The Persian Empire 1/5 (MUST WATCH)
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- čas přidán 19. 05. 2009
- The Persian Empire was one of the most mysterious civilizations in the ancient world. Persia became an empire under the Cyrus the Great, who created a policy of religious and cultural tolerance that became the hallmark of Persian rule. Engineering feats include an innovative system of water management; a cross-continent paved roadway stretching 1500 miles; a canal linking the Nile to the Red Sea; and the creation of one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Mausoleum of Maussollos.
The most advanced technologie and the biggest Empire of all time: P E R S I A
(btw.. there where no 300 spartans against 10000..00? persians.. LOL al the empires of the west united for 1 reason: they're hatred of persia !)
btw.. persia INVENTED reading and writing ! - Věda a technologie
thank you for posting
My name is Cyrus
Remember Persian culture itself is one of histories' most potent. Although in Greece, Greeks are taught about their own culture and how influential it was to the West, they do not usually learn about how influential Persia was. The high point of the Golden Age of Islam came disproportionately from the Persians. Architecture, medicine, science, literature, astronomy, and spirituality (sufism) were all spearheaded by Persia in the middle ages. Taj Mahal: Persian architecture and architects.
Nice video!
Amazing☺ I love all the ancient empires. Its actually incredible that they built these massive monuments thousands of years ago, like the Colosseum or Knossos, or the pyramids, you name it.
In Iran, you can go visit Isfahan, which has a lot of these ancient architectures.
So much praise over one man, whose life was spent on such vain things and whose empire has crumbled to dust and ruins.
I am East Asian....but Persia to me is very interesting. Persia is mentioned in the Bible a few times (unlike China, the West, etc). I think it's beautiful culture and history.
Persians do exist. My friend is also a Persian born in Tehran.
Keep your head up my brother the good shall prevail once again over evil like the story of Ahura Mazda. Were all in this together. Where you reside in toronto?
Wikipedia actually has an excellent discussion on the "Largest Empires in History" which actually ranks them by whatever variable you want (ie land mass, total population, percentage of world population, and so on). It is a good read. Persia as can be seen was number one with regards to percentage of the world population during its time. By the time the Romans were around, the world population had doubled in part due to the infrastructure created by empires like (though not only) Persia.
The solid administrative system you speak of was in fact an amazing political and social innovation that was unprecedented in its time and quite honestly implemented hook, line, and sinker by the Macedonians when they took power. Standardized currency, a postal service, equal pay for women were Persian innovations which changed the world. Mithraism the great religion of the Roman empire was a Persian religion. Christmas day (12/25) was actually "Mithra's Day" in Rome. Also the art & literature!
Persians did not make political and social innovations, but were great technicians and achieved a solid administration system. Respect
Though many think of Islam in today's context, the Golden Age of Islam led to incredible achievements in math, science, architecture, medicine, and literature and is directly credited as being a galvanizing force for the renaissance (and rebirth) of Europe. The Persians played a disproportionate role in that period. Persian culture and its language played a large role for the Mongols, Turks, and Indians, to name a few. Taj Mahal for example is Persian architecture & its architects were Persians.
I suppose we do but I cannot imagine how you would not understand how incredible a postal service and a 1500 mile secure roadway was in creating the first information superhighway bridging the far east, middle east to the mediterranean greek, levant, and egyptian worlds which led to an incredible period of human achievement, including the Greeks. Herodotus showcased it as an amazing achievement in his Histories which became the iconic creed of the US Postal Service:
amazing
"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."
To anyone saying that they're incorrect in claiming that the Persian empire is the largest empire ever, please note that they say 'the world HAD ever known'. I'm pretty sure that the Persian empire was more ancient than the Mongols or Romans and any other great empire that might come to mind
How do you spell the name of the engineer who recovered the water under the ground and dug the qanats? 'amgani'?
Actually Persepolis had works from all over the world. Remember despite the stories of the Greco-Persian Wars, the relationship between Greece and Persia was mostly positive and beneficial with an exchange of ideas. Greeks were living in Persia, Persians were in Greece. The Persian kings looked to the talents of all of the peoples of the empire. The Persian kings personal physicians were often Greeks. Many Greeks lived and worked at Persepolis and were credited in cuneiform for it.
Peter Weller is on a show called Sons of Anarchy! Didn't know he was a history lecturer too!
For those of you who don't know, thats Peter Weller, the actor who played Robocop, whos nararating this.
RevanGabriel he also played batman in the dark knight returns
BTW the clay tablet in Mexico is "3000 years old", so not from 3000BCE but rather 1000BCE. Writing in Iraq/Iran is from 5200-5600BCE, Egypt shortly thereafter, Greeks 1500 BCE, China 1200 BCE. Anyway according to our current knowledge. There maybe new discoveries to come to change this.
It is no coincidence that the "birth" of western civilization occurs in Greece, the european country that directly borders the eastern world. It was this exchange that led to the golden age of Athens and Greece. It was when the Greeks learned writing and an alphabet from the Phoenicians (Lebanese) that Greece emerges onto the stage with the beginning of Greek literature appearing shortly thereafter (Homer, Hesiod) and the emergence of Greek sculpture as we know it. That is only one example.
Persia helped advance the other side of this coin, with the abolition of forced labor (Cyrus Cylinder), boasting freedom of religion, first known declaration of human rights, and so on. Both Greek and Persian ideas would go on to shape the US Constitution written by Thomas Jefferson, a student of ancient Greece and Persia, marking the first true large scale democracy in the world (admittedly a work in progress). Be proud of Greece but show respect to those who have contributed before and after.
And although some of the bloggers are rude towards Greece and other cultures, you should avoid doing it yourself. Zoroaster was much respected and beloved by the Greeks. Socrates considered him the world's first philosopher. Zoroastrianism, considered by many, the world's first monotheistic religion was incredibly influential on Judeo-Christian eschatology, the ideas of heaven and hell, and the notion of a judgment day. The Torah was written in the Persian empire by the Jews.
It really follows rather trivially from the fact that the Persian Empire collapsed, that there also are other centers of civilization(Such as the Chinese and Indian civilizations), and that Mesopotamia completely lost its status as a leader of civilization and got lost in the oppressive superstition of Islam that slowly ground the region to its current intellectual and self destructive halt while the rest of the world moved on.
The oldest (and sophisticated) writing system (not symbols) as we know it is believed to have started in mesopotamia/elam (ie Iraq/Iran) was developed 5000-6000 years ago based on cuneiform (predating Egypt's hieroglyph system). Symbols had been used since cave drawing times. The exciting finding of the single clay tablet found in mexico is considerably younger and simple in comparison. Jiroft in Iran is now a contender for oldest civilization & writing system. History is always "rewritten".
I'm watching this because the title says MUST WATCH
Persia invented reading and writing? Odd, because I could have sworn the Sumerians came up with cuneiform long before anyone else was writing anything down... hey, isn't Sumeria in modern-day Iraq? Weird, that's not Iran.
Daniel 11: 2 And now will I shew thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all: and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia.
3 And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will.
No this was referral to a mesoamerican clay tablet in hieroglyph style (symbols) discovered in the late 1990's in Mexico believed to be that of the Olmecs. It is dated to 900 BCE making it the oldest writing found in the NEW world (NOT the whole world). Mayan writing came later about 200-300BCE possibly 400BCE (Mayan civilization came to their peak about 250-900AD). Writing in the middle east is far older dating from 3600 BCE (or thousands of years before this tablet's age).
The leather jacket guy, I am sorry to say, has to go. This documentary isn't 100% accurate (duh it's on TV) but it is still worth a watch. I am glad they talked about Cyrus the Great because he often gets overlooked in a lot of Western history classes.
Maz M. Good point but you mean "their" instead of there
And no I wouldn't say that Persian or Chinese has influenced Western ideas "more"than Greco-Roman ideas much the way that I wouldn't say that Greco-Roman ideas were more influential on Persia than Eastern ideas. Athens did advance the idea of the "demos" gov't, a great idea but it was only for males, land owners, and non-slaves (which meant the majority were not included). At the time Athens boasted democracy, 50% of the population were slaves & the Greeks outlawed some religions (Judaism).
By land mass it was the largest by far to date and unprecedented in management & infrastructure to rule an empire larger than the USA thousands of yrs ago. No one knew how to do that. Was a blue print for those that followed (ie Greeks, Romans, Abbasid Caliphate, etc...). Mongol and British empires were larger by land mass BUT the reason he says "maybe the largest ever" is because it was the largest in history by percentage of population (44%). Check out Wikipedia's largest empires list.
@atosafi1 Man you sure are one step ahead of me! Don't hurt yourself now.
Interesting thing is that Alexander, a Macedonian, was hated by Greece. The Macedonians, aside from being frowned upon by the high brow Athenians, had conquered Mainland Greece and all of the Greek City states through warfare and brutality under Philip II of Macedon (Alexander's father). Philip coerced Aristotle to tutor Alexander in exchange for his freeing the citizens of Aristotle's hometown Stageira which he enslaved and razed to the ground. Fact: Greece celebrated with Alexander's death!
@havee3333333 the Islamic world also benefited greatly from the technological and scientific progress of the sassanids. in fact the Islamic culture is almost entirely originated from Iran. except from a few not very popular architectural and political elements which are common in the Arabian peninsula. the Taj Mahal is an Iranian architecture which is claimed by the Islamic world, many famous scientists and inventors of the Islamic world were Iranian originally.
Also, the British Empire shouldn't be compared to these ancient ones. Not because of weaponry but because The British empire had pieces of land all over the world (via ship). The ancient empires conquered their neighbors and their neighbors one by one. Sort of a blitzkrieg like the Nazis from east to west or vice versa. If England had tried to stomp over france/spain/germany/portugal etc, they wouldn't have lasted very long..
Iran (Persia)...what have you become :(
@havee3333333 i was just saying the safavids were a mixture of Pontic Greeks and Kurds, but i looked it up and it was actually more of Azaris and Kurds with a minority of Greeks.
Yes but being taken out isn't really a diminishing point. Greece and Macedonia were "taken out" shortly after their victory over Persia by the Romans who had little trouble humiliating the phalanx. Greece was done after one relatively short period of military success. Persia began taking it back in 86 years and shortly thereafter rose to have second and third Persian Empires lasting in total nearly 1100 years (interrupted briefly by Alexander's victories). They were by no means a one trick pony.
Not to mention the forms of writing that arose over yonder in bonny China, or in various other places. Gotta love when people do a shit job of understanding the world around their favorite snippet of history.
I have already abuse the hospitality of this channel, you made some historical mistakes but i will continue with respect to other viewers, if you want to tell you where you are wrong send me to my personal mail. Thanks, with respect. It is good to have arguments(healty, of course) it is the best method of learning
The Jewish historian, Rabbi Berel Wein in Echoes of Glory:
"Women who allowed their sons to be circumcised were killed with their sons tied around their necks. The scholars of Israel were hounded, hunted down and killed. Jews who refused to eat pork or sacrifice hogs were tortured to death ... Even the smallest hamlet in Judah was not safe from the oppression of the Hellenists..." (p. 63)
Alexander had contact with Jews since Persia had thousands of them, but this decree was after his death.
Complicated. Some of us have our biases regarding this, but Iranian peoples are highly successful around the world (one of the most successful ethnic groups per capita intellectually and financially in the USA for example). The current cultural/political environment in that region (and financial health) plays a large role in restricting or advancing a peoples. The system in India kept that country from prospering. Those that left for the West became very successful. BTW What happened to Greece?
I can't fucking believe it, It's mother fucking ROBO COP .
That's fucking sweet, I wasn't expecting that. Thank you, for the upload.
Robocop narrating, Information on Persia. Two for one deal.
I respectfully disagree that the Persians "stole" their civilization from Babylon or that they never had a great civilization of their own. Actually that does reveal limitations in your reading of history. The first Persian empire like all great empires drew upon the talents and knowledge of those that came before (as did Rome, Britain, USA). Persia however reached its pre-Islamic intellectual and cultural zenith under the Parthians and Sassanid empires, then spearheaded the Golden Age of Islam.
Actually Persians think a lot of Far East Asians. They have had almost without exception excellent relations with China for thousands of years through the silk road. Persians always compliment Far East Asians regarding their achievements, their discipline, and their honor. That is a fact!
@dankaren95 The mongol empire was so big because hardly anyone lived there! If one considers the quality of land controlled, look to Rome.
Actually I apologize for mentioning "rage" for you. I had started to respond to another person on this thread who was quite hostile. I do however stand by the historical points I made. Ethnocentrism is an issue for all of us. I can see it even in your comments referring to the Persians as a "military civilization" whereas the Greeks civilization of spirit and humanism, or saying the Persians were simply technicians and administrators. Few who know Persian history and culture would say that.
@TheRocking89 Why does everyone have to bring religion into this?
@havee3333333 the reason to why salahadine is so popular in history is because he was involved in a conflict with the west and the famous crusader wars. it seems that nearly all famous Iranian leaders were exported to outside their home land to rule except Ismael, and even though they all did a great job, their legacy never became a source of security and prosperity for their own people. the Kurds were so caught up in their service to Islam, now they are divided between 4 Islamic countries irony
Actually this is incorrect. The FIRST Persian Empire discussed in this documentary was larger both in land mass and percentage of the world population (44% vs. 29%). Romans by total population would surpass the Persian Empire in 200 AD (or 700 years later) when the world population was considerably larger. The British empire was the largest by land mass followed by the Mongols (both considerably larger than any other empires in history). Both thousands of years after the first Persian empire.
Oh I think we are just misunderstanding each other. I am not saying the Greeks did not put forth a new approach. They did. But you were making the assertion that it was done in a vacuum and we know from human history and civilization that this is almost never the case. The Greeks were not geographically isolated but rather in contact with Egypt, Assyria, Syro-Hittites, and then Persia bridging the far east to the mediterranean. History books called it the "Orientalizing Period" of Greek history.
When Alexander plundered, burned, and killed citizens of Persepolis, it was allegedly for avenging Persian humiliations of Greece 150 years before (!). They were not at war when Alexander invaded and the Persian king tried to befriend him. Rarely discussed is why the Persians marched on Athens, incorrectly citing the intent on "enslaving" all of Greece. The Persians were actually punishing Athens for its financial/military support of the burning of Sardis the eastern Persian capital 2 yrs prior.
@Dm3os1 oops,i meant ''confrontation'' ;)
No objection to that. About Zoroastrianism it is true that it was respected in Greece, but ''beloved'' it's a little bit too far. It is also true that Z/ism and later Mithraism played a huge role in ancient history ethics and religious conscience. We have no written texts from Socrates, and i don't recall such a comment in the works of Platon(when he talks about his teacher). Pythagoras could have been influenced though.About Torah you are also 100%right,but I didnt' argue with that.
i heard it was recently discovered the ancient mayans were the first....
What happened to modern Persians i.e Iranians?
@jetulik Alexander was admired by persian culture, he even got himself a persian wife. At the end of his life he was more persian than macedonian.
Pursian people descend from cats, and just like cats they like to purr. Hence the name: Pursia.
Again take no offense to people slinging offensive remarks at Greece. But you shouldn't refer to one of the other pillar civilizations in a derogatory manner. Greece you are right did not destroy Persian culture. Alexander conquered the first Persian Empire but he was wooed by Persian culture which like Greek culture is one of history's most potent. Islam did impact Persian culture but hardly destroyed it as Persia and the Persians would go on to spearhead the Golden age of Islam.
so the persian empire was even larger than the Mongol empire?
The Persian Kings brought the most beautiful women from the entire known world for their harems/wives. A woman would go for 1 year of beauty treatments before coming into the presence of the king (and well...you get the idea). It is good to be the king ;-) Some say the reason Persian women are so good looking is that they brought the best genes from all over the empire!
@havee3333333 they weren't the only super power in history to have gone into decline. the Arabs timed their invasion very well. they attacked the sassanid empire at a time when when the empire was crippled by civil unrest, regime change and its armies had conquered several new territories which stretched them. the sassanid system of government and even its military organisation was imitated by nearly all western countries, even the Romans. and look how successful it was in the west.
@Dm3os1 In that post, WINNING was displayed. May it rub off on everyone :)
i am Persian i am proud of our empire..but unfortunately these days our Persia is divided into many countries..today balkh,kabul,ghazna,bukhara,samraqand which is the starting and center of the Persian civilization id hided by some iranian and they are showing that they them selfs are the only persians..oh, Mr.why do you forget the history of kabura(kabul).ghazna,and balkh which today it is located in afghanistan.why do u forget the tajikistan..
The fact that you generalize an entire nation is just crazy....I know Kurds from Turkey and Kurds from Iran - they are both Kurds but both are entirely different, even if you don't believe it. By the way: I never said that I don't like Kurds - just the opposite, but that's too hard for you to grasp.
@MultiShervin yes i do agree but i disagree on some points. i mean, yes persia was strong at thet time, but, correct me if i'm wrong, persia became great 3-4 generations before darius. persia was a great empire by default, but a wrong king rulled it in a sense that darius isn't the type of king who you wan't to rule a big kingdom. i'm sorry for being rude also on my last comment, but i like history of great empires and i like to have constructive point of view from other people. pls reply.. ty
Engsham where the hell did you get "Persia invented reading and writing from?" There is a tablet of writing of the Olmecs in the Americas dating back to 3000BCE. Writing was developed all over the world independently, Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, etc. Why do you think they all have different language types? They all developed them on their own.
then who are Babylonians if the Kurds are the medians?
Everything in modern society that is full of goodness is thanks to the Persian kings who saw themselves as nothing but "Gatekeepers to the Garden'. While other kings were selfish and greedy period, done, finish. Go do thorough research before talking smack and what have you or your ppl done or invented lately aside from instigating and oppressing war for monetary gains. I am history & geography religion major so come correct. Zoroastrianism= World's 1st monothiestic religion. 1 Creator=Peace
I donyt know in what point you saw rage and abomination of me... if you read that i have wrote, there is no the slightest insult to the asian cultures which i respect very much. I think your conclusion about what i wrote is absolutely out of reality. About the demos, maybe were those restrictions that you say(inaccurate some of what you say) but in persia empire was absolutely unexisted.
And yes the west was incontrovertibly influenced by the east which laid the foundations of civilization. The Hellenic Greeks entered (now mainland Greece) in mid 2nd millennium BC as barbarian invaders (dorians, ionians, aeolians) and entered an incredibly rich and thousands of years old civilizations in the mediterranean including Egypt, Mesopotamia, Levant, Mycenean. As sea-faring peoples they went to far off lands collecting information and knowledge and synthesizing it over 1000 years.
Ditto the remaining respectful. No one knows the details of these ancient conflicts or what really happened. We only know stories from a single source often written centuries later and by opponents. Remember the Greeks were writing history according to their needs which like most cultures is a need to bolster pride and a sense of strength in one's people. The Greeks were afterall the ones that created the myths of Hercules and Achilles.
I am sorry if you believe that a post service change the world, then we have a absolutely different perspective about human's history. I think the reduction of a individual to citizen and his power to involved in their city;s affairs really changed the world. The West has true influences from asian cultures, but if you think the persians or egyptians effected more european ideas than greeks and romans, that only as joke i can receive it
@barod1 dont forget Hazrat Khalid bin waleed (RA) defeated the roman and the persian empire. so dont proud as a persian. . . . i proud to be a muslim.
@piyaz4 Dude? wtf I said he admired the persian culture.
Maz M
History is all the same. Some tribe developed a technology, population increases, some king or queen decides to use the population to conquer somebody, then after going to far, the society collapses and is taken over by somebody else. In between good times there is war famine death and destruction. That is the whole of your history book.
thats going to happen in 25 to 30 years
Let me make sure I understand you. It is your belief that the Greeks developed their ideologies, philosophy, science, and architecture in a vacuum? The fact that Greeks were in regular contact with the much older and advanced eastern and north african civilizations did not "contribute" to them? That is all I am saying and it is a fact. This is not disrespectful. This is what the USA is doing now. Influenced by the rest of the world and have created something new and influential. No disrespect.
"Do your research all greco-roman philosophy (aristotle, plato, sokrates, davinci etc) mention that there teachings come from none other than the Persian Empire"
That's silly as well. While you can no doubt trace civilization back to Mesopotamia, all of the above, and thousands of other great thinkers completely unrelated to Persia made great original contributions. Which is why Persia is essentially not contributing anything to contemporary advancement of knowledge.
I'm sorry but that's very typical of most Kurdish persons - if soran is a Kurd. Instead of focusing on their own great culture and doing to pass on their great cultural heritage they rather chose to inflict hate to Turkey, Iran and Syria. Yes neither of these countries has been particular nice to Kurds, but they are not very nice to each other either, I'm afraid.
Mongol empire was the greatest empire all of the time!
they were biggest at the time. British Empire wasn't in the ancient period.
@sanik00
1.iran does not speak arabic but rather farsi (their language)
2. they are non-muslim cuz they are shia
also in their flaq their is a picture or symbol of sekh or zoroa
@havee3333333 Zoroastrianism went into decline before the Muslim conquest of Iran. the Greeks corrupted Zoroastrianism by implementing their own religious elements. the sassanid Persians attempted to clean it, and were successful. but the sassanid society was not a religious one, it was a civilization built on all the pillars of social discipline. military, philosophy, chivalry. the sassanid Persians weren't fighting for god, they were fighting for their cities and culture.
Far from the greatest/biggest empire ever. You really need a history lesson. A great ancient empire but FARRRR from the biggest. Alexander took them out and the Mongolians did the same over a thousand years later.
Biggest and greatest are not the exact same thing. Do you even realize that? Also the British empire is one of the most evil empires ever. Are you British by any chance? It was not a humanitarian empire. It just plundered and exploited its colonies.
The Great Alexander crushed this empire and revenged Hellas with 30,000 Macedonians.
A pushover for the Yanks !
THIS IS SPARTA!!!
is it true that latin is german for indian race the pakistanis who made sanskrit then made hinduism and latin ?
are the persians indians and the spartans pakistanis and the ottomon are indian ?
persian
mostly muslims
strongest empire in the world
im proud to be a muslim
Im Persian, im proud of the aincents but im not proud of the moderrn "Iranians"
Seems like you dont do your research but rather watch biased vids and articles. Any scholar will tell you that the clay tablets in sumer not sumeria tell of a greater lost persian city Jiroft which scholars believe is over 14k yrs old predates sumer and puma punku. All civilisations owe to the great Persian Philosophy. Persians were and are still the masters of what arts, crafts, poetry, philosophy, peace, literature, calligraphy, etc etc.
Babylonians are ancestors of the Iraqi's (as are much of the mesopotamian civilizations).
@havee3333333 i thought the safavids were Kurdish/Greek people. the Persians claim that they were Kurds, but other scholars say they were a union of Greek and Kurdish people. a lot of history regarding Kurds, Persians and Iranian people in general has been lost over the course of history. mainly because the land was occupied by foreign powers and they did what ever they could to erase and in most cases steal the history and culture of their previews rulers to maintain their grip on the people.
@MultiShervin i agree he was weak. if he wasn't, im sure persia will continue to dominate.
The Russians, The British, the Austerians, The Hungarians, The Turks, The kurds, The Roman...etc all had empires...Even the Assyrians had a great empire.
Persians think too much of their vanished empire. It is a sort of escape from their present misery.
today, nothing being persian left in persians!!!
All persians have today is ; " Allahu Achbar" and "Ya Abu Al-Fadhel" !!!
It is game over for persians.