PERSEPOLIS. PERSIA
A. The country of the ancient Persians: it extended to the southeast of Elam, and was called Pârsa. In Assyrian inscriptions the Persouas are mentioned, a name from which the Greeks derived Persai, Persians. The Arabs gave the name Fars to the territory of modern Persia (Iran), which corresponds closely to ancient Persia.
Persia proper was limited to the north by the Great Media (Media Magna), to the southwest by the Persian Gulf, to the east by Carmania (modern Kirman), and to the northwest by Susiana. Ancient Persia measured approximately 400 km in length, 320 km in length, and a surface area of less than 125,000 km2.
In a more general sense, the name Persia was used to designate the plateau of Iran, the region neighboring the Persian Gulf, and the countries bathed by the Tigris, the Cyrus, the Caspian Sea, the Oxus, the Laxartes and the Indus (1 Mac. 6:1; 2 Mac. 1:19).
At the time of its greatest splendor, the Persian empire extended from India in the east to the Aegean islands in the west; to the north it reached the Danube, the Black Sea, the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea; to the south, to the deserts of Arabia and Nubia (Est. 1:1; 10:1). This empire was more than 4,800 km long and varied in width between 800 and 2,400 km. Its surface area, 5,000,000 km2, was half that of Europe. The Persians themselves were of the Aryan race, closely related to the Medes.
The genealogical table of nations does not mention the Persians (Gen. 10), whose political power did not manifest itself until many centuries after Moses. By 700 BC, Persia was among the countries allied to Elam.
Teispés, tribal leader of the Achaemenid dynasty, conquered Elam, proclaiming himself king of the territory of Anzán (in Elam). He had two lines of descendants: one of them reigned over Anzan, and the other stayed in Persia. Cyrus II, great-grandson of Teispés, acceded to the throne of Anzán around the year 558 BC, and was the forger of the unity of Persia.
Around the year 550, Cyrus conquered Media; in the year 546, Lydia, in Asia Minor; in the year 539, Babylon. He allowed the Jewish exiles to return to the country of Israel (see CIRO). His son Cambyses succeeded him in the year 529. Jealous of his brother Smerdis (Bardiya), he had him secretly killed.
In 525, Cambyses conquered Egypt, and remained there for three years. A magician, called Gaumata, managed to impersonate Smerdis (which is why he is given the name pseudo-Smerdis), and reigned for seven months in the year 522, the year of the death of Cambyses; the assumption has been made that he committed suicide.
Darius I, son of Hystaspes, was apparently the closest relative of Cyrus, whose direct line had been extinguished. Darius I began to reign in 521 BC. His accession to the throne provoked a general revolt in the provinces.
The sovereign suppressed the insurrection and reorganized the Empire, which extended from India to the Greek islands and the Danube; For the administration of the Empire he divided it into twenty satrapies. It is under Darius I that the Jews rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem. He died in 486 BC. (see DARÍO, b).
His son and successor, Xerxes I, is the Ahasuerus of the book of Esther and, probably of Ezra. 4:6. He reconquered Egypt, and attempted to invade Greece, but his army was crushed (see Ahasuerus, b). Xerxes I reigned for 21 years and was assassinated in 465 BC. C. Artaxerxes Longimanus, his son and successor, of higher character but fickle and weak, was not hostile to the Jews.
He allowed Ezra to take numerous Jews to Jerusalem and authorized Nehemiah to rebuild the walls (see ARTAJERXES). This sovereign, who died in 424 BC, reigned for 40 years. List of his successors and dates of accession to the throne:
424 Xerxes II
424 Sogdanius
423-404 Darius II Nothus (the illegitimate)
404-359/8 Artaxerxes II Mnemon (gifted
of an extraordinary memory)
359/8-338/7 Artaxerxes III Ochus
338/7-336/5 Harnesses
336/5-331 Darius III Codomano, who was
defeated by Alexander the Great
in the year 331 BC, being the last
ruler of the decadent empire
Persian. (See DARÍO, c).
The capitals of the kings of Persia were:
Persepolis (2 Mac. 9:2);
Susa (Neh. 1:1; Est. 1:2).
Acmeta (Ezra 6:2; Ant. 10:11, 7), also known as Ecbatana, and
Babylon to some extent (Ezra 6:1).
By authorizing the Jews to return to his country in 538 BC, Cyrus the Great did not grant them independence. They were to obey the governors appointed by the king of Persia (Neh. 3:7), and were part of the satrapy “beyond the river” (Ezra 8:36), which included Syria, Palestine, Phenicia, and Cyprus. (Herodotus 3:91). The subjection of the Jews to the Persians lasted 207 years: from the entry of Cyrus into Babylon in 539 BC. until 339, the year in which Alexander the Great completed the conquest of Palestine.
B. Religion:
The kings of Persia practiced the religion of Zarathustra (Zoroaster), which they did not impose on their subjects. This system (Mazdeism) distinguishes God from nature, spirit from matter, and does not admit any representation of divinity.
It teaches the existence of two opposite principles: good and evil; the light and the darkness. There are two realms of spirits:
(a) A hierarchy of angels and archangels, led by Ahura-Mazda (in modern language Ormuz), the most wise god, totally spiritual, assisted by seven holy spirits, who execute his will and express his attributes. Ahura-Mazda also directs a thousand genius benefactors.
(b) The kingdom of evil spirits, led by Ahriman, the spiritual enemy.
Zoroaster’s religion recommended the fight against evil, the practice of good, the search for purity of thoughts, words and actions. Immortality and heaven will be the reward for the souls of the saints. Ahura-Mazda has created the good: fire, air, earth, water, holding all of this as sacred (see MAGI). Late Judaism reflects a certain influence of Persian domination.
The Persian Empire fell under the yoke of the Macedonians, and then under that of the Parthians. In 208 AD, Ardaschir, founder of the Sassanian dynasty, laid the foundations of a new Persian empire. In the year 224, he defeated and killed Artabanus V, the last king of the Parthians.
The Sassanids successfully opposed Roman expansion in the East. In 637 and 641 AD, Yezdedjerd III, the last Sassanid monarch, was defeated by the Muslims, who took over Persia. Certain Persians, who refused to submit to Islam, fled to the mountains and deserts.
In the 8th century AD, a large number of them took refuge in India. His descendants continued to practice Mazdeism. They are called “Parsis.” Today’s Persia is called Iran.
C. Archaeology:
Excavations carried out in Persepolis by the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, from 1931 to 1939, exhumed the splendors of the ancient Persian capital.
Notable discoveries:
the palace of Darius (the Tachara),
the hall of a hundred columns,
the gate of Xerxes,
the harem of Darius and Xerxes,
the palace of Xerxes (the Hadish),
and even the royal treasure.
An inscription by Artaxerxes II Mnemon recalling the construction of a palace has been discovered in Ecbatana. In Susa the magnificent royal palace begun by Darius I has been brought to light, later completed and embellished by his successors. The decoration, of great perfection, was made with enameled bricks with reliefs of fabulous animals and bulls. The frieze of the archers of Susa is particularly famous (a part of it is on display in the Louvre Museum in Paris).