HISTORY
OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE |
Persia
After the Death of Alexander and
Its Resistance To Hellenistic World
by Maryam Hedayati
When
Darius III, King of the Medes and Persians, was defeated, killed and his army of
once numerous and powerful, had been destroyed or dispersed in the fateful
battles of Granikos, at Issos, and near Guagamela, the Persian Empire, which in
its day had comprised by far the vastest and wealthiest parts of the ancient
world, law in fragments unmourned by its several nationalities. Persia, homeland
of the Achaemenids and of the Empire's satraps, an Empire which once had sent
out kings to vanquish most of Asia, had fallen almost without any resistance.
Its roads had been run by foreign soldiers, and its palaces had been looted of
the treasures that once had flowed in from all the countries under heaven of
Ahura Mazdah. The capital, Persepolis, had been despoiled, its sacred sculptures
insulted and defiled, then burned and destroyed by that very element that was
the holy manifestation of the Persian fire-god, Athar.
The
ravaging of Persis was inspired by the hatred that had burned in Greek hearts
since the days of Cyrus the Great's conquest of Ionia, a hatred which had been
fed by the first Darius' suppression of the Ionian revolt of 493 B.C. and
Xerxes' subsequent attempt to overrun Hellas itself. All those years the Greeks
had felt the heavy burden of feeding the invading host and seeing some of its
cities depopulated as a Persian policy against any mass resistance or revolt.3
The
burning and destruction of Greek, or Babylonian temples by the Persians did not
come out of the conviction that foreign deities were necessarily evil, but
because temple spoliation was a source of easy treasure and because
diety-kidnapping was universally practiced in the East to undermine the local
will, and even the ability to resist. We know that Persians on the other hand
sometimes enlarged non-Iranian temples, as in the case of the Temple of Ammon at
Hibis in Egypt. Nor did Persians have any objection to specifically Greek rites
or Greek religious personnel; for example, when Xerxes captured Athens 480 B.C.,
he ordered the restored Athenian exiles with him to offer Hellenic-style on the
Acropolis.
The
Persians never ceased trying to recover the parts of western Anatolia that were
taken from them by the Delian League of Greek city-states, nor did the Hellenes
ever stop trying to create trouble for Persia in her Egyptian province. Because
Persian gold frequently was a force in Greek international politics, the leaders
in the city-states and later in Macedonia never were able to escape from a fear
of Persian meddling or aggression. Hatred of Persia was kept alive through
warfare down to the time of Philip and more than a century's suffering,
humiliation, and dread created in many Greeks a desire for violent revenge,
which could hardly fail to color their dealings with the conquered Persians
after Alexander.
To
many Greek who witnessed the last years of the expiring Achaemenid empire,
deceit and cunning seemed to have replaced manliness and courage, and the cares
of state to have been abandoned for drunkenness and revelry. Not that a Greek
would feel a fine moral shiver at this evidence of decadence; its significance
to him was that a hard-bitten adventurer with well-sharpened weapons and under
the proper leader could enrich himself without undue risk.4
This
picture of Persian weakness acquired the force of authority, a prestige which it
retained even after the conquest and down to the time of Strabo.
In
Greek eyes, then, the Persian Empire was a place of fabled wealth of gold,
silver, splendid horses, of amazing agricultural fertility, all possessed by
weaklings. Poverty-ridden as Greeks were, their economy racked of continuing
intercity wars, their society threatened by the presence of sporadically
employed, hungry mercenary soldiers in the fourth century the Persian empire
seemed an object that they with their military and technical superiority could
easily convert into a source of booty. Contributing to this feeling was the fact
that the Greeks, because of their competence, were holding an increasing number
of military and professional posts in the Empire.5
Alexander
thought that the empire that he wanted to consolidate could be ruled in peace
and no arrogance was needed like some of his generals had suggested. The
official treatment of the beaten Persians was by ancient standards remarkably
lenient and human. Not only Alexander continued to employ many of the provincial
governors in his own administration in Asia, he also behaved according to the
customs prescribed for an Achaemenian monarch, recruited noble Persians for his
army and gave them high rank and privilege, and undertook to marry his generals
to aristocratic ladies of Iran. Alexander's policy of fusion of East and West
found its most impressive expression expression in his celebration at Opis,
where Greeks and Persians consummated together a sacrificial communion meal,
while Alexander the Idealist prayed that, homonia, a "like-mindedness,
concord," might be created and made to last between his European and
Asiatic subjects. Greek seers and Persian magoi (a class of Zoroastria priest in
ancient Media and Persia, reputed to possess supernatural powers) together
conducted rites to solemnize this attempted marriage of East and West.6
After
Alexander's death, the old prejudices reasserted themselves. For example, out of
eighty marriages with Iranian ladies, only one, that of Seleukos and Apama
lasted. Seleukos by 312 B.C. had begun the consolidation of an empire that
covered most of Asia, including Persia. Many of the Greek immigrants were
adventurous and self-reliant types, like Eumenes of Kardia, intent on making new
lives for themselves in the conquered East, and determined to grow powerful
through royalty to the Macedonian regime, cost what it might to the former
overlords of Persia. As a result, however enlightened Seleukos I may have
intended his regime in Iran to be, however human many of his officials, like
Peukatas of Persepolis, undoubtedly were, still, many of the imperial rights had
looked upon their holding positions in the satrapies and hipparchies of Iran as
an excuse to grow rich, such men were Kleandros and Polymachos.
Persian
resistance to the Macedonians, therefore, never lacked for provocation, and in
fact never stopped after the death of Darius. Some of the satraps Alexander had
retained in service turned out to be halfhearted in their support of the new
regime, and some actually rebellious to it. Those who remained loyal to the idea
of native Iranian rule were gradually eliminated and replaced by Europeans. The
failure of guerrilla resistance like that of Spitamenes of Sogdiana, however
showed the Persians that the immense technical and organization superiority of
the Europeans made further attempts at open military resistance as vain as the
deployment of the huge armies of the Great king. But if the physical resistance
was impossible, religious resistance was not. It was even natural to the ideals
of Persian civilization.
Since
the existence of a Persian monarchy, preferably Achaemenian, was part of the
right order of this world created by Ahura Mazdah, hopes for resurrection of a
specifically Persian state were in part religiously inspired. Ahura Mazdah, like
Marduk or Asshur, was an imperial deity who having created the earth, set human
beings to rule it as he wanted it ruled. As immortal and beautiful Ahura Mazdah
continued to live, so did his state continue to survive.
Two
ideas, the displacement of the notables and the interruption of the divinely
ordained state and kingship, underlined all the Persian religious literature of
resistance. One example of that fascinating collection of protest is The
Sybilline Oracles. The Sibylline literature was widely known in all the ancient
world, and was revered for its authority and antiquity. The earliest Greek
author to mention a Sibyl was Herakleitos of Ephesos in the late sixth century.
A Sibyl was a divinely inspired woman who uttered prophecies of amazing and
usually disastrous things to come. Prophecy by inspired women was extremely well
known in the Near East. The witch of Endor was one of the mentioned in the old
Testament; in the late Assyrian times the Assyrian kings themselves attached
considerable importance to prophecy. A similar institution flourished among the
Persians. Strabo mentions water-diviners, dream-diviners, and the magoi, who
prophesied in much the same way as Assyrian prophetesses.7
There
was other Persian religious propaganda of presumably early date. While it has
left not trace in classical authors, it has left traditions in the Avesta (a
collection of sacred Zoroastrian writings, including the Gathas) and the Pahlevi
(the Indo-European, Iranian language of the Zoroastrian literature of the third
century to the tenth century, the script used in writing this language derived
from the Aramaic alphabet) translations of Arsakid and early Sassanid times.
Only two copies of the Avesta were then in existence, and Alexander destroyed
one when he burned Persepolis and the other was stolen from a certain fortress
and was taken to Greece for translation, never to be returned to Iran. However
A.T. Olmstead and E.E. Herzfeld have maintained that this story was fabricated
in late Parthian or early Sassanid times to explain the then lack of written
sacred literature. H.S. Nyberg condemned literal belief in this tradition and
called it a fantasy. On the other hand, it has been accepted as generally
trustworthy by a number of scholars, among them K.F. Geldner, A.V.W. Jackson,
and W.B. Henning that the latter view is correct, because there was evidence
that a written Persian sacred literature existed, and can be safely supported
that Persepolis contained copies of it.8
It
would, after all, have been the usual thing for Persepolis, the religious center
of the Persian empire, to have maintained a library of religious literature. And
it could be safely assumed that this library was destroyed when Persepolis was
burned and the buildings fell in, particularly if the writing had been done on
perishable material. Alexander's conquest threatened to bring about the end of
Persian religion through the destruction of the religious capital and important
archive, a destruction spectacular enough and sufficiently well known to be used
as effective propaganda.
Persian
anti-Hellenic religious movement came to have great influence all over Western
Asia. Certain Persians prophesied that the hated European would be expelled from
Iran and from Asia by divine intervention and the Orient would be restored to
its former primacy. This is stated in the old Testament Book of Daniel; in
fragments of an Oracle of Hystapes quoted by Lactantius as late as 300 A.D. and
in a Medieval translation from Persian into Pahlevi, the Bahman Yasht. The
document Bahman Yasht stated that human history is moving, the advent of a
savior who defeats evil and restores religion and the kingdom, was also a
development over beliefs of Achaemenid times. The Bahman Yasht. is intimately
connected with the Achaemenid period of Iranian religious development. It is
vaguely parallel to a Bahman Yasht in Persian, a ritual invocation of Ahura
Mazdah against the power of daevas, who are led by Ahriman (evil spirit).9
Both
in Bahman Yasht and the Oracle of Hystaspes is stated that the principal cause
of the Persian resistance was the loss of the Persian empire. However the
Persian resistance came from articulate elements of Persian society, that is,
from those people who had been a part of or close to the dynasty, the
aristocrats of both the landholding military and religious classes. Their
position of high status was in danger. As far as Iranian culture as a whole was
concerned, there were far too Greeks in Iran seriously to modify it. Those
Europeans who settled in Iran were in course of time entirely assimilated by
intermarriage.
There
is the possibility that Alexander destroyed the Avesta, which is to be
understood as a symbolic of Persian religion. Despite all the religious
resistance the conditions in Iran in the Hellenistic period were different from
what would be expected.
Iran
in the third century was prosperous, and its sanctuaries remained wealthy. What
it did reflect was the resentment of a dispossessed imperial nobility. The bare
fact of European control in Iran threatened the dominance of not only the
military but also the religious aristocracy. Hellenic customs did come into Iran
with Greek settlers, armies, and government officials, and were practiced
alongside the older Iranian customs. When some Persians began to adhere to
Hellenic customs in general and religious practices in particular, the most
anti-Hellenic of the Iranians reacted strongly against this cultural treason.
Ancient Oriental societies were conceived of people arising from religious
causes and kingship who were involved with religious functions as well as
political duties. Other phases of human activity were closely linked with
religious belief.
The
religious customs of the Greeks and Persians differed and those differences were
important to some Iranian people. The early Persians, as known from both
classical writers and from the results of archeology, did not erect temples to
house cult-statues nor use images themselves, and they condemned people who did
so. Towards the end of the Achaemenid dynasty, Artaxerxes II set up cult-images
of Anahita for the first time at Susa, Babylon, Ekbatana, Damaskos, and Sardeis.
This was a break from the past.
A
most important point of difference lay in methods of disposal of the dead.
Greeks sometimes cremated, and usually interred their dead, customs that strict
followers of Magian practices did not observe. It has been told both by
Herodotus and Ktesias that the Persians considered cremation unlawful, which
indeed the Videvdad of Hellenistic date calls a sin without atonement, for
cremation was the defilement of holy fire, Atar, with an unclean corpse.
The
appeal of Hellenism stemmed from two sources. There was the intrinsic attraction
of Hellenism as the culture of high civilization. It was also the way of life of
a victorious ruling class, which occupied almost all the desirable, lucrative,
and powerful positions in government, and in some cases, the wealthy parts of
the country, being concerned with the efficient exploitation of agriculture and
grazing. The Persian aristocrats were subject to natural tendencies to imitate
their new rulers' ways, both from a desire to ingratiate themselves and mark
themselves more efficient, and from a fascination with the manners and customs
of people who were obviously successful. While most remained hostile, many
others at least collaborated, a few became cultural converts.
When
the Macedonian satrap of Media, Nikanor, was sent by Antigonos to undo Seleukos'
occupation of Babylon, the former's forces included a contingent of Persians.
They deserted to Seleukos when their commanding officer Evagora, satrap of Areia
was killed, because they objected to Antigonos' regime in Iran. This episode
shows that some Persians were at least willing to cooperate with whatever Greek
power seemed least likely to be a burden on them. When Antigonos was attempting
a surprise attack on the forces of Eumenes of Kardia, the natives of Gabiene
cooperated with Eumenes by warning him of the approach of hostile soldiers. Such
loyalty was forced and half-hearted, yet this practice continued and in time
must have led some Persians to go further and to become independent of the
Macedonian regime for the maintenance of their political, economic, and social
status.
Those
Persians in the army had contact with Greek ways and Greek religion. Acceptance
in part was inevitable. Europeans had adopted Iranian Gods and rites, too, and
thus a Greco-Iranian class with syncretic religious practices came into being.
The protests of the religious resistance were directed against this class,
apostates from the true faith, and the new handers-on from the Greek world. This
cultural interchange was natural; there is no evidence that the Macedonians
consciously sought to change the Persians' religion or to diminish the authority
of Persian sanctuaries or persecute the priesthood, or in any way interfere with
Persian religious beliefs. Iranian holy places remained wealthy under Seleukid
rule, and retained extensive estates and villages inhabited by their serfs who
worked the land.
There
is no evidence that resistance was a peasant movement against Hellenistic
economic exploitation as was the case in Egypt and Palestine. The Seleukid
regime hardly touch the peasantry at all, and probably no great change was
apparent to them. The Macedonian kings theoretically owned all non-city and
non-temple land in Iran; but it was actually held by aristocracy, in most cases
the old families of Achaemenid times. These people continued their old methods
of dealing with rural classes. Nor did the peasantry suffer from the oppression
of a Hellenized bourgeoisie, as was the case in Syria.10
Iranian
propaganda was directed, then, against cultural apostasy only in the highest
level of society and had behind it people of the same class. The most important
religious issue was the replacing of the Achaemenid dynasty by that of
Alexander, and then of Seleukos. The fact of Hellenic kingship and rule itself
was the issue. For in Persia, the dynasty of Cyrus and Darius I, through long
custom and tradition had established its right to rule, which that right was a
part of theology. The kingship carried with it certain sacral responsibilities
and obligations which a Macedonian could not possibly fulfill, even if he had
willed it, because Europeans simply were not Persians. The king of the Medes and
Persians had to be of Iranian family, owning Persian customs and religion, and
submitting to a Persian pattern of royal taboos. He had to be chosen by Ahura
Mazdah, and he could not be chosen to rule unless he fulfilled all
prerequisites.11
A
Macedonian, furthermore, whatever his character, his kindness, his solicitude
for things Iranian may have been, could not in the eyes of Persians strictly
following his own tradition be Great King, because Macedonian was not an Aryan,
not a Persian, and not an Achaemenid.
Many
Persians were too deeply committed to the idea of the lordship of Ahura Mazdah,
not only as a ruler of Asia but also as inspirer of their own private lives.
That is certainly the feeling of the Zarathushtrian Gathas and of the royal
inscriptions. Therefore, in the Hellenistic period, many Persians went on
believing in Ahura Mazdah, and in the theology about his kingship they had
always believed, and the idea of a Macedonian's being his choice never took hold
with the Persians.12
However,
it must be noted that there is no real evidence that the Achaemenids ever were
Zarathushtrians. The use of a few similar words and phrases about the gods in
the Gathas and the Old Persian inscriptions only shows that individuals of the
same basic Iranian culture used basically the same concepts. We know that the
use of the ritual intoxicant haoma by magos and king was well-attested at
Persepolis, and this practice was hated by Zarathushtirans. The reason was
because Zarathushtra and his folowers objected strongly to the royal and
sacrificial aspects of Persian religion.
We
must consider the fact that all this opposition were only coming from a specific
class and not from the masses of people in Iran. The common people were peasants
far removed from these struggles and pursued their usual religious practice. It
became evident that there was no complete unity among religious groups in Iran.
This became an important factor because it showed that in Hellenistic Persia the
various sects could not work together to oppose the Greeks wholeheartedly.13
Another
feature of Hellenistic effect in Persia was that they struck a series of coins
beginning about 275 B.C. Like the fire temple inscriptions, the coins show a
mixture of Hellenistic and Iranian ideas. The reverse usually display a fire
temple, which could be a picture of the shrine at Naqsh-i-Rustam, the cemetery
of the great Achaemenid kings. At the same time the coinage is executed in very
fine Hellenic style under the first of the dynasts, and occasionally had
pictures of a deity, probably Ahura Mazda, modeled and tricked out as a Grecian
Zeus. The dynasts did not assume the title of king, but called themselves
fratadara, "Keeper of the Fire," and bagan, "Divine." The
last should be taken in the sense that the Achaemenids were divine: not gods but
men charged with supernatural powers.
The
portraits of the first kings were quite Hellenic, indicating the presence of
Greek engravers at Istakhr and orientation of policy towards the Seleukids. The
first fratadara, Bagadates, appeared around 275 B.C. on Attic-standards
tetradrachms wearing a Persian headdress but without the Oriental beard. The
reverses show the prince enthroned with a scepter like a European ruler or
European god; his local coinage, drachmas(the principal silver coinage of
Ancient Greece) and obols(a silver coin of Ancient Greece, the sixth part of
drachma) has an Iranian fire temple. The reverse has an engraved symbol almost
certainly of the labarum before a Persian fire temple over which floats the old
symbol of Ahura Mazdah.14
It
is important to look at other regions in the Persian empire that were
non-Persian and have an understanding of why this once rich and powerful region
handed the Empire over to the Greeks and Macedonians with no major resistance.
There
was no evidence of Oriental religious resistance to Hellenism in the non-Persian
parts of ancient Iran. None of the important parts of it, Parthia, Baktria or
Media resented the Macedonian occupation to such a degree that people resorted
to active propaganda. The only major conflict that existed was the rivalry of
the Hellenes and Iranians over economic and strategic advantage. There was no
feeling of intense cultural rivalry at all, and no resort to religious
propaganda. In each of those threat areas, local circumstances made the specific
attitude towards the European vary. Each had its own unique cultural tradition.
Therefore, when confronted by the exact variant of Hellenism, each responded in
an individual way. All three accepted Hellenism better than the Persians did.
None of them had, like Persia, an immediate memory of world rule. Only Media had
ever been the seat of eastern empire, and that not since 559 B.C, Both Parthia
and Baktria had always been subject and tributary provinces of either Median or
Persian empire. Hence, if the victories of Alexander were in one sense a
conquest, in another they were a liberation.
The
Parthian dynasty ruled in a state in which there was no cultural unity, such as
was to be found in Persia or Egypt. Waves of migration into central Iran had
effectively prevented any such unity. The historic Parthians themselves were
part of a nomadic, barbarous horde called Dahai by Greek writers. The Parthians
were never connected with the Achaemenid Empire.
The
Parthian royal court included Greek elements. The titles philos,
"friend," and suggenes, "Kinsman," were used by Macedonians.
Furthermore, love of Hellenism was consciously and overtly advertised by the
dynastic coinage. The term philhellenos (friend or supporter of the Greeks)
makes its first appearance under Mithradates I around 140 B.C. Since this king
did a great deal to diminish the area of Seleukid control in Western Iran and
eastern Mesopotamia, his propaganda can not be taken at full face value.
Nonetheless, the use of the term itself means that the Parthians did not
undertake a campaigning of anti-Hellenic propaganda as the Persians did.
The
Greek language also held its own in Parthian Mesopotamia. Greek methods of
finance, Greek law, Greek culture in general continued to flourish in Parthian
controlled cities, both in Doura in northwestern Mesopotamia and at Avroman in
Kurdistan. Greeks still held honored positions in Babylonia and western Iran and
so did the Hellenized Iranian.
The
positions of the Parthian kings in respect to the religious of Iran is
incompletely known. They were neither magians nor Zoroastrians. They had
themselves buried, practiced blood sacrifice, and supported the rise of Anahita
to a more prominent place in the pantheon which differed from h normal practices
of other groups.15
A
peculiar set of circumstances influenced the relationship that existed between
Baktrian and Macedonian. As with the Parthians, there is no evidence for an
anti-Hellenic movement. Indeed, scholars have been in general agreement that of
all parts of Iran, Baktria was the most willing to cooperate with the
Greco-Macedonian regime.
The
occupation of Baktria-Sogdiana by the Greeks, while it represented a victory for
non-Iranian forces, was more a change of master than an eclipse of empire.
Alexander not only married Baktrian Roxane, he also destroyed a settlement of
Persians at Kyra, established by Cyrus as a garrison to consolidate his
conquest. Diodorus says plainly that the Macedonian regime at Satrap Stasanor
was popular locally because of his consideration for local interests. Hellenic
penetration of Baktria, furthermore, was very slight. The settlement of the
Europeans in northeastern Iran was on a very small scale, and the cities that
Alexander founded were heavily populated with Baktrians. Thus, there was no
threat of economic, social or cultural upheaval, such as occurred in Hellenistic
Palestine.
Baktria,
was a region in which Hellenism, in diluted form, and Iranian made common cause
and found common unity. The unity survived until it was submerged by the
invasion of Sakan nomads around 128 B.C., which brought an end to the
Greco-Baktrian state.16
Media,
on the other hand, reacted uniquely against the Greeks. She was both hostile and
docile. Part of the country surrendered to Hellenism; the other eventually
rebelled and established its independence. Media in 334 B.C. was a province of
Darius III. Media, however, had once held the hegemony of the East. Her imperial
dynasty had been ousted by Cyrus the Great and Media was made into a province of
his empire. Twice the Medes staged obstinate revolts against the Achaemenids.
Both times the revolts were put down. The attitudes of different members of the
Median gentry towards the Empire were thus divided: some were imperial and some
were patriotic. The history of Media in the Macedonian period resembled the
history of Media in the Achaemenid period in that the loyalty of the country
towards the central government was divided.
Looking
at the non-Persian parts of Iran shows that in these areas, the lack of a
tradition of world rule, the lack of cultural uniformity in some parts, and a
dependence on the Greeks in one way or another, either as military allies
against some kind of alien domination or as technical experts, made opposition
to Hellenism unnecessary or undesirable.17
The
western Asians lived in the region where Mesopotamian culture or a form of it
predominated. This area included Babylonia, as well as Elam to the east, Syria
to the west and Kilikia to the northwest. When Alexander overran it, religious
resistance to foreign occupation was a weapon already familiar to the
Babylonians as a result of their having been earlier conquered by the Persians.
The victory of Cyrus the Great in 538 B.C. had finished Babylonia's world power.
To the Babylonians of the period, then, the victory of the Persians under Cyrus
was in theory the victory of Ahura Mazdah over Marduk, a victory made almost
total by Xerxes' deportation of of the rebellious god of Babylon.
From
the middle of the fifth century many Persians settled in Babylon, held extensive
tracts of land, and occupied positions in local government. This large and
influential colony must have had a good deal to do with the continuing
tranquility of the province. The Persians did not attempt a complete restoration
of the city or of damaged E-Sagila, so that when the Macedonians entered Babylon
the ruins that Xerxes had made could still be seen. The ruins served not only as
a reminder of the strength of the Persians, but also a continuing source of
anti-Persian feelings.
The
Babylonians remained generally passive under the Hellenic regime, although they
did continue to tell stories about an heroic age, and protested feebly against
what they considered wrong. While it was true that the Babylonians had reason to
rejoice over the end of the Persian rule, still, more than any other of the
great people of the ancient near East, they regarded Alexander's coming as a
good in itself, and gave the least trouble to the conquerors.
In
comparison with the Persians the Babylonian propaganda was much less vigorous
and aggressive. The Persians looked forward to the destruction of the Greeks,
and optimistically believed that after they had been destroyed and rule of the
East had been restored to them, the world would be a much pleasenter place. This
degree of hate is not apparent among Babylonians. The survey of Western Asia had
showed that in the third century and in the first years of the second there was
only the slightest resistance to Hellenism, and that was almost entirely in the
old imperial capital of Babylon.18
In
summary what effects the Persian propaganda had in the whole Hellenistic period
are hard to assess. In Persia, itself, it did not lead to a grand revolt against
the full tide of Hellenism. But it likely had something to do with the gradual
third century break with the Seleukids. Archeological and numismatic evidence
are showing that Persia remained essentially Persian as stated earlier. While
Hellenism is apparent here and there in matters of detail, nonetheless the
Iranian element remained essentially heavily predominant and Hellenism made no
great impression. After five centuries of struggle, in Iran the Persians created
the strongly nationalist Sassanid Persian Empire (226-651 A.D.), consciously
trying to continue Achaemenid Persian traditions. The resistance with no doubt
served to help keep alive native traditions, and by opposing Hellenism it helped
to keep it from deeply touching Iranian life. The Macedonians except in Baktria,
never succeeded in persuading the Iranians to cooperate with them. And in the
East as a whole, the propaganda made no impression which has left traces in the
religious beliefs of others. And also the Hellenism in the East itself
eventually faltered and died, overcome by a revival of the Orient. But it should
be noted that the traditional culture of Babylonians died earlier on its own
native ground. Their wish to retreat into the past was unavailing, for there is
always the present to live in and the future to be prepared for.
Sources
1.
Alexander to Actium, by Peter Green, University of California Press, Berkeley
and Los Angeles, 1990.
2.
The King is Dead, by Samuel K. Eddy, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln,
1961.
3.
Flames over Persepolis, by Mortimer Wheeler, Renal & Co. Inc., 1968.
Bibliographical
Guides
·
· 1.
The King is Dead, by Samuel K. Eddy, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln,
1961.
·
· pg.
vii.
·
· 2.
Ibid., pg. viii.
·
· 3.
Ibid., pg. 3.
·
· 4.
Ibid., pg. 5.
·
· 5.
Ibid., pg. 6.
·
· 6.
Ibid., pg. 8.
·
· 7.
Ibid., pg. 10-11.
·
· 8.
Ibid., pg. 14.
·
· 9.
Ibid., pg. 15, 30-31
·
· 10.
Ibid., pgs. 39-40.
·
· 11.
Ibid., pg. 41.
·
· 12.
Ibid., pgs. 60-1.
·
· 13.
Ibid., pgs. 71-72.
·
· 14.
Ibid., pg. 77.
·
· 15.
Ibid., pgs. 81-2, 87-8, 91.
·
· 16.
Ibid., pgs. 92-3, 95.
·
· 17.
Ibid., pgs. 95,97,100.
·
· 18.
Ibid., pgs. 101, 103, 128, 132.