Iran, while it might not exactly be the most powerful nation in today’s world, two and
a half millennia ago things were very much different.
From 550 to around 330 BC, much of the Middle East was dominated by the Persian Achaemenid
Empire.
The empire might today be remembered in the West largely as the antagonist of the Greek
city-states, but it also ruled over countless different kingdoms and connected the ancient
Near East for 200 years.
So how did they control such a massive expanse of land, and how much of an impact did the
Achaemenids have on the world they left behind?
This is the Islamic Republic of Iran, located right next to the Azerbaijani city of Bilasuvar,
this nation is but the latest version of a country that has experienced numerous different
updates over the millennia, possibly the most influential and foundational of which being
the Achaemenid dynasty, an empire which should really be remembered as more than just the
villains of a Zack Snyder movie.
For one they didn‘t do slavery, but Persian politics and administration was something
that would stand the test of time, even in later empires that… didn‘t.
King Cyrus the Great, the first king of the Achaemenids (or at least the first that we
know for sure wasn‘t fictional), came into power in a small corner of Persia known as
Parsa in 559 BC, within a decade he had taken control of what had been the Median Empire,
his empire quickly expanding to its greatest extent within barely 40 years.
The Median Empire had not been greatly liked by its subjects, but luckily Cyrus had as
great a political mind as a military mind.
Cyrus presented himself as a liberator of places like Babylon, notably in allowing the
Jewish population exiled in Babylon to return to Jerusalem and funding the second temple,
earning him the place as the only non-Jew to ever be called Messiah.
What makes Persia truly tough is that it was, and still is, incredibly diverse.
Today, while the population is predominantly Persian, Iran has numerous neighbors of numerous
different ethnic groups, and within Iran it shows, with significant populations of Azeris,
Armenians, Turkmens, Balochis, Kurds, and even people who won‘t get mad if you call
them Arab because they are, well Arabs.
This was even more so the case with the Achaemenids, who ruled over numerous other kingdoms as
a multi-state empire.
These said kingdoms, while part of the Persian Empire, would be turned into satrapies (a
kind of province) ruled by a local governor called a satrap, while the Persian king remained
king, essentially holding multiple positions at once.
Cambyses II, just as an example, was known as the King of Kings, Great King, King of
Persia, King of Babylon, Pharaoh of Egypt, and King of All Lands.
The satraps were often members of the Persian royal family and ruled over their particular
satrap with more or less the same authority as a king, but with many restrictions from
the Great King, whose word was ultimately final.
The satrap was also joined by a general who oversaw military recruitment in the satrapy,
and a state secretary who oversaw official records.
Darius I established key parts of maintaining a united empire, including a sustainable tax
system tailored to the productivity of each satrapy (‘cause gods know everyone loves
taxes), establishing Aramaic as the singular political language (having already been used
as a lingua franca across Mesopotamia), and establishing a vast network of roadways connecting
all the major population centers for easy communication, with a system of couriers able
to pass a message from one end of the empire to another end in around 10 days, something
virtually unheard of in the centuries before the telegraph.
Darius also established a new capital at the city of Parsa-- known to the Greeks as the
“city of the Persians” or Persepolis-- commissioning architects and masons from across
his empire to build a grand palace in the city.
The Achaemenids also practiced remarkable religious tolerance.
Their official state religion was Zoroastrianism, which is itself is definitely a fascinating
religion that definitely deserves a video of its own, Cogito DM me if you want to do
a collab on Zoroastrianism.
The Achaemenids however were generally tolerant of their non-Zoroastian subjects and although
they didn’t generally build temples of their own, they very often helped restore religious
structures across the empire, like the aforementioned Second Temple in Jerusalem.
Of course, the Persian Empire would also be known for its campaigns against the Greek
city-states, engaging in campaign after campaign for well over 150 years, coming to a peak
in the early 5th century BC with famous battles such as the Battles of Salamis and Thermopylae,
both in 480 BC.
Although the fighting generally stopped around 450 BC, the Empire would become target of
Philip II of Macedon, who had conquered the whole of Greece by the 330’s BC, and launched
a campaign against the Persian Empire… but was assassinated in 336 BC.
This idea however would certainly not go unheard by his son and successor Alexander, who would
conquer the weakening Achaemenid Empire almost as quickly as it had conquered the Median
Empire.
The political structure of the Achaemenid Empire did not die with the empire itself
though, as this provincial style of governance would be used by later empires across Eurasia
and especially in the Islamic world.
In addition obviously there would be numerous Persian empires and dynasties in the millennia
to follow, and Persian would become the perhaps region’s most popular administrative language,
utilizing it alongside Arabic for religious affairs.
Persia had come long before Alexander and would continue to last long after he was gone,
even if in numerous different forms.
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