastern regions of the empire, Greek, Indian and Iranian deities united in a single Greco-Bactrian pantheon.
Under the Sassanids, continuity was maintained, but there were also some important changes in religious traditions. Mazdaism survived most of Zarathushtra's early reforms and became associated with the cult of Anahita. To compete on equal terms with Christianity and Judaism, the holy book of the Zoroastrians was created Avesta, a collection of ancient poems and hymns. The Magi still stood at the head of the priests and were the guardians of the three great national fires, as well as the holy fires in all important settlements. Christians by that time had long been persecuted, they were considered enemies of the state, since they were identified with Rome and Byzantium, but by the end of the Sassanid reign, the attitude towards them became more tolerant and Nestorian communities flourished in the country.
Other religions also emerged during the Sasanian period. In the middle of the 3rd century. preached by the prophet Mani, who developed the idea of unifying Mazdaism, Buddhism and Christianity and especially emphasized the need to liberate the spirit from the body. Manichaeism demanded celibacy from priests and virtue from believers. Followers of Manichaeism were required to fast and offer prayers, but not to worship images or perform sacrifices. Shapur I favored Manichaeism and may have intended to make it the state religion, but this was sharply opposed by the still powerful priests of Mazdaism and in 276 Mani was executed. Nevertheless, Manichaeism persisted for several centuries in Central Asia, Syria and Egypt.
At the end of the 5th century. preached by another religious reformer, a native of Iran, Mazdak. His ethical doctrine combined both elements of Mazdaism and practical ideas about non-violence, vegetarianism and communal life. Kavad I initially supported the Mazdakian sect, but this time the official priesthood turned out to be stronger and in 528 the prophet and his followers were executed. The advent of Islam put an end to the national religious traditions of Persia, but a group of Zoroastrians fled to India. Their descendants, the Parsis, still practice the religion of Zoroaster.
Architecture and art.
Early metal products.
In addition to the colossal number of ceramic objects, products made from such durable materials as bronze, silver and gold are of exceptional importance for the study of Ancient Iran. A huge number of so-called Luristan bronzes were discovered in Luristan, in the Zagros Mountains, during illegal excavations of the graves of semi-nomadic tribes. These unique examples included weapons, horse harnesses, jewelry, as well as objects depicting scenes from religious life or ritual purposes. Until now, scientists have not come to a consensus as to who and when they were made. In particular, it was suggested that they were created in the 15th century. BC. to 7th century BC, most likely by the Kassites or Scythian-Cimmerian tribes. Bronze items continue to be found in the Azerbaijan province in northwestern Iran. They differ significantly in style from the Luristan bronzes, although they both appear to belong to the same period. Bronzes from Northwestern Iran are similar to recent finds from the same region; for example, the finds of an accidentally discovered treasure in Ziviya and a wonderful golden cup found during excavations in Hasanlu Tepe are similar to each other. These items date back to the 9th–7th centuries. BC, Assyrian and Scythian influence is visible in their stylized ornaments and depictions of deities.
Achaemenid period.
Architectural monuments of the pre-Achaemenid period have not survived, although reliefs in Assyrian palaces depict cities on the Iranian plateau. It is very likely that for a long time, even under the Achaemenids, the population of the highlands led a semi-nomadic lifestyle and wooden buildings were typical for the region. Indeed, Cyrus's monumental structures at Pasargadae, including his own tomb, resemble wooden house gabled roof, and Darius and his successors at Persepolis and their tombs at nearby Naqshi Rustem are stone copies of wooden prototypes. In Pasargadae, royal palaces with columned halls and porticos were scattered throughout a shady park. In Persepolis under Darius, Xerxes and Artaxerxes III, reception halls and royal palaces were built on terraces raised above the surrounding area. In this case, it was not arches that were characteristic, but columns typical of this period, covered with horizontal beams. Labor force, construction and Decoration Materials, as well as decorations were delivered from all over the country, the same style architectural details and carved reliefs was a mixture artistic styles then prevailing in Egypt, Assyria and Asia Minor. During excavations in Susa, parts of the palace complex were found, the construction of which began under Darius. The plan of the building and its decorative decoration reveal a much greater Assyro-Babylonian influence than the palaces at Persepolis.
Achaemenid art was also characterized by a mixture of styles and eclecticism. It is represented by stone carvings, bronze figurines, figurines made of precious metals and jewelry. The best jewelry was discovered in an accidental find made many years ago known as the Amu Darya treasure. The bas-reliefs of Persepolis are world famous. Some of them depict kings during ceremonial receptions or defeating mythical beasts, and along the stairs in the large reception hall of Darius and Xerxes the royal guard lined up and a long procession of peoples is visible, bringing tribute to the ruler.
Parthian period.
Most of the architectural monuments of the Parthian period are found west of the Iranian plateau and have few Iranian features. True, during this period an element appeared that would be widely used in all subsequent Iranian architecture. This is the so-called ivan, a rectangular vaulted hall, open from the entrance. Parthian art was even more eclectic than the art of the Achaemenid period. In different parts of the state, products of different styles were made: in some Hellenistic, in others Buddhist, in others Greco-Bactrian. Plaster friezes, stone carvings and wall paintings were used for decoration. Glazed pottery, the forerunner of ceramics, was popular during this period.
Sasanian period.
Many structures from the Sasanian period are in relatively good condition. Most of them were made of stone, although baked brick was also used. Among the surviving buildings are royal palaces, fire temples, dams and bridges, as well as entire city blocks. The place of columns with horizontal ceilings was taken by arches and vaults; square rooms were crowned with domes, arched openings were widely used, and many buildings had ivans. The domes were supported by four trumpos, cone-shaped vaulted structures that spanned the corners of the square rooms. Ruins of palaces remain at Firuzabad and Servestan, in southwestern Iran, and at Qasr Shirin, on the western edge of the plateau. The largest palace was considered to be in Ctesiphon, on the river. The tiger known as Taki-Kisra. In its center there was a giant ivan with a vault 27 meters high and a distance between supports equal to 23 m. More than 20 fire temples have survived, the main elements of which were square rooms topped with domes and sometimes surrounded by vaulted corridors. As a rule, such temples were erected on high rocks so that the open sacred fire could be seen from a great distance. The walls of the buildings were covered with plaster, onto which a pattern made using the notching technique was applied. Numerous rock-cut reliefs are found along the banks of reservoirs fed by spring waters. They depict kings facing Agura Mazda or defeating their enemies.
The pinnacle of Sassanian art are textiles, silver dishes and cups, most of which were made for the royal court. Scenes of royal hunting, figures of kings in ceremonial attire, and geometric and floral patterns are woven onto thin brocade. On the silver bowls there are images of kings on the throne, battle scenes, dancers, fighting animals and sacred birds made using the technique of extrusion or appliqué. The fabrics, unlike the silver dishes, are made in styles that came from the West. In addition, elegant bronze incense burners and wide-necked jugs were found, as well as clay products with bas-reliefs covered with shiny glaze. The mixture of styles still does not allow us to accurately date the found objects and determine the place of manufacture of most of them.
Writing and science.
The oldest written language of Iran is represented by as yet undeciphered inscriptions in the Proto-Elamite language, which was spoken in Susa ca. 3000 BC The much more advanced written languages of Mesopotamia quickly spread to Iran, and in Susa and the Iranian plateau the population used the Akkadian language for many centuries.
The Aryans who came to the Iranian plateau brought with them Indo-European languages, distinct from the Semitic languages of Mesopotamia. During the Achaemenid period, royal inscriptions carved on rocks were parallel columns in Old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian. Throughout the Achaemenid period, royal documents and private correspondence were written either in cuneiform on clay tablets or in writing on parchment. At the same time, at least three languages were in use - Old Persian, Aramaic and Elamite.
Alexander the Great introduced the Greek language, his teachers taught about 30,000 young Persians from noble families the Greek language and military science. On his great campaigns, Alexander was accompanied by a large retinue of geographers, historians and scribes, who recorded everything that happened day after day and became acquainted with the culture of all the peoples they met along the way. Special attention was devoted to navigation and the establishment of maritime communications. The Greek language continued to be used under the Seleucids, while the Old Persian language was preserved in the Persepolis region. Greek served as the language of trade throughout the Parthian period, but the main language of the Iranian Highlands became Middle Persian, which represented a qualitatively new stage in the development of Old Persian. Over many centuries, the Aramaic script used to write in the Old Persian language was transformed into the Pahlavi script with an undeveloped and inconvenient alphabet.
During the Sasanian period, Middle Persian became the official and main language of the inhabitants of the highlands. Its writing was based on a variant of the Pahlavi script known as the Pahlavi-Sassanian script. The sacred books of the Avesta were written in a special way - first in Zenda, and then in the Avesta language.
In ancient Iran, science did not rise to the heights that it reached in neighboring Mesopotamia. The spirit of scientific and philosophical search awakened only in the Sasanian period. The most important works were translated from Greek, Latin and other languages. That's when they were born Book of Great Feats, Book of ranks, Iran countries And Book of Kings. Other works from this period survive only in later Arabic translations.