The Persian Empire

by Kia, Mehrdad;

  See also: Ancient Cities: Oxus Treasure; Samarqand; Ancient Provinces: Transoxiana

  Further Reading

  al-Narshakhi, Abu Bakr Mohammad. Tarikh-e Bokhara. Translated by Abu Nasr Ahmad ibn Mohammad ibn Nasr al-Qobadi. Tehran: Tus Publishing House, 1985.

  Anonymous. Hodud ul-Alam min al-Mashriq ila al-Maghrib [The Regions of the World from East to West]. Edited by Manoochehr Sotoodeh. Tehran: Tahuri Bookstore, 1983.

  Frye, Richard N. “Bukhara I: In Pre-Islamic Times.” In Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1989, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bukhara-i.

  Dura Europos

  A major urban center and frontier town located on the west bank of the Euphrates River in present-day southeastern Syria. The city was founded during the reign of Seleucus I, the founder of the Seleucid state, by a certain Nicanor, who was a commander in the Seleucid army. Initially, the city served as a stopping point for those traveling between the two major urban centers of the Seleucid Empire, namely Seleucia-on-Tigris in present-day southern Iraq and Antioch in northern Syria (present-day southern Turkey). Dura Europos was seized by the Parthian armies around 114/113 BCE during the reign of the Arsacid monarch Mithridates II (r. 124/123–88/87 BCE). The city remained under Parthian rule for nearly three centuries. Parthian rule over Dura Europos was interrupted several times when Roman armies attacked and occupied the territory lying on the right bank of the Euphrates. The most important of these invasions took place during the reign of Roman emperor Trajan between 114 and 117 CE. During this campaign Trajan sacked Ctesiphon, the Parthian capital, and eventually reached the mouth of the Persian Gulf. The Romans recaptured Dura Europos again in 165. They used the city as part of a line of defense against raids carried out by Parthian armies. After the overthrow of the Arsacid dynasty in 224 CE, the new royal house of Iran, the Persian Sasanians, focused on Dura Europos as a target of reconquest. During the reign of the second Sasanian monarch, Shapur I (r. 239/240/241/242–270/272 CE), the Persian armies attacked the city and after a long siege of seven months captured it. After the fall of the city in 256 CE, the Sasanians deported the population of Dura Europos, and the vibrant urban center ceased to exist. According to Pierre Leriche, “the determined resistance put up by the inhabitants” of Dura Europos forced the Sasanians “to adopt various siege tactics, which eventually resulted in conquest of the city; the defensive system, the mines, and the assault ramp were left in place after the deportation of the population, which permits modern investigators to gain an exact idea of the military techniques of the Sasanians and the Romans in the mid-3rd century” (Leriche: Dura Europos).

  Citadel of the ancient city of Dura Europos in present-day Syria, situated on the right bank of the Euphrates. The city was founded by the Seleucid general Nicanor and prospered under Parthian rule. (age fotostock/Alamy Stock Photo)

  In excavations at Dura Europos “a small quantity of Parthian material has been found, notably a scrap of fine parchment bearing the formal opening of a business letter, written probably about the mid-3rd century A.D.,” as well as “a few Parthian ostraca,” two of which “are well preserved and contain lists of names, possibly pay lists” (Boyce: 1154). These finds establish “the origin and character of the Parthian system of writing, and indicates the range of its uses” (Boyce: 1154). They also show that “the Parthian scribes, inheriting their craft from Achaemenian predecessors, remained uninfluenced by the use of written Greek in Seleucid Iran, which continued in Bactria and the Greek cities of Parthia itself” (Boyce: 1154). Leriche identifies the structures at Dura Europos in the following fashion: “1. Temple of Aphlad, 2. Temple of Zeus Kyrios, 3. Christian building, 4. Bath, 5. House of the Scribes (inset: synagogue), 6. Temple of Adonis, 7. Mithraeum, 8. Temple of Bel, 9. Temple of Artemis Azzanathkona, 10. Praetorium, 11. Bath and amphitheater, 12. Temple of Jupiter Dolichenus (Dolicheneum), 13. Palace of the Dux Ripae, 14. Military temple, 15. Temple of Zeus Theos, 16. House of Nebuchelus, 17. House of the Frescoes, 18. Temple of the Gads, 19. Temple of Atargatis, 20. Temple of Artemis Nanaïa, 21. House of the Large Atrium, 22. House of Lysias, 23. Temple of Zeus Megistos, 24. Redoubt palace (Strategion), and 25. Bath” (Leriche: Dura Europos).

  See also: K&Q, Arsacid/Parthian: Mithridates II; K&Q, Sasanian: Shapur I; Peoples: Arsacids; Sasanian Empire

  Further Reading

  Boyce, Mary. “Parthian Writings and Literature.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(2), The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 1151–1165. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

  Hopkins, Clark. The Discovery of Dura-Europos. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979.

  Leriche, Pierre. “Dura Europos.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1996, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/dura-europos.

  Matheson, Susan B. Dura Europos: The Ancient City and the Yale Collection. New Haven: Yale University Art Gallery, 1982.

  Perkins, Ann Louise. Art of Dura-Europos. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973.

  Simon, James. The Excavations at Dura-Europos Conducted by Yale University and the French Academy of Inscriptions and Letters 1928 to 1937: Final Report VII; The Arms and Armour and Other Military Equipment. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2009.

  Ecbatana

  The ancient city of Ecbatana (Old Persian: Hagmatana; New Persian: Hamedan) was the metropolis of Media. A large walled city, it served as the capital of the Median Empire (?–550/549 BCE). It was also the summer capital of the Achaemenid (r. 550–330 BCE) and Parthian (r. 247/238 BCE–224 CE) Empires (Strabo: 11.13.1–2). The city was situated on the important highway connecting Central Asia and Iran to Mesopotamia. According to the Greek author Herodotus, Ecbatana served as the capital of the Median Empire until it was captured by Cyrus II the Great. Herodotus claimed that the city was designated as the capital by Deioces (Old Iranian: Dahyuka), whom the Greek author identified as the founder of the kingdom of Media. Herodotus wrote:

  Once firmly on the throne, Deioces compelled the Medes to build a single great city to which, as the capital of the country, all other towns were to be held of secondary importance. Again they complied, and the city now known as Ecbatana was built, a place of great size and strength fortified by concentric walls, these so planned that each successive circle was higher than the one below. The plan of the place is, that each of the walls should out-top the one beyond it by the battlements. … These fortifications were to protect the king Deioces and his palace; the people had to build their houses outside the circuit of the walls. (Herodotus: 1.98–1.99)

  The accuracy of the statement made by Herodotus has been questioned by some historians of ancient Iran. First, despite two centuries of involvement in Median-populated areas of the central Zagros, the Assyrians made no reference to Ecbatana. Second, there is no archaeological evidence of Median existence on Ecbatana’s hills. In either 554/553 or 550/549 BCE, Cyrus II, the king of Anshan in the present-day southern Iranian province of Fars, defeated the king of Media, Astyages; occupied Ecbatana; and carried the imperial treasury back with him to his kingdom.

  In 522 BCE when Darius I proclaimed himself the king, rebellions erupted in various provinces of the empire. Media was one of the major centers of unrest, forcing Darius to lead an army there until the rebellion of the Median pretender Fravartish (Phraortes) was suppressed and the rebel leader had been executed. Situated on the eastern slopes of the Zagros mountain range and the foot of Mount Alvand, Ecbatana served as the summer residence of the Persian Achaemenid kings and the home of the royal mint. After the last Achaemenid king, Darius III, was defeated by Alexander the Macedon in 331 BCE, he fled to Ecbatana. In pursuing the Persian king, Alexander captured the city and plundered the imperial treasury.

  Ruins of Ecbatana near present-day Hamadan in western Iran. Ecbatana served as the capital of the Median Empire. After the fall of the Median state, Ecbatana continued to serve as the summer capital during the Achaemenid and Parthian periods. (Egmont Strigl/imageBROKER/Corbis)

  After the death of Alexander in 3
23 BCE and the division of his empire among his commanders, Media became part of the Seleucid Empire. Ecbatana was plundered on several occasions by the new rulers of Iran, including Seleucus I Nicator (r. 312–281 BCE), who followed the model set by Alexander and looted the city’s gold and silver. Despite the looting, Ecbatana continued to serve as the home of the royal mint. The Arsacids, who overthrew the Seleucid rule in Iran, captured Ecbatana during the reign of Mithridates I (r. 171–139/138 BCE). The campaigns of Antiochus VII in 130 BCE to restore Seleucid power in Iran fell short of recapturing Ecbatana. Continuing along the tradition set by the Achaemenid kings, the Arsacids used Ecbatana as their royal summer residence and as the home to the royal mint. As the Greek author Strabo wrote, “the Parthians continue to use this [Ecbatana] as a royal residence even now, and their kings spend at least their summers there, for Media is a cold country; but their winter residence is at Seleucia, on the Tigris near Babylon” (Strabo: 11.13.1–2). In 224 CE, Ardashir, the ruler of the district of Istakhr in southern Iran and a vassal of the Parthians, defeated the last Arsacid king, Artabanus IV, and established the Sasanian dynasty. Ecbatana, however, remained under Arsacid control until 226, when it was seized by Ardashir’s army. It is not clear whether the Sasanian kings followed the tradition of the Achaemenids and the Arsacids by using Ecbatana as their summer capital. In 642, after the Sasanians were defeated in the Battle of Nahavand, Ecbatana was captured by Arab Muslims. The city remained an important provincial capital during the Islamic era. Today, Hamedan serves as the capital of the Iranian province of the same name, with a population of nearly half a million people.

  See also: K&Q, Achaemenid: Cyrus II the Great; Darius III; K&Q, Median: Astyages; Deioces; Peoples: Alexander of Macedon (the Great); Media, Medes, and the Median Empire

  Further Reading

  Curtis, John. Ancient Persia. London: British Museum Publications, 1989.

  Goff, Clare. “Excavations at Baba Jan: The Pottery and Metal from Levels III and II.” Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies 16 (1978).

  Grayson, Kirk A. Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2000.

  Herodotus. The Histories. London: Penguin, 1972.

  Leichty, Erle. The Royal Inscriptions of Esarhaddon, King of Assyria (680–669 BC). Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2011.

  Levine, Louis D. Geographical Studies in the Neo-Assyrian Zagros. Toronto and London: Royal Ontario Museum and British Institute of Persian Studies, 1974.

  Luckenbill, Daniel David. Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia. 2 vols. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1926.

  Lumsden, Stephen. “Power and Identity in the Neo-Assyrian World.” In The Royal Palace Institution in the First Millennium BC, edited by Inge Nielsen. Athens: Danish Institute at Athens, 2001.

  Pritchard, James B. Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1969.

  Strabo. The Geography of Strabo. Translated by Horace Leonard Jones. London: William Heinemann, 1930.

  Stronach, David. “Tepe Nūsh Jān: The Median Settlement.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 2, edited by Ilya Gershevitch, 832–837. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.

  Stronach, David, and Michael Roaf. “Excavation at Tepe Nush-i Jan: Part 1.” Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies 16 (1978): 1–11.

  Tadmor, Hayim. The Inscriptions of Tiglath-Pileser III, King of Assyria. Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1994.

  Tadmor, Hayim, and Shigeo Yamada. The Royal Inscriptions of Tiglath-Pileser III (744–727 BC), and Shalmaneser V (726–722 BC), Kings of Assyria. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2011.

  Ganj Nameh

  Ganj Nameh (meaning “Treasure Book”) is located southwest of the city of Hamedan in western Iran. Ancient Hagmatana (Greek: Ecbatana; modern-day Hamedan) was the capital of the kingdom of Media as well as the summer capital of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. While Susa was the capital during winter and Persepolis provided a majestic site for major ceremonies, Ecbatana, because of its high elevation and cool and pleasant temperature, served as the summer capital. Ganj Nameh is home to two trilingual Achaemenid cuneiform inscriptions. The site takes its name from the fact that local natives believed that its inscriptions contained the secret code to a hidden treasure. Both inscriptions were carved in stone on a large granite rock above a creek that flows at the base of a hill in the foothills of Mount Alvand. The inscription on the upper-left corner of the rock dates from the reign of Darius I (r. 522–486 BCE), of the Persian Achaemenid dynasty.

  The other inscription, below the first and on the lower right of the granite rock, is from the reign of the Persian Achaemenid king Xerxes I (r. 486–465 BCE). Both inscriptions are in three languages, namely Old Persian, Neo-Babylonian, and Neo-Elamite. Darius’s inscription pays homage to the great god Ahura Mazda who created Earth, the sky, man, and happiness for man and made Darius king, one king of many, one lord of many. Darius also refers to himself as the great king, king of kings, king of countries containing all kinds of men, king of the great Earth far and wide, and son of Vishtaspa (Hystaspes), an Achaemenian. The inscription of Xerxes I at Ganj Nameh has the exact content as that of Darius, the only difference being that the name of Darius has been replaced with that of Xerxes.

  See also: Ancient Cities: Ecbatana; K&Q, Achaemenid: Darius I; Achaemenid: Xerxes I

  Further Reading

  Brown, Stuart C. “Ganj-Nāma.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 2000, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ganj-nama-.

  Errington, Elizabeth, and Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis. From Persepolis to the Punjab: Exploring Ancient Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. London: British Museum Press, 2007.

  Jackson, A. V. Williams. Persia Past and Present. London: Macmillan, 1906.

  Kent, Roland G. Old Persian: Grammar, Texts, Lexicon. New Haven: American Oriental Society, 1950.

  Matheson, Sylvia A. Persia: An Archeological Guide. London: Faber and Faber, 1972.

  Ka’ba of Zoroaster

  Ka’ba-ye Zardosht (Ka’ba of Zoroaster) is an ancient cubic-shaped building some 46 feet (14 meters) tall at Naqsh-e Rostam, located approximately 39 miles (63 kilometers) north of the city of Shiraz and 3.7 miles (6 kilometers) northwest of Persepolis in the southern Iranian province of Fars. Naqsh-e Rostam served as the royal necropolis, or burial site, for four kings of the Persian Achaemenid dynasty: Darius I (r. 522–486 BCE), Xerxes I (r. 486–465 BCE), Artaxerxes I (r. 465–424 BCE), and Darius II (r. 423–404 BCE). During the reign of the Sasanian dynasty (r. 224–651 CE), Naqsh-e Rostam emerged as an important center for royal and religious ceremonies. Several Sasanian rock reliefs are carved at the base of the cliff below the tombs of the Achaemenid kings.

  The Ka’ba of Zoroaster faces the rock of Hossein Kuh, where the four Achaemenid royal tombs were cut into the cliff. The large cube-shaped tower stands to the west of the rock-cut tombs opposite the tomb of Darius II. The Ka’ba, which was probably built sometime during Achaemenid rule, contains a staircase and a door as well as blind windows in dark gray limestone on all four sides. No one knows with any certainty how the building acquired its name. It was certainly not a Zoroastrian temple or shrine, and there are no indications that pilgrims visited the site.

  The function of this massive square building is unknown. Some scholars have maintained that the building was used as the site for royal coronations, while others have argued that it may have been used as a depository for religious records or significant materials belonging to the royal court. The possible use of the Ka’ba as a fire temple has been rejected because of the absence of a smoke outlet and because of the door, which was firmly closed. Today, most scholars consider the tower-shaped structure to be an Achaemenid royal tomb. The “high, massive foundation would make sense for the mausoleum of a Zoroastrian ruler, given that it would prevent the seeping of cadaveric poison into the soil” (Gropp: Ka’ba-ye Zardošt). Any burial chamber once present, however, was p
lundered long ago, and the chamber’s doors were left standing open.

  Ka’ba-ye Zardosht (Ka’ba of Zoroaster) at Naqsh-e Rostam in the southern Iranian province of Fars. The Ka’ba of Zoroaster, which is located near Persepolis, faces the rock of Hossein Kuh where the tombs of four Persian Achaemenid monarchs were cut into the cliff. (D. Bajurin/Dreamstime.com)

  During the reign of the Sasanian monarch Shapur I (r. 239/240/241/242–270/272 CE), three royal inscriptions in Parthian, Middle Persian, and Greek were incised into the three walls of the building. The only wall without an inscription is the northern or entrance wall. Below the Sasanian king’s inscription, the powerful and influential Zoroastrian high priest Kartir added his own inscription. Shapur’s inscription provides the reader with the royal lineage of the Sasanian monarch, the countries he ruled, and the victories he achieved over three Roman emperors: Gordian III, Philip the Arab, and Valerian.

  Shapur I called himself “the Mazda worshipping lord, king of kings of Iran and non-Iran (Aneran), whose lineage is from the Gods, son of the Mazda worshipping divinity Ardashir, king of kings of Iran, whose lineage is from the Gods, grandson of king Papak” (Frye: 371). He also listed the countries he ruled as “Persis, Parthia, Khuzistan, Mesene, Assyria, Adiabene, Arabia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Segan [Makhelonia = Mingrelia], Arran [Albania] Balasakan, up to the Caucasus mountains and the Gates of Albania, and all of the mountain chain of Pareshwar, Media, Gurgan, Merv, Herat and all of Aparshahr, Kerman, Seistan, Turan, Makuran, Paradene, Hindustan [Sind], the Kushanshahr up to Peshawar, and up to Kashgar, Sogdiana and to the mountains of Tashkent, and on the other side of the sea, Oman” (Frye: 371).