Showing posts with label Ancient Iran. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ancient Iran. Show all posts

Thursday, December 29, 2022

HISTORY OF ACHAEMENID IRAN

Tentative diagram of the 40-hour seminar

(in 80 parts of 30 minutes)

Prof. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

Tuesday, 27 December 2022

 

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To watch the videos, click here: 

https://www.patreon.com/posts/history-of-iran-76436584 

To hear the audio, click here: 

https://www.podbean.com/premium-podcast/historica/l3a5ypF8qTK2 

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1 A - Achaemenid beginnings I A

Introduction; Iranian Achaemenid historiography; Problems of historiography continuity; Iranian posterior historiography; foreign historiography

 

1 B - Achaemenid beginnings I B

Western Orientalist historiography; early sources of Iranian History; Prehistory in the Iranian plateau and Mesopotamia

 

2 A - Achaemenid beginnings II A

Brief Diagram of the History of the Mesopotamian kingdoms and Empires down to Shalmaneser III (859-824 BCE) – with focus on relations with Zagros Mountains and the Iranian plateau  

 

2 B - Achaemenid beginnings II B

The Neo-Assyrian Empire from Shalmaneser III (859-824 BCE) to Sargon of Assyria (722-705 BCE) – with focus on relations with Zagros Mountains and the Iranian plateau 

 

3 A - Achaemenid beginnings III A

From Sennacherib (705-681 BCE) to Assurbanipal (669-625 BCE) to the end of Assyria (609 BCE) – with focus on relations with Zagros Mountains and the Iranian plateau 

 

3 B - Achaemenid beginnings III B

The long shadow of the Mesopotamian Heritage: Assyria, Babylonia, Elam/Anshan, Kassites, Guti, Akkad,  and Sumer / Religious conflicts of empires – Monotheism & Polytheism

 

4 A - Achaemenid beginnings IV A

The Sargonid dynasty and the Divine, Universal Empire – the Translatio Imperii

 

4 B - Achaemenid beginnings IV B

Assyrian Spirituality, Monotheism & Eschatology; the imperial concepts of Holy Land (vs. barbaric periphery) and Chosen People (vs. barbarians)

 

5 A - Achaemenid beginnings V A

The Medes from Deioces to Cyaxares & Astyages

The early Achaemenids (Achaemenes & the Teispids)

 

5 B - Achaemenid beginnings V B

- Why the 'Medes' and why the 'Persians'?

What enabled these nations to form empires?

 

6 A - Zoroaster A

Shamanism-Tengrism; the life of Zoroaster; Avesta and Zoroastrianism

 

6 B - Zoroaster B

Mithraism vs. Zoroastrianism; the historical stages of Zoroaster's preaching and religion

 

7 A - Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II) I A

The end of Assyria, Nabonid Babylonia, and the Medes

 

7 B - Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II) I B

The Nabonidus Chronicle

 

8 A - Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II) II A

Cyrus' battles against the Medes

 

8 B - Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II) II B

Cyrus' battles against the Lydians

 

9 Α - Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II) III A

The Battle of Opis: the facts

 

9 Β - Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II) III B

Why Babylon fell without resistance

 

10 A - Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II) IV A

Cyrus Cylinder: text discovery and analysis

 

10 B - Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II) IV B

Cyrus Cylinder: historical continuity in Esagila

 

11 A - Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II) V A

Cyrus' Empire as continuation of the Neo-Assyrian Empire

 

11 B - Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II) V B

Cyrus' Empire and the dangers for Egypt 

 

12 A - Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II) VI A

Death of Cyrus; Tomb at Pasargad

 

12 B - Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II) VI B

Posterity and worldwide importance of Cyrus the Great

 

13 A - Cambyses I A

Conquest of Egypt and Cush (Ethiopia: Sudan)

 

13 B - Cambyses I B

Iran as successor of Assyria in Egypt, and the grave implications of the Iranian conquest of Egypt

 

14 A - Cambyses II A

Cambyses' adamant monotheism, his clash with the Memphitic polytheists, and the falsehood diffused against him (from Egypt to Greece)

 

14 B - Cambyses II B

The reasons for the assassination of Cambyses

 

15 A - Darius the Great I A

The Mithraic Magi, Gaumata, and the usurpation of the Achaemenid throne

 

15 B - Darius the Great I B

Darius' ascension to the throne

 

16 A - Darius the Great II A

The Behistun inscription

 

16 B - Darius the Great II B

The Iranian Empire according to the Behistun inscription

 

17 A - Darius the Great III A

Military campaign in Egypt & the Suez Canal

 

17 B - Darius the Great III B

Babylonian revolt, campaign in the Indus Valley

 

18 A - Darius the Great IV A

Darius' Scythian and Balkan campaigns; Herodotus' fake stories

 

18 B - Darius the Great IV B

Anti-Iranian priests of Memphis and Egyptian rebels turning Greek traitors against the Oracle at Delphi, Ancient Greece's holiest shrine

 

19 A - Darius the Great V A

Administration of the Empire; economy & coinage

 

19 B - Darius the Great V B

World trade across lands, deserts and seas

 

20 A - Darius the Great VI A

Rejection of the Modern European fallacy of 'Classic' era and Classicism

 

20 B - Darius the Great VI B

Darius the Great as the end of the Ancient World and the beginning of the Late Antiquity (522 BCE – 622 CE)

 

21 A - Achaemenids, Zoroastrianism, Mithraism, and the Magi A

Avesta and the establishment of the ideal empire

 

21 B - Achaemenids, Zoroastrianism, Mithraism, and the Magi B

The ceaseless, internal strife that brought down the Xšāça (: Empire) 

 

22 A - The Empire-Garden, Embodiment of the Paradise A

The inalienable Sargonid-Achaemenid continuity as the link between Cosmogony, Cosmology and Eschatology

 

22 B - The Empire-Garden, Embodiment of the Paradise B

The Garden, the Holy Tree, and the Empire

 

23 A - Xerxes the Great I A

Xerxes' rule; his upbringing and personality

 

23 B - Xerxes the Great I B

Xerxes' rule; his imperial education

 

24 A - Xerxes the Great II A

Imperial governance and military campaigns

 

24 B - Xerxes the Great II B

The Anti-Iranian complex of inferiority of the 'Greek' barbarians (the so-called 'Greco-Persian wars')

 

25 A - Parsa (Persepolis) A

The most magnificent capital of the pre-Islamic world

 

25 B - Parsa (Persepolis) B

Naqsh-e Rustam: the Achaemenid necropolis: the sanctity of the mountain; the Achaemenid-Sassanid continuity of cultural integrity and national identity

 

26 A - Iran & the Periphery A

Caucasus, Central Asia, Siberia, Tibet and China Hind (India), Bengal, Deccan and Yemen

 

26 B - Iran & the Periphery B

Sudan, Carthage and Rome

 

27 A - The Anti-Iranian rancor of the Egyptian Memphitic priests A

The real cause of the so-called 'Greco-Persian wars', and the use of the Greeks that the Egyptian Memphitic priests made

 

27 B - The Anti-Iranian rancor of the Egyptian Memphitic priests B

Battle of the Eurymedon River; Egypt and the Wars of the Delian League

 

28 A - Civilized Empire & Barbarian Republic A

The incomparable superiority of Iran opposite the chaotic periphery: the Divine Empire

 

28 B - Civilized Empire & Barbarian Republic B

Why the 'Greeks' and the Romans were unable to form a proper empire

 

29 A - Artaxerxes I (465-424 BCE) A

Revolt in Egypt; the 'Greeks' and their shame: they ran to Persepolis as suppliants

 

29 B - Artaxerxes I (465-424 BCE) B

Aramaeans and Jews in the Achaemenid Court

 

30 A - Interregnum (424-403 BCE) A

Xerxes II, Sogdianus, and Darius II

 

30 B - Interregnum (424-403 BCE) B

The Elephantine papyri and ostraca; Aramaeans, Jews, Phoenicians and Ionians

 

31 A - Artaxerxes II (405-359 BCE) & Artaxerxes III  (359-338 BCE) A

Revolts instigated by the Memphitic priests of Egypt and the Mithraic subversion of the Empire

 

31 B - Artaxerxes II (405-359 BCE) & Artaxerxes III  (359-338 BCE) B

Artaxerxes II's capitulation to the Magi and the unbalancing of the Empire / Cyrus the Younger

 

32 A - Artaxerxes IV & Darius III A

The decomposition of the Empire

 

32 B - Artaxerxes IV & Darius III B

Legendary historiography

 

33 A - Alexander's Invasion of Iran A

The military campaigns

 

33 B - Alexander's Invasion of Iran B

Alexander's voluntary Iranization/Orientalization

 

34 A - Alexander: absolute rejection of Ancient Greece A

The re-organization of Iran; the Oriental manners of Alexander, and his death

 

34 B - Alexander: absolute rejection of Ancient Greece B

The split of the Empire; the Epigones and the rise of the Orientalistic (not Hellenistic) world

 

35 A - Achaemenid Iran – Army A

Military History

 

35 B - Achaemenid Iran – Army B

Achaemenid empire, Sassanid militarism & Islamic Iranian epics and legends

 

36 A - Achaemenid Iran & East-West / North-South Trade A

The development of the trade between Egypt, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Iran, Turan (Central Asia), Indus Valley, Deccan, Yemen, East Africa & China

 

36 B - Achaemenid Iran & East-West / North-South Trade B

East-West / North-South Trade and the increased importance of Mesopotamia and Egypt

 

37 A - Achaemenid Iran: Languages and scripts A

Old Achaemenid, Aramaic, Sabaean and the formation of other writing systems 

 

37 B - Achaemenid Iran: Languages and scripts B

Aramaic as an international language

 

38 A - Achaemenid Iran: Religions A

Rise of a multicultural and multi-religious world

 

38 B - Achaemenid Iran: Religions B

Collapse of traditional religions; rise of religious syncretism

 

39 A - Achaemenid Iran: Art and Architecture A

Major archaeological sites of Achaemenid Iran

 

39 B - Achaemenid Iran: Art and Architecture B

The radiation of Iranian Art

 

40 A - Achaemenid Iran: Historical Importance A

The role of Iran in the interconnection between Asia and Africa

 

40 B - Achaemenid Iran: Historical Importance B

The role of Iran in the interconnection between Asia and Europe

 

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Download the diagram here: 

https://megalommatis.wordpress.com/history-of-achaemenid-iran/

https://vk.com/megalommatis?w=wall429864789_8419%2Fall

 

 

 

Friday, April 15, 2022

In striking contrast to the 'Greek' barbarians, Iranian Emperor Xerxes I ruled the World's most Civilized Empire

В разительном контрасте с «греческими» варварами иранский император Ксеркс I правил самой цивилизованной империей в мире.

 

 

By Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

Мухаммад Шамсаддин Мегаломматис

 

 


I shared with friends a comment that I sent to Dr. Kaveh Farrokh, discussing issues of racist and deliberate falsification of Ancient Iranian History attested in Western universities and among scholars who fail to undertake interdisciplinary studies and be objective and impartial in their research. The cases of the untrustworthy Ancient Greek sources and Herodotus' felonious narratives are referred to; more attention is given to illustrious Ancient Greek high priests, who utterly rejected and denounced Herodotus' 'malignancy'. My introductory letter and the comment are herewith included, along with many links for further reading and research.

 

 


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Dear All,

 

This is the congratulatory comment that I sent (9th April 2022) to the Iranologist Dr. Kaveh Farrokh for his brief but comprehensive article about the Great Iranian Emperor Hshaya Rshah (Xerxes) I, who was undeservedly insulted by the inferior and uncivilized Ancient Ionians, Dorians and Aeolians (the so-called «Greeks»), because of their misery, insignificance, hatred, nuisance, and abysmal complex of inferiority toward the world’s most formidable empire of those times (6th-4th c. BCE).

 

Compared to Xerxes’ magnificent capital Parsa (erroneously called among the ‘Greeks’ as ‘Persepolis’), the Acropolis of Athens looked like a stable for horses and the temple at Delphi looked like a useless kiosk. 

 

At the origin of the pathetic badmouthing of the illustrious Achaemenid dynasty is Herodotus — not a Greek, but a Carian (Western Anatolian) trash, a traitor of his own country (Caria accepted the Achaemenid rule in striking contrast to the idiotic and barbaric Ancient ‘Greeks’). 

 

All the same, centuries later, Plutarch, High Priest of the Oracle of Delphi, denounced and denigrated the disreputable pseudo-historian Herodotus, writing a ca. 10000 words text On Herodotus’s malignancy. Plutarch was a person incommensurately higher than all the Ancient ‘Greek’ historians, tragedians and impious politicians, whom today’s corrupt, vicious, anomalous (atheist, homosexual, transvestite and incestuous) Western Europeans and North Americans admire because of their delinquency. 

 

This text, written by a superior authority (the highest and holiest rank a man could have in Ancient Greece), fully demolishes many Ancient ‘Greek’ times’ lies and distortions that are still presented as «History» in the colonial, criminal, racist, anti-African, anti-Asiatic, anti-Oriental, anti-Islamic, anti-Christian pseudo-universities of Western Europe and North America. 

 

More details, links to Wikipedia entries, and modern translations of Plutarch’s devastating criticism of Herodotus’ nonsensical bogus-History you will find in my comment below!

 

I attach Kaveh Farrokh’s article that you can also find here:

https://www.academia.edu/75928427/Farrokh_K_2022_Who_was_the_real_Xerxes_in_his_earlier_years_Persian_Heritage_104_pp_27_29 

 

Best regards,

Shamsaddin

 


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Dear Kaveh,

I downloaded and read your concise, up-to-the-point, and comprehensive presentation. It is a great effort to effectively debunk the Ancient Greek fallacies about Achaemenid Iran.

I guess that when (p. 27, 4th column, close to the bottom) you speak of "Egyptian popular/colloquial as well as hieroglyphic texts", you rather mean "Egyptian Demotic as well as Hieroglyphic texts". { https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demotic_(Egyptian) }

 

HERODOTUS - A CARIAN, NOT A GREEK

Speaking of Herodotus, I believe one must stress one basic point: he was neither an Ionian, nor an Aeolian, nor a Dorian. In fact, he was not a Greek; he was Carian. He left (or betrayed) his country because the outright majority wanted to become part of the Empire. If Kerensky wrote more against the USSR, after he arrived in France (1917), he would be considered as the 20th c. Herodotus! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Kerensky

 

THE EGYPTIANS USED THE GREEKS AGAINST IRAN

Personally, I believe that the very intimate and intricate impact of the Ancient Egyptians on the various peoples and races of South Balkans and the interconnection of some of them with some Ancient Egyptian priesthoods are at the very origin of the Anti-Iranian stance of several Ancient Greek cities-states. Ancient Egypt never had one religion; there were always incessant religious wars and fights, and at times they took a very violent form. For instance, the incineration of the defeated Bakenranef (Bocchoris), last king of the 24th dynasty, by the Cushite Shebitqo gives only an idea. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakenranef )

 

The religious division of Egypt is a millennia-long issue, with the Iwnw (Heliopolitan) priesthood opposing the spread of the Memphite dogma of Ptah. After the rise of the 18th dynasty (16th c. BCE), Egypt came to know terrible divisions between the monotheists (Atenism) and the polytheistic followers of the Theban priesthood of Amun (Theban Trinity).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atenism

 

For more than 250 years before Cambyses invaded Egypt, the Theban priests (in their antagonism with their counterparts of Heliopolis) demanded the help of the Cushite (Ancient Sudanese) kings of Napata, who moved to Thebes and ruled from both capitals. When Shebitqo's cousin and successor Taharqa seemed to prevail and reunify the Two Lands (this was the true name of Ancient Egypt), the Assyrians (who supported the Heliopolitan priests against the Theban and the Memphite priesthoods) understood the danger, and -finally- not only intervened but occupied and annexed Egypt (670, 669, 666 BCE).

 

The Achaemenids in Egypt (as already in Babylonia) followed/imitated the Assyrian Imperial policy. They mainly worked with the Heliopolitan priests; this practice was later reproduced by the Ptolemies. As many Ancient Greeks traveled to Memphis (in particular) to study, a bond has been formed, and this can explain to some extent how the Memphite Egyptian priests incited the Greek cities-states against the Iranians.

 

GREEKS COMMITTED A SACRILEGE, FIGHTING AGAINST THE IRANIAN EMPIRE

This issue has always been concealed by biased modern scholarship, but it is true; the Oracle of Delphi advised for the acceptance of the Iranian demands.

 

PLUTARCH, HIGH PRIEST AT DELPHI, DENOUNCED HERODOTUS' MALIGNANCY

More importantly, in his Moralia, Plutarch elaborated a 9000+ words essay to decry Herodotus' fallacious pseudo-histories. The title is 'On the Malignancy of Herodotus'.

This is a goldmine for many unbiased scholars to use in order to demolish the racist theories as per which the Ancient Greeks 'represented the civilized world' and 'saved Europe from the barbarians'. The historical truth is the exact opposite. About:

https://el.wikisource.org/wiki/Περί_της_Ηροδότου_κακοηθείας_(Πλούταρχος) 

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0352

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Malice_of_Herodotus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moralia

 

Many biased and racist academics wrote and expanded already on this topic, which certainly destroys -in and by itself- the aforementioned racist forgery; they did so in order to discredit Plutarch and preserve the Western European colonial dogma and Greco-centric model. Even worse, in Greece (where all pseudo-professors write and teach a militant version of Greco-centric bogus-History, while ostracizing all the opponents and challengers), they gave this topic to a young student to write a most partial 'dissertation' about it - probably, as they usually say, 'to defend the national standpoint'!

https://ikee.lib.auth.gr/record/133637/files/GRI-2014-11683.pdf

 

NEO-NAZI GREEKS IMPOSE THEIR DOGMA IN TODAY'S GREECE

All the same, nowadays, you can find many ignorant and racist Greeks, who -failing to adjust the Oracle of Delphi to their chauvinist and pathetic mindsets- denigrate Ancient Greece's holiest shrine as 'the Phoenician Oracle' or 'the Luciferians of Delphi'! Fabulous!! Read:

https://www.triklopodia.gr/περί-πλουτάρχου-κακοηθείας/