Ancient Persia: From 550 BC to 650 AD

347 Pages·2001·3.28 MB·English

by  Josef Wiesehofer

Ancient Persia

j o s e f w i e s e h  f e r
A N C I E N T P E R S I A
550 bc 650 ad
from to
translated by
azizeh azodi
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
C o n t e n t s
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 Ba'i: 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
I l l u s t r a t i o n s
Figures
1 List of Old Persian signs 9
2 Bisutun, Darius relief (drawing) 16
3 Bisutun, Monument of Darius I (drawing) 16
4 Persepolis (plan) 22
5 Aï Khanum (plan) 113
6 Inscriptions DPa and XPe from Persepolis (drawings by C. Niebuhr) 235
Plates
i Bisutun, relief and inscription of Darius I
ii Persepolis, general view
iii Persepolis, bird’s-eye view of the terrace from the south-west
iv Persepolis, ‘Frieze of tribute-bearers’ on the eastern staircase of
the Apadana
v Persepolis, ‘Throne supporters’ (‘Hall with a Hundred Columns’)
vi Pasargadae, Zindan-i Sulaiman
vii Pasargadae, tomb of Cyrus
viii Darius statue from Susa
ix Naqsh-i Rustam, general view
xa Naqsh-i Rustam, tomb of Xerxes (?)
xb Naqsh-i Rustam, Ka1ba-i Zardusht
xia Achaemenid gold coin (daric)
xib Cyrus Cylinder from Babylon
xii Persepolis, ‘Treasury Relief’
xiiia Elamite administrative tablet from Persepolis
xiiib Achaemenid seal imprint
xiiic Seal of Artabama (drawing)
xiv Susa, relief of a soldier on guard
xva Coin of the independent frataraka Vadfradad I
xvb Ostracon from Nisa
xvc Khung-i Nauruzi, Parthian–Elymaic relief
vii
viii illustrations
xvia Susa, relief of Artabanus IV
xvib Statue of Heracles from Seleucia, front view
xvic Statue of Heracles from Seleucia, bilingual inscription
xviia New Nisa, temple (reconstruction)
xviib Old Nisa, ‘square building’ (layout plan)
xviic Ivory rhytons from Nisa
xviiia Prince from Shami
xviiib Arsacid coins
xix Tang-i Sarvak, relief III (drawing)
xx Firuzabad, Sasanian relief of battle scene
xxi Naqsh-i Rustam, relief showing investiture of Ardashir I
xxii Naqsh-i Rustam, relief showing victory of Shapur I
xxiii Taq-i Bustan, ‘Hunting relief’
xxiv Firuzabad, palace of Ardashir I
xxv Ctesiphon, Taq-i Kisra
xxvia Sasanian coffer-dam near Shushtar
xxvib Takht-i Sulaiman (Azerbaijan)
xxviia Sasanian silver bowl of King Peroz
xxviib Cameo depicting Shapur’s victory over Valerian
xxviii Sasanian seals and bullae
xxix Sasanian coins
xxxa Paikuli, tower of Narseh (reconstruction)
xxxb Naqsh-i Rajab, relief of Kirdir
xxxia Bishapur, Middle Persian and Parthian bilingual inscription
xxxib Fragment of Parthian–Manichaean text from Turfan
xxxii Miniature from the Berlin manuscript of Firdausi’s Shahnameh, dated 1605.
Sources
The following plates were obtained from the German Archaeological Institute, Berlin:
i, iv, v, ix, xb, xii, xvc, xviiia, xx.
The following plates are by the author: ii, vi, viii, xa, xiv, xxi, xxii, xxiii, xxiv,
xxv, xxxb, xxxia.
The other illustrations come from books about which there are detailed discussions
in the ‘Bibliographical Essays’.
All maps were newly drawn for this book. They are based on S. Sherwin-White/
A. Kuhrt, From Samarkhand to Sardis, London 1992 (maps 1‒3); and R. Gyselen, La
géographie administrative de l’Empire sassanide, Paris 1989 (map 4).
P r e f a c e
When we now turn our attention to a peaceful, civilized people, the Persians, we
must – since it was actually their poetry that inspired this work – go back to the
earliest period to be able to understand more recent times. It will always seem strange
to the historian that no matter how many times a country has been conquered,
subjugated and even destroyed by enemies, there is always a certain national core
preserved in its character and, before you know it, there re-emerges a long-familiar
native phenomenon.
In this sense, it would be pleasant to learn about the most ancient Persians and
quickly follow them up to the present day at an all the more free and steady pace.
Goethe, Noten und Abhandlungen zu besserem Verständnis des West-Östlichen Divans
(1819)
I am blind. But I am not deaf. Because of the incompleteness of my misfortune, I
was obliged yesterday to listen for nearly six hours to a self-styled historian whose
account of what the Athenians like to call ‘the Persian War’ was nonsense of a sort
that were I less old and more privileged, I would have risen in my seat at the Odeon
and scandalized all Athens by answering him.
But then, I know the origin of the Greek wars. He does not. How could he? How
could any Greek? I spent most of my life at the court of Persia and even now, in my
seventy-fifth year, I still serve the Great King as I did his father – my beloved friend
Xerxes – and his father before him, a hero known even to the Greeks as Darius the
Great.
The Persian ambassador Cyrus Spitama in the Athens of Pericles, in: Gore Vidal,
Creation (1981)
Even if our definition of the continuities of Persian history and culture
differs from Goethe’s, or if we find Cyrus Spitama’s criticism of Herodotus’s
view of the Persian Wars exaggerated, although perhaps understandable,
these two quotations illustrate the basic aims of this book about ancient
Persia: to present a reliable overview of pre-Islamic Iranian culture, and
wherever possible to allow Iran its own voice through its own testimonies.
The timing of this publication is not accidental. While it is true that
ancient Persia fascinates Europeans and Iranians alike, it has aroused
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