Iran – AncientBackground

Geography of Iran

Boundaries

Iranian plateau

Iran as center of east-west trade

Elamites

Non-Semitic speaking peoples

At war with Mesopotamian dynasties

“Middle Elamite” period in 12th century B.C.E.

Destroyed by Assyrians in 639 B.C.E.

Iranians

Aryan ancestors around 1100 B.C.E.

Pastoralists

Medes and Persians

Religion – similar to Vedic Aryans

Importance of fire, water, sacrifice and cow

Importance of moral order

Ahura Mazda

Zoroaster

Zarathustra – 628-551 B.C.E. or 1000 B.C.E.?

Gathas

Message of moral reform

Turn from Lie (druj) to Truth (asha)

Warned of a Final Reckoning

Good – “future glory”

Wicked – “long-lasting darkness”

Quasi-monotheistic worship of Ahura Mazda

Magi

Zoroastrian Influence

Zoroastrianism probably influenced Jewish, Christian and Muslim ideas of

Angels

Devils

Messiah

Last judgment

Afterlife

Also influence on Buddhist concepts

Wiped out as major force in Iran by Islam

Parsis in western India today

Achaemenids550-330 B.C.E.
  The First Iranian Empire

Cyrus the Great - r. 559-530 B.C.E.

Military career

Extraordinary expansion

Conquest of Babylon in 539 B.C.E.

Toleration

Enlightened view of empire

Allowed Jews to return to homeland

Later Achaemenid Rulers

Cambyses – r. 529-522 B.C.E.

Conquered Egypt

Darius I – 521-486

Empire at its peak

Egypt to Sogdiana to Indus valley

Susa and Persepolis as capitals

Artaxerxes III – r. 359-338

Achaemenid State

Tremendous stability

Shahanshah – “king of kings”

Ahura Mazda’s trust through justice

Cultural and religious toleration

Powerful army

Administrative brilliance

Highways

Trade, communication and propaganda

King’s road – Sardis to Susa

Achaemenid Economy

Coin-based economy on Lydian model

Banking operations

Taxation

Wages regulated

Money-goods equivalences published

Agricultural foundation

Unprecedented volume of trade

Prosperous era marked by expanding markets

Pax Achaemenica

Indian Political Background

Rise of regional states and commercial towns

Between 7th-4th centuries

Magadha was strongest regional state

Bimbisara – d. 493 B.C.E.

Centralized state – Achaemenid model?

Bimbisara’s son annexed Kosala

Mauryans
The First Indian Empire 321-185 B.C.E

Chandragupta Maurya – r. 321-297 B.C.E.

First Indian unification

Took advantage of Alexander’s invasion

Treaty with Seleucus

Pataliputra as capital

Kautilya – Chandragupta’s advisor

“Indian Machiavelli” and Arthashastra?

Bindusara – r. 297-272

Conquered Deccan plateau

Grandson of Chandragupta Maurya

Bloody conquest of Kalinga

Religious conversion

Buddhist Middle Path

Championed nonviolence – ahimsa

Warfare only through righteousness – dharma

Dharma officials

Concept of Chakravartin

Universal monarch who rules with righteousness, justice and wisdom

Mauryan State

Mauryan bureaucracy was marked by

Centralization, standardization and efficiency

Long-distance trade and communication

Effective civil and military organization

Information gathering

Great Mauryan kings associated with new religious movements

Chandragupta and Jains

Bindusara and ascetic Ajivikas

Ashoka and Buddhism

Mauryan Legacy

Imperial ideal

Strengthened Buddhist movement

Strong central administration

Cosmopolitan traditions

Excellent road system

Facilitated internal and external contacts

Urbanization

Pataliputra, Varanasi, Ayodhya, Prayag

Consolidation of Indian Civilization 200 B.C.E.-300 C.E

Economic Base

Rise of merchant class and world trade

High Culture

Marriage of Indian and Hellenistic influences

Mahabharata and Ramayana in final forms

Bhagavad Gita

Religion and Society

Popular devotional cults of Shiva and Vishnu

Hindu Tradition

Hinduism emerged in this era

Three major developments

Increasing dominance of theistic devotionalism – Vishnu and Shiva

Buddhist Tradition

Buddhist monastic communities prospered

Supported by mercantile and royal patronage

Buddhist lay devotion

Buddha identified with Indian deities

Buddhist worship assimilated into common Indian patterns of theistic piety

Absorbed into religious variety of Hinduism

Buddhism remained only one of many paths

Seleucids

Seleucus –

Alexander’s general

Ruled most of Achaemenid realm

New cities – really military colonies

•Bases for Seleucid control

•Also cultural exchange

Antiochus the Great – r. 311-281

Seleucus’ greatest successor

Seleucids never equaled scale of Achaemenid rule

 

Seleucus –

Alexander’s general

Ruled most of Achaemenid realm

New cities – really military colonies

•Bases for Seleucid control

•Also cultural exchange

Antiochus the Great – r. 311-281

Seleucus’ greatest successor

Seleucids never equaled scale of Achaemenid rule

Indo-Greeks

 

Bactria – farthest reach of Hellenization in East

Euthydemus – independence from Seleucids

Demetrius pushed into Indian Gandhara

Gandhara

Graeco-Buddhist art

Spread of Buddhism into Central Asia

Menander  or Milinda – r. 155-130 B.C.E.

Buddhist convert

Buddhist text – The Questions of King Milinda

Parthians 247 B.C.E.-233 C.E.

 

Parni – steppe people

Mithradates I – 171-138 B.C.E.

Empire from Mesopotamia to Arachosia

Ctesiphon - capital

Major Eurasian power alongside Rome

Carrhae – victory over Romans 53 B.C.E.

Dominated trade

Silk Road to China

Monsoon route on Indian Ocean coast

Parthian Culture

Initially Hellenistic

Iranian revival in 1st century C.E.

Replaced Greek on coins with Parthian and Aramaic

Cities reverted to Iranian names

Return to Iranian motifs in art

Magi preserved worship of Ahura Mazda

Tolerated religious pluralit

Sakas

Successor to the Indo-Greeks

Scythian tribes that overran northeastern Iran around 130 B.C.E.

Extended control from Bactria into Mathura

Eventually defeated in northwest India by Iranian invaders known as Pahlavas

Defeated in Sogdiana by a tribe the Chinese called Yueh Chih

Sakas ruled in parts of northwestern and western India through 4th century C.E.

Kushans

Kushans led Yueh Chih out of western China

Drove Sakas out of Bactria

Ended Pahlava rule in northwest India

Beginning of long-lasting Indian Kushan dynasty

Kanishka – c. 100-150 C.E.

Greatest patron of Buddhism since Ashoka

Missionary activity - Buddhism into China