Persia

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Persia , old alternate name for the Asian country Iran. The article Iran contains a description of the geography and economy of the modern country and a short account of its history since the Arab invasion of the 7th cent. This article is concerned with the history of the ancient Persian Empire, in which present-day Iran has its roots.

Origins of the Persian Empire

The speakers of Iranian languages may have migrated into that part of Asia as early as 1500 BC Presumably they were originally a nomadic tribe who filtered down through the Caucasus to the Iranian plateau. They apparently subjugated peoples already there and mingled with them, but their dominance of particular areas is recorded in the place names Parsua and Parsumash. The Assyrian rulers were by the 9th cent. BC sending expeditions against them, and the recurrence of those campaigns is evidence of the strength of the early Persians.

The Achaemenids

By the 6th cent. BC the early Persians were established in the present-day region of Fars and were benefiting from the decline of Elam . Fars (or Persis to the Greeks) was a recognizable district of the Assyrian Empire (see Assyria ) like the neighboring but greater Media . The Persian rulers, claiming descent from one Achaemenes, or Hakhamanesh (see Achaemenids , were associated with the Medes, who created a strong state in the 7th cent. Cyaxares , son of Phraortes, founder of Median power, was one of the kings who brought about the fall of Nineveh (612 BC) and broke the hegemony of the Assyrians. The Persian ruler of about the same time, Cambyses I, was vassal to Cyaxares. According to Herodotus he married the daughter of the Median ruler Astyages (Cyaxares' son), and his son Cyrus was thus also grandson of Cyaxares; this account has been branded by some scholars as a pious attempt to falsify genealogy.

Cyrus the Great

After the Persians had aided the Medes in establishing the power of the Medes, Cyrus, who later became known as Cyrus the Great , took over the rule of Media from Astyages in the middle of the 6th cent. BC In an amazingly short time Cyrus had extended his conquests from Elam and Media west and north. He pushed into Asia Minor, where Croesus , the king of Lydia, vainly sought by an alliance with Nabonidus of Babylonia and Amasis II of Egypt to withstand the conqueror. Cyrus crushed the coalition, and by 546 BC the greatness of the Persian Empire was established. It was to endure long under his successors, the Achaemenids. From the beginning the Persians built on the foundations of the earlier states. The organization of the Assyrians was taken over and improved, and Cyrus himself imported artists and artisans from Babylonia and Egypt to create his palace and tomb at Pasargadae.

Darius I and His Immediate Successors

The dynamic new state was, however, troubled almost from the start by dynastic troubles. Cambyses II, son of Cyrus, did away with Smerdis , another son of Cyrus, in order to have unchallenged power, but when Cambyses was absent on a successful raid into Egypt, an imposter claiming to be Smerdis appeared, and usurped the throne. A civil war ensued, and after Cambyses died, a new claimant, Darius I , appeared against the false Smerdis and made his claims good. After putting down disorders, Darius molded the administration of the empire into a centralized system that was remarkable for its efficiency. Satraps, or governors, were set up to rule firmly and arbitrarily over the various regions, but to keep check on the satraps, who were potential aspirants to central power, each was accompanied by a secretary and a military commander who were responsible to the great king alone. This centralized system was supported by an intricate and excellent system of communication, for the Persians were the first important ancient people to use the horse efficiently for communication and transport.

Darius also continued and broadened Cyrus' policy of encouraging the local cultures within the empire, allowing the people to worship their own gods and to follow their own customs so long as their practices did not conflict with the necessities of Persian administration. Despite this tolerance there were rebellions by the Egyptians, Lydians, and Babylonians, all of which Darius ruthlessly suppressed. The religion of Persia itself was Zoroastrianism, and the unity of Persia may be attributed in part to the unifying effect of that broadly established faith. Darius was also a patron of the arts, and magnificent palaces standing on high terraces beautified the capitals of Susa and Persepolis (see Persian art and architecture ). His conquests to the east extended Persian rule beyond the Arius (Hari Rud) River into modern Afghanistan and Pakistan. Egypt had already been attacked by Cambyses, and although it was to prove recalcitrant and rebellious, succeeding Persian kings were to maintain hegemony there. Darius pushed as far north as the Danube in his exploits, but the fighting against the Scythians was obscure and certainly unfruitful.

Even more unprofitable for Persia was its embroilment with the Greeks. The Persians in taking over Lydia had come into contact with the Greek colonies in Asia Minor (Ionia). There were Greeks (notably the exiled Athenian tyrant Hippias ) at the court of Darius, and the Persians immediately began to borrow from Greek art and thought, as they did from all advanced cultures to the enrichment of Persia. At the beginning of the 5th cent. BC, however, the Ionian cities were involved in trouble with the great king. Darius put down their rebellion, then organized an expedition to punish the city-states in Greece proper that had lent aid to the rebellious cities. This expedition began the Persian Wars . Ultimately Darius' army was defeated at Marathon, and his son Xerxes I , who succeeded to the throne in 486 BC, fared no better at Salamis. The Greeks had successfully defied the power of the great king.

The effects of the Greek victory were, however, confined to Greece itself and had no consequences in Persia. Nor did the Greek triumph exclude Persia from taking part in the affairs of the Greek world. Persian influence was strong, and Persian gold was poured out to aid one Greek city-state or another in the interminable struggle for power. It is noteworthy that when Themistocles , the victor of Salamis, was exiled from Athens, he took refuge at the court of Artaxerxes I , who had succeeded Xerxes I in 464 BC

Decay of the Empire

In the time of Artaxerxes the difficulties of maintaining so wide an empire had begun to appear. Some of the satraps showed ambitions to rule, and the Egyptians, helped by the Athenians, undertook a long rebellion. Violence against the great king himself was a disturbing factor. Xerxes I had been murdered, and Xerxes II , son of Artaxerxes, was killed after a reign of 45 days by a half brother, who was in turn overthrown by another half brother, Darius II . In the reign of the second Darius the power of the satraps was shown in the careers of Pharnabazus and Tissaphernes , who interfered with some effect in the affairs of Greece.

When Darius II died, the most celebrated of the dynastic troubles occurred in the rebellion of Cyrus the Younger against Artaxerxes II , which came to an end with the death of Cyrus in the battle of Cunaxa (401 BC). Cyrus' defeat was recorded in Xenophon 's Anabasis, and although the importance of Cyrus' revolt may be exaggerated it cannot be denied that there were signs of decay in the empire. Although Evagoras of Cyprus was brought to heel after the Peace of Antalcidas (386 BC; see Corinthian War ) was dictated to Greece by the great king, Egypt, which had become independent again in 405 BC, continued to revolt and the efforts of the armies of Artaxerxes II to reassert control were fruitless. Artaxerxes III , who gained the throne by massacring his brother's family, was more successful in Egypt, but his triumph was brief. He was himself killed by his counselor, the eunuch Bagoas.

Darius III in turn murdered Bagoas and ruled with considerable splendor after 336, but only for a short period. In 334, Alexander the Great and his Macedonian army crossed the Hellespont and routed the Persians on the Granicus. The battle of Issus followed in 333, and in 331 the battle of Gaugamela brought an end to the Achaemenid empire. Darius, last of the great kings, fled east before the conqueror to the remote province of Bactria , where he was assassinated by his own cousin, Bessus. Alexander also came east and, defeating Bessus, had the whole empire in his grasp. Alexander went on to India and created the greatest empire the world had yet seen. It lasted, however, only for the brief period of his life and then was torn apart by the quarrels of his successors (the Diadochi ).

The Seleucids and the Parthian Empire

After Alexander the Great's death, Persia fell for the most part to Seleucus I and his successors (the Seleucids), but their grasp on the vast territories was weak administratively, although they did introduce a vital Hellenistic culture, mingling Greek with Persian elements. Media Atropatene (see Azerbaijan ) was never really under Seleucid rule. The rulers of Bactria from the beginning were at least quasi-independent and in the middle of the 3d cent. revolted and established absolute independence.

At the same time Parthia under the leadership of the Arsacids (see under Arsaces ) cast off Seleucid rule and established a Parthian empire as a sort of successor to the old Persian Empire. Although even under the greatest of the Parthians ( Tiridates , Mithradates I, and Mithradates II) the realm did not have the old extent, it was formidable and was a rival to Rome . The Romans in almost continuous warfare failed to halt the Parthian drives to the west, which were often supported by local ambitious or frightened rulers under Rome. Only in the 2d cent. AD did the Parthian rule begin to wane.

The Sassanid Dynasty

The Parthians were replaced (c.AD 226) by the more vigorous Sassanid dynasty, when Ardashir I (whose name is another form of Artaxerxes) ousted and killed the last Parthian ruler and built a new empire out of the ruins of Parthian and Seleucid power. The Sassanids were the true heirs of the Achaemenids. Ardashir I , Shapur I , and Shapur II all were strong kings, able and successful opponents of the Romans. Ctesiphon became the center of a magnificent state that persisted while the Roman Empire was whittled away. The Byzantines were unable to match them. Khosrow I in the 6th cent. invaded Syria, and under Khosrow II (whose affairs were linked with those of the Byzantines) the Sassanid court was legendary in its splendor. Ctesiphon and Firuzabad were magnificent cities, the administration of the empire was efficient, the productivity of the cities was remarkable, and the art in metalwork, in architecture, in sculpture, and in textiles was superb.

Persia developed as a strong centralized state, based on a revived Zoroastrian religion and a class society. Shortly after the death of Khosrow II, however, the old Sassanid power toppled. Invading Arabs succeeded in taking Ctesiphon in 637. Islam replaced Zoroastrianism, and the caliphate made Persia a part of a larger pattern, from which later was to emerge modern Iran.

Bibliography

See E. E. Herzfeld, Archaeological History of Persia (1935); G. G. Cameron, History of Early Iran (1936, repr. 1969); P. S. R. Payne, The Splendor of Persia (1957); A. T. Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire (2d ed. 1969); R. Girshman et al., Persia, the Immortal Kingdom (1971); and M. W. Shuster, The Strangling of Persia (1912, repr. 1987).

Persia had its name changed to Iran in 1935, but continued to be known as Persia during the war years. In 1940 Persia's oil output was 8.4 million tons which was vital to the British war effort, and the country's strategic importance became increasingly evident during the course of the war. Worried by German advances in the Western Desert campaigns, and an anti-British revolt in Iraq, the Allies viewed the prospect of further Axis gains in the Persian Gulf oil basin with alarm, and following Germany's attack on the USSR on 22 June 1941 (see BARBAROSSA), they regarded Persia as an indispensable route for sending Lend-Lease supplies to the Eastern Front. Although the country was officially neutral, its ruler, Reza Shah Pahlavi, and Germany maintained friendly relations, and many German advisers and technicians were involved in different Persian industrial projects: the British estimate of the number of German nationals living in Persia in July 1941 was 2,000–3,000 including about 1,000 men. In 1940–1, Germany was Persia's biggest partner in foreign trade. German fifth columnists were also active with anti-Soviet propaganda. Reza Shah's negative response to a joint British and Soviet request, made on 21 August 1941, to expel all the German nationals prompted a co-ordinated invasion of the country by the Soviet and British forces on 25 August 1941 (see Map 84). These easily undermined scattered Persian resistance and subsequently Reza Shah abdicated in favour of his 22-year-old son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, left the country, and died in exile in Johannesburg in July 1944. Shortly after Reza Shah's abdication Persia severed diplomatic relations with Germany and Italy and expelled their nationals, and the severing of relations with Japan followed on 12 April 1942. The Allies initially guaranteed Persia's territorial integrity and independence. A Tri-Partite Treaty of Alliance between Persia, the UK, and the USSR, signed in Teheran on 29 January 1942, committed the Allies to leave Persia within six months after the end of the war with Germany and its associates. This was later extended to six months after the end of hostilities with Japan. Following the US entry into the war, these earlier agreements were reaffirmed in the Teheran conference of November 1943 (see Eureka). The Allies had initially maintained that they would not interfere with Persia's internal affairs. In practice, however, some intervention was inevitable. logistics required the use of Persian facilities such as ports, roads, railways, and telecommunications, as well as food supplies and manpower. In sending essential aid to the USSR, the trans-Iranian railway connecting the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea played an important role. During the war some 4,159,117 tons of Lend-Lease supplies, or 23.8% of the total aid delivered to the USSR, was shipped through the Persian Gulf. This aid was decisive in further consolidation of the Soviet defences, to such an extent that Persia has at times been referred to as ‘the bridge of victory’. See alsoPaiforce.

Ali Gheissari

Bibliography

Lenczowski, G. , Russia and the West in Iran, 1918–1948: A Study in Big-Power Rivalry (New York, 1949).
Millspaugh, A. C. , Americans in Persia (Washington, DC, 1946).
Skrine, C. , World War in Iran (London, 1962).
Stewart, R. , Sunrise at Abadan: The British and Soviet Invasion of Iran, 1941 (New York, 1988).

Persia A vast empire once including part of Greece and reaching India in the east. It impinged on the Jews with the conquest of Cyrus over the Medes (550 BCE) and his decree authorizing the exiles to return from Babylon to Jerusalem, a decree reaffirmed by Darius I (Ezra 5: 1–6: 15). The legendary story of Esther is set in the reign of Ahasuerus, or Xerxes (Esther 1: 1–2). The empire was destroyed by Alexander the Great (c.330 BCE). The Persians, regarded as barbarous orientals in many Greek sources, are always treated favourably in the OT.

The religion of Zoroaster (7th cent. BCE) had its origin and base in Persia; its belief was that the god of Light, Ahura Mazda, had overcome Ahriman (darkness) and this dualism has been thought to have had an influence on Judaism, as did also its developed system of angels. It was a religion which was tolerant of other cults, and the Greek Apollo and the Jews' Yahweh were among the deities recognized.

Persia a former country of SW Asia, now called Iran. The ancient kingdom of Persia, corresponding to the modern district of Fars in SW Iran, became in the 6th century bc the domain of the Achaemenid dynasty, and under Cyrus the Great became the centre of a powerful empire which included all of western Asia, Egypt, and parts of eastern Europe; it was eventually overthrown by Alexander the Great in 330 bc.
Persian Wars the wars fought between Greece and Persia in the 5th century bc, in which the Persians sought to extend their territory over the Greek world.

Persia Old, western name for Iran, sw Asia. The earliest empire in the region was that of Media (c.700–549 bc). Cyrus the Great toppled Media and established the much larger Achaemenid empire (549–330 bc), in turn destroyed by Alexander the Great. In the 3rd century bc, the Parthians supplanted the Seleucids, Alexander's successors. In ad 224, Ardashir I established the Sassanid dynasty. Weakened by defeat by the Byzantines under Heraclius, the Arabs overran it in the 7th century.

Persia See Iran. It has given its name to the Persian Gulf, now often simply called the Gulf and by some the Arabian Gulf. The fruit, peach, gets its name from the French pêche which is derived from the Latin persicum (malum) ‘Persian (apple)’.

Persia See IRAN.

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