Ancient Persia

Ancient Persia: from 550 BC to 650 AD

Of all the great civilisations of the ancient world, that of Persia is one of the most remarkable but least understood. That is a study of the country's origins and of why it collapsed so dramatically with the Arab invasions of the seventh century. Josef Wiesehöfer provides a comprehensive survey of the Persian Empire under the Achaemenids, the Parthians and the Sasanians. By focusing on promary sources - written, archaeological and numismatic evidenc from Persia - he avoids the traditional Western approach which has tended sto rely so heavily on innaccurate, and sometimes prejudiced, Greek and Roman accounts. Part of the freshness of Ancient Persia comes from presenting a historical discussion of Persia from a Near Eastern perspective. A comprehensive social, political and cultural history of ancient Persia, Wiesehöfer's work provides important new material for specialists while being fully accessible and appealing to anyone interested in the ancient world.

Contents

Illustrations / vii
Preface / ix
Introduction: The Beginnings of Iranian Supremacy in the Ancient Near East / 1

PART ONE Iran from Cyrus to Alexander the Great: the Reign of the Achaemenids / 5
1 The Testimonies / 7
2 The King and his Subjects / 29
3 Xpaça, Dahyava and Bagi: the Kingdom, the Peoples and the Tributes Paid to the King / 56
4 Everyday Life in Achaemenid Persis / 66

PART TWO Interlude / 103
5 Macedonian Domination over Iran / 105

PART THREE Iran from Arsaces I to Artabanus IV: the Parthian Reign / 115
6 The Testimonies / 117
7 The King and his Subjects / 130
8 Satraps, Traders, Soldiers and Priests: Administration, Economy, the Army and Cults in Arsacid Iran / 144

PART FOUR Iran from Ardashir I to Yazdgird III: the Reign of the Sasanians / 151
9 The Testimonies / 153
10 The King and his Subjects / 165
11 Eranshahr: the Empire, its Inhabitants and their Way of Life / 183

Conclusion: The Survival and Rediscovery of Ancient Iran / 223

Postscript / 243
Abbreviations / 247
Bibliographical Essays / 251
Chronological Table / 310
Dynasties and Kings / 316
Index / 321

Introduction: The Beginnings of Iranian Supremecy in the Ancient Near East

How did it happen that in the sixth century BC a Persian dynasty was able to establish a world empire on the soil of the ancient Near East – an empire that stretched as far east as the Indus and as far west as Egypt, and was to become a model for future Iranian dynasties? Since the ninth century BC, Assyrian testimonies have yielded the names of Iranian tribes and places in the territories on the eastern border of their empire, among them the name of the ‘Medes’, whose ‘tribes’ with their apparently loose political ties were later repeatedly subdued by the Assyrians, but were only partially controlled by them. By the end of the seventh century, the Medes even proved capable of a counterattack; they fell upon the territory east of the Tigris, conquered Assur (614 BC) and – in league with the Babylonians – Nineveh (612 BC), and subsequently extended their ‘empire’ westward at the expense of the Scythians, the Mannaeans and the Lydian empire. After 585 BC, the common border of the Lydians and Medes was the Halys in eastern Anatolia. In the absence of any written traditions of their own, and given the uncertain archaeological evidence, the territorial, political, social and cultural profile of the ‘empire’ of the Medes as yet remains unclear.

Babylonian sources report that in the third or sixth year of the reign of King Nabonidus (554/53 or 550/49 BC), Cyrus of Anshan, a ‘vassal’ of the Medes, ‘destroyed’ the troops of the Medes; evidently they mostly deserted to him. The victor was able to capture the Median ‘king’ Astyages, take over his residence in Ecbatana, plunder his treasury and send the booty to Anshan. Anshan is the old Oriental name for the centre of the eastern part of the Elamite empire on the south-western Iranian upland, and is thus situated in a region that roughly covers the territory to which the Persians later gave their name, calling it Parsa (Greek Persis). It was from here that Cyrus started his war against Astyages. Assyrian sources record that as early as the ninth century BC, tribute was received from tribes of a country called Pars(u)a between the territories of the Medes and the Mannaeans in northwestern Iran, and it used to be assumed that this name may be compared to that of the later homeland of the Persians in the south-west, and that the Persians had accordingly ‘transferred’ their residence and its name on a southward migration. Cogent doubts have since been cast on this assumption, but what is established is that Persis was temporarily under Elamite domination, and that some time after the destruction of the Elamite empire at the hands of the Assyrians (639 BC), it had to yield to the Medes, until Cyrus turned the tables with his victory over Astyages...

JOSEF WIESEHÖFER
ANCIENT PERSIA
from 550 BC to 650 AD

Translated by
Azizeh Azodi Z I Z E H A Z O D I

I.B.Tauris Publishers
London • New York

Paperback edition published in 2001 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd
6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU
175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010
www.ibtauris.com

In the United States of America and in Canada distributed by
St Martins Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010

First published in 1996 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd

Copyright © Josef Wiesehöfer, 1996, 2001

The publishers wish to thank Mr Saeed Barkhordar, whose interest and support for
this edition has made its publication possible.

The translation of this work has been supported by Inter Nationes, Bonn.

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part
thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN 1 86064 675 1 paperback
ISBN 1 85043 999 0 hardback

A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
A full CIP record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

Library of Congress catalog card: available

Typeset in Monotype Ehrhardt by Ewan Smith, London
Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin

Josef Wiesehöfer is Proffesor of Ancient History at the Institut für Klassische Altertumskunde as the University of Kiel, Germany.