First Class

January 7, 2014 6:05 PM

Shahr e Shoukhteh (Burnt City) - Animation - Artificial eyeball - Brain Surgery

Water purification complex, 1250 BC

History of iran Axworthy

HISTORY OF IRAN

Greater Iran - Iraq to Indus - Caucus

Sassanid Empire

Foltz Religions of iran prehist to present

Crossroads between East and West - Iranian influence : Paradise

Persia : Iran before Reza Shah 1935 Two important dates - 633-761 AD Arab conquests of Iran (651)

Shared cultural memory : Shah Nameh

Shahnameh - The Book of Kings - Popular in Turkey, Central Asia, India, Iran. - Saw coming of Islam as apocalyptic

1979 Iranian Revolution - Iranian mandatory Islamic hijab.

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Indo-European Speaking Peoples

January 14, 2014 5:54 PM

Origins of Proto Indo-European - Proto Indo-Europeans from Western Siberia, Ukraine, Central Asian Steppe Ancient world's most mobile people - Domestic Animals, cattle and sheep - 5500 years ago bridled horses - Revolution in transportation : charriot, wheel. Metallurgy helped them conquer most of the world.
PIEs tribes split over time and went their separate ways - Europe. Iran. Central Asia, Northern India

Iranian Plateau - Living as early as 100 000BC - Mitannites, Hattites, Hurrians, Kassaites, Elamites.

Kassites: Rulers of Babylonia (1531-1155 bc) - No genetic relationship in language - 1200bc Elam conquered Kassite Land.

Elamites took over the Kassites Empire - Ancient city Dur-Untash (next to Susa) - Elamite civilization centred in modern Khuzestan Achaemenid Elamite 550-330BC

The Fall of Elam - 646 Bc Assyrians conquered Elam, however the Elamite Kingdom rose from the ashes with SutrukNahhunt - Susa of Elam destroyed by Asdhurbanipal 646BC

Oxus Civilization (BMAC) - Further East, Indo Iranians integrated in Bakctrian-margiana area - Bronze age civilization 2300-1700BCE - Northern afghanistran, eastern turkmenistan. Names of Iran - PIE : Heryos - Indo-iranian : Aarya - Avesta : Airyanem Vaejah - Middle-Persian : Eran-vej - New Persian: Eran, Iran. : Land of the noble.
Group of Aryans migrated to Iranian Plateau from 2000bc and are now modern Iranians.

Median Empire (first Iranian Empire) - Medes, from Media (NW Iran) - 2k bc to 1k bc - Under rule Assyrians for 300 years - 616-605BC Assyrian empire collapse and MEDIAN Empirer formed.

Achaemenid Empire (first persian empire) by Cyrus The Great in 6th century BC Ruled from Indus Valley to NE border of Greece
Zoroaster

Darius the Great 5th BC - King of Kings - Aryan - Persian

Zarathushtra lived 1000-1200BC in BactriaAzerbaijan Pastoral lifestyle shown in holy book Gathas Zoroaster was a reformer of pre-existant Indo_iranian religion Classified previous deities as evil spirits.

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Daeva - God

Daeva : bad gods Asura : Good god. - From Ahura Mazdah

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First Great Persian Empire Achaemenid Empire

January 28, 2014 5:58 PM

Achaemenid Empire - Dynastic Name - They kept little records, but Greeks noted them down.

Median Empire stayed, just changed named. - They conquered Mesopotamia, Elamites - Nowhere as big as strong as the Achaemenid Empire Both in Greek and Iranian lands, advanced civilization with increasing selfconsciousness - Greek more literate, we get most of greek history from the Persians Biased. 300 movie.

The Greeks were into writing - As they spread and unified, the other msajor civilization were the Persians Boundaries were permeable - The Greeks and Persians had contact and trade - Mid-millienium BC

Some of the Greek writers were balanced, some extremely biased - Herodotus was fair. Most of his information is good, and lots of admiration for Persian culture. - Plato praised the Persians as a polticial entity for being able to ensure stability and strenght through its system of laws. Old Persian word for law : DATA Borrowed in Semitic languages. Law as a legal system to run society was primary

The Iranians were recent comers to the world - By Achmd, 550BCE, They only migrated in area for a few centuries. Where they went was already inhabited Settled as minority. The transition to a Persian identity took many centuries The Persian Empire was a world with a Iranian miniority Persians were the elite. - From the beginning of Achaemenid Empire, the founder Cyrus the Great. More likely he was half Mede, but could have been Elamite. He controlled a region called Parsa (Persia) Greek sources were compiled much later. Nothing is more confusing than the beginning of the ACHAEMENID EMPIRE

Greeks were less centralized, city states, each it's own norms - Persians, however, to create a uniformity.

Cyrus dies, succession struggle. - Darius Ist, Definitely PERSIAN and ARYAN, ACHAEMENID At same time, he might make things up to tell his own tale. Darius was able to unite the Iranian tribes and overthrew the Medes in ~550

No big change - Kept the empire running, Persians and Medes closely related, Intermarried together after conquest. - Built ONE culture from TWO
Median Empire was decentralized

Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon in 539 Bc - More important than it was because of Hebrew bible - He abolished slavery, and established citizenship
Hebrew bible saw as great redemptive event, gave glory to Yahweh - Their redemption was Cyrus to free them.

Cyrus was seen important in Iranian civ - Archaeologists found AKKADIAN cylinders in Baghdad honoring Cyrus - 1970s, Shah of Iran decided to make the cylinder an Iranian symbol Part of this mythology as world's first document of Human rights Iranians use this as proof for the enlightened Empire Not the case. - 2013, Iranian culture association set up tours for the cylinder.

When Cyrus gave citizenship, there were virtually no Judeans who wanted to go to Palestine - Stayed in Babylonia for 1000 years. Babylonian Talmud. - Jewish culture was developed within Iranian\Persian culture - Only non-Jewish leader who was venerated
Judeans got their freedom by moving to the East - Beginning of the Jewish diaspora in Persian world.

Darius ruled for 36 years - Moved into anatolia - Invaded greece - Conquered egypt
Created uniformity for the empire - Fiscal reform, tax reform
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- Fiscal reform, tax reform - Systematized monetary system, instead of random barter. One of the first

Persepolis was first seen as a capital city - But modern scholars start to see it as a ceremonial city Due to Persian event , Persian New Year (No Ruz) Persian version of Christmas Every house build a spread, Haft Sin, put down holy books. No Ruz exact time of the Spring Equinox Counted down to No Ruz, two week holiday. Plant sprouts, after 13 days (Sizdah be-dar) after 13 days you have to go outside, throw sprouts in running water. Kurds celebrate it

- Invested in agriculture, can't have wet agriculture 3000 years ago developed system of irrigation Underground tunnels filled with snowmelt to the plains to have agriculture in dry areas. Very effective system since Iran is mountainous. Qanat (underground tunnels) This increased the population significantly.

- He built Persepolis Iran's most famous archaeological site, heart of the Persian empire. Was one of the capitals, there were 4 (Susa, Ectabana, Babylon, Persepolis) Rotated the empire depending on the season, on the weather.

Celebrated in afghanistan, uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan.

After a few hundred years, Alexander of Macedon takes over his father's state and launches a major expansion of the empire. - Most of the territory he conquered were from the Persians - 330 BCE, able to conquer Persepolis and burned down. Persians destroyed Acropolis 200 years before, possible revenge. Greek alphabet persisted in the province of Backtria persisted for a long time.
Coins were Greek inscriptions

After his death, his generals tried to take the most territory - Seleuces, Seleucid Empire A Hellenistic state in Asia that persists for 300 years Huge introduction of Greek culture into Asia - The Greek presence in western-central asia was wellpresent, fostered the dynamics of cultural synthesis As the Greeks lived alongside the Persians, they associated their gods with each other. - Multi-faith temples. - Real mixing of cultures

Greek art was important, statues were unknown at this time. - Ghadara-art (Greek-based Buddhist art)

One of the Hellenized provinces (Parthia) Northeastern Iran Able to rebel against the Seleucids - 247 BCE ~ - Become important in history they controlled the Silk Road in 1st century. Controlled all traffic between Rome and China Blocked Rome to the east.

For more than a thousand years, the story of geopolitics is Greeks vs Persians Fravahr : principal symbol of Zoroastrianism.

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Sasanian Empire 224 651

February 4, 2014 5:53 PM

Anahita Ardershir Shapur I Mani 216-276\ Manichaism Mazdak\ Kavad Khosrow (531-579) Gondeshaper Academy.

Merge to Sasanian empire is like the Mede - Achamenid Empire transfer - This empire took place of a previous empire, Iranian Empire - More continuity than change. Parthian to Sassanian Empire - They were largely decentralized - Different centres of power - Every region's local power was independent, and different. Old Town with New towns structured around it - Greeks did this in Persia, India, ect. Greek were foreign and different.

When Achaemenid took over Mede's land and expanded, they centralized and made more systematic, made a stronger empire. Centralized states could concentrate their power. - Very similar to this.

Iranian culture did not disappear - When locals thought they had power, they would rebel against the colonizer. This happened when they gained the confidence. THIS IS HOW SELEUCID EMPIRE BROKE DOWN
Parthians slowly took Seleucid land this way.

In 224, Sassanids take over Parthian land and empire for themselves - More soldiers, more territory, more everything
Eventually knocking Romans. - Became #1 challenge to Rome.

Sassanians were provincial rulers working for the Parthians Sassanians derived their authority due to their control of holy shrine Anahita (most important deity) - Ahura mazda, Anahita, Mithra

Mithra is the god of contract, in the culture of the spoken-word for vocal contracts.
Anahita, typical goddess, fertility and healing. - Big temple of Parsa province, which Sassanian families took power.

Big divide of the superpowers : Greco-Roman vs Persians. - Poor semitic peoples in the middle disputed territory.
By 3rd century, they are really strong. - Fighting in Palestine, Amernia, Syria.

Ardeshir founded the empire, but Shapur I made it powerful.

By 3rd century, interesting religious developments. - Christianity especially. By 3rd century couldnt agree on who Jesus is, was, ect. No Christianity, really or Judaism - Once second temple is destroyed, end of Israelite religion. But Hebrews were developing new philosophies outside Israel Modern Judiasm is based on the Talmud, in Sassanid territory. This is why Manichaeism is the most important religion - Persecuted in Roman\Islamic Empire.. - Characteristic of 3rd century religion mix Might also be primary force of what shaped our religions now. In the 3rd century, Christianity was also illegal in the Roman Empire - Saw them as Jews who wouldn't behave. Had no legal category.

In the Parthian Empire and Sassanians, it was not exactly like this - by the time of Pentecost after Jesus, spread the story into Iran - Tons of christian chruches around the Empire, had no problem with them. Jews and Christians, Parthian lands gave them freedom - Christian groups became stronger, started to persecute other xian groups. Constantine 313, set a standard. - Persecuted other interpretations. - Might have been a brain drain, lost many talented people, lost Philosophers in Athen, closed school. - Brought Greek and Syriac books, translated and tought them

Mani lived in a cult by his father, all-male - Baptism religion. - Gnostics. Division of material (bad) and spiritual (good) - Sinful, disgusting, material body. - Jewish gnostics, christian gnostics. Ect. All-male, no women, no female animals. Grew up with fanatical old men, read a lot on different religions. He was receiving revelations from his divine twin New holy book, wrote 7. He realized that the xians and Jews were fighting with each other.

Mani allied with Shapur, might have even converted some of his court. - Didn't want to make the Zoroastrian priest too strong. - Shapur knew that Mani was well able to speak to the Jews and Christians to get in order. Manicheism forced followers of other religion to set things down - Xians began to run councils - Jewish rabbis built Talmuds. This is how the Bible gets canonized.

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He was receiving revelations from his divine twin New holy book, wrote 7. He realized that the xians and Jews were fighting with each other. - Let it be known that all revelations are written by me, no discussions necessary. - Encouraged translation, encouraged to train foreign languages. - Preached in language of their audience, and preached AS IF IT WAS THEIR OWN RELIGION. Mani preached from a Zoroastrian perspective. By 24, converted Buddhist King in India using Buddhist language - Surived in china until 17th century because they thought it was Buddhist.

Manicheism forced followers of other religion to set things down - Xians began to run councils - Jewish rabbis built Talmuds. This is how the Bible gets canonized. - In the Roman Empire, making different conclusions than bishops in Iran This is how Nestorian church came to be. - Two distinct natures of Christ. Person of Jesus, and God, but not mixing. As Christianity spread through Asia to China, the Nestorian church grew. - Head of Nestorian capital was in Iran.

The Zoroastrian priests hate that Mani is popular - Avesta is Oral tradition - Zoroastrian priests wanted the authority to clamp down on heretical Zoroastrians.

Two power struggles in Sassanian times - Byzantines vs Sassanians across the middle east
- The Magi are in constant struggle to persuade the gvt to give them complete social authority.

The local powers are much grabbing for themselves By the end of 5th century - Weak iran due to these struggles - Population that is increasingly exsasperated and imporverished. - A leader that claims to be zoroastrian, priestly line of Mazdha. His following are the people who aren't benifiting Proto-communism : take property and women and give them to who don't have any.

The conservative elite never gave out Eventually, by 528, managed to get rid of Khavad a second time Succession struggle between a leader of Mazdakian principles, and one who supported the nobles.

Kavad I, end of 5th century, tried to lower power of zoroastrian priests - Promotes Mazdak and gives him support, distributing grain silos, takes women and spreads them around from the harems.
The elites are completely outraged. - Argued that the notion of class is diluted, it is chaos.

Khosrow takes over, very successful, expanded empire, but also did lots of reforms - A lot of his success as a ruler, was his father's tax and land reforms. Used to be literally raiding thugs who took the produced. Regularized the tax system and CENTRALIZED them.\
- Larger army, aqueducts, lots of investment in cities. Seen as a golden age. - Under his rule that Goneshapur Academy flourished Expanded the curriculum, became the model of the multi-curricular education system : religion, philosophy, ect. The struggle of power within the court continues, and the resulting intrigues - Assassinations, ect. Very destabilizing for the regime By early 7th century - 618, inter-regnum to end all interregnums Every month, a ruler gets killed, exiled, ect. - Many behind the scenes are Parthians. - Just a continuation of assassinations. 10 emperors in 3 years.

Off in Arabia, Mohammed from Mecca united the arabs under his submission, receiving revelations, Qur'an - Mohammed gets the News in Iran, looks what happens when you put a woman on the throne - Passes away in 632 2 years later, his successors invade iran 10 years, sassanian empire.

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