The first capital of Persia. Capitals of the Achaemenids (Ancient Persia). Sasanian state and Sasanian revival

iOS

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).

Daryaee, edited by Touraj. The Oxford handbook of Iranian history. - Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. - P. 131. - “Although the Persians and Medes shared domination and others were placed in important positions, the Achaemenids did not – could not – provide a name for their multinational state. Nevertheless, they referred to it as Khshassa, "the Empire".". - doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199732159.001.0001 .

Richard Fry. Iranian heritage. - M.: Eastern literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2002. - S. 20. - ISBN 5-02-018306-7.

History of Iran / M.S. Ivanov. - M. : MGU, 1977. - S. 488.

M.M.Dyakonov. Essay on the history of ancient Iran. - M., 1961.

N. V. Pigulevskaya. History of Iran from ancient times to the end of the 18th century. - L., 1958.

History (Herodotus), 3:90-94

John William Humphrey, John Peter Oleson i Andrew Neil Sherwood: "Grčka i rimska tehnologija" ( Greek and Roman technology), str. 487.

Robin Waterfield i Carolyn Dewald: "Herodot - Povijesti" ( Herodotus - The histories), 1998., str. 593.

"Krezov Zivot" ( Life of Crassus), Sveuciliste u Chicago

Darel Engen: "Gospodarstvo antičke Grčke" ( The Economy of Ancient Greece), EH.Net Encyclopedia, 2004.

Darije Veliki: popis satrapija s odgovarajućim porezima (Livius.org, Jona Lendering)

Talent (unitconversion.org)

I. Dyakonov "History of Media", p. 355, 1956

The satrap dynasty of the Orontes sat under the Achaemenids in eastern Armenia (in the 18th satrapy, the land of the Matien-Hurrians, Saspeir-Iberians and Alarodii-Urartians; however, as the name itself shows, Armenians already lived here) ...

I. Dyakonov "Transcaucasia and adjacent countries in the period of Hellenism", chapter XXIX from "History of the East: Vol. 1. The East in antiquity." Rep. ed. V. A. Jacobsen. - M.: Vost. lit., 1997:

Original text (Russian)

The Colchians from time to time sent symbolic tribute to the Achaemenids by slaves, possibly captured from neighboring mountain tribes, and supplied auxiliary detachments, apparently at the disposal of the satrap of Western (or proper) Armenia (the 13th satrapy of the Achaemenids, originally called Melitene; North-Eastern Armenia , which continued to be called Urartu, was the 18th satrapy and at that time, in all likelihood, was not yet fully Armenianized in terms of language; along with the Armenians, Urartians-Alarodies and Hurrians-matiens, it also included the eastern Proto-Georgian tribes - the Saspirs)

J. Burnutian, "A Concise History of the Armenian People", Mazda Publishers, Inc. Costa Mesa California, 2006. Pp. 21

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 the middle of the VI century. BC e. the Persians entered the arena of world history - a mysterious tribe, about which the previously civilized peoples of the Middle East knew only by hearsay.

About manners and customs ancient Persians known from the writings of the peoples who lived next to them. In addition to their mighty growth and physical development, the Persians had a will hardened in the fight against the harsh climate and the dangers of nomadic life in the mountains and steppes. At that time they were famous for their moderate way of life, temperance, strength, courage and unity.

According to Herodotus, Persians wore clothes made of animal skins and felt tiaras (caps), did not drink wine, ate not as much as they wanted, but as much as they had. They were indifferent to silver and gold.

Simplicity and modesty in food and clothing remained one of the main virtues even during the reign of the Persians over the entire Middle East, when they began to dress in luxurious Median outfits, wear gold necklaces and bracelets, when fresh fish was delivered to the table of Persian kings and nobility from distant seas, fruits from Babylonia and Syria. Even then, during the rite of coronation of the Persian kings, the Achaemenides who ascended the throne had to put on the clothes that he wore when he was not a king, eat some dried figs and drink a cup of sour milk.

The ancient Persians were allowed to have many wives, as well as concubines, to marry close relatives, such as nieces and half-sisters. Ancient Persian customs forbade women to show themselves to strangers (among the numerous reliefs in Persepolis there is not a single female image). The ancient historian Plutarch wrote that the Persians are characterized by wild jealousy not only in relation to their wives. They even kept slaves and concubines locked up so that outsiders could not see them, and carried them in closed wagons.

History of ancient Persia

The Persian king Cyrus II from the Achaemenid clan conquered Media and many other countries in a short time and had a huge and well-armed army, which began to prepare for a campaign against Babylonia. A new force appeared in Western Asia, which managed in a short time - in just a few decades- completely change the political map of the Middle East.

Babylonia and Egypt abandoned their long-term hostile policy towards each other, because the rulers of both countries were well aware of the need to prepare for war with the Persian Empire. The start of the war was only a matter of time.

The Persian campaign against Babylon began in 539 BC. e. decisive battle between the Persians and the Babylonians took place near the city of Opis on the Tigris River. Cyrus won a complete victory here, soon his troops took the well-fortified city of Sippar, and the Persians captured Babylon without a fight.

After that, the eyes of the Persian ruler turned to the East, where for several years he waged a grueling war with the nomadic tribes of Central Asia and where he eventually died in 530 BC. e.

The successors of Cyrus - Cambyses and Darius completed the work begun by him. in 524-523 BC e. Cambyses marched on Egypt, as a result of which established the power of the Achaemenids on the banks of the Nile. Ancient Egypt became one of the satrapies of the new empire. Darius continued to strengthen the eastern and western borders of the empire. By the end of the reign of Darius, who died in 485 BC. e., the Persian state dominated over a vast area from the Aegean in the west to India in the east, and from the deserts of Central Asia in the north to the rapids of the Nile in the south. The Achaemenids (Persians) united almost the entire civilized world known to them and owned it until the 4th century BC. BC e., when their power was broken and subjugated by the military genius of Alexander the Great.

Chronology of the rulers of the Achaemenid dynasty:

Achaemenes, 600s BC.

Teispes, 600 BC

Cyrus I, 640 - 580 BC.

Cambyses I, 580 - 559 BC.

Cyrus II the Great, 559 - 530 BC.

Cambyses II, 530 - 522 BC

Bardia, 522 BC

Darius I, 522 - 486 BC

Xerxes I, 485 - 465 BC

Artaxerxes I, 465 - 424 BC

Xerxes II, 424 BC

Secudian, 424 - 423 BC

Darius II, 423 - 404 BC

Artaxerxes II, 404 - 358 BC

Artaxerxes III, 358 - 338 BC

Artaxerxes IV Arces, 338 - 336 BC

Darius III, 336 - 330 BC

Artaxerxes V Bessus, 330 - 329 BC

Map of the Persian Empire

The tribes of the Aryans - the eastern branch of the Indo-Europeans - by the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. inhabited almost the entire territory of present-day Iran. Samo the word "Iran" is the modern form of the name "Ariana", i.e. land of the Aryans. Initially, these were warlike tribes of semi-nomadic pastoralists who fought on war chariots. Some of the Aryans moved to Northern India even earlier and captured it, giving rise to the Indo-Aryan culture. Other Aryan tribes, closer to the Iranians, remained nomadic in Central Asia and the northern steppes - the Scythians, Saks, Sarmatians, etc. The Iranians themselves, having settled on the fertile lands of the Iranian Highlands, gradually abandoned their nomadic life, took up agriculture, adopting the skills of the Mesopotamian civilization. It reached a high level already in the XI-VIII centuries. BC e. Iranian craft. His monument is the famous "Luristan bronzes" - skillfully made weapons and household items with images of mythical and really existing animals.

"Luristan bronzes"- a cultural monument of Western Iran. It was here, in the immediate vicinity and confrontation with Assyria, that the most powerful Iranian kingdoms were formed. The first of them Mussel intensified(Northwest Iran). The Median kings participated in the crushing of Assyria. The history of their state is well known from written monuments. But the Median monuments of the 7th-6th centuries. BC e. very poorly studied. Even the capital of the country, the city of Ecbatany, has not been found yet. It is only known that it was located in the vicinity of the modern city of Hamadan. Nevertheless, two Median fortresses already explored by archaeologists from the time of the struggle with Assyria speak of a rather high culture of the Medes.

In 553 BC. e. Cyrus (Kurush) II, the king of the subject Persian tribe from the Achaemenid clan, rebelled against the Medes. In 550 BC. e. Cyrus united the Iranians under his rule and led them to conquer the world. In 546 BC. e. he conquered Asia Minor, and in 538 BC. e. Babylon fell. The son of Cyrus, Cambyses, conquered Egypt, and under King Darius I at the turn of the 6th-5th centuries. before. n. e. Persian power reached its greatest expansion and prosperity.

Monuments of its greatness are the royal capitals excavated by archaeologists - the most famous and best studied monuments of Persian culture. The oldest of them is Pasargada, the capital of Cyrus.

Sassanid Revival - Sassanian Empire

In 331-330. BC e. the famous conqueror Alexander the Great destroyed the Persian Empire. In retaliation for Athens once ravaged by the Persians, Greek Macedonian soldiers brutally looted and burned Persepolis. The Achaemenid dynasty ended. The period of Greek-Macedonian dominion over the East began, which is usually referred to as the era of Hellenism.

For the Iranians, the conquest was a disaster. The power over all neighbors was replaced by humiliated submission to old enemies - the Greeks. The traditions of Iranian culture, already shaken by the desire of kings and nobles to imitate the vanquished in luxury, were now completely trampled. Little changed after the liberation of the country by the nomadic Iranian tribe of the Parthians. The Parthians expelled the Greeks from Iran in the 2nd century BC. BC e., but they themselves borrowed a lot from Greek culture. The Greek language is still used on the coins and inscriptions of their kings. Temples are still built with numerous statues, according to Greek models, which seemed to many Iranians blasphemy. Zarathushtra in ancient times forbade the worship of idols, commanding to honor the inextinguishable flame as a symbol of the deity and to make sacrifices to it. It was religious humiliation that was the greatest, and it was not for nothing that the cities built by the Greek conquerors were later called “Dragon buildings” in Iran.

In 226 AD e. the rebellious ruler of Pars, who bore the ancient royal name Ardashir (Artaxerxes), overthrew the Parthian dynasty. The second story begins Persian Empire - Sassanid Powers, the dynasty to which the winner belonged.

The Sassanids sought to revive the culture of ancient Iran. The very history of the Achaemenid state by that time had become a vague legend. So, as an ideal, the society that was described in the legends of the Zoroastrian priests-mobeds was put forward. The Sassanids built, in fact, a culture that had never existed in the past, thoroughly imbued with a religious idea. This had little in common with the era of the Achaemenids, who willingly adopted the customs of the conquered tribes.

Under the Sassanids, the Iranian decisively triumphed over the Hellenic. Greek temples completely disappear, the Greek language goes out of official use. The broken statues of Zeus (who was identified with Ahura Mazda under the Parthians) are being replaced by faceless altars of fire. Naksh-i-Rustem is decorated with new reliefs and inscriptions. In the III century. The second Sasanian king Shapur I ordered his victory over the Roman emperor Valerian to be carved on the rocks. On the reliefs of the kings, a bird-shaped farn overshadows the kings - a sign of divine patronage.

Capital of Persia became the city of Ctesiphon, built by the Parthians next to the empty Babylon. Under the Sassanids, new palace complexes were built in Ctesiphon and huge (up to 120 hectares) royal parks were laid out. The most famous of the Sasanian palaces is Taq-i-Kisra, the palace of King Khosrow I, who ruled in the 6th century. Along with monumental reliefs, palaces were now decorated with fine carved ornaments made from lime mixture.

Under the Sassanids, the irrigation system of Iranian and Mesopotamian lands was improved. In the VI century. the country was covered by a network of kariz (underground water pipes with clay pipes), stretching up to 40 km. The cleaning of karizs was carried out through special wells dug every 10 m. Karizs served for a long time and ensured the rapid development of agriculture in Iran in the Sasanian era. It was then that Iran began to grow cotton and sugar cane, and horticulture and winemaking developed. At the same time, Iran became one of the suppliers of its own fabrics - both woolen and linen and silk.

Sasanian power was much less Achaemenid, covered only Iran itself, part of the lands of Central Asia, the territory of present-day Iraq, Armenia and Azerbaijan. She had to fight for a long time, first with Rome, then with the Byzantine Empire. Despite all this, the Sassanids held out longer than the Achaemenids - over four centuries. Ultimately, exhausted by continuous wars in the west, the state was engulfed in a struggle for power. The Arabs took advantage of this, carrying by force of arms a new faith - Islam. In 633-651. after a fierce war, they conquered Persia. So it was over with the ancient Persian state and ancient Iranian culture.

The ancient Greeks, who got acquainted with the organization of state administration in the Achaemenid Empire, admired the wisdom and foresight of the Persian kings. In their opinion, this organization was the pinnacle of the development of the monarchical form of government.

The Persian kingdom was divided into large provinces, called satrapies by the title of their rulers - satraps (Persian, "kshatra-pawan" - "guardian of the region"). Usually there were 20 of them, but this number fluctuated, since sometimes the administration of two or more satrapies was entrusted to one person and, conversely, one region was divided into several. This mainly pursued the goals of taxation, but also sometimes took into account the characteristics of the peoples who inhabited them, and historical features. Satraps and rulers of smaller areas were not the only representatives of local government. In addition to them, in many provinces there were hereditary local kings or possessing priests, as well as free cities and, finally, "benefactors" who received cities and districts for life, and even hereditary possession. These kings, governors, and high priests differed in position from the satraps only in that they were hereditary and had a historical and national connection with the population, who saw them as bearers of ancient traditions. They independently carried out internal administration, preserved local law, a system of measures, language, imposed taxes and duties, but were under the constant control of the satraps, who could often intervene in the affairs of the regions, especially during unrest and unrest. The satraps also resolved border disputes between cities and regions, litigation in cases where the participants were citizens of various urban communities or various vassal regions, and regulated political relations. Local rulers, like the satraps, had the right to communicate directly with the central government, and some of them, such as the kings of the Phoenician cities, Cilicia, Greek tyrants, maintained their own army and fleet, which they personally commanded, accompanying the Persian army on large campaigns or performing military orders of the king. However, the satrap could at any time demand these troops for the royal service, put his garrison in the possessions of local rulers. The main command over the troops of the province also belonged to him. The satrap was even allowed to recruit soldiers and mercenaries on his own and at his own expense. He was, as they would call him in an era closer to us, the governor-general of his satrapy, ensuring its internal and external security.

The supreme command of the troops was carried out by the heads of four or, as during the subjugation of Egypt, five military districts into which the kingdom was divided.

Persian system of government gives an example of amazing respect by the winners of local customs and the rights of conquered peoples. In Babylonia, for example, all documents from the time of Persian rule do not differ legally from those relating to the period of independence. The same thing happened in Egypt and Judea. In Egypt, the Persians left the former not only the division into nomes, but also the sovereign families, the location of troops and garrisons, as well as the tax immunity of temples and priesthood. Of course, the central government and the satrap could intervene at any time and decide matters at their own discretion, but for the most part it was enough for them if the country was calm, the taxes were being paid properly, the troops were in order.

Such a system of governance took shape in the Middle East not immediately. For example, Assyria initially relied on the power of arms and intimidation in the conquered territories. The areas taken "with a fight" were included directly in the House of Ashur - the central region of the Assyrian Empire. Those who surrendered to the mercy of the conqueror often retained their local dynasty. But over time, this system turned out to be ill-suited to managing a growing state. The reorganization of government carried out by King Tiglath-Pileser III in the UNT c. BC e., in addition to the policy of forced migrations, it also changed the system of administration of the regions of the empire. The kings tried to prevent the emergence of overly powerful families. To prevent the creation of hereditary possessions and new dynasties among the rulers of the regions, to the most important posts often appointed eunuchs. In addition, although large officials received huge land holdings, they did not form a single array, but were scattered throughout the country.

But still, the main support of the Assyrian domination, as well as the Babylonian later, was the army. Military garrisons literally encircled the entire country. Taking into account the experience of their predecessors, the Achaemenids added to the force of arms the idea of a "kingdom of countries", that is, a reasonable combination of local characteristics with the interests of the central government.

The vast state needed the means of communication needed to control the central government over local officials and rulers. The language of the Persian office, in which even royal decrees were issued, was Aramaic. This is explained by the fact that in fact it was in common use in Assyria and Babylonia back in Assyrian times. The conquests by the Assyrian and Babylonian kings of the western regions, Syria and Palestine, further contributed to its spread. This language gradually took the place of the ancient Akkadian cuneiform in international relations; it was used even on the coins of the Asia Minor satraps of the Persian king.

Another feature of the Persian Empire that admired the Greeks there were great roads, described by Herodotus and Xenophon in the stories about the campaigns of King Cyrus. The most famous were the so-called Royal, which went from Ephesus in Asia Minor, off the coast of the Aegean Sea, to the east - to Susa, one of the capitals of the Persian state, through the Euphrates, Armenia and Assyria along the Tigris River; the road leading from Babylonia through the Zagros Mountains east to another capital of Persia - Ecbatana, and from here to the Bactrian and Indian border; the road from the Issky Gulf of the Mediterranean Sea to Sinop on the Black Sea, crossing Asia Minor, etc.

These roads were laid not only by the Persians. Most of them existed in Assyrian and even earlier times. The beginning of the construction of the Royal Road, which was the main artery of the Persian monarchy, probably dates back to the era of the Hittite kingdom, located in Asia Minor on the way from Mesopotamia and Syria to Europe. Sardis, the capital of Lydia conquered by the Medes, was connected by road with another large city - Pteria. From it the road went to the Euphrates. Herodotus, speaking of the Lydians, calls them the first shopkeepers, which was natural for the owners of the road between Europe and Babylon. The Persians continued this route from Babylonia further east to their capitals, improved it and adapted it not only for trade purposes, but also for state needs - mail.

The Persian kingdom also took advantage of another invention of the Lydians - a coin. Until the 7th century BC e. subsistence farming dominated throughout the East, money turnover was just beginning to emerge: the role of money was played by ingots of metal of a certain weight and shape. These could be rings, plates, mugs without chasing and images. The weight was different everywhere, and therefore, outside the place of origin, the ingot simply lost the value of a coin and had to be weighed again each time, that is, it became an ordinary commodity. On the border between Europe and Asia, the Lydian kings were the first to switch to the minting of a state coin of a clearly defined weight and denomination. Hence the use of such coins spread throughout Asia Minor, to Cyprus and Palestine. The ancient trading countries - Babylon, Phoenicia and Egypt - kept for a very long time the old system. They began to mint coins after the campaigns of Alexander the Great, and before that they used coins made in Asia Minor.

Establishing a unified tax system, the Persian kings could not do without the minting of coins; in addition, the needs of the state that kept the mercenaries, as well as the unprecedented flourishing of international trade, caused the need for a single coin. And in the kingdom a gold coin was introduced, and only the government had the right to mint it; local rulers, cities and satraps, for payment to mercenaries, received the right to mint only silver and copper coins, which remained an ordinary commodity outside their area.

So, by the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. in the Middle East, through the efforts of many generations and many peoples, a civilization arose that even the freedom-loving Greeks was considered ideal. Here is what the ancient Greek historian Xenophon wrote: “Wherever the king lives, wherever he goes, he makes sure that everywhere there are gardens called paradises, full of everything beautiful and good that the earth can produce. He spends most of his time in them, if the season does not interfere with this ... Some say that when the king gives gifts, those who distinguished themselves in the war are first called up, because it is useless to plow a lot if there is no one to protect, and then - the best way cultivators of the land, for the strong could not exist if there were no cultivators ... ".

It is not surprising that this civilization developed precisely in Western Asia. It not only arose earlier than others, but also developed faster and more vigorously, had the most favorable conditions for its development due to constant contacts with neighbors and the exchange of innovations. Here, more often than in other ancient centers of world culture, new ideas arose and important discoveries were made in almost all areas of production and culture. Pottery wheel and wheel, bronze and iron making, war chariot as fundamentally new means of warfare, various forms of writing from pictograms to the alphabet - all this and much more genetically goes back to Western Asia, from where these innovations spread to the rest of the world, including other centers of primary civilization.

In the middle of the VI century. BC e. the Persians entered the arena of world history - a mysterious tribe, about which the previously civilized peoples of the Middle East knew only by hearsay.

Simplicity and modesty in food and clothing remained one of the main virtues even during the reign of the Persians over, when they began to dress in luxurious Median outfits, wear gold necklaces and bracelets, when fresh fish was delivered to the table of Persian kings and nobility from distant seas, fruits from Babylonia and Syria. Even then, during the rite of coronation of the Persian kings, the Achaemenides who ascended the throne had to put on the clothes that he wore when he was not a king, eat some dried figs and drink a cup of sour milk.

History of ancient Persia

The campaign against the Persians began in 539 BC. e. decisive battle between the Persians and the Babylonians took place near the city of Opis on the Tigris River. Cyrus won a complete victory here, soon his troops took the well-fortified city of Sippar, and the Persians captured Babylon without a fight.

After that, the eyes of the Persian ruler turned to the East, where for several years he waged a grueling war with nomadic tribes and where he eventually died in 530 BC. e.

The successors of Cyrus - Cambyses and Darius completed the work begun by him. in 524-523 BC e. Cambyses marched on Egypt, as a result of which established the power of the Achaemenids on the banks of the Nile. became one of the satrapies of the new empire. Darius continued to strengthen the eastern and western borders of the empire. By the end of the reign of Darius, who died in 485 BC. e., the Persian state dominated over a vast area from the Aegean in the west to India in the east, and from the deserts of Central Asia in the north to the rapids of the Nile in the south. The Achaemenids (Persians) united almost the entire civilized world known to them and owned it until the 4th century BC. BC e., when their power was broken and subjugated by the military genius of Alexander the Great.

Chronology of the rulers of the Achaemenid dynasty:

Achaemenes, 600s BC.
Teispes, 600 BC
Cyrus I, 640 - 580 BC.
Cambyses I, 580 - 559 BC.
Cyrus II the Great, 559 - 530 BC.
Cambyses II, 530 - 522 BC
Bardia, 522 BC
Darius I, 522 - 486 BC
Xerxes I, 485 - 465 BC
Artaxerxes I, 465 - 424 BC
Xerxes II, 424 BC
Secudian, 424 - 423 BC
Darius II, 423 - 404 BC
Artaxerxes II, 404 - 358 BC
Artaxerxes III, 358 - 338 BC
Artaxerxes IV Arces, 338 - 336 BC
Darius III, 336 - 330 BC
Artaxerxes V Bessus, 330 - 329 BC

Map of the Persian Empire

The tribes of the Aryans - the eastern branch of the Indo-Europeans - by the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. inhabited almost the entire territory of present-day Iran. Samo the word "Iran" is the modern form of the name "Ariana", i.e. land of the Aryans. Initially, these were warlike tribes of semi-nomadic pastoralists who fought on war chariots. Part of the Aryans moved even earlier and captured it, giving rise to the Indo-Aryan culture. Other Aryan tribes, closer to the Iranians, remained nomadic in Central Asia and the northern steppes - Saks, Sarmatians, etc. The Iranians themselves, having settled on the fertile lands of the Iranian Highlands, gradually abandoned their nomadic life, took up farming, adopting skills. It reached a high level already in the XI-VIII centuries. BC e. Iranian craft. His monument is the famous "Luristan bronzes" - skillfully made weapons and household items with images of mythical and really existing animals.

"Luristan bronzes"- cultural monument of Western Iran. It was here, in the immediate neighborhood and confrontation, that the most powerful Iranian kingdoms were formed. The first of them Mussel intensified(Northwest Iran). The Median kings participated in the crushing of Assyria. The history of their state is well known from written monuments. But the Median monuments of the 7th-6th centuries. BC e. very poorly studied. Even the capital of the country, the city of Ecbatany, has not been found yet. It is only known that it was located in the vicinity of the modern city of Hamadan. Nevertheless, two Median fortresses already explored by archaeologists from the time of the struggle with Assyria speak of a rather high culture of the Medes.

In 553 BC. e. Cyrus (Kurush) II, the king of the subject Persian tribe from the Achaemenid clan, rebelled against the Medes. In 550 BC. e. Cyrus united the Iranians under his rule and led them to conquer the world. In 546 BC. e. he conquered Asia Minor, and in 538 BC. e. fell. The son of Cyrus, Cambyses, conquered, and under King Darius I at the turn of the 6th-5th centuries. before. n. e. Persian power reached its greatest expansion and prosperity.

The monuments of its greatness are the royal capitals excavated by archaeologists - the most famous and best studied monuments of Persian culture. The oldest of them is Pasargada, the capital of Cyrus.

Sassanid Revival - Sassanian Empire

In 331-330 years. BC e. the famous conqueror Alexander the Great destroyed the Persian Empire. In retaliation for Athens once ravaged by the Persians, Greek Macedonian soldiers brutally looted and burned Persepolis. The Achaemenid dynasty ended. The period of Greek-Macedonian dominion over the East began, which is usually referred to as the era of Hellenism.

Under the Sassanids, the Iranian decisively triumphed over the Hellenic. Greek temples completely disappear, the Greek language goes out of official use. The broken statues of Zeus (who was identified with Ahura Mazda under the Parthians) are being replaced by faceless altars of fire. Naksh-i-Rustem is decorated with new reliefs and inscriptions. In the III century. The second Sasanian king Shapur I ordered his victory over the Roman emperor Valerian to be carved on the rocks. On the reliefs, the kings are overshadowed by a bird-like farn - a sign of divine patronage.

Capital of Persia became the city of Ctesiphon, built by the Parthians next to the empty Babylon. Under the Sassanids, new palace complexes were built in Ctesiphon and huge (up to 120 hectares) royal parks were laid out. The most famous of the Sasanian palaces is Taq-i-Kisra, the palace of King Khosrov I, who ruled in the 6th century. Along with monumental reliefs, palaces were now decorated with fine carved ornaments made from lime mixture.

Sasanian power was much less Achaemenid, covered only Iran itself, part of the lands of Central Asia, the territory of present-day Iraq, Armenia and Azerbaijan. She had to fight for a long time, first with Rome, then with the Byzantine Empire. Despite all this, the Sassanids lasted longer than the Achaemenids - over four centuries. Ultimately, exhausted by continuous wars in the west, the state was engulfed in a struggle for power. The Arabs took advantage of this, carrying by force of arms a new faith - Islam. In 633-651. after a fierce war, they conquered Persia. So it was over with the ancient Persian state and ancient Iranian culture.

Persian system of government

The supreme command of the troops was carried out by the heads of four or, as during the subjugation of Egypt, five military districts into which the kingdom was divided.

Such a system of governance took shape in the Middle East not immediately. For example, initially in the conquered territories it relied only on the force of arms and intimidation. The areas taken "with a fight" were included directly in the House of Ashur - the central region. Those who surrendered to the mercy of the conqueror often retained their local dynasty. But over time, this system turned out to be ill-suited to managing a growing state. The reorganization of government carried out by King Tiglath-Pileser III in the UNT c. BC e., in addition to the policy of forced migrations, it also changed the system of administration of the regions of the empire. The kings tried to prevent the emergence of overly powerful families. To prevent the creation of hereditary possessions and new dynasties among the rulers of the regions, to the most important posts often appointed eunuchs. In addition, although large officials received huge land holdings, they did not form a single array, but were scattered throughout the country.

Another feature of the Persian Empire that admired the Greeks there were great roads, described by Herodotus and Xenophon in the stories about the campaigns of King Cyrus. The most famous were the so-called Royal, which went from Ephesus in Asia Minor, off the coast of the Aegean Sea, to the east - to Susa, one of the capitals of the Persian state, through the Euphrates, Armenia and Assyria along the Tigris River; the road leading from Babylonia through the Zagros mountains to the east to another capital of Persia - Ecbatana, and from here to the Bactrian and Indian border; the road from the Issky Gulf of the Mediterranean Sea to Sinop on the Black Sea, crossing Asia Minor, etc.

These roads were laid not only by the Persians. Most of them existed in Assyrian and even earlier times. The beginning of the construction of the Royal Road, which was the main artery of the Persian monarchy, probably dates back to the era of the Hittite kingdom, located in Asia Minor on the way from Mesopotamia and Syria to Europe. Sardis, the capital of Lydia conquered by the Medes, was connected by road with another large city - Pteria. From it the road went to the Euphrates. Herodotus, speaking of the Lydians, calls them the first shopkeepers, which was natural for the owners of the road between Europe and Babylon. The Persians continued this route from Babylonia further east, to their capitals, improved it and adapted it not only for trading purposes, but also for state needs - mail.

The Persian kingdom also took advantage of another invention of the Lydians - a coin. Until the 7th century BC e. subsistence economy dominated throughout the East, money circulation was just beginning to emerge: the role of money was played by metal ingots of a certain weight and shape. These could be rings, plates, mugs without chasing and images. The weight was different everywhere, and therefore, outside the place of origin, the ingot simply lost the value of a coin and had to be weighed again each time, that is, it became an ordinary commodity. On the border between Europe and Asia, the Lydian kings were the first to switch to the minting of a state coin of a clearly defined weight and denomination. Hence the use of such coins spread throughout Asia Minor, to Cyprus and Palestine. The ancient trading countries -, and - retained the old system for a very long time. They began to mint coins after the campaigns of Alexander the Great, and before that they used coins made in Asia Minor.

So, by the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. in the Middle East, through the efforts of many generations and many peoples, a civilization arose that even the freedom-loving Greeks was considered ideal. Here is what the ancient Greek historian Xenophon wrote: “Wherever the king lives, wherever he goes, he makes sure that everywhere there are gardens called paradises, full of everything beautiful and good that the earth can produce. He spends most of his time in them, if the season does not interfere with this ... Some say that when the king gives gifts, those who distinguished themselves in the war are first called up, because it is useless to plow a lot if there is no one to protect, and then they cultivate the land in the best possible way, for the strong could not exist if there were no workers ... ".

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 - Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians and Hittites. The later empire of Alexander the Great included almost no territory that would not have previously belonged to the Persians, while it was smaller than Persia under King Darius.

Since its inception in the 6th c. 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 domination lasted for about a hundred years, and after its fall, the Persian state was revived under two local dynasties: the Arsacids (Parthian kingdom) and the Sassanids (New Persian kingdom). For more than seven centuries, they kept Rome in fear, and then Byzantium, until in the 7th century. AD the Sassanid state was not conquered by Islamic conquerors.

The geography of the empire.

The lands inhabited by the ancient Persians only roughly coincide with the borders of modern Iran. In ancient times, such boundaries 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 high arid highlands (1200 m), crossed by mountain ranges with individual peaks reaching 5500 m. Zagros and Elburs mountain ranges are located in the west and north, which frame the highlands in the form of the letter V, leaving it open to the east. The western and northern borders of the highlands roughly coincide with the current borders of Iran, but in the east it extends beyond the borders of the country, occupying part of the territory of modern Afghanistan and Pakistan. Three areas 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 to the west of Persia lies Mesopotamia, home to the world's most ancient civilizations. The Mesopotamian states of Sumer, Babylonia and Assyria had a significant impact on the early culture of Persia. And although the Persian conquests ended almost three thousand years after the rise of Mesopotamia, Persia was in many ways the heir to the Mesopotamian civilization. Most of the important cities of the Persian Empire were located in Mesopotamia, and Persian history is largely a continuation of Mesopotamian history.

Persia lies on the paths of the earliest migrations from Central Asia. Slowly moving westward, the settlers skirted the northern tip of the Hindu Kush in Afghanistan and turned south and west, where through the more accessible regions of Khorasan, southeast of the Caspian Sea, they entered the Iranian plateau south of the Elburz mountains. Centuries later, the main trade artery ran parallel to the early route, linking the Far East with the Mediterranean and providing control of the empire and the transfer of troops. At the western end of the highlands, it descended into the plains of Mesopotamia. Other important routes connected the southeastern plains through the heavily rugged mountains with the highlands proper.

Away from a few main roads, the settlements of thousands of agricultural communities were scattered in long and 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 carried out an important mission to preserve the continuity of culture, so characteristic of ancient history Persia.

STORY

Ancient Iran.

It is known that the most ancient inhabitants of Iran had a different origin than the Persians and their kindred 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, skeletons of people dated to the 8th millennium BC were discovered. In the north-west of Iran, in the town of Goy-Tepe, the skulls of people who lived in the 3rd millennium BC were found.

Scientists have proposed calling the indigenous population the 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, apparently, has been preserved in a greatly weakened form among the nomadic Lurs in modern Iran.

For the archeology of the Middle East, the central issue 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 were Susa, which later became the capital of the Persian state. In these small villages, adobe huts crowded together along winding narrow streets. The dead were buried either under the floor of the house or in the cemetery in a crooked ("uterine") position. The reconstruction of the life of the ancient inhabitants of the highlands was carried out on the basis of a study of utensils, tools and decorations that were placed in the graves in order to provide the deceased with everything necessary for the afterlife.

The development of culture in prehistoric Iran proceeded progressively over many centuries. As in Mesopotamia, large brick houses began to be built here, objects were made from cast copper, and then from cast bronze. Carved stone seals appeared, which were evidence of the emergence of private property. Found large jugs for food storage suggest that stocks were made between harvests. Among the finds of all periods there are figurines of the mother goddess, often depicted with her husband, who was both her husband and son.

The most noteworthy is the huge variety of painted pottery, the walls of some of which are no thicker than the shell of a chicken egg. The bird and animal figurines depicted in profile testify to the talent of prehistoric artisans. Some pottery depicts the man himself, hunting or performing some rituals. Around 1200–800 BC painted pottery is replaced by one-color - red, black or gray, which is explained by the invasion of tribes from as yet unidentified regions. Pottery of the same type was 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 mountains of Zagros, is gleaned from the Mesopotamian chronicles. (There is no information about the tribes that inhabited the central and eastern regions of the Iranian Highlands, because they had no ties with the Mesopotamian kingdoms.) The largest of the peoples inhabiting the Zagros were the Elamites, who captured the ancient city of Susa, located on a plain at the foot of Zagros, and founded the powerful and prosperous state of Elam there. The Elamite Chronicles began to be compiled c. 3000 BC and fought 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 significant were the tribes of the Northern Zagros, the Lullubei and Gutii, who lived in the area where the great Trans-Asian trade route descended from the western tip of the Iranian Highlands to the plain.

The Aryan Invasion and the Median Kingdom.

Starting from the II millennium BC. waves of invasions of tribes from Central Asia hit the Iranian plateau one after another. These were the Aryans, Indo-Iranian tribes who spoke dialects that were the proto-languages of the present-day languages of the Iranian Highlands and Northern India. They also gave Iran its name ("homeland of the Aryans"). The first wave of conquerors surged approx. 1500 BC One group of Aryans settled in the west of the Iranian Highlands, where they founded the state of Mitanni, another group - in the south among the Kassites. However, the main flow of the Aryans passed Iran, turning sharply to the south, crossed the Hindu Kush and invaded North India.

At the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. along the same path, a second wave of newcomers, the Iranian tribes proper, arrived in the Iranian Highlands, and much more numerous. Some of the Iranian tribes - Sogdians, Scythians, Sakas, Parthians and Bactrians - retained a nomadic lifestyle, others left the highlands, but two tribes, the Medes and Persians (Pars), settled in the valleys of the Zagros ridge, mixed with the local population and took their political , religious and cultural traditions. The Medes settled in the vicinity of Ecbatana (modern Hamadan). The Persians settled somewhat to the south, on the plains of Elam and in the mountainous region adjacent to the Persian Gulf, which was later called Persis (Parsa or Fars). It is possible that the Persians initially settled to the northwest of the Medes, west of Lake Rezaye (Urmia), and only later moved south under the pressure of Assyria, which was then at 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 stretched from Asia Minor (modern Turkey) almost to the Indus River. During just one reign, Media from a small tributary principality turned into the strongest power in the Middle East.

Persian state of the Achaemenids.

The power of Media did not last longer than the life of two generations. The Persian dynasty of the Achaemenids (named after their founder Achaemenes) began to dominate Pars even under the Medes. In 553 BC Cyrus II the Great, the Achaemenid ruler of Parsa, revolted against the Median king Astyages, son of Cyaxares, as a result of which a powerful alliance of Medes and Persians was created. 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, the oracle predicted to the Lydian king that the war would end with the collapse of the great state. 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 Highlands, making the capital of Pasargada, a city in southwestern Iran.

Organization of the Achaemenid state.

Apart from a few brief Achaemenid inscriptions, we draw the main information about the state of the Achaemenids from the works of ancient Greek historians. Even the names of the Persian kings entered the 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. Such a combination of the power of an absolute monarch and semi-independent governors was a characteristic feature of the political structure of the country for many centuries.

All provinces were connected by postal roads, the most significant of which, the "royal road" 2400 km long, ran from Susa to the Mediterranean coast. Despite the fact that a single administrative system, a single monetary unit and a single official language were introduced throughout the empire, many subject peoples retained their customs, religion and local rulers. The reign of the Achaemenids 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 the previous armies, for which chariots and infantry were typical. The main striking force of the Persian troops was mounted 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 soldiers each and elite formations of 10,000 people, selected from members of the noblest families and called "immortals"; they also constituted the personal guard of the king. However, during campaigns in Greece, as well as during the reign of the last Achaemenid king Darius III, a huge, poorly controlled mass of horsemen, chariots and foot soldiers 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 origin. The Behistun inscription, carved on a rock by order of Darius I, reads: “I, Darius, the great king, the king of kings, the king of countries inhabited by all peoples, have long been the king of this great land that stretches even further, son of Hystaspes, Achaemenides, 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 never ceased thereafter.

Hellenic dominion.

Weakened by endless rebellions, 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 the 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 southwestern Asia Minor and under Gaugamela (331 BC) in Mesopotamia. Having captured Babylon and Susa, Alexander went to Persepolis and set it on fire, apparently in retaliation for the burning of Athens by the Persians. Continuing to move east, he found the body of Darius III, who had been killed by his own soldiers. Alexander spent more than four years in the east of the Iranian Highlands, founding numerous Greek colonies. He then turned south and conquered the Persian provinces in what is now West Pakistan. After that, he went on a hike in the Indus Valley. Returning in 325 BC in Susa, Alexander began to actively encourage his soldiers to take Persian women as their wives, cherishing the idea of a single state of Macedonians and Persians. In 323 BC Alexander, at the age of 33, died of a fever in Babylon. The huge territory conquered by him was immediately divided between his military leaders, who competed with each other. And although the plan of Alexander the Great to merge together Greek and Persian culture was never realized, the numerous colonies founded by him and his successors for centuries retained the originality of their culture and had a significant impact on local peoples and their art.

After the death of Alexander the Great, the Iranian Highlands became part of the Seleucid state, which got its name from one of its commanders. Soon the local nobility began the struggle for independence. In the satrapy of Parthia, located southeast of the Caspian Sea in the area known as Khorasan, a nomadic tribe of Parns rebelled, expelling the governor of the Seleucids. 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 the uprising of Arshak I against the Seleucids is called either the Arsacid period or the Parthian period. Constant wars were waged between the Parthians and the Seleucids, ending in 141 BC, when the Parthians, under the leadership of Mithridates I, took Seleucia, the capital of the Seleucids on the Tigris River. On the opposite bank of the river, Mithridates founded the new capital of Ctesiphon and extended his dominion over most of the Iranian plateau. Mithridates II (reigned from 123 to 87/88 BC) further expanded the boundaries of the state and, having taken the title of “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 replenished 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 Iran in good condition.

During the reign of Phraates III (ruled from 70 to 58/57 BC), Parthia entered into 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 the army under the command of Marcus Licinius Crassus at Carrhae in Mesopotamia, after which the border between the two empires ran along the Euphrates. In 115 AD Roman emperor Trajan took Seleucia. Despite this, the Parthian power resisted, and in 161 Vologes III devastated the Roman province of Syria. However, long years of war bled the Parthians, and attempts to defeat the Romans on the western borders weakened their power over the Iranian highlands. Riots broke out in a number of areas. The satrap of Fars (or Parsa) 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 Artaban V in battle, he took Ctesiphon and inflicted a crushing defeat on the coalition trying to restore the power of the Arsacids.

State of the Sassanids.

Ardashir (reigned from 224 to 241) founded a new Persian empire known as the Sassanid state (from the ancient Persian title "sasan" or "commander"). His son Shapur I (reigned from 241 to 272) retained elements of the former feudal system but created a highly centralized state. The armies of Shapur first moved east and occupied the entire Iranian Highlands 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, among whom were architects and engineers, were forced to work on the construction of roads, bridges and irrigation systems in Iran.

Over the course of several centuries, about 30 rulers changed in the Sassanid dynasty; often successors were appointed by the higher clergy and the feudal nobility. The dynasty waged continuous wars with Rome. Shapur II, who ascended the throne in 309, fought three times with Rome during the 70 years of his reign. The greatest of the Sassanids is 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 flat rate of land tax was introduced, and numerous artificial irrigation projects were carried out. In the southwest of Iran, traces of these irrigation facilities are still preserved. Society was divided into four estates: warriors, priests, scribes and commoners. The latter included peasants, merchants and artisans. The first three estates enjoyed special privileges and, in turn, had several gradations. From the highest gradation of the estate, the Sardars, governors of the provinces were appointed. 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, Byzantium took the place of the traditional enemy of the Sassanids. Violating the treaty on eternal peace, Khosrow I invaded Asia Minor and in 611 captured and burned Antioch. His grandson Khosrow II (reigned from 590 to 628), nicknamed Parviz ("Victorious"), briefly restored the Persians to their former glory of the Achaemenid times. During several campaigns, he actually defeated the Byzantine Empire, but the Byzantine emperor Heraclius made a bold throw at the Persian rear. In 627 Khosrow II's army suffered a crushing defeat at Nineveh in Mesopotamia, Khosrow was deposed and slaughtered by his own son Kavad II, who died a few months later.

The powerful state of the Sassanids found itself without a ruler, with a destroyed social structure, depleted as a result of long wars with Byzantium in the west and with the Central Asian Turks in the east. Within five years, twelve half-ghostly rulers were replaced, unsuccessfully trying to restore order. In 632, Yazdegerd III restored central authority for several years, but this was not enough. The exhausted empire could not withstand the onslaught of the warriors of Islam, irresistibly rushing north from the Arabian Peninsula. They struck the 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 part of the highlands. Yazdegerd III fled like a hunted beast, his assassination in 651 marked 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 for extensive agriculture, so the Persians had to rely on irrigation. The few and shallow rivers of the highlands did not provide ditches enough water and dry up in the summer. Therefore, the Persians developed a unique system of underground canals-ropes. At the foot of the mountain ranges, deep wells dug out, passing through hard but porous layers of gravel to the underlying impermeable clays that form the lower boundary of the aquifer. The wells collected melt water from mountain peaks covered in winter with a thick layer of snow. From these wells erupted underground conduits the height of a man with vertical shafts located at regular intervals, through which light and air entered for the workers. Water conduits came to 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 a similar region. natural conditions the territory of Elam, through which several rivers flow. This area, now known as Khuzistan, is densely indented with hundreds of ancient canals. Irrigation systems have reached their highest development during the Sasanian period. Numerous remains of dams, bridges and aqueducts built under the Sassanids still survive today. Since they were designed by captured Roman engineers, they are like two drops of water reminiscent of 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. In the Achaemenid period, extensive construction of land roads was carried out, but paved roads were built 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 the place for the construction of roads was unusual for that time. They were laid not along the valleys, along the banks of the rivers, but along the ridges of the mountains. Roads descended into the valleys only to make it possible to cross to the other side in strategically important places, for which massive bridges were erected.

Along the roads, at a distance of a day's journey from one another, postal stations were built, where horses were changed. A very efficient postal service operated, with postal couriers covering up to 145 km per day. Since time immemorial, the breeding center of horses has been a fertile region in the Zagros Mountains, located next to the Trans-Asian trade route. Iranians from antiquity began to use camels as beasts of burden; this “mode 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 the satrapies of the Achaemenid state, offering gifts to the great rulers. Since the time of the Achaemenids, Iran has exported marble, alabaster, lead, turquoise, lapis lazuli (lapis lazuli) and carpets. The Achaemenids created fabulous stocks 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 the gold monetary unit, and during the Sassanid times, silver and copper coins prevailed in circulation.

The system of large feudal estates that developed under the Achaemenids survived until the Seleucid period, but the kings in this dynasty greatly facilitated the position of the peasants. Then, during the Parthian period, huge feudal estates were restored, and this system did not change under the Sassanids. All states strive to maximum income and established taxes on peasant farms, livestock, land, introduced poll taxes, and collected tolls on roads. All these taxes and fees were levied either in imperial coin or in kind. By the end of the Sassanid period, the number and magnitude of taxes became an unbearable 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 over their subjects according to the will of the gods. But this power was absolute only in theory, but in reality 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 internal and foreign. Nevertheless, the rule of 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 moving to a settled way of life. Already among the Achaemenids, the concept of a unitary state appears. In the state of the Achaemenids, the satraps were fully responsible for the state of affairs in their provinces, but could be subjected to an unexpected check by inspectors, who were called the eyes and ears of the king. The royal court constantly emphasized the importance of the administration of justice and therefore constantly moved from one satrapy to another.

Alexander the Great married the daughter of Darius III, retained the satrapies and the custom of prostrating himself before the king. The Seleucids adopted from Alexander the idea of the fusion of races and cultures in the vast expanses from the Mediterranean Sea to the river. Ind. During this period, there was a rapid development of cities, 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 area of Persepolis, 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 the nomads from Central Asia advancing from east to west. As before, 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 undeniable. The successor was chosen by a council made up of the nobility, which inevitably led to an endless struggle between rival factions.

The Sasanian kings made a serious attempt to revive the spirit and the 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, slaves. The state administrative apparatus was led by the first minister, to whom several ministries were subordinate, including the military, justice and finance, each of which had its own staff of skilled officials. The king himself was the supreme judge, while justice was administered by the priests.

Religion.

In ancient times, the cult of the great mother goddess, a symbol of childbearing and fertility, was widespread. In Elam, she was called Kirisisha, and throughout the Parthian period, her images were cast on Luristan bronzes and made in the form of statuettes of terracotta, bone, ivory and metals.

The inhabitants of the Iranian Highlands also worshiped many deities of Mesopotamia. After the first wave of Aryans passed through Iran, such Indo-Iranian deities as Mithra, Varuna, Indra and Nasatya appeared here. In all beliefs, a pair of deities was certainly present - the goddess, personifying the Sun and the Earth, and her husband, personifying the Moon and the natural elements. The local gods bore the names of the tribes and peoples who worshiped them. Elam had its own deities, primarily the goddess Shala and her husband Inshushinak.

The Achaemenid period was marked by 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 Aguramazda (Ahuramazda). Indirectly, the inscription may be a reflection of the reform of Mazdaism (the cult of Aguramazda) 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. He appears to have been born c. 660 BC, but possibly much earlier, and perhaps much later. The god Ahuramazda personified the good beginning, truth and light, apparently in opposition to Ahriman (Angra Mainu), the personification of the evil beginning, although the very concept of Angra Mainu could appear later. Darius' inscriptions mention Ahuramazda, and the relief on his grave depicts the worship of this deity at the sacrificial fire. Chronicles give reason to believe that Darius and Xerxes believed in immortality. Worship of the sacred fire took place both inside the temples and in open places. Magi, originally members of one of the Median clans, became hereditary priests. They oversaw the temples, took care of strengthening the faith by performing certain rituals. Ethical doctrine based on good thoughts, good words and good deeds was revered. Throughout the Achaemenid period, the rulers were very tolerant of local deities, and starting from 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 Mithras crossed the western borders of the kingdom and spread to most of the Roman Empire. In the west of the Parthian kingdom, they tolerated Christianity, which became widespread here. 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, the continuity was preserved, but there were also some important changes in religious traditions. Mazdaism survived most of the early reforms of Zoroaster and became associated with the cult of Anahita. To compete on equal terms with Christianity and Judaism, the sacred 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 keepers of the three great national fires, as well as the holy fires in all important settlements. By that time, Christians 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.

During the Sasanian period, other religions also arose. In the middle of the 3rd c. preached by the prophet Mani, who developed the idea of combining 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. The followers of Manichaeism were required to fast and offer prayers, but not to worship images or perform sacrifices. Shapur I favored Manichaeism and, perhaps, 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 c. preached 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 Zarathushtra.

Architecture and art.

Early metalwork.

In addition to the enormous number of ceramic objects, items made of 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 unparalleled examples included weapons, horse harness, jewelry, and objects depicting scenes from religious life or ceremonial purposes. Until now, scientists have not come to a consensus on who and when they were made. In particular, it was suggested that they were created from the 15th century. BC. by 7th c. BC, most likely - by Kassites or Scythian-Cimmerian tribes. Bronze items continue to be found in the province of Azerbaijan in northwestern Iran. In style, they differ significantly from the Luristan bronzes, although, apparently, both belong to the same period. Bronze items from northwestern Iran are similar to the latest finds made in the same region; for example, the finds of the accidentally discovered treasure in Ziviya and the wonderful golden goblet found during excavations in Hasanlu-Tepe are similar to each other. These items belong to the 9th-7th centuries. BC, in their stylized ornament and the image of deities, Assyrian and Scythian influence is visible.

Achaemenid period.

No architectural monuments of the pre-Achaemenid period have been preserved, although the reliefs in the palaces of Assyria depict cities on the Iranian Highlands. It is very likely that even under the Achaemenids, the population of the highlands led a semi-nomadic lifestyle for a long time, and wooden buildings were typical for the region. Indeed, the monumental buildings of Cyrus at Pasargadae, including his own tomb, reminiscent of wooden house with a gabled roof, as well as Darius and his successors at Persepolis and their tombs at nearby Nakshi Rustem, are stone copies of wooden prototypes. In Pasargadae, royal palaces with pillared halls and porticos were scattered over 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. At the same time, it was not arches that were characteristic, but columns typical of this period, covered with horizontal beams. Labor, building and finishing materials, as well as decorations were delivered from all over the country, while the style of architectural details and carved reliefs was a mixture artistic styles prevailing then in Egypt, Assyria and Asia Minor. During excavations in Susa, parts of the palace complex were found, the construction of which was begun under Darius. The plan of the building and its decoration reveal a much greater Assyro-Babylonian influence than the palaces in 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 a random 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, royal guards 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 to the west of the Iranian Highlands and have few Iranian features. True, during this period an element appears that will be widely used in all subsequent Iranian architecture. This is the so-called. iwan, a rectangular vaulted hall, open from the side of the entrance. Parthian art was even more eclectic than that 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 earthenware, the forerunner of pottery, was popular during this period.

Sasanian period.

Many buildings of the Sasanian period are in relatively good condition. Most of them were built of stone, although burnt bricks were also used. Among the surviving buildings are royal palaces, temples of fire, dams and bridges, as well as entire city blocks. The place of columns with horizontal ceilings was occupied by arches and vaults; square rooms were crowned with domes, arched openings were widely used, many buildings had aivans. The domes were supported by four trompas, cone-shaped vaulted structures that spanned the corners of the square chambers. The ruins of palaces have been preserved in Firuzabad and Servestan, in the southwest of Iran, and in Kasre-Shirin, on the western outskirts of the highlands. The largest was considered the palace in Ctesiphon, on the river. The tiger known as Taki-Kisra. In its center was a giant iwan with a 27-meter-high vault and a distance between supports of 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 at a great distance. The walls of the buildings were covered with plaster, on which a pattern made by the notching technique was applied. Numerous reliefs carved into the rocks are found along the banks of reservoirs fed by spring waters. They depict kings before Aguramazda or defeating their enemies.

The pinnacle of Sassanid art are textiles, silver dishes and goblets, most of which were made for the royal court. Scenes of royal hunting, figures of kings in solemn attire, geometric and floral ornaments are woven on thin brocade. On silver bowls there are images of kings on the throne, battle scenes, dancers, fighting animals and sacred birds made by the technique of extrusion or appliqué. Fabrics, unlike silver dishes, are made in styles that came from the west. In addition, elegant bronze incense burners and wide-mouthed jugs were found, as well as clay items with bas-reliefs covered with brilliant 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 script in Iran is represented by as yet undeciphered inscriptions in the proto-Elamite language, which was spoken in Susa c. 3000 BC much more developed written languages The Mesopotamians quickly spread into Iran, and in Susa and the Iranian Highlands the Akkadian language was used for many centuries.

The Aryans who came to the Iranian Highlands brought with them Indo-European languages, different from the Semitic languages of Mesopotamia. In 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 either written in cuneiform on clay tablets or written on parchment. At the same time, at least three languages \u200b\u200bare in use - Old Persian, Aramaic and Elamite.

Alexander the Great introduced the Greek language, and his teachers taught about 30,000 young Persians from noble families the Greek language and military science. In the great campaigns, Alexander was accompanied by a large retinue of geographers, historians and scribes who recorded everything that happened day after day and got acquainted with the culture of all the peoples they met along the way. Particular attention was paid to navigation and the establishment of maritime communications. The Greek language continued to be used under the Seleucids, while at the same time, the ancient Persian language was preserved in the Persepolis region. Greek served as the language of trade throughout the entire 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 the centuries, the Aramaic script used for writing in the ancient 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-Sasanian script. The sacred books of the Avesta were recorded in a special way - first in Zend, and then in the Avestan language.

In ancient Iran, science did not rise to the heights that it reached in neighboring Mesopotamia. The spirit of scientific and philosophical research awakened only in the Sasanian period. The most important works were translated from Greek, Latin and other languages. It was then that they were born Book of Great Deeds, Book of ranks, Iran countries and Book of Kings. Other works from this period have survived only in a later Arabic translation.

The tribes of the Aryans - the eastern branch of the Indo-Europeans - by the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. inhabited almost the entire territory of present-day Iran. The word "Iran" itself is a modern form of the name "Ariana", i.e. land of the Aryans. Initially, these were warlike tribes of semi-nomadic pastoralists who fought on war chariots. Part of the Aryans moved even earlier and captured it, giving rise to the Indo-Aryan culture. Other Aryan tribes, closer to the Iranians, remained nomadic in Central Asia and the northern steppes - the Scythians, Saks, Sarmatians, etc. The Iranians themselves, having settled on the fertile lands of the Iranian Highlands, gradually abandoned their nomadic life, took up agriculture, adopting the skills of the Mesopotamian civilization. It reached a high level already in the XI-VIII centuries. BC e. Iranian craft. His monument is the famous "Luristan bronzes" - skillfully made weapons and household items with images of mythical and really existing animals.

"Luristan bronzes" - a cultural monument of Western Iran. It was here, in the immediate vicinity and confrontation with Assyria, that the most powerful Iranian kingdoms were formed. The first of them Mussel intensified(Northwest Iran). The Median kings participated in the crushing of Assyria. The history of their state is well known from written monuments. But the Median monuments of the 7th-6th centuries. BC e. very poorly studied. Even the capital of the country, the city of Ecbatany, has not been found yet. It is only known that it was located in the vicinity of the modern city of Hamadan. Nevertheless, two Median fortresses already explored by archaeologists from the time of the struggle with Assyria speak of a rather high culture of the Medes.

In 553 BC. e. Cyrus (Kurush) II, the king of the subject tribe of the Persians, rebelled against the Medes from the Achaemenid family(Achaemenids - a dynasty of kings of Ancient Persia (558-330 BC)). In 550 BC. e. Cyrus united the Iranians under his rule and led them to conquer the world. In 546 BC. e. he conquered Asia Minor, and in 538 BC. e. Babylon fell. The son of Cyrus, Cambyses, conquered Egypt, and under King Darius I at the turn of the 6th-5th centuries. before. n. e. The Persian state reached its greatest expansion and flourishing.

Pasargady

It is located in the Pars region in southwestern Iran. A settlement on this site arose even before the arrival of the Persians, in the 4th millennium BC. e. Cyrus, after the conquest of Asia Minor, erected a palace complex in Pasargadae, which copied the palaces of the defeated Middle Eastern rulers. These are the most ancient monumental buildings in Persia. The most famous building Pasargad - the tomb of the founder of the state. The crypt of Cyrus was erected on a powerful pedestal, made up of six slabs. The tomb was crowned with the corner of a gable roof directed to the sky. But the building itself is far, say, to Egyptian pyramids. The Persians were just beginning to adopt the luxury of the vanquished, and Cyrus was the first sovereign to be buried in a stone mortuary "house". The oldest of the reliefs, which later decorated the palaces and tombs of the Achaemenid kings, was also found in Pasargadae. The relief depicts the patron spirit of the king with four wings, and under the image - the most ancient Achaemenid inscription: "I am Kurush, king of the Achaemenids." Later, the image of the winged spirit is often repeated on numerous Persian inscriptions and reliefs. Sometimes they tried to depict Ahura Mazda himself, the Lord the Wise, whom the Iranians revered as the only good god. So, Ahura Mazda is depicted blessing King Darius I on the most majestic of the Achaemenid inscriptions - Behistun. But more often the idea of divine patronage was conveyed symbolically - primarily through the image of a bird similar to an eagle. It was a symbol of farn - according to the teachings of the Iranian prophet Zarathushtra (Zoroaster), a special grace bestowed on the king from above and confirming his right to power.

Persepolis

A little south of Pasargad is located Pars city, known by the Greek the name of Persepolis(Persograd). A spacious palace was excavated here, in which the king lived with his harem and numerous servants. Darius I and his successors spent a considerable part of their lives in this palace. The core of the palace complex is the throne room, where official receptions were held. According to modern estimates, the hall could accommodate up to 10,000 people. Its stairs are decorated with images of representatives of different nations, offering tribute to the Persian king. Archaeologists counted 33 peoples, and the creators of the reliefs conveyed the appearance of each with all possible accuracy. Both in Pasargadae and in Persepolis, during excavations, rich treasures were discovered - the treasures of kings and members of their family.

In the fortress wall that protected Persepolis, archaeologists in 1933 found more than 2,000 immured cuneiform tablets. So, the state archive of the Persian state fell into the hands of researchers. In 1936, several hundred more from the Persepolis royal treasury were added to the “tablets of the fortress wall”. These texts became the most important source of knowledge about the inner life of Persia. Interestingly, only a few are written in Persian - officials used Elamite and Aramaic, the most common in the Middle East.

A little north of Persepolis, in the area of Naqsh-i-Rustam, the graves of the Achaemenid kings are carved into the rocks. This is no longer the modest tomb of Cyrus from Persepolis. In front of the entrance to the burial chambers hidden in the depths, monumental reliefs were carved. On them we again meet people from the conquered tribes, bowing before the kings Darius and Artaxerxes. One of the inscriptions carved nearby contains a list of Persian kings and the lands they conquered. The other contains Persian laws and moral standards, praising their justice.

Susa

The third capital of the Persian kings - Susa. Having captured Elam, the Persians rebuilt its ancient center as the residence of their kings. The construction of the palace in Susa was begun by Darius, and completed by his son and heir Xerxes. Numerous inscriptions testify to the progress of construction. Found in Susa one of the most significant works of Persian art. In front of the entrance to the palace stood a three-meter statue of Darius. The king was depicted in full growth, in full dress. The statue of the king was surrounded by smaller figures of people from the peoples he conquered. It is possible that masters from Egypt worked on the entire composition. At least the captions for the sculptures of the vanquished are in Egyptian hieroglyphs. The Egyptian inscription is the most detailed of the four on the central statue.

Inscriptions of Persian kings found a large number of- both in the capitals and beyond. As a rule, they are made in several languages. The Achaemenids aspired to be sovereigns not only for the Persians. Already on the relief of Cyrus, the embodied farn is dressed in Elamite robes and crowned with the crown of the Egyptian pharaohs. Another capital of the state was considered, however, there are no traces of major reconstructions - the Achaemenids moved into the restored palace of the Babylonian rulers.

One of the signs of the unity of the state was the circulation of the royal coin, the minting of which began under Darius. The round coin was borrowed from the conquered kingdom of Lydia in Asia Minor. On the gold coin (darik) and the silver coin (sikle) the king-warrior was depicted in battle - kneeling down on one knee, in marching attire and with weapons. In monetary circulation, one can also observe the beginning of a weakening of unity in a vast country. Already at the end of the 5th c. BC e. satrap governors and individual rich cities began to mint their coins.

The Persians never managed to create a single culture and a single economy within their power. Ordinary Iranians rarely settled outside their homeland, and the nobility quickly adopted the customs of the defeated highly developed peoples. In the daily life of individual regions, the Persian conquest changed almost nothing. All this weakened the seemingly mighty state. It lasted only two centuries.