What is the name of Persia today. Persia is
In the middle of the VI century BC. That is, a hitherto little-known tribe, the Persians, entered the historical arena, who, by the will of fate, soon managed to create the greatest empire at that time, a powerful state that stretched from Egypt and Libya to the borders. In their conquests, the Persians were active and insatiable, and only courage and courage during the Greco-Persian wars managed to stop their further expansion into Europe. But who were the ancient Persians, what is their history, culture? Read about all this further in our article.
Where is Persia
But first, let's answer the question of where ancient Persia is located, or rather, where it was located. The territory of Persia at the time of its highest prosperity stretched from the borders of India in the East to modern Libya in North Africa and part of mainland Greece in the West (those lands that the Persians managed to conquer from the Greeks for a short time).
This is what ancient Persia looks like on a map.
History of Persia
The origin of the Persians is associated with the warlike nomadic tribes of the Aryans, some of which settled on the territory of the modern state of Iran (the word "Iran" itself comes from the ancient name "Ariana", which means "country of the Aryans"). Once on the fertile lands of the Iranian highlands, they switched from a nomadic lifestyle to a sedentary one, nevertheless, retaining their military traditions of nomads and the simplicity of morals characteristic of many nomadic tribes.
The history of ancient Persia as a great power of the past begins in the middle of the 6th century BC. e. when, under the leadership of a talented leader (later the Persian king) Cyrus II, the Persians first completely conquered Media, one of the large states of the then East. And then they began to threaten themselves, which at that time was the greatest power of antiquity.
And already in 539, near the city of Opis, on the Tiber River, a decisive battle took place between the armies of the Persians and the Babylonians, which ended in a brilliant victory for the Persians, the Babylonians were completely defeated, and Babylon itself, the greatest city of antiquity for many centuries, was part of the newly formed Persian empire. . In just a dozen years, the Persians from a seedy tribe turned into truly the rulers of the East.
Such a crushing success of the Persians, according to the Greek historian Herodotus, was facilitated, first of all, by the simplicity and modesty of the latter. And of course iron military discipline in their troops. Even having gained enormous wealth and power over many other tribes and peoples, the Persians continued to revere these virtues, simplicity and modesty most of all. It is interesting that during the coronation of the Persian kings, the future king had to put on the clothes of a simple person and eat a handful of dried figs, and drink a glass of sour milk - the food of commoners, which, as it were, symbolized his connection with the people.
But back to the history of the Persian Empire, the successors of Cyrus II, the Persian kings Cambyses and Darius, continued their active policy of conquest. Thus, under Cambyses, the Persians invaded ancient Egypt, which by that time was undergoing a political crisis. Having defeated the Egyptians, the Persians turned this cradle of ancient civilization, Egypt, into one of their satrapies (provinces).
King Darius actively strengthened the borders of the Persian state, both in the East and in the West, under his rule, ancient Persia reached the pinnacle of its power, almost the entire civilized world of that time was under its rule. With the exception of ancient Greece in the West, which did not give rest to the warlike Persian kings, and soon the Persians, under the reign of King Xerxes, the heir of Darius, tried to subdue these wayward and freedom-loving Greeks, but no such luck.
Despite the numerical superiority, military luck for the first time betrayed the Persians. In a number of battles, they suffered a series of crushing defeats from the Greeks, however, at some stage they managed to conquer a number of Greek territories and even sack Athens, but still the Greco-Persian wars ended in a crushing defeat for the Persian Empire.
From that moment on, the once great country entered a period of decline, the Persian kings who grew up in luxury increasingly forgot the former virtues of modesty and simplicity, which were so valued by their ancestors. Many conquered countries and peoples were just waiting for the moment to rise up against the hated Persians, their enslavers and conquerors. And such a moment has come - Alexander the Great, at the head of the united Greek army, has already attacked Persia himself.
It seemed that the Persian troops would wipe out this arrogant Greek (more precisely, not even quite a Greek - Macedonian) to powder, but everything turned out to be completely different, the Persians again suffer crushing defeats, one after another, a close-knit Greek phalanx, this tank of antiquity, over and over again crushes superior Persian forces. The peoples once conquered by the Persians, seeing what is happening, also rebel against their rulers, the Egyptians even meet the army of Alexander as liberators from the hated Persians. Persia turned out to be a real ear of clay with feet of clay, formidable in appearance, it was crushed thanks to the military and political genius of one Macedonian.
Sasanian state and Sasanian revival
The conquests of Alexander the Great turned out to be a disaster for the Persians, who, in order to replace their arrogant power over other peoples, had to humiliately submit to ancient enemies - the Greeks. Only in the II century BC. e. the tribes of the Parthians managed to expel the Greeks from Asia Minor, although the Parthians themselves adopted a lot of things from the Greeks. And in the year 226 of our era, a certain ruler of Pars with the ancient Persian name Ardashir (Artaxerxes) raised an uprising against the ruling Parthian dynasty. The uprising was successful and ended with the restoration of the Persian power, the Sassanid state, which historians call the "second Persian empire" or the "Sasanian revival".
The Sasanian rulers sought to revive the former greatness of ancient Persia, which at that time had already become a semi-legendary power. And it was under them that a new flowering of Iranian, Persian culture began, which everywhere displaces Greek culture. Temples are being actively built, new palaces in the Persian style, wars are being waged with neighbors, but not as successfully as in the old days. The territory of the new Sasanian state is several times smaller than the size of the former Persia, it is located only on the site of modern Iran, the actual ancestral home of the Persians and also covers part of the territory of modern Iraq, Azerbaijan and Armenia. The Sasanian state existed for more than four centuries, until exhausted by continuous wars, it was finally conquered by the Arabs, who carried the banner of a new religion - Islam.
culture of persia
The culture of ancient Persia is most notable for their system of government, which was admired even by the ancient Greeks. In their opinion, this form of government was the pinnacle of monarchical rule. The Persian state was divided into so-called satrapies, headed by the satrap itself, which means “guardian of order”. In fact, the satrap was a local governor-general, whose broad duties included maintaining order in the territories entrusted to him, collecting taxes, administering justice, and commanding local military garrisons.
Another important achievement of Persian civilization was the beautiful roads described by Herodotus and Xenophon. The most famous was the royal road running from Ephesus in Asia Minor to the city of Susa in the East.
The post office also functioned well in ancient Persia, which was also facilitated by good roads. Also in ancient Persia, trade was very developed, a well-thought-out tax system similar to the modern one functioned throughout the state, in which part of the taxes and taxes went to conditional local budgets, while part went to the central government. Persian kings had a monopoly on the minting of gold coins, while their satraps could also mint their own coins, but only silver or copper. The “local money” of the satraps circulated only in a certain territory, while the gold coins of the Persian kings were a universal means of payment throughout the Persian empire and even beyond.
Coins of Persia.
Writing in ancient Persia had an active development, so there were several types of it: from pictograms to the alphabet invented in its time. The official language of the Persian kingdom was Aramaic, coming from the ancient Assyrians.
The art of ancient Persia is represented by local sculpture and architecture. For example, bas-reliefs of Persian kings skillfully carved in stone have survived to this day.
Persian palaces and temples were famous for their luxurious decoration.
Here is an image of a Persian master.
Unfortunately, other forms of ancient Persian art have not come down to us.
Religion of Persia
The religion of ancient Persia is represented by a very interesting religious doctrine - Zoroastrianism, named so thanks to the founder of this religion, the sage, the prophet (and possibly the magician) Zoroaster (aka Zarathushtra). At the heart of the teachings of Zoroastrianism lies the eternal opposition of good and evil, where the good beginning is represented by the god Ahura Mazda. The wisdom and revelation of Zarathushtra are presented in the sacred book of Zoroastrianism - the Zend-Avesta. In fact, this religion of the ancient Persians has a lot in common with other monotheistic later religions, such as Christianity and Islam:
- Belief in a single God, which among the Persians was actually represented by Ahura Mazda. The antipode of God, the Devil, Satan in the Christian tradition in Zoroastrianism is represented by the demon Druj, personifying evil, lies, destruction.
- The presence of the sacred scripture, the Zend-Avesta among the Zoroastrian Persians, as the Koran among the Muslims and the Bible among the Christians.
- The presence of a prophet, Zoroaster-Zarathushtra, through whom divine wisdom is transmitted.
- The moral and ethical component of the doctrine, so Zoroastrianism preaches (however, like other religions) the renunciation of violence, theft, murder. For an unrighteous and sinful path in the future, according to Zarathustra, a person after death will end up in hell, while a person who performs good deeds after death will stay in paradise.
In a word, as we can see, the ancient Persian religion of Zoroastrianism is strikingly different from the pagan religions of many other peoples, and is very similar in nature to the later global religions of Christianity and Islam, and by the way, it still exists today. After the fall of the Sassanid state, the final collapse of Persian culture and religion in particular occurred, since the conquering Arabs carried the banner of Islam with them. Many Persians also converted to Islam at this time and assimilated with the Arabs. But there was a part of the Persians who wanted to remain true to their ancient religion of Zoroastrianism, fleeing the religious persecution of Muslims, they fled to India, where they have preserved their religion and culture to this day. Now they are known under the name of the Parsis, on the territory of modern India and today there are many Zoroastrian temples, as well as adherents of this religion, real descendants of the ancient Persians.
Ancient Persia, video
And in conclusion, an interesting documentary about ancient Persia - "The Persian Empire - an empire of greatness and wealth."
Why Iran did not want to be called Persia. More on this in our review.
An Iranian stamp from the Pahlavi period with the laconic name "Iran".
The stamp was issued on the occasion of the coronation of the third wife of the last Shah of Iran as shahbanu (empress) in 1967.
The stamp depicts the Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, and his wife, Empress Farah.
In 1935, the first Iranian ruler from the Pahlavi dynasty, Reza, sent a letter to the League of Nations with a request to use the word "Iran" (Erān) for the name of his country, instead of the term "Persia". He substantiated this by the fact that inside his country to refer to what is known in the world as Persia, the word "irani" is used (the term comes from the "country of the Aryans", which goes back to the self-name of the Aryan tribe).
Shah Reza Pahlavi noted that, “Persians are just one of several Indo-Iranian ethnic groups in Iran. Their home region of Pars (Fars) was the center of political power in ancient times - during the period of the Achaemenid Empire, and in the Sassanid Empire. However, during the period of the conquests of Alexander the Great, the name of the region Pars (Fars) was spread by the Greeks to designate the name of the whole country.
The state of the Achaemenids (existed from 550 BC to 330 BC) was officially called Aryanam Xsaoram (from the ancient Persian “the power of the Aryans”, given the modern name of the country, it can also be translated as “the power of Iran”).
Immediately before the Arab and Islamic conquest of Persia, during the era of the Sassanid rulers (224-652 AD), who were fire-worshipping Zoroastrians, Persia was officially called Eranshahr, i.e. Iranian empire.
During the period of the Turkic Qajar dynasty, which ruled the country from 1795 to 1925 od and preceded the last monarchical dynasty in Persian history - Pahlavi, the country known to the world as Persia, however, was also officially called Iran. Namely, "The Highest State of Iran" (Dowlat-e Eliyye-ye I ran). But in the outside world, the name of the country was translated as Persia.
Under the Pahlavi dynasty (ruled from 1925 to 1979), Iran was officially called the Shahanshah State of Iran (Doulat Shohanshohi-ye Iron (Persian دولت شاهنشاهی ایرا), where the name uses the ancient title of the Persian rulers "shahinshah" ("king of kings").
Since 1979, after the fall of the monarchy, the country is officially called the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian جمهوری اسلامی ایران - Jomhuri-ye Eslomi-ye Iron).
In conclusion, it is worth noting that the Persians themselves began to use the term "Persia" for the name of their country in a number of publications and books in the new and recent historical period, under the influence of the West, as if borrowing this term back from the ancient Greeks.
Additionally:
Around the name of Iran
“When compiling a historical overview of Iran, it is necessary to take into account the fact that Iran, as a geographical concept, does not coincide with either the area of Iranian settlement, as an ethnographic unit, or with the area of influence of Iranian culture, or with the area of distribution of Persian, i.e. Iranian literary language . In ancient times, India and Iran were equally occupied by a people who called themselves Arians (Aryans) - arua in India, ariya or airya in ancient Iranian dialects.
In the inscriptions of King Darius, the word "Aryans" apparently refers exclusively to the population of Iran.;
India and the Indians were named after the border river Sindh (Sindhu), in the Iranian pronunciation Hindu(Indian c generally corresponds in Iranian h) on modern maps of the Indus; from the Persians this name passed to the Greeks and, like most of the Greek names, came into use in modern geographical science.
In the Iranian scripture (Avesta) the term Hindu is used as the name of a river and refers to the "seven Indus" (harta hindu), which is quite consistent with the Indian term sapta sindhavah. The Indian "Seven Rivers" got its name from the Indus, Kabul and five rivers "Punjab" (i.e. "Five Rivers"), Chinab with its tributaries Jelam and Ravi and Setledzh with its tributary Beas.
Arias are opposed to tours(tura, adjective tuirya) and sarima (sairima); if the latter, as is believed, should be understood as the Sarmatians or Savromats of Greek writers, then the Central Asian people are meant, according to most scholars, related to the Iranians; it is very likely that the Turs were of the same origin and also lived in Central Asia.
In other words, the population of Iran isolated itself equally from the Indian, "Aryans" and from related Central Asian peoples. The word "Iran", originally Eran, appears later and is the genitive plural of the word airya (airyanara), in the sense: (country) of the Aryans. For the first time we meet him in the Greek form Ariane at Eratosthenes (3rd century BC) from whom Strabo borrowed this information.
The borders of this "Ariana" or Iran were considered: the Indus in the east, the Hindu Kush and the mountain ranges to the west of it - in the north, the Indian Ocean in the south; the western border ran from the Caspian Gates, that is, the mountain pass east of Tehran, along the line separating Parthia from Media and Karamania (Kerman) from Persis (Fars). Obviously, the term "country of the Aryans" was understood not in an ethnographic, but exclusively in a political sense; this was the name of the country, united under the rule of the Arsacid dynasty, which revolted against the Greek conquerors; the areas that remained under the rule of the Greeks, both in the west (the state of the Seleucids) and in the northeast (Greek-Bactrian kingdom) were not included in Iran.
Subsequently, under the Sassanids, the region with the Semitic population, Babylonia, where the capital of the "king of kings" was located, was not only ranked as Iran, but was even considered the "heart of the Iranian region." And at present, in Persia itself, Iran is understood as the state of the Shahinshah.
The origin of the word Iran and the ethnographic term "Aryans" from which it derives were already forgotten in the Middle Ages; from the word "Iran" to refer to the population of this country, the term "Iranians" (Persian, Irani) was formed. Iran was most often opposed to "Turan", a word derived from "tour" in the same way as Iran from "aria"; only later "Turan" was identified with "Turkestan", the country of the Turks.
The words "Iran" and "Turan" in geographical science received a completely different meaning; Iran was understood as a plateau representing an internal basin and bordering in the north with the basin of the Caspian and Aral Seas, in the south, west and east - with the basin of the Indian Ocean, between the Tigris and the Indus; near Turan - the Aral Sea basin. The words “Turan” and “Turanians” were sometimes used in a broader sense, uniting under these terms the entire Central Asian world from the southern Russian steppes to China, and contrasting “Turanians” not only with “Iranians”, but in general with “Aryans”.
The name "Aryans" again became known to Europeans in the 18th century. (not from living speech, but from the oldest written monuments of India and Iran). After establishing the proximity of the languages of India and Iran with European ones, the Aryans (Arier, Ariens, Aryans) began to call all representatives of the linguistic group, embracing the peoples "from India to Iceland".
Subsequently, instead of this term, others were proposed: Indo-Europeans, Indo-Germans (especially in German science), Ario-Europeans, with the preservation of the name "Aryans" only for Asian Indo-Europeans, whose ancestors actually called themselves by this name; nevertheless, the word "Aryans" is still sometimes used in science in its former sense, even in Germany.
The Aryans, in the sense of "Asiatic Indo-Europeans", were divided into two branches, Indians and Iranians. Iranians in the linguistic sense began to be called, regardless of political boundaries, peoples united into one whole in linguistic terms. When at the end of the 19th century the idea arose to compile a set of scientific material relating to the field of "Iranian philology" (languages, literature and history of the Iranians), then the linguistic department of this set included dialects from the easternmost of the Pamirs, Sarykol, to the western Kurds, in the eastern parts of the Asia Minor peninsula, i.e., approximately from 75 to 38 degrees east. debt, from Greenwich. In addition, the dialect of the so-called Ossetians (who call themselves Iron), who live separately from the others, “Iranians” in the Caucasus, to the west of the former Georgian military road, is considered.
Even more extensive was the area of distribution of Iranian dialects in antiquity, although in many cases the question of which peoples spoke Iranian remains controversial.
An even greater space embraced the area of distribution of the main literary language of Iran, the so-called "New Persian", which was formed already under Islam; it was written far beyond the borders of linguistic Iran, from Constantinople (Turkish Sultan Selim II, 1566-1574 belonged to the Persian poets) to Calcutta and the cities of Chinese Turkestan. The historian of Iranian culture must reckon with this fact, and with even more numerous translations from Persian and imitations of Persian models. (From the collection "History of the Middle East", released in Russia in 2002).
formerly called Persia
Alternative descriptionsFormer Persia
In medieval Persia
State in Asia
A historically interesting turquoise deposit is located on the territory of this country
Home of the best carpets in the world
The country in which the main action of the film "Tehran-43" took place
The country where the world's best sky-blue turquoise has been mined for 3000 years
The place where the Kurds live
Which country has the "ir" domain?
With which country did Russia conclude the Turkmenchay peace treaty in 1828?
In which country is the mirzai dance performed?
Country whose two main exports are oil and carpets
Which country speaks Farsi?
What country do Persians and Kurds live in?
With which state do we share the Caspian Sea?
Islamic republic
Which Asian country has Tehran as its capital?
Persia today
Persian state
Persia now
Gas rich country
Whose capital is Tehran?
Persians and Kurds live there
Country in the "Axis of Evil"
In this country they pay in rials
In which country do mirzai dance?
Where do Kurds live?
Country around Tehran
Birthplace of the religion of Zoroastrianism
Country exporting carpets
Which country has the "ir" domain?
What country is Abadan in?
Country whose capital is Tehran
Country whose capital is Tehran
Country of Persian carpets
Tehran
Close to Turkmenistan
Tehran (country)
South of Turkmenistan
Borders with Turkey
Close to Pakistan
Bl.-East. the country
Afghanistan's neighbor
Borders with Iraq
Formerly called Persia
Country with the city of Tehran at the head
Territory surrounding Tehran
Present Persia
Close to Turkey
Current name of Persia
Oslo is Norway, but Tehran?
Homeland of Persian cats
Asian power
. "country of the Aryans"
Persia in our time
Country of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Persia at present
Close to Iraq and Turkey
Borders with Pakistan
Borders with Turkey and Turkmenistan
Persia today
Power in Asia
Asian country
Its capital is Tehran
Persia in the current version
Country in Asia
Islamic State
Country of Ayatollah Khomeini
Persian country
Islamic country
Left of Afghanistan
Oil country in Asia
Formerly called Persia
Asian State
Oil power in Asia
Country with Tehran
Pakistan's neighbor
Muslim state
Persia at present
What country is Isfahan in?
Power of Persian carpets
State in Western Asia
The country in which the main action of the film "Tehran-43" took place
State in Asia
Often today we can hear a story about a country in the southwestern part of Asia called Persia. What country has now replaced it with Since 1935, Persia has officially become known as Iran.
In ancient times, this state was the center of a huge empire, the territory of which stretched from Egypt itself to the Indus River.
Geography
It is worth saying that at one time the state of Persia did not have clear boundaries. It is rather problematic to determine which country is now located on these lands. Even modern Iran is only approximately located on the territory of Ancient Persia. The fact is that in certain periods this empire was located in most of the world known at that time. But there were also worse years, when the territory of Persia was divided among themselves by local rulers who were hostile to each other.
The relief of most of the territory of present-day Persia is a high (1200 m) highland, which is crossed by a chain of stone ridges and individual peaks rising up to 5500 m. In the northern and western parts of this area are the Elbrus and Zagros mountain ranges. They are located in the form of the letter "V", framing the highlands.
West of Persia was Mesopotamia. This is the birthplace of the most ancient civilizations on Earth. At one time, the states of this empire largely influenced the culture of the still nascent country of Persia.
History
Persia (Iran) is a country with a great past. Its history includes aggressive and defensive wars, uprisings and revolutions, as well as brutal suppression of all political speeches. But at the same time, Ancient Iran is the birthplace of the great people of that time, who led the art and culture of the country to flourish, and also built buildings of amazing beauty, the architecture of which still amazes us with its magnificence. The history of Persia has a large number of ruling dynasties. It is simply impossible to count them. Each of these dynasties introduced its own laws and rules, which no one simply dared to break.
Historical periods
Persia experienced a lot on the way of its formation. But the main milestones of its development are two periods. One is pre-Muslim and the other is Muslim. The Islamization of Ancient Iran was the cause of fundamental changes in its political, social and cultural sphere. However, this does not mean the disappearance of the old spiritual values. Not only were they not lost, but they also largely influenced the new culture that originated in the country at the turn of two historical periods. In addition, many pre-Muslim rituals and traditions have been preserved in Iran to this day.
Achaemenid rule
As a state, Ancient Iran began its existence with Cyrus II. This ruler became the founder of the Achaemenid dynasty, which was in power from 550 to 330 BC. BC e. Under Cyrus II, the two largest Indo-Asiatic tribes, the Persians and the Medes, were united for the first time. This was the period of the greatest power of Persia. Its territory extended to the Central and Indus Valley and Egypt. The most important archaeological and historical monument of the Achaemenid era are the ruins of the capital of Persia - Persepolis.
Here is the tomb of Cyrus II, as well as an inscription carved by Darius I on the Behistun rock. At one time, Persepolis was burned by Alexander the Great during his campaign to conquer Iran. It was the conqueror who put an end to the great Achaemenid Empire. Unfortunately, there is no written evidence of this era. They were destroyed by order of Alexander the Great.
Hellenistic period
From 330 to 224 BC e. Persia was in a state of decline. Along with the country, its culture also degraded. During this period, Ancient Iran was under the rule of the Greek Seleucid dynasty ruling at that time, being part of the state of the same name. The culture and language of Persia have changed. They were influenced by the Greeks. At the same time, Iranian culture did not die. She influenced the settlers from Hellas. But this happened only in those areas where there were no self-sufficient and large Greek communities.
Parthian Kingdom
Years passed, the power of the Greeks in Persia came to an end. The history of ancient Iran entered its new stage. The country became part of the Parthian kingdom. The Arshakid dynasty ruled here, considering themselves the descendants of the Achaemenids. These rulers liberated Persia from Greek rule and also protected it from Roman invasion and nomadic raids.
During this period, the Iranian folk epic was created, a large number of plots with heroic characters appeared. One of them was Rustem. This Iranian hero is in many ways similar to Hercules.
During the Parthian period, the feudal system was strengthened. This weakened Persia. As a result, it was conquered by the Sassanids. A new stage in the history of ancient Iran began.
Sassanid state
Between 224 and 226 AD. e. the last Parthian king Artaban V was overthrown from the throne. The power was seized by the Sassanid dynasty. During this period, the borders of Ancient Iran were not only restored, but also expanded to the western regions of China, including the Punjab and Transcaucasia. The dynasty waged a constant struggle with the Romans, and one of its representatives - Shapur I - even managed to capture their emperor Valerian. Constant wars were waged by the Sassanid dynasty with Byzantium.
During this period, cities developed in Persia, and the central government was strengthened. Then Zoroastrianism arose, which became the official religion of the country. In the era of the Sassanids, a four-stage system of the existing administrative division and the stratification of all strata of society into 4 estates were developed and approved.
In the era of the Sassanids, Christianity penetrated into Persia, which was negatively met by the Zoroastrian priests. At the same time, some other oppositional religious movements appeared. Among them are Mazdakism and Manichaeism.
The most famous representative of the Sassanid dynasty was Shah Khosrov I Anushirvan. The literal translation of his name means "with an immortal soul." His reign lasted from 531 to 579. Khosrow I was so famous that his fame survived for many centuries after the fall of the Sassanid dynasty. This ruler remained in the memory of posterity as a great reformer. Khosrow I showed great interest in philosophy and science. In some Iranian sources, there is even a comparison with Plato's "king-philosopher".
The Sassanids were significantly weakened by constant wars with Rome. In 641, the country lost a major battle to the Arabs. The Sasanian stage of Iranian history ended with the death of the last representative of this dynasty, Yazdegerd III. Persia entered the Islamic period of its development.
Rule of local dynasties
The Arab caliphate gradually expanded to the east. At the same time, his central authority in Baghdad and Damascus could no longer maintain strict control over all the provinces. This led to the emergence of local dynasties in Iran. The first of these is the Tahirides. Its representatives ruled from 821 to 873. in Khorasan. This dynasty was replaced by the Saffarids. Their dominance in the territory of Khorasan, southern Iran and Herat lasted throughout the second half of the ninth century. Then the throne was seized by the Samanids. This dynasty proclaimed itself the descendants of the Parthian military leader Bahram Chubin. The Samanids held the throne for more than fifty years, having extended their power over large territories. The country of Iran during the years of their reign ran from the eastern outskirts of the highlands to the Aral Sea and the Zagros ridge. The center of the state was Bukhara.
A little later, two more clans ruled on the territory of Persia. In the second half of the tenth century, these were the Ziyarids. They controlled the territory of the coast of the Caspian Sea. The Ziyarids became famous for their patronage of art and literature. During the same period, the Bund dynasty was in power in central Iran. They conquered Baghdad and Force, Khuzistan and Kerman, Ray and Hamadan.
Local Iranian dynasties achieved power in the same way. They seized the throne, raising an armed rebellion.
Ghaznavid and Seljuk dynasties
Starting from the eighth century, Turkic nomadic tribes began to penetrate. Gradually, the way of life of this people became sedentary. New settlements sprang up. Alp-Tegin - one of the Turkic tribal leaders - began to serve the Sassanids. In 962, he took power and ruled over the newly created state, the capital of which was the city of Ghazni. Alp-Tegin founded a new dynasty. The Ghaznavits held power for a little over a hundred years. One of its representatives - Mahmud Ghaznevi - kept the territory from Mesopotamia to India under vigilant control. The same ruler settled in Kharasan a tribe of Oghuz Turks. Subsequently, their leader Seljuk rebelled and overthrew the Ghaznavid dynasty. Rey was declared the capital of Iran.
The Seljuk dynasty belonged to the orthodox Muslims. She subjugated all the local rulers, but for many years she waged constant wars for her dominance.
During the years of the Seljukids' rule, architecture flourished. During the reign of the dynasty, hundreds of madrasas, mosques, public buildings and palaces were erected. But at the same time, the reign of the Seljukids was hampered by constant uprisings in the provinces, as well as invasions of other tribes of the Turks, who were advancing towards the western lands. Constant wars weakened the state, and by the end of the first quarter of the twelfth century it began to disintegrate.
Mongol domination
The invasion of Genghis Khan's troops did not pass Iran either. The history of the country tells us that in 1219 this commander managed to capture Khorezm, and then, moving to the west, plundered Bukhara, Balkh, Samarkand, Nashapur and Merv.
His grandson, Hulagu Khan, again plunged into Iran in 1256 and, taking Baghdad by storm, destroyed the Abbas Caliphate. The conqueror took the title of ilkhan, becoming the ancestor of the Khulaguid dynasty. He and his successors adopted the religion, culture and way of life of the Iranian people. Over the years, the position of the Mongols in Persia began to weaken. They were forced to wage constant wars with feudal rulers and representatives of local dynasties.
Between 1380 and 1395 the territory of the Iranian Highlands was captured by Amir Timur (Tamerlane). He also conquered all the lands that were adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea. Descendants until 1506 kept the state of the Timurids. Further, it was subordinated to the Uzbek Sheibanid dynasty.
History of Iran from 15th to 18th centuries
Over the following centuries, wars for power continued to be waged in Persia. So, in the 15th century, the Ak-Koyundu and Kara-Aoyundu tribes fought among themselves. In 1502, Ismail I seized power. This monarch was the first representative of the Safavids, an Azerbaijani dynasty. During the reign of Ismail I and his successors, Iran revived its military power and became an economically prosperous country.
The Safavid state remained strong until the death of its last ruler, Abbas I, in 1629. In the east, the Uzbeks were expelled from Kharasan, and in the west, the Ottomans were defeated. Iran, whose map pointed to the impressive territories belonging to it, subjugated Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. It existed within these boundaries until the nineteenth century.
On the territory of Persia, wars were fought against the Turks and Afghans, who sought to conquer the country. These were the times when the Afshar dynasty was in power. The southern lands of Iran from 1760 to 1779 were ruled by the dynasty founded by Zendov Kerim Khan. Then she was overthrown by the Turkic tribe of Qajars. Under the leadership of its leader, it conquered the lands of the entire Iranian highlands.
Qajar dynasty
At the very beginning of the nineteenth century, Iran lost the provinces that were located on the territory of modern Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. This was the result of the fact that the Qajar dynasty was never able to create a strong state apparatus, a national army and a unified system of tax collection. The power of its representatives turned out to be too weak and could not resist the imperial desires of Russia and Great Britain. The lands of Afghanistan and Turkestan came under the control of these great powers in the second half of the nineteenth century. At the same time, Iran unwittingly began to serve as an arena for Russian-British confrontation.
The last of the Qajar family was a constitutional monarch. The dynasty was forced to adopt this main law under the pressure of the strikes held in the country. Two powers - Russia and Great Britain - opposed the constitutional regime of Iran. In 1907 they signed an agreement to partition Persia. Its northern part went to Russia. Great Britain exerted its influence in the southern lands. The central part of the country was left as a neutral zone.
Iran at the beginning of the 20th century
The Qajar dynasty was overthrown in a coup d'état. It was led by General Reza Khan. A new Pahlavi dynasty came to power. This name, which in Parthian means "noble, brave", was intended to emphasize the Iranian origin of the family.
During the reign of Reza Shah Pahlavi, Persia experienced its national revival. This was facilitated by numerous radical reforms carried out by the government. The beginning of industrialization was laid. Large investments were allocated for the development of industry. Highways and railways were built. The development and production of oil was actively carried out. Sharia courts have been replaced by legal proceedings. Thus, in the early 20th century, extensive modernization began in Persia.
In 1935, the state of Persia changed its name. Which country is now its successor? Iran. This is the ancient self-name of Persia, which means "the country of the Aryans" (the highest white race). After 1935, the pre-Islamic past began to revive. Small and large cities of Iran began to be renamed. They restored pre-Islamic monuments.
The overthrow of royal power
The last Shah of the Pahlavi dynasty came to the throne in 1941. His reign lasted for 38 years. In conducting his foreign policy, the shah was guided by the opinion of the United States. At the same time, he supported the pro-American regimes that existed in Oman, Somalia and Chad. One of the most prominent opponents of the Shah was the Islamic priest Kma Ruhollah Khomeini. He led revolutionary activities against the existing government.
In 1977, the US President forced the Shah to ease his repressions against the opposition. As a result, numerous parties of critics of the existing regime began to appear in Iran. The Islamic Revolution was being prepared. The activities carried out by the opposition aggravated the protest moods of the Iranian society, which opposed the country's domestic political course, the oppression of the church and foreign pro-American policy.
The Islamic revolution began after the events of January 1978. It was then that the police shot down a demonstration of students who opposed a slanderous article about Khomeini published in the state newspaper. The unrest continued throughout the year. The Shah was forced to introduce martial law in the country. However, it was no longer possible to keep the situation under control. In January 1979, the Shah left Iran.
After his flight, a referendum was held in the country. As a result, on April 1, 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran emerged. In December of the same year, the country's updated constitution saw the light of day. This document approved the supreme authority of Imam Khomeini, which, after his death, was to be transferred to his successor. The President of Iran, according to the constitution, stood at the head of political and civil power. Together with him, the country was ruled by the prime minister and an advisory council - the Mejlis. The President of Iran, by law, was the guarantor of the adopted constitution.
Iran today
Persia, known from time immemorial, is a very colorful state. What country today can so accurately correspond to the saying "the East is a delicate matter"? This is confirmed by the entire existence and development of the state in question.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, without any doubt, is unique in its identity. And this distinguishes it from others. The capital of the Republic is the city of Tehran. This is a huge metropolis, which is one of the largest in the world.
Iran is a unique country with a large number of sights, cultural monuments and its own way of life. The republic has 10% of the world's black gold reserves. It is thanks to its oil fields that it is in the top ten exporters of this natural resource.
Persia - what country is it now? Highly religious. More copies of the Holy Quran are published in its printing houses than in all other Muslim countries.
After the Islamic Revolution, the republic headed for universal literacy. The development of education here is going at an accelerated pace.
What comes to mind most people when they hear the name of the state of Iran? Revolution, nuclear program, opposition to the West? Unfortunately, many people judge Iran by the press reports of the last thirty years, and that is exactly what it says. However, any Iranian will gladly tell you that his native country has a completely different story. The documented history of the state covers approximately 2500 years, up to the modern Islamic Republic of Iran. The republic was founded in 1979 as a result of a revolution, the main inspirer of which was the conservative clergy. This is probably the world's first modern constitutional theocracy and the greatest experiment: can religious leaders effectively rule the country, who oblige the people, who have the richest history of Persia, to live according to the law of Allah? The Iranian character cannot be decomposed into components - it combines Persian, Islamic, and Western. Moreover, Persian notes have nothing to do with Islamic culture.
In the 7th century, Persia became part of the Arab Caliphate. Since then, the heirs of the empire have been making every effort to preserve their national character, their identity.Fight for the right to be a slave. I was a guest in Iran, and a guest has the highest status here. At the table, he is assigned the best place, treated to the most juicy fruits. This is one of the rules of a complex system of courtesy - taarof. It defines all life here. Hospitality, courtship, family relationships, political negotiations - taarof is an unwritten code that determines how people should behave towards each other. This word comes from the Arabic "araf", which translates as "to know", "to receive knowledge." But the very idea of the taarof—to belittle oneself by exalting the other—is Persian in origin, argues William Beeman, a linguist-anthropologist at the University of Minnesota. He called it "a struggle for the right to be a slave to the position", but a struggle of exquisite refinement. In Iranian society, with its most complex hierarchical structure, such interaction, paradoxically, allows people to communicate on an equal footing. True, sometimes Iranians get so carried away, trying to please each other (at least on the surface) and refusing offers (also on the surface), that it becomes difficult to understand what they really want. They chat at ease, alternately either making requests or refusing - and so on until they comprehend all the intentions of the interlocutor. Courtesy and external sincerity while hiding true feelings is a skillful pretense! - are considered the pinnacle of the taarof and a huge social achievement. “You can never show your intentions or your true nature,” explains a former Iranian political prisoner now living in France. “You have to make sure you don't put yourself in danger. And there are always plenty of dangers in Iran.” Territorial conflict. Indeed, Iran's long history is rife with wars and invasions. The cause of all conflicts is territorial. Wealth and a good strategic location provoked one invasion after another. Persia has gone through several ups and downs. Among the conquerors were the Turks, the Mongols and, most importantly, the Arabs, inspired by the new religion - Islam. It was they who managed in the 7th century to finally pacify Persia, which became part of the Arab Caliphate. Since then, the heirs of the empire have been making every effort to preserve their national character, their identity. The hearts and spirits of these people are not easy to change. With any invasion, the Persians managed to remain themselves, passing on traditions to the conquerors. So, Alexander the Great, having destroyed the conquered Persia, later adopted its customs and principles of the state structure. He even married a Persian woman (Roxana) and ordered thousands of his warriors to follow his example. Iranians pride themselves on getting along with outsiders. Those customs of the invaders that they like, they accept, but they do not refuse their own. Cultural flexibility is the basis of the Persian character. In the ruins of the ancient capital, Persepolis, burned by Alexander the Great, images on stone walls have been preserved. The drawings indicate the friendly atmosphere that prevailed at that time: representatives of different nations present gifts to each other, affably put their hands on their shoulders. It seems that at that time, in an era of barbarism and cruelty, Persepolis demonstrated cosmopolitanism. The territory of today's Iran was inhabited ten thousand years ago. The Aryans, to whom Iran owes its modern name (it comes from the word airan, which means "land of the Aryans"), began to populate these parts around 1500 BC. Scientists have to make many more discoveries related to the history of the country. There are already tens of thousands of archaeological sites in Iran. On one of them, in the south-east of the country, near the city of Jiroft, work began in 2000. It appeared thanks to a flash flood on the Khalil River, which exposed thousands of ancient tombs. Excavations have been carried out there for only a few seasons, but interesting objects have already been found. Among them is a bronze head of a goat, which is supposedly five thousand years old. Perhaps Jiroft is the center of civilization since ancient Mesopotamia.
In the VI century BC, King Cyrus the Great from the Achaemenid dynasty founded the First Persian Empire, which later became the largest and most powerful kingdom of antiquity. At its peak under Cyrus' successor Darius, the empire's possessions stretched from the Mediterranean to the Indus River.The excavations here are led by the famous archaeologist Yusef Majidzadeh. Some time ago, he headed the Department of Archeology at the University of Tehran, after the revolution he lost his job and went to France. But in recent years, according to him, much has changed in Iran - for example, interest in archeology has revived. And so he arrived at home to explore the tombs near Jiroft. Territory of sensations. What era does the find belong to? Yousef believes that these may be traces of the mythical Aratta, which existed around the 2700s BC. Some researchers believe that it was in Aratta that marvelous handicrafts were created, which then ended up in Mesopotamia. But there is no evidence yet, and other scientists are skeptical. In the VI century BC, King Cyrus the Great from the Achaemenid dynasty founded the First Persian Empire, which later became the largest and most powerful kingdom of antiquity. The king was a brave, modest, kind ruler. The empire he created is called the first power where religious and cultural tolerance existed. It united more than twenty-three peoples who peacefully coexisted under a single central authority, which at first concentrated in Pasargadae. At its peak under Cyrus' successor Darius, the empire's possessions stretched from the Mediterranean to the Indus River. It turns out that Persia was the first world superpower! “We would like to return to those times,” said Said Leilaz, a Tehran economist and political scientist. “Over the centuries, the borders have narrowed, but the memory of the superpower and its former greatness has remained.” Thoughts about the grandiose achievements of the past reinforce the finds of archaeologists. Among them is the Cyrus Cylinder, perhaps the most amazing item found in Iran. On a clay cylinder (the original is kept in London, in the British Museum) a decree is carved in cuneiform, which can be considered the first charter of human rights, and this document is almost two millennia older than the Magna Carta. The decree establishes religious and ethnic freedom, the prohibition of slavery and any oppression, the seizure of property by force or without compensation. And the conquered lands themselves decided whether to submit to the authority of Cyrus. “The top hat is far from the only example of Iran surprising the world,” said Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian lawyer and 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner. “Many foreigners are amazed when they learn that sixty-five percent of our college students are girls. And when they see Iranian painting, architecture, they do not believe their eyes! They judge us only by what they have heard over the past thirty years.”
“In addition to the Persians, many different nationalities live in Iran today,” says archaeologist Yusef. “But they all know Farsi, one of the oldest living languages in the world.”When I asked people what the world should know about them, they immediately answered: “We are not Arabs!” And then they added: “We are not terrorists!” The Arabs who conquered Iran are considered by many here to be something like the Bedouins, who had no culture of their own other than what they adopted from the Persians. The Iranians still talk about them with such dislike, as if not fourteen centuries had passed, but a couple of months. Rescue lines. To save themselves, the Persians continued to speak their native language. Poetry helped to keep him from dissolving in foreign speech. Iranians idolize Rumi, Saadi, Omar Khayyam, Hafiz. But still, the main national poet is Firdousi, who lived in the 10th century. When the Arabs first conquered Persia, its inhabitants could not openly express their thoughts, moreover, in their native language. Ferdowsi did it for them. The poet was a devout Muslim, but resisted Arab influence. Trying to use fewer Arabic words, he created the Shahnameh (Book of Kings) verse epic for thirty years. This masterpiece of world literature describes the stories of fifty monarchies: the accession of kings to the throne, their death, frequent abdications and coups. The epic ends with the Arab conquest, described as a disaster. Warring kings and warrior heroes appear in the legends of the Shahnameh, and the latter almost always turn out to be morally superior to the rulers they serve. These stories raise the issue of righteous people being dominated by the evil or incompetent. Since the Shahnameh was written, the language has been somewhat Arabized, but its basis remains Old Persian. “In addition to the Persians, many different nationalities live in Iran today: Turkmens, Arabs, Azerbaijanis, Balochs, Kurds and others,” says archaeologist Yusef. “But they all know Farsi, one of the oldest living languages in the world.” The original "Shahnameh" has long been lost. One of the copies is kept in the Golestan Palace Museum in Tehran and dates back to around 1430. It was shown to me by the caretaker, a pretty girl Behnaz Tabrizi. The illustrations—twenty-two in all—are made with stone dust ink mixed with the juice of flower petals. Today, this book is considered one of the main relics of Iran. They say that any Iranian, educated or not, can quote Ferdowsi. Readings are regularly held - in colleges, at someone's home or in traditional Persian teahouses. In one of these teahouses, Azari (in the south of Tehran), where the walls are painted with scenes from the Shahnameh, I listened to a reader reciting passages from a great book. Then the musicians performed traditional songs to which the children danced. And the parents watching the dance sipped tea from elegant cups, snacking on dates and cookies.
When the Arabs came up with what they thought was a new idea of worshiping a single god, the Persians had known monotheism for over a thousand years.One holiday. Poetry is not the only means by which the Persians managed to preserve their culture. Take, for example, Navruz - the spring holiday of the equinox, which is also the New Year. Today it is celebrated not only in Iran, but also in the republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus. This is a thirteen-day extravaganza, during which everything is closed, and people walk, dance, read poetry. The tradition of Nowruz goes back to Zoroastrianism, the ancient religion of the Persians. The teachings of Zarathustra (Greek - Zoroaster) influenced many beliefs, including the main world religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. When the Arabs came up with what they thought was a new idea of worshiping a single god, the Persians had known monotheism for over a thousand years. "Heaven is forcing us!" And what happens to the ancient Persian traditions today? Until 1979, the country was ruled by Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who, hiding behind the great ideas of Cyrus, propagated music, clothing, behavior and business interests of the West. In 1971, he tried to artificially instill national pride in people by arranging an ostentatious celebration in honor of the 2500th anniversary of the Persian Empire. At the entrance to Persepolis, a luxurious tent city was set up, food was brought from Paris, and important people from all over the world were invited. But the Iranians did not like the idea of the Shah. In 1979, as a result of the revolution, conservative Islamists came to power, who did not want to revive the Persian spirit - on the contrary! For example, they tried to downplay Nowruz by suggesting that the New Year be moved to the birthday of Imam Ali, the historical leader of the Shiites, who are the majority of Iranians. “The authorities even resorted to arrests,” my friend Ali told me. “But our holiday cannot be canceled - after all, it is more than two and a half thousand years old!” Today, reformist priests, one of the centers of Iranian power, are calling on Iranians to be Muslims without being Arabs, and also not to forget about ancient history. After the revolution, at first, people perceived the revival of Islam as a cleansing from the influence of the West. Meanwhile, many Iranians are by nature closer to the teachings of Zoroastrianism, according to which the goal of spiritual quest is self-knowledge. And although at first the Iranians did not object to the strengthening of the role of Islam in the life of society, they were not ready for the fact that the new order would be imposed so severely. People did not expect that religious leaders would begin to interfere in the judicial system and in everyday life. Punishments in the spirit of the Middle Ages were introduced (they have survived to this day): the guilty were stoned, hanged, their fingers and even limbs were cut off. Now the central authorities are preventing some of these rituals, but in the provinces, conservative mullahs adamantly uphold the traditions. All this is motivated by the righteous goal of serving Allah and preparing oneself for life in paradise. "Heaven is forcing us!" Ali thinks. Forward to the past. After the revolution, the doors to the West were closed for a decade. The ruling conservative clergy minimized any manifestations of culture dating back to the pre-Islamic period (in all Muslim countries it is called jahiliya, the era of ignorance). Zoroastrian symbols were replaced with Islamic ones, streets were renamed, and references to the Persian Empire disappeared from textbooks. At one time, people also feared for the fate of Firdousi's burial place - a large mausoleum made of light stone in the suburbs of the sacred city of Mashhad, with an amazing mirror pond, over which the hubbub of birds winding around the columns is heard. Even Persepolis was threatened to be razed to the ground. “But they realized that then the people would rise up, and they left everything in its place,” Ali said. It seems that the Islamic Revolution - the “second Arab invasion”, as it is called - only strengthened the connection with the past, which she tried so hard to eradicate. Young Iranians also keep the memory of the glorious Persian past. One of them is the underground rap artist Yas, a guy with black crew cut hair and stylish long sideburns. Around his neck is a silver fravahar, a Zoroastrian winged disc, symbolizing the elevation of the soul through pious thoughts, words and deeds. The young man belongs to the generation of revolution that has grown up since 1979, which makes up over two-thirds of the country's 70 million population. He sings about Persian poets, about ancient ancestors, about the history of Iran. Yas also criticizes fellow citizens for the fact that they only rest on the laurels of a great past. In recent years, that part of the national self-consciousness that is associated with the idea has begun to awaken among the Iranians: they are the direct descendants of perhaps the most ancient human race. So, I was told about the recent action at the grave of Cyrus. Approximately two thousand people bought multiple entry tickets in one day, wanting to support the restoration of the burial. The action was unofficial - without speeches and solemn ceremonies. But new archaeological excavations, unfortunately, are moving slowly. “The country has many concerns, and archeology is not in the first place,” says researcher Yousef Majidzadeh. However, according to him, after the discoveries near Jiroft, all the provinces caught fire with excavations. Now the tiniest town dreams of telling the world its own history of Iran.
