The Persian Empire

by Kia, Mehrdad;

  See also: Peoples: Arsacids; Sasanian Empire; Primary Documents: Document 21; Document 22; Document 23; Document 29; Document 35

  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, 1993.

  Christensen, Arthur. L’Iran Sous Les Sassanides. Copenhagen: Levin and Munksgaard. Enjar Munksgaard, 1936.

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

  Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh, and Sarah Stewart, eds. The Age of the Parthians. London: I. B. Tauris, 2007.

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

  Diodorus Siculus. Translated by C. H. Oldfather. London: William Heinemann, 1933.

  Frye, Richard N. The Heritage of Persia. Cleveland and New York: World Publishing, 1963.

  Justin. The History of the World. Translated by G. Turnbull. London, 1746.

  Nameh-ye Tansar. Edited by Mojtaba Minovi. Tehran: Tehran University Press, 1976.

  Rawlinson, George. The Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy. Tehran: Imperial Organization for Social Services, 1976.

  Schippmann, K. “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.

  Tafazzoli Ahmad. Sasanian Society. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2000.

  The Zend-Avesta, Part III: The Yasna, Visparad, Āfrīnagān, Gāhs, and Miscellaneous Fragments. Translated by L. H. Mills. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1965.

  Kushan Empire

  The Kushans were a branch of Iranian-speaking people called Yüeh-chih (Yuezhi) in Chinese and Tochari in Greek and Latin who established a vast and powerful empire in Central Asia, present-day Afghanistan, and the Indian subcontinent during the first three centuries of the Common Era. The Yüeh-chih moved from Central Asia first to Bactria in the second century BCE. Bactria (Old Persian: Bakhtrish) corresponded to the region south of the Oxus River in present-day northern Afghanistan. The Yüeh-chih divided their newly won territory into five principalities. Nearly a century later, the Kushan prince Kujula Kadphises unified all the branches of Yüeh-chih under his rule. From Bactria, the Kushans crossed the Hindu Kush mountain range and occupied Gandhara. The occupation of Gandhara, southeast of the Hindu Kush Mountains, allowed the Kushans by the middle of the first century CE to extend their power to the Indus River Valley and the city of Taxila. From here, the Kushans moved farther south to the region of the Yamuna (Jamuna) River in the present-day northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, where they chose the city of Mathura as their southern capital. Thus, by the beginning of the second century CE the Kushans, along with the Romans, Parthians, and Chinese, were one of the four most powerful states in the world. The Kushan state incorporated present-day Tajikistan, a large part of Uzbekistan, possibly parts of Kyrgyzstan and southern Turkmenistan, almost all of Pakistan and Afghanistan, a portion of eastern Turkestan, and parts of northern India.

  In ruling their vast empire, the Kushan kings adopted the administrative structure of the Persian Achaemenid monarchs, which had also been used by the Arsacid (Parthian) dynasty in Iran. The empire was divided into provinces, with each province ruled by a governor who was invested with considerable autonomy so he could collect taxes and maintain peace and order. The title of governors under Kushan rule was ksatrapas and mahaksatrapas, which were the Sanskrit versions of the word “satraps.” 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. 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. Several Kushan kings were 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. There is no consensus among scholars about the dates for Kanishka’s birth, reign, and death. Recognizing the cultural diversity of the vast empire he ruled, Kanishka adopted a highly tolerant attitude toward non-Buddhist religious communities, including the Zoroastrians, the Hindus, and even those who worshipped Greek and Roman gods and goddesses.

  Sorkh Kotal, an archaeological site located in the ancient region of Bactria (present-day northern Afghanistan), contained monumental constructions, temples, and statues from the early Kushan period. The Kushan emperors created one of the largest and most powerful empires of the ancient world, which at its height stretched from Central Asia to India. (De Agostini/Getty Images)

  Kanishka expanded his empire in Central Asia by invading and occupying present-day western China, including the important trade centers on the southern and western rims of the Tarim Basin in present-day western China. 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. It also provided Buddhist monks, who were protected by the Kushan king, direct access to the urban centers of Central Asia, where they would build monasteries and spread the teachings of their religion. Kanishka also established close diplomatic ties with Rome in an attempt to isolate the Parthian state in Iran and Mesopotamia. His 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 hindrance and intervention from a third party.

  In 224 CE, Ardashir, the governor of the district of Istakhr in the province of Fars in southern Iran, overthrew the Arsacid dynasty and founded the Sasanian state. Before defeating the last Arsacid monarch, Artabanus IV, on the battlefield, Ardashir had imposed his authority over the southern, southeastern, and southwestern regions of present-day Iran. Once he had overthrown the Arsacid dynasty, Ardashir seized Media, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Assyria, including the city of Mosul in present-day northern Iraq (Tabari: 2.584). After his campaign in the northwest and west, he switched his focus east and northeast, capturing Sistan, Gorgan, Abar Shahr, Marv, Balkh, and Khwarazm. Recognizing the overwhelming power of the newly established Sasanian state and the determination of its founder to incorporate the lands south of the Oxus River into his empire, the Kushans relented and acknowledged Persian suzerainty (Tabari: 2.584). The inscription of Ardashir’s successor, Shapur I, at Naqsh-e Rostam, near Persepolis in southern Iran, states that the Sasanians had imposed their rule over much of Kushan-held territory, including Peshawar in present-day northwestern Pakistan, the royal capital of Kanishka I.

  With the submission of the Kushan state, the Sasanians established their rule over much of the territory of present-day Afghanistan and even areas north of the Oxus River, though their control must have been tenuous and through local rulers. The Sasanian ruler, or governor, of Kushan territory received the title of kushanshah, or king of Kushan. Branches of the Kushans survived the Sasanian onslaught and continued to rule small kingdoms east of the Indus River until the end of the fifth century and the beginning of the sixth century CE, when they were defeated by a new force in Central Asian politics, namely the Hephthalites, a nomadic confederation that also defeated the Sasanians and killed the Persian monarch Peroz on the battlefield in 484 CE.

  See also: Peoples: Arsacids; Sasanian Empire

  Further Reading

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

  Dani, A. H., and B. A. Litvinsky. “The Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom.” In History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. III, 107–122. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, 1996.

  Liu, Xinru. The Silk Road in World History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.<
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  Narain, A. K. “Indo-Europeans in Inner Asia.” In The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, edited by Denis Sinor, 151–176. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

  Puri, B. N. “The Kushans.” In History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. II, 239–255. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, 1994.

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

  Media, Medes, and the Median Empire

  The Medes (Old Persian: Mada) were a branch of Iranian-speaking people who settled in the western regions of present-day Iran sometime during the second millennium BCE. The power and influence of the Medes increased significantly during the ninth and eighth centuries BCE. By the seventh century BCE, the Medes had emerged as the dominant political and military force in western Iran, expanding their territory at the expense of their neighbors to the north, east, and west and in the process establishing a vast and powerful empire by the sixth century BCE.

  We do not know with any certainty the exact geographical boundaries of the original territory of Media or the land of the Medes. It is generally believed, however, that the Medes settled in the Hamedan plain, which lies on the eastern slopes of the Zagros mountain range in western Iran. Evidence regarding the origin of the Medes and the internal organization of their society is meager. Archaeological excavations at Median sites in western Iran have so far produced valuable but scanty results. The Assyrian royal inscriptions as well as Babylonian chronicles throw some light on isolated events and encounters between the Medes and their neighbors but do not provide any clear outline of Median history, politics, and social organization. The Greek author Herodotus provides a wealth of information, but it is riddled with mythological accounts, fictitious stories, legendary tales, and conspicuous mistakes.

  Figure of a Median soldier from the ancient palace complex of Persepolis in Fars province in southern Iran. The Medes were the first Iranian-speaking group to create a vast empire based in present-day western Iran. (Kick Images/iStockPhoto.com)

  The Medes are mentioned for the first time in the royal inscription of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III (r. 858–824 BCE). In his description of the 24th year of his reign, the Assyrian monarch recounts that he descended on the lands of the Medes and neighboring groups, destroyed their cities, killed their warriors, and carted away their possessions. Though the Assyrians penetrated Median territory and plundered Median towns, they do not appear to have retained their hold on the country. The son and successor of Shalmaneser III, Shamsi Adad V (r. 823–811 BCE), attacked and defeated the Medes, devastating and destroying the royal capital of a Median chief as well as 1,200 of his other cities and settlements. The references to Media in Assyrian sources indicate that there were numerous fortified towns ruled by Median chiefs in the western part of present-day Iran. The Medes are mentioned again in the inscriptions of the Assyrian king Adad-nirari III (r. 810–783 BCE), who lists them as one of the tributaries of the Assyrian state. Royal inscriptions from the reign of Tiglath-pileser III (r. 744–727 BCE) also refer to Media as one of the countries invaded, plundered, destroyed, and burned by his armies. The Assyrian king claims that he annexed Median lands and cities, carrying off booty and forcing the Medes to pay tribute in the form of people, horses, mules, camels, cattle, and sheep. To establish tighter control over these territories, he installed provincial governors responsible for collecting taxes. The Assyrians, however, were not content with collecting booty and imposing direct rule over the Medes. Like other groups who had been conquered by the Assyrians, many Medes were forced to move out of their homes and resettle in Assyria. Another tool of co-option and integration was the recruitment of fighting men from conquered areas into the Assyrian army. This policy undermined the military cohesiveness of the conquered people who lost any potential to resist Assyrian domination. It also allowed the Assyrian state to erase the identity of the non-Assyrian population groups and assimilate their best fighters and units into the Assyrian military hierarchy.

  Several of Tiglath-pileser III’s successors, particularly Sargon II (r. 721–705 BCE), Sennacherib (r. 704–681 BCE), Esarhaddon (r. 680–669 BCE), and Ashurbanipal (r. 669/668–627 BCE), tried with varying success to impose Assyrian rule over the Medes. Sargon II perhaps tried harder than any other Assyrian monarch to subjugate the Medes. He claimed that he had conquered and brought 34 Median districts within the borders of Assyria and received tribute from them in the form of horses, mules, cattle, and sheep. Sargon also mentioned Medes, who refused to recognize any government or any previous Assyrian king. Some of these Medes resided on the edge of what was then known as Mount Bikni, which has been identified by scholars either as Mount Damavand, 45 miles northeast of Tehran, the capital of Iran, or as the 11,600-foot-high (3,570-meter-high) Mount Alvand near modern-day Hamedan in western Iran.

  THE SACK OF NINEVEH IN THE BIBLE

  Below is the description from the Old Testament book of Nahum of the Median sack of the Assyrian capital of Nineveh in 612 BCE:

  The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses.

  It is decreed that the city be exiled and carried away.

  Its slave girls moan like doves and beat upon their breasts.

  Nineveh is like a pool, and its water is draining away.

  “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one turns back.

  Plunder the silver!

  Plunder the gold!

  The supply is endless, the wealth from all its treasures!

  She is pillaged, plundered, stripped! …

  Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims!

  The crack of whips, the clatter of wheels, galloping horses and jolting chariots!

  Charging cavalry, flashing swords and glittering spears!

  Many casualties, piles of dead, bodies without number, people stumbling over the corpses—…

  Nineveh is in ruins—who will mourn for her?

  Source: Nahum, 2:6–3:7.

  The references to the Medes in Assyrian inscriptions portray a society divided into numerous communities, each led by a chieftain who ruled from his own walled fortress. Assyrian reliefs depict military campaigns organized by Tiglath-pileser III and Sargon II against the Medes and show Median fortresses with towers as well as crenellated battlements. There was, however, no single ruler or central government to control the entire Median territory. The successor of Sargon II, Sennacherib (r. 705–681 BCE), referred on several occasions to the tribute and gifts he exacted from the Medes. The royal inscriptions of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon (r. 680–669 BCE) indicate that the Medes were fighting among themselves and could not pose an immediate threat to the security of the Assyrian state. The power struggle and squabbling among the Median leadership reached such a point that on one occasion several Median leaders brought gifts to the Assyrian court at Nineveh and sought the protection of the Assyrian king against their own vassals who had challenged their authority. The Assyrian king used the infighting among the Medes to impose his authority over them, exacting tribute and taxes from their chieftains. Despite the fragmentation and infighting that engulfed the Medes, they became sufficiently powerful to force Esarhaddon to conclude vassal treaties. By the time Ashurbanipal (r. 669/668–627 BCE) ascended the Assyrian throne, the Medes had emerged as an independent and powerful state. The Assyrian king mentions his military campaign against a Median chieftain as well as Median cities from which he carried spoils back with him to the Assyrian capital of Nineveh. Ashurbanipal makes no reference, however, to Median chiefs paying tribute to him or appealing to him to intervene in their internal conflicts.

  The death of Ashurbanipal sometime in 627 BCE signaled the beginning of the end for the Assyrian kingdom. Local rulers who had been intimidated by the power of Assyria rose in rebellion and proclaimed their independence. In the midst of this turmoil, the Chaldaean general Nabopolassar (r. 626–605 BCE) emerged as the leader of the Babylonian revolt against Assyrian domina
tion. By 626/625, he had established himself as the independent ruler of Babylon. In 615, Nabopolassar felt sufficiently confident to march against Assyria’s first capital city, Ashur in present-day northern Iraq, but he failed to capture it. In 615 BCE, after defeating the Scythians who had occupied and ruled them for nearly three decades, the Medes under the leadership of their king, Huvakhshtra, joined the campaign against Assyria, and in the autumn of that year they crossed the Zagros Mountains and captured Arrapha in present-day northern Iraq. Then in the summer of 614, the Median king Huvakhshtra, who appears as Cyaxares in Herodotus’s Histories, captured the city of Ashur. The king of Babylonia, who had reached Ashur with his army after it had been seized and destroyed by the Medes, met with Huvakhshtra outside the city, where the two monarchs agreed to a treaty of peace and friendship. In the summer of 612 BCE, the Babylonians and Medes joined forces and marched against the Assyrian capital of Nineveh, one of the largest cities in the world for nearly half a century and located on the eastern bank of the Tigris River in northern Iraq. After a long siege and several fierce battles, the Medes and Babylonians succeeded in conquering the city. The victorious armies plundered and destroyed Nineveh, massacred its population, and carried off into slavery those whose lives they spared. The fall of Nineveh dealt a deathblow to the Assyrian state. Its king, Sin-sharr-ishkun (r. 627–612 BCE), was most probably killed during the final assault, but parts of his army under the command of Ashuruballit (r. 612–609 BCE) escaped to Harran in northern Mesopotamia (present-day southeastern Turkey). Once in Harran, Ashuruballit assumed the throne as king of Assyria. He intended to regroup his forces and look for assistance from the pharaoh of Egypt.