The Persian Empire

by Kia, Mehrdad;

  The Kushans practiced ancestor worship. Claiming that they came from divine origin, the Kushan rulers erected family temples where the divine ancestors of the ruling dynasty were worshipped. As rulers of a highly diverse population, however, the Kushans were obligated to act as the protectors of the popular cults and religions of the sedentary population they had conquered in Bactria, Gandhara, and northern India. Several Kushan kings became adherents of Zoroastrianism and Mithraism, while others acted as defenders of Buddhism. The most powerful and influential of all Kushan monarchs, Kanishka I, was a great defender of Buddhism, but he also adopted a highly tolerant attitude toward non-Buddhist religious communities, including the Zoroastrians, Hindus, and those who worshipped Greek and Roman gods and goddesses. The coins of the Kushan emperor Kanishka incorporate Buddha, the deities of the Indo-Scythian empire, the main Zoroastrian deities, and Greek gods, thus displaying a high level of eclecticism.

  Kanishka expanded his empire into Central Asia and seized the important urban centers of the region, including those on the southern and western rims of the Tarim Basin. This conquest allowed the Kushans to benefit from the lucrative trade on the Silk Road while at the same time establishing direct commercial links with China. Bactria, situated between India to the south and Central Asia to the north, was one of the principal beneficiaries of Kushan expansionism. The Kushan rule also provided Buddhist monks with direct access to the urban centers of Central Asia, where they built monasteries and spread the teachings of their religion. Today, the ruins of many monuments that the Kushan kings erected, such as the religious complex of Sorkh Kotal and the fortress built on the ruins of Ai Khanom, can be found in northern Afghanistan. To the east, the Kushans established close diplomatic ties with Rome in an attempt to isolate the Parthian state in Iran and Mesopotamia. Their plan was probably to divert the flow of precious goods, particularly silk from Iran, to ports on the Indian Ocean, where ships carrying Chinese, Central Asian, and Indian goods could sail to Rome without any hindrance and intervention from a third party.

  The name Bactria was abandoned sometime during the reign of the Kushan Empire and replaced by Tokharestan, or “the land of the Tochari.” The Persian Sasanians, who overthrew the Arsacid (Parthian) dynasty in 224 CE, forced the Kushans to submit to their authority in 225 CE. Much of the Kushan territorial possessions in present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan came under the suzerainty of the Sasanian royal house. In his inscription at Naqsh-e Rostam near Persepolis in southern Iran, the second Sasanian monarch, Shapur I, listed Kushanshahr, or the country of Kushans, as one of the provinces of his newly established empire (Frye: 371). After the conquest of ancient Bactria by the Sasanians, Tokharestan constituted the heartland of the newly formed province of Kushanshahr, to which the Persian monarchs customarily appointed one of their sons as governor, carrying the title “Kushan Shah.”

  During the fifth century CE, Sogdiana, Bactria/Tokharestan, and parts of the northeastern Iranian province of Khorasan were overrun by the Hephthalites, a new nomadic group invading present-day Afghanistan and northeastern Iran from Central Asia. The Hephthalites established a powerful empire, which at its zenith extended from Central Asia to northern India. They repeatedly defeated Sasanian armies during the reign of Peroz (r. 459–484 CE) and imposed humiliating treaties on the Persians, who struggled desperately to protect their empire. It took nearly a century and a close alliance with the Western Turk state in Central Asia before the Sasanians could defeat and destroy the Hephthalite kingdom and reestablish their rule over the territory south of the Oxus River during the reign of Khosrow I Anushiravan (r. 531–579 CE).

  See also: Ancient Cities: Oxus Treasure; Peoples: Achaemenid Empire; Kushan Empire

  Further Reading

  Arrian. The Campaigns of Alexander the Great. Translated by Aubrey De Sélincourt. New York: Dorset, 1986.

  Ball, Warwick. The Monuments of Afghanistan: History, Archaeology and Architecture. London: I. B. Tauris, 2008.

  Barthold, W. An Historical Geography of Iran. Translated by Svat Soucek. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984.

  Biruni, Abu Rayhan. Athar ul-Bakiya [Vestiges of the Past]. Translated by C. Edward Sachau as The Chronology of Ancient Nations. London: W. H. Allen, 1879.

  Bivar, A. D. H. “The Political History of Iran under the Arsacids.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(I), edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 21–99. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

  Curtis, John. Ancient Persia. London: British Museum Press, 2000.

  Frye, Richard Nelson. The History of Ancient Iran. München: C. H. Beck’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1984.

  Holt, Frank L. Thundering Zeus: The Making of Hellenistic Bactria. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.

  Ibn Balkhi. The Farsnama. Edited by G. Le Strange and R. A. Nicholson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1921.

  Jackson, A. V. W. Zoroaster, the Prophet of Ancient Iran. London: Macmillan, 1899.

  Leriche, P., and F. Grenet. “Bactria.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1988, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bactria.

  Markwart, J. A Catalogue of the Provincial Capitals of Eranshahr: Pahlavi Text Version and Commentary. Edited by G. Messina. Rome: Pontificio Istituto Biblico, 1931.

  Sarianidi, Victor. Golden Hoard of Bactria: From the Excavations of the Tillya-Tepe Necropolis in Northern Afghanistan. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1985.

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

  Tabari. Tarikh-e Tabari, Vol. 2. Translated from Arabic into Persian by Abol Qassem Payandeh. Tehran: Asatir Publications, 1984.

  The Zend-Avesta, Part I: The Vendidad. Translated by James Darmesteter. Oxford: Clarendon, 1895.

  Chorasmia

  Chorasmia (Old Persian: Huwarazmish; New Persian: Khwarazm) was a region on the lower Oxus River delta south of the Aral Sea. Since ancient times Central Asia was divided into several distinct geographical regions, each characterized by its own unique setting, history, culture, and socioeconomic organization. One such region was ancient Chorasmia, which in Islamic times was referred to as Khwarazm. Located as it was on the lower reaches of the Oxus River south of the Aral Sea and north of the Karakum Desert, the region served as a nexus of trade and commerce between South and Southwest Asia and the Eurasian steppe. Today the territory of ancient Chorasmia is divided among the three Central Asian republics of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan.

  Chorasmia played an important role in the religious, cultural, and political history of ancient Iran. From ancient times down to the 12th century, the population of Chorasmia was of Iranian ethnic stock. They spoke an eastern Iranian language called Chorasmian. Until the 11th century, Chorasmia was ruled by local Iranian dynasties. The scholar Abu Rayhan Biruni (973–1048/1050 CE), who himself hailed from the region, traced its history back to the reign of Iran’s legendary Kayanian dynasty, which included such prominent kings and personages as Kay Qobad; Kay Kavus; his son, Prince Siyavash; the latter’s son, Kay Khosrow; Lohrasp; and Goshtasp.

  The first recorded mention of Chorasmia appears in the Avesta, the Zoroastrian holy book. In fact, some scholars of pre-Islamic Iran have identified Chorasmia as the ancient homeland of the Iranian people (Old Iranian: Airyanem Vaejah; Middle Persian: Eranvej) and the birthplace of Zoroastrianism. This assertion has, however, been rejected in recent scholarship. Excavations conducted by Soviet archaeologists indicate that before its conquest by the Persian Achaemenid Empire (r. 550–330 BCE), Chorasmia was home to northern Iranian Scythian nomadic groups who had established an independent kingdom. The Greek author Strabo identified Chorasmia as the home of the Massagetae, who constituted a branch of Scythian tribes.

  Chorasmia was conquered by Cyrus II the Great (r. 559/558–530 BCE), founder of the Achaemenid dynasty. The exact date of this conquest is unknown. Cyrus appointed his second son, Bardiya, as governor of the northeastern provinces of his empire, including Chorasmia. In his long inscriptio
n at Bisotun near the city of Kermanshah in present-day western Iran, the Achaemenid king Darius I (r. 522–486 BCE) listed Chorasmia as one of the provinces of the Persian Empire (Kent: 117, 119). In another inscription from the reign of Darius I at the city of Susa in southwestern Iran, the Persian king identified Chorasmia as the supplier of the turquoise used to decorate his palace at Susa, which served as the winter capital of the Achaemenid state (Kent: 143–144). The Chorasmians are depicted on the walls of Apadana, the great reception hall of Persepolis, as bearing tribute to the Persian king. The Greek historian Herodotus mentions the Chorasmian units fighting in the army of Xerxes I (r. 486–465 BCE) (Herodotus: 7.66). The last mention of Chorasmia during Persian Achaemenid rule dates back to an inscription from the reign of Artaxerxes II (r. 405–359 BCE) (Kent: 155–156). Several scholars have maintained that Chorasmia had gained its independence from the Achaemenid Empire by the end of the fifth century BCE.

  After the fall of the Achaemenid Empire, Alexander and his Macedonian army invaded Central Asia. Chorasmia resisted the foreign invaders and joined forces with Bessus, the Persian governor of Bactria (present-day northern Afghanistan) who had proclaimed himself as the new Achaemenid king, assuming the royal name of Artaxerxes V. When Bessus was defeated, the anti-Macedonian resistance continued under one of his commanders, Spitaman (Spitamenes), who hailed from Sogdiana, the region lying between the Oxus and Jaxartes Rivers. Eventually the Chorasmians sent a delegation to Alexander and declared their submission to him. However, the Chorasmian king refused to go in person to Alexander’s camp. Thus, it seems that during the reign of Alexander and the succeeding Seleucid dynasty, Chorasmia enjoyed a high level of autonomy if not full independence (Wiesehöfer: 108).

  In the second half of the second century BCE, a new Iranian state under the Arsacid dynasty (r. 247/238 BCE–224 CE) was founded in Parthia south of Chorasmia in present-day southwestern Turkmenistan and northeastern Iran. The Parthian Arsacids enjoyed some political control over Chorasmia during the first century and a half of their rule. However, this control was short-lived because Chorasmia, Sogdiana, and Bactria were invaded repeatedly by nomadic groups from Central Asia. These nomadic invasions destroyed the Greco-Bactrian kingdom centered in northern Afghanistan and eventually pushed southward all the way to northern India. The Kushan Empire was created by these Yüeh-chih (Yuezhi) or Tochari nomads who invaded and seized present-day Afghanistan and large territories in India. Parts of Chorasmia and even portions of present-day northeastern Iran may have come for a time under the suzerainty of this empire. Once again, however, Chorasmia gained its independence. Our knowledge of Chorasmia after this period is scanty in the extreme. It seems, however, that Chorasmia retained its independence from both the Parthian and Kushan Empires. Furthermore, the relationship between Chorasmia and the Sasanian state (r. 224–651 CE), which defeated both the Parthian and Kushan states between 224 and 225, is unknown. Sometime in the early fourth century CE, a new dynasty called the Afrighids (r. 305–995 CE) established rule over Chorasmia, and its leader assumed the title of Khwarazm Shah (Shah or King of Khwarazm). After the fall of the Persian Sasanian Empire in 651 CE, Chorasmia and the rest of Central Asia were conquered by the Arabs who seized Chorasmia around 712 CE. The Afrighids survived the arrival of Islam, however, and maintained their power by collaborating with the Arab invaders. They were overthrown almost three centuries later, in 995 CE, by a rival family, the Ma’munids. The Ma’munids were initially vassals to the Samanid state, which ruled much of the southern region of Central Asia as well as northern Afghanistan and northeastern Iran from their capital, the city of Bokhara in present-day Uzbekistan. When Samanid rule came to an end in 999, however, the Ma’munids came gradually under the domination of the newly emerging Ghaznavid dynasty. To prevent an invasion of his kingdom, the Ma’munid ruler Abul Abbas ibn Ma’mun asked for the hand of the sister of Mahmud, the powerful ruler of the Ghaznavid Empire. The opponents of Abul Abbas denounced his conciliatory policy toward Mahmud and revolted. The murder of Abul Abbas by the rebels provided Sultan Mahmud with a convenient justification to invade Khwarazm. Ghaznavid forces defeated the rebels and overthrew the Ma’munids. Khwarazm was pacified and incorporated into the Ghaznavid Empire. A Ghaznavid slave commander, Altuntash, was appointed governor of the province and given the title Khwarazm Shah. The ethnic and linguistic composition of Khwarazm underwent a fundamental transformation in the 11th century as Turkic nomadic groups invaded and settled in the region.

  See also: Ancient Cities: Oxus Treasure; Peoples: Achaemenid Empire; Arsacids

  Further Reading

  Bosworth, C. E. “Āl-e Afrīg.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1984, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/al-e-afrig-afrighid-dynasty-the-name-given-by-the-khwarazmian-scholar-abu-rayhan-biruni-to-the-dynasty-of-rulers-in.

  Debevoise, Neilson C. A Political History of Parthia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1938.

  Gershevitch, I. The Avestan Hymn to Mithra. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

  Gnoli, G. Zoroaster’s Time and Homeland: A Study on the Origins of Mazdeism and Related Problems. Naples: Istituto Universitario Orientale, 1980.

  Henning, W. B. A Fragment of a Khwarezmian Dictionary. Tehran University Publication No. 1317. London: Lund Humphries, 1971.

  Herodotus. The Histories. Translated by Aubrey De Sélincourt. London: Penguin Books, 2003.

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

  MacKenzie, D. N. “Ērān-Wēz.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1998, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/eran-wez.

  MacKenzie, D. N. “Khwarazmian Language and Literature.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(II), edited by Ehshan Yarshater, 1244–1249. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

  Rapoport, Yuri Aleksandrovich. “Chorasmia: Archeology and Pre-Islamic History.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1991, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/chorasmia-i.

  Weiskopf, Michael. “Bessos.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1989, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bessos-satrap-of-bactria.

  Wiesehöfer, Josef. Ancient Persia. Translated by Azizeh Azodi. London: I. B. Tauris, 1996.

  Elymais

  An independent and at times semi-independent vassal kingdom centered in southwestern Iran in the present-day province of Khuzestan. The exact date for the formation of this kingdom is unknown, but scholars have suggested that it was most probably founded sometime in the second century BCE and lasted until 221 CE. The exact boundaries of this kingdom are also uncertain. In his multivolume Geography, the Greek author Strabo identified Elymais as a land located to the northeast of Susiana and Babylonia and bordering Media and the Zagros region of present-day western Iran. Fertile areas of Elymais were inhabited by farmers, while the mountainous parts of the country were home to “soldiers, mostly bowmen,” and since the rugged areas were extensive, the land could furnish “a large military force” (Strabo: 16.1.18). Strabo described the inhabitants of Elymais, the Elymaeans, as a “predatory people” who relied “on the ruggedness of their mountains” and waged wars against their neighbors, including the Susians (Strabo: 15.3.12). Scholars have debated whether the Elymaeans were an Iranian-speaking group or the direct descendants of the ancient Elamites who in ancient times ruled this region of the Near East in the period before the establishment of Median and Achaemenid dynasties (Hansman: Elymais). The Elymaeans worshipped non-Iranian Semitic gods and were therefore closer in religious belief and cultural practices to the ancient Assyrians, Babylonians, and Elamites.

  The Elymaeans are not mentioned in the historical accounts of Alexander and his campaigns. They do, however, appear as minor players in the history of the late Seleucid kingdom, which ruled Syria, Mesopotamia, and parts of Iran and Asia Minor from its capital in Antioch. As the Seleucid state began to weaken, various governors and local rulers proclaimed their independence. Sometime in 220 or 219 BCE, Molon, the Seleucid governor of Media, raised the flag of rebellion against his royal mast
er, Antiochus III. Molon attacked Susa in southwestern Iran and tried to seize Babylonia in present-day southern Iraq. As he pushed south and southwest he received support from the ruler of Elymais, but his revolt failed (Strabo: 16.1.17; Hansman: Elymais). In 189 BCE, the Seleucid monarch Antiochus III suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Roman Republic. According to the Treaty of Apamea, which he was forced to sign in 188 BCE, Antiochus renounced his claims to all territories north and west of the Taurus mountain range in southern Asia Minor. He also agreed to send a group of hostages, including his own son, the future Antiochus IV, to Rome; to pay a heavy war indemnity; and to surrender his fleet and war elephants. To raise the funds, Antiochus was forced to pay the Romans he went to pillage Elymais in 187 BCE. The Seleucid ruler had heard that the temple of Bel in Elymais contained a large stockpile of silver and gold. To justify his raid, Antiochus accused the Elymaeans of initiating hostilities against him. This raiding trip was ill-starred. The Seleucid monarch was killed near Susa in southwestern Iran by the local population shortly after he had pillaged the temple of Bel. Antiochus III’s successor, Antiochus IV Epiphanes (r. 175–164 BCE), imitated his father by trying to rob the temple of Artemis-Nanaia in Elymais, but this campaign also failed, and the Seleucid monarch was forced to retreat to Media in western Iran. He eventually died in Gabae (modern-day Isfahan) in present-day central Iran. Sometime in 148 or 147 BCE, the Arsacid monarch Mithridates I attacked and captured Media. From Media, a Parthian army invaded and occupied Mesopotamia. In 140 BCE, the Seleucid monarch Demetrius II, who had become alarmed by the conquests of Mithridates I, organized an army and marched into Mesopotamia to counter the Parthian threat. Troops from several regions of present-day southern and southwestern Iran, including Elymais, joined Demetrius II. The Elymaean forces attacked Characene, a small kingdom at the head of the Persian Gulf in present-day southern Iraq and Kuwait, that had declared its independence from the Seleucid state. The decision to join Demetrius II proved to be disastrous for Elymais. Demetrius II was defeated and captured by a Parthian army that sent him as a prisoner to their king, Mithridates I, in Hyrcania (modern-day Gorgan) in northern Iran. The Elymaean king who had joined the Seleucid king also suffered a humiliating defeat, and his kingdom was conquered (Strabo: 16.1.18; Justin: XLI.VI). Elymais remained under the direct rule of the Parthian dynasty until the death of Mithridates II (r. 124/123–88/87 BCE). After the death of Mithridates II and the eruption of recurrent civil wars among contenders to the Arsacid throne, Elymais regained a semi-independent and at times fully independent status. This independence was demonstrated by the efforts of some of the Elymais kings to conduct an independent foreign policy and negotiate treaties and alliances with various powers, including Rome. In 65 BCE, an Elymaean monarch approached the Roman general Pompey and extended an offer of friendship with Rome. In 36 CE, the Elymaeans formed an alliance with the Arsacid prince Tiridates III, who had invaded Mesopotamia in hopes of removing the Arsacid monarch Artabanus II from the throne. Despite the support from the Roman emperor Tiberius and assistance from the Elymaeans, Tiridates failed in his campaign, and Artabanus regained Mesopotamia. In 117 CE when the Roman emperor Trajan invaded the Parthian Empire, the Elymaeans lent their support to the Roman armies. Aside from the coins of several kings of Elymais, two Elymaean rulers are mentioned on rock inscriptions at Tang-e Sarvak in eastern Khuzestan province in present-day southwestern Iran. Another inscription at Susa, dating back to 215 CE, mentions a certain Khwasak as the governor of Susa under the suzerainty of the last Arsacid monarch, Artabanus IV (r. 213–224 CE).