The Persian Empire

by Kia, Mehrdad;

  After putting an end to the rule of the Turk Empire in 630 CE, the Tang dynasty in China established a loose and distant control over Central Asia as far west as Chach (modern-day Tashkent) in Uzbekistan but never managed to occupy and hold Sogdia. Samarqand was the largest and the most important urban center of Sogdia. In the seventh century CE the rulers of Samarqand held the title “Ekshid.” Panjkand (Panjekent), located 31 miles (50 kilometers) east of Samarqand in present-day northwestern Tajikistan, was another important urban center of Sogdia and one of the main commercial hubs of the Silk Road. Aside from Samarqand and Panjkand, there were other independent Sogdian city-states ruled by princes who bore the title “Afshin.”

  After the fall of the Sasanian Empire in 651, the Arab Muslims invaded Central Asia. The city of Samarqand was seized by the Arabs in 712. Local resistance to Islamization of the region was, however, strong. Sogdians revolted against the Arabs in 722, but the rebellion was suppressed in 723. Amid the destruction, the Arabs set fire to the city of Panjkand. The Sogdian ruler Dewashtich, who had sought refuge at a castle on Mount Mogh in present-day northern Tajikistan, was forced to surrender to the Arabs, who executed him.

  See also: Ancient Cities: Bokhara; Samarqand; Ancient Provinces: Bactria; K&Q, Achaemenid: Cyrus II the Great; Peoples: Alexander of Macedon (the Great); Spitaman

  Further Reading

  Barthold, V. V. Turkestan Down to the Mongol Invasion. Translated by T. Minorsky. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, 1992.

  De La Vaissière, É. “Sogdiana III: History and Archeology.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 2011, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdiana-iii-history-and-archeology.

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

  Gibb, H. A. R. The Arab Conquests in Central Asia. Toronto: University of Toronto Libraries, 2011.

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

  Litvinskii, B. A., and Carol Altman Bromberg. The Archaeology and Art of Central Asia: Studies from the Former Soviet Union; Bulletin of the Asia Institute. London: Neil Kreitman Foundation, 1994.

  Sinor, Denis. “The Establishment and Dissolution of the Turk Empire.” In The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, edited by Denis Sinor, 285–316. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.

  Zeimal, E. V. “The Political History of Transoxiana.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(I), edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 232–262. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

  The Zend-Avesta, Part I: The Vendidad. Translated by James Darmesteter. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1965.

  Transoxiana

  The land beyond the Oxus River (Amu Darya), a region in the southern part of Central Asia situated between the two great rivers of Oxus and Jaxartes corresponding with much of the territory of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as well as parts of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. The ancient Greeks called this region Transoxiana or “the land beyond the Oxus.” In Iran’s legendary history, the land north of the Oxus was called Turan. The Muslim Arabs who conquered Central Asia in the eighth century CE called the region Mawara’ al-Nahr, or “the land beyond the river” (i.e., the Oxus). The Arabs called the Oxus the Jeyhun and the Jaxartes the Seyhun. The names Amu Darya and Syr Darya are both Persian.

  Originating in the Pamir Mountains in the southeastern corner of Central Asia, the Oxus is formed by the convergence of the Panj and Vakhsh Rivers. Today, the Amu Darya forms a section of the border between Afghanistan and the two Central Asian republics of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan before it travels through Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to reach the Aral Sea. The Jaxartes, which is called Syr Darya, is formed by the confluence of the Naryn and Qoradarya Rivers in the eastern Farghaneh Valley. The river moves in a northwesterly direction through present-day Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and southern Kazakhstan before it too empties into the Aral Sea.

  See also: Ancient Cities: Bokhara; Oxus Treasure; Samarqand; Ancient Provinces: Sogdiana

  Further Reading

  Barthold, V. V. Four Studies on the History of Central Asia. Translated by V. and T. Minorsky. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1962.

  Barthold, V. V. Turkestan Down to the Mongol Invasion. London: Luzac, 1977.

  Frye, Richard Nelson. The Heritage of Persia. Cleveland: World Publishing, 1963.

  Grousset, René. The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia. Translated from the French by Naomi Walford. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2005.

  CULTURES, CALENDARS, AND FESTIVALS

  OVERVIEW ESSAY

  The entries in this chapter focus on the diverse cultures of Greater Iran and on the festivals and pastimes the ancient Iranians introduced and celebrated. The everyday life in ancient Iran was characterized by a richness of experience, which originated from its position as a crossroads of various cultures and peoples. Persian cuisine, for example, ranks among the oldest and most highly regarded culinary traditions in the world. A product of the trade, commerce, and exchange initiated along various transcontinental trade routes, it had its roots in the agrarian societies established by the earliest Iranian peoples. Magnificent Persian gardens, with plants imported from various regions of the empire, adorned the grounds of royal palaces. Smaller versions surrounded the homes of ordinary subjects. Sports, some with an origin in military training tactics, grew to be a beloved pastime. An organized educational system produced skilled statesmen and diplomats who could carry out an empire’s business. From this multiplicity of traditions within the empire emerged numerous holidays and celebrations, some of which have retained their importance into the modern era.

  The Zoroastrian calendar named 12 months, and each day of those months was also given a name. When the names of days and months coincided, festivals were held to mark the occasion. For example, the second day of the 11th month, the month of Bahman, was also named Bahman. Bahmanjaneh, as the day was known, was celebrated by preparing and eating a special stew of widely assorted grains, vegetables, and meats.

  Mehregan (or Mehrgan), dedicated to Mithra, the god of oaths and covenants, as well as the sun god, was celebrated on the 16th day of the Iranian month of Mehr. Scholars and authors of the Islamic era have linked the celebration of this ancient Iranian feast to the legendary story of the blacksmith Kaveh and his revolt against the brutal and oppressive King Zahak. Mehregan was especially important because it celebrated the joy of the people when they heard their new king, Fereydun, coming forward to rule. Sasanian kings of ancient Iran celebrated Mehregan by wearing a special crown upon which was engraved an image of the sun and of the wheel upon which it turned. Zoroastrians today continue to celebrate Mehregan by wearing new clothes, setting up a colorful table, and preparing sumptuous meals.

  On the month and day dedicated to the veneration of water, the day of Aban (Waters) in the month of Aban, ancient Persians visited rivers, lakes, or the seashore to offer thanks and prayers to life-giving water. Through various invasions and disruptions, Persians continued to mark such ancient holidays with special foods, rituals, and festivities. Several other holidays, ancient in origin and observed across the Iranian-speaking world, were tied to the seasons, spring and fall equinoxes, and winter and summer solstices. Such holidays honored the cycles of life, death, and renewal over the course of the year. The spring equinox was the most prominent and celebrated of these. Nowruz, literally meaning “new day,” is the Persian New Year. It continues to be observed with great festivity and ceremony each spring throughout the Persian-speaking world, including Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Iran. Nowruz is preceded, however, by a less well-known holiday. Chaharshanbeh Suri, the eve of the last Wednesday of the year, is marked most notably by the ancient ritual of jumping over bonfires, which have been lit to cleanse the world for the coming new year. Bonfires are also prepared to mark the midwinter religious festival of Sadeh, held to defy the dark and cold of winter and dispel the evil spirit represented by the satanic Ahriman. As with Chaharshanbeh Suri
, before the beginning of Sadeh festivities members of each family participate in collecting and gathering wood, which is organized into bundles and set on fire after sunset. As the fire is lit, Zoroastrian priests, dressed in white to symbolize purity, recite verses from the Avesta, the Zoroastrian holy book. It has been written that ancient Iranians, including the Persian kings, loved to celebrate their birthdays. On these occasions sumptuous banquets greeted invited guests, who also enjoyed the various entertainments provided them by musicians and others at the court. The art of celebration and festival, and their deep love for it, is only one of the many gifts that the ancient Persians have passed along to the modern world.

  Ab, Aban, Aban Mah

  The word for “water” in Persian is āb, and a plural form of āb is ābān, which means “waters.” Māh is the Persian word for “month.” Abān māh therefore means “month of waters.” Ancient Iranians revered water as one of the most essential elements of life on Earth. They recognized that plants, animals, and human beings could not live without water. In the Iranian cosmology, “water was the second of the seven creations … into which the world was divided” (Boyce: Āb I). Streams, rivers, lakes, and seas were therefore venerated, and polluting them was considered to be a sinful act.

  In the Avesta, the sacred book of Zoroastrianism, Aban Yasht is the fifth hymn to an individual divinity, and it is the third-longest Yasht, with 131 verses (Boyce: Ābān Yašt). Although the name indicates the hymn is devoted to the waters (ābān), James Darmesteter writes that much of this Yasht is dedicated to the veneration of “the great goddess of waters,” the celebrated Aredvi Sura Anahita (The Zend-Avesta, Part II: 52). Her name appears as Aredvi Sura Anahita in the Avesta, as Anahita in Old Persian, as Ardvisur Anahid in Middle Persian, as Anaitis in Greek, and as Nahid in New Persian. She is “the heavenly spring from which all waters on the earth flow down” (The Zend-Avesta, Part II: 52). Her “fountains are on the top of the mythical mountain, the Hukairya” (The Zend-Avesta, Part II: 52). The great god Ahura Mazda speaks to his prophet Zarathustra (Zoroaster) and calls upon him to offer a sacrifice to Aredvi Sura Anahita, “the wide-expanding [as she comes down to all places] and health giving, who hates the Daevas [Demons] and obeys the laws of Ahura, who is worthy of sacrifice in the material world, worthy of prayer in the material world; the self-increasing and holy, the herd-increasing and holy, the fold-increasing and holy, the wealth-increasing and holy, the country-increasing and holy” (The Zend-Avesta, Part II: Aban Yasht, 1). Anahita is credited for making “the seed of all males pure,” making “the womb of all females pure for bringing forth,” making “all females bring forth in safety,” and for putting “milk into the breasts of all females in the right measure and the right quality” (The Zend-Avesta, Part II: Aban Yasht, 2). The Aban Yasht also provides valuable information about Iranian mythology by enumerating the legendary heroes of Iran who worshipped Anahita and offered sacrifice to the water goddess. These include Haoshyangha (Hoshang, Hushang), Yima (Jamshed, Jamshid), Azhi Dahaka (Zahhak), Thraetaona (Ferēdun, Fereydun), Keresaspa (Garshasp), Franghrasyan (Afrasiyab), Kavi Usa (Kay Kavus), Kavi Husravah (Kay Khosrow), Tusa (Tus), Vishtaspa (Goshtasp), Zairivairi (Zarir), and Zarathustra, among others (The Zend-Avesta, Part II: Aban Yasht, 21, 25, 29, 33, 37, 41, 45, 49, 53, 68, 104, 108, 112). Aban Yasht is not recited in a Zoroastrian fire temple or before a fire but only within sight of water. The same is true of the much shorter Zoroastrian hymn to water, Aban Niyayesh.

  Aban Mah (Mah-e Aban), or the Month of Waters, is the eighth month of the Zoroastrian calendar and is dedicated to paying respect and offerings to waters (Boyce: Ābān Māh). The 10th day of every month is also named Aban. The 10th day of the month of Aban is known as the Day of Aban and is celebrated by a feast known as Abanagan. The veneration of the waters became synonymous with the worship of Anahita (Anahid), the Iranian goddess of waters. Today, Zoroastrians continue to celebrate Abanagan by visiting a stream, a lake, or a seaside, where they pray and make offerings to the waters. In the solar calendar of today’s Iran, Aban is the 8th month of the year.

  See also: Religion: Ahura Mazda; Anahita; Avesta; Mithra; Yazatas; Primary Documents: Document 37

  Further Reading

  Boyce, Mary. “Āb I: The Concept of Water in Ancient Iranian Culture.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1982, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ab-i-the-concept-of-water-in-ancient-iranian-culture.

  Boyce, Mary. “Ābān.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1986, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/aban.

  Boyce, Mary. “Ābān Yasht.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1986, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/aban-yast.

  The Zend-Avesta, Part II: The Sirozahs, Yashts, and Nyayish. Translated by James Darmesteter. 1883; reprint, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1965.

  Aparni

  Aparni (Parni) is the Latin name for a northeastern Iranian group within the Dahae confederacy. The Dahae are believed to have been a Scythian nomadic group from Central Asia that settled in the northern regions of Iranian Khorasan, and present-day southern Turkmenistan sometime in the third century BCE. The leader of the Aparni in the middle of the third century BCE was Arshak (Arsaces), who proclaimed himself king in 247 BCE in Asaac, where a temple stood, complete with its everlasting fire. There is no information on the exact location of Asaac, and archaeologists have not been able to identify the site, but some scholars have suggested that it was located near the present-day town of Quchan in the upper Atrek River Valley in northeastern Iran (Debevoise: 10–11). The year 247 BCE marks the beginning of the Arsacid era. Arsaces and his armies attacked and seized the province of Parthia, killing Andragoras, the governor of Parthia, and establishing themselves as the masters of northeastern Iran. After their conquest of Parthia, the Arsacids, or the dynasty established by the Aparni leader Arshak/Arsaces, were called Parthians, or those who hail from Parthia.

  See also: K&Q, Arsacid/Parthian: Arsaces I; Peoples: Arsacids; Seleucids

  Further Reading

  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.

  Colledge, Malcolm A. R. The Parthians. New York: Praeger, 1967.

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

  Lecoq, P. “Aparna.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1986, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/aparna-c3k.

  Lozinski, B. P. The Original Homeland of the Parthians. The Hague: Mouton, 1959.

  Schippmann, K. “Arsacids II: The Arsacid Dynasty.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1986, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/arsacids-index#pt2.

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

  Wolski, J. “The Decay of the Iranian Empire of the Seleucids and the Chronology of the Parthian Beginnings.” Berytus 12 (1956–1958): 35–52.

  Bahmanjaneh

  The name of an ancient Zoroastrian festival originally called Bahmanagan. In the Avesta, the Zoroastrian holy book, Vohu Manah (good purpose/good thought/good mind) is one of the Amsha Spentas, or holy immortals, of Zoroastrianism who was brought into existence by the great god Ahura Mazda to assist him with the creation of the world. Vohu Manah appears as Vahman in Middle Persian and Bahman in New Persian. Bahman is the name of the 11th month of the year as well as the second day of each month. In the Zoroastrian calendar, each day of the month had its own name. The second day of each month was called Bahman. Among Zoroastrians, days that had the same name as the month in which they fell were celebrated as festivals. One of these festivals was Bahmanagan, which corresponded with the second day (the day of Bahman or Bahman Ruz) of the month of Bahman.

  Iranians continued to celebrate Bahamanagan after the fall of the Persian Sasanian dynasty and the arrival of Islam. The name of the festival, however, changed from Bahmanagan to Bahmanjaneh. Rich and poor, old and young, men and women, boys and girls partic
ipated in festivities by preparing sumptuous meals, singing, and dancing. According to the historian Gardizi, on the occasion of Bahmanjaneh the tradition among the Persians was to prepare a pot, called the “Pot of Bahmanjaneh,” which included an assortment of vegetables, grains, seeds, and meats. Gardizi also reported that on the day of Bahmanjaneh, people ate Bahman Sorkh (Red Bahman) with milk, which was believed to bring them good fortune, improve memory, and counter the evil eye (Gardizi: 524–525). Mohammad Hossein ibn Khalaf Tabrizi, the 17th-century author of the Persian dictionary Borhan-e Qate‘ [Conclusive Proof], wrote that Iranians celebrated Bahmanjaneh on the second day of the month of Bahman by eating wild rue with milk, which was believed to bolster a person’s memory (Tabrizi: 218). According to the Iranian scholar Zabihollah Safa, Bahmanagan was observed as a popular festival “down to the Mongol invasion in 1219” (Safa: Bahmanjana).

  See also: Religion: Amesha Spentas; Avesta; Vohu Manah

  Further Reading

  Boyce, Mary. A Persian Stronghold of Zoroastrianism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977.

  Gardizi, Abu Said Abdol-Hay ibn Zahhak ibn Mahmud. Tarikh-e Gardizi. Edited by Abdol-Hay Habibi. Tehran: Donya-ye Ketab, 1985.

  Safa, Z. “Bahmanjana.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1988, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bahmanjana-arabicized-form-of-mid.

  Tabrizi, Mohammad Hossein ibn Khalaf. Borhan-e Qate‘ [Conclusive Proof]. Edited by Mohammad Abbasi. Tehran: Amir Kabir Publishing House, 1957.

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

  The Zend-Avesta, Part II: The Sirozahs, Yashts, and Nyayish. Translated by James Darmesteter. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1965.

  Chaharshanbeh Suri