The Persians:
were the first conciliatory conquerors;
obeyed their own laws;
opened regular contact with the Far East;
created a world religion;
strongly affected Christian belief and ritual;
freed the Jews from Babylon;
ruled territory which Alexander later reconquered, thus spreading Hellenism.
Persian Successor States
Pontus
Parthia
the Persia of Firdauzi, Omar and Hafiz
twentieth century Iran
future Iran
Addendum: Maybe, since Firdauzi and Hafiz were both poets, "Omar" means not Caliph Umar but Omar Khayyam? See also here. (Scroll down.)
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I agree, unlike most conquerors, the Persians were unusually mild and tolerant rulers. The Jews spoke well about them in the later parts of the OT and even the notoriously xenophobic Greeks, some of them, couldn't help not having a grudging respect for the Persians.
I recall in that midrash called the Book of Esther, mention of that obedience to their own laws of the Persians, from the king himself downwards. Being only human, I'm sure there were plenty of violations of that ideal, but it at least existed and was sometimes honored.
Yes, Anderson almost certainly meant Omar KHAYYAM, not the caliph. Khayyam's RUBAIYAT is one of the very few artistic works stemming from Islam to be truly well known.
And what might that Iran of the future be like? NOTHING like the brutal Shia Muslim theocracy currently misruling Iran I hope! I can think of various speculative possibilities: an Iran ruled by a form of Islam renouncing Jihadism and Sharia law, an Iran which converted to Christianity or Judaism, or an Iran which again became Zoroastrian?
Ad astra! Sean
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