Persia

Teispes, a Persian chief conquered the Elamites in the waning years of the Assyrian Empire, establishing himself in the district of Anzan. His descendants branched off into two lines, one line ruling in Anzan, while the other remained in Persia.

Cyrus the Great, king of Anzan, united the divided power. When Cyrus was a child, his grandfather, Astyages, the king of the Medes, conquered all of the Assyrian territories except for Babylonia. At the time, the Persians were living in slavery to the Medes. Cyrus, being half-Mede and half-Persian, rallied the Persian slaves together and revolted, overthrowing Astyages from power, in fulfillment of a prophecy given to Astyages years earlier by a Magus. See The Histories, by Herodotus for details. The new Persian nation, under the command of Cyrus the Great, conquered Media, Lydia, and Babylonia, and carried his arms into the far East, until Cyrus was killed during a battle against the Massagatae.

Cyrus' son, Cambyses II, added Egypt to the Persian Empire, but grew insane as he planned to invade Ethiopia. Cambyses killed his brother Smerdis, but a Mede who was also named Smerdis, and resembled Cambyses' brother, took control of the Persian seat of power while Cambyses went insane in Southern Egypt. For two years, the Persian Empire was secretly ruled by a Median Magus until a conspiracy of Persian leaders overthrew him. The leaders debated on the best form of government for the Empire, and it was decided that oligarchy would divide them against one another, and democracy would bring about mob rule which would result in a mob leader rising to power as a monarch and that therefore beginning with a monarchy would be better, since they were in a position to choose the leader. The monarch was chosen from one amongst them. It was to be Darius I, the son of Hystaspes, whose dominions extended from India to the Danube.

More to be added.

At Masjid-al-Salaman in southwest Persia, the first major commercial oil strike in the Middle East was made on May 26, 1908. The rights to the resource were quickly acquired by the United Kingdom, however.

Persia was renamed Iran on March 21, 1935, after Aryan. The two original tribes of Persia were the Atuans and the Arians (Aryans) from which comes the Aryan race.

External Link

• The History of the Ancient Near East

Referenced By