129-757: The history of Iran (or Persia , as it was known in the Western world) is intertwined with Greater Iran , a sociocultural region spanning from Anatolia to the Indus River and from the Caucasus to the Persian Gulf . Central to this area is modern-day Iran , which covers the bulk of the Iranian plateau . Iran is home to one of the world's oldest continuous major civilizations, with historical and urban settlements dating back to 4000 BC. The western part of
258-757: A Pan-Islamic force, in contrast to Iraq's Arab nationalism . Despite Iraq's goal of regaining the Shatt al-Arab , the Iraqi government initially seemed to welcome the Iranian Revolution , which overthrew Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi , who was seen as a common enemy. There were frequent clashes along the Iran–Iraq border throughout 1980, with Iraq publicly complaining of at least 544 incidents and Iran citing at least 797 violations of its border and airspace. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini called on Iraqis to overthrow
387-730: A casus belli to attack the Empire. After many gains, the Sassanians were defeated at Issus, Constantinople, and finally Nineveh, resulting in peace. With the conclusion of the over 700 years lasting Roman–Persian Wars through the climactic Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 , which included the very siege of the Byzantine capital of Constantinople , the war-exhausted Persians lost the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah (632) in Hilla (present-day Iraq ) to
516-577: A canal between the Nile and the Red Sea , a forerunner of the modern Suez Canal . He improved the extensive road system, and it is during his reign that mentions are first made of the Royal Road (shown on map), a great highway stretching all the way from Susa to Sardis with posting stations at regular intervals. Major reforms took place under Darius. Coinage , in the form of the daric (gold coin) and
645-586: A ceasefire brokered by the United Nations Security Council . In total, around 500,000 people were killed during the Iran–Iraq War, with Iran bearing the larger share of the casualties, excluding the tens of thousands of civilians killed in the concurrent Anfal campaign that targeted Iraqi Kurdistan . The end of the conflict resulted in neither reparations nor border changes, and the combined financial losses suffered by both combatants
774-596: A central one called Xvaniraθa- in Avesta and Xuniras in New Persian, which probably means ‘self-made, not resting on anything else’. It was equal in size to all the rest combined and surpassed them in prosperity and fortune. Originally, only Xuniras was inhabited by humans, which also hosted the "Iranian home" ( Airyō.šayana- in the Avestan) . But in the later tradition, that is, from about 620, Xuniras came to be
903-517: A few Iranian scholars and researchers such as Prof. Kazem Abhary, and Prof. Jalal Matini followed the issue. Several times since then, Iranian magazines and websites have published articles from those who agree or disagree with usage of Persia and Persian in English. There are many Iranians in the West who prefer Persia and Persian as the English names for the country and nationality, similar to
1032-929: A few number of sites in Piranshahr , Alborz and Central Iran . During this time, people began creating rock art . Early agricultural communities such as Chogha Golan in 10,000 BC along with settlements such as Chogha Bonut (the earliest village in Elam) in 8000 BC, began to flourish in and around the Zagros Mountains region in western Iran. Around about the same time, the earliest-known clay vessels and modelled human and animal terracotta figurines were produced at Ganj Dareh, also in western Iran. There are also 10,000-year-old human and animal figurines from Tepe Sarab in Kermanshah Province among many other ancient artefacts. The south-western part of Iran
1161-580: A foreign son, Perses , from whom the Persians took the name. Apparently, the Persians themselves knew the story, as Xerxes I tried to use it to suborn the Argives during his invasion of Greece, but ultimately failed to do so. In the Iranian tradition, the world is divided into seven circular regions, or karshvar s , separated from one another by forests, mountains, or water. Six of those regions flank
1290-488: A lasting impact on the dynamics of the conflict. In April 1969, Iran abrogated the 1937 treaty over the Shatt al-Arab and Iranian ships stopped paying tolls to Iraq when they used the Shatt al-Arab. The Shah argued that the 1937 treaty was unfair to Iran because almost all river borders around the world ran along the thalweg , and because most of the ships that used the Shatt al-Arab were Iranian. Iraq threatened war over
1419-675: A leading power once again. Persia's arch-rival during this time was the Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine Empire . Iran endured invasions by the Macedonians , Arabs , Turks , and Mongols . Despite these invasions, Iran continually reasserted its national identity and developed as a distinct political and cultural entity. The Muslim conquest of Persia (632–654) ended the Sasanian Empire and marked
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#17327648757351548-558: A more defensive mode". Some scholars writing prior to the opening of formerly classified Iraqi archives, such as Alistair Finlan, argued that Saddam was drawn into a conflict with Iran due to the border clashes and Iranian meddling in Iraqi domestic affairs. Finlan stated in 2003 that the Iraqi invasion was meant to be a limited operation in order to send a political message to the Iranians to keep out of Iraqi domestic affairs, whereas Kevin M. Woods and Williamson Murray stated in 2014 that
1677-611: A number of historians who see the rule of the Umayyads as setting up the "dhimmah" to increase taxes from the dhimmis to benefit the Muslim Arab community financially and by discouraging conversion. Governors lodged complaints with the caliph when he enacted laws that made conversion easier, depriving the provinces of revenues. In the 7th century, when many non-Arabs such as Persians entered Islam, they were recognized as mawali ("clients") and treated as second-class citizens by
1806-533: A period of more than 400 years, Iran was once again one of the leading powers in the world, alongside its neighbouring rival, the Roman and then Byzantine Empires . The empire's territory, at its height, encompassed all of today's Iran, Iraq , Azerbaijan , Armenia , Georgia , Abkhazia , Dagestan , Lebanon , Jordan , Palestine , Israel , parts of Afghanistan , Turkey , Syria , parts of Pakistan , Central Asia , Eastern Arabia , and parts of Egypt . Most of
1935-575: A propagandist and then to revolt on their behalf. He took Merv defeating the Umayyad governor there Nasr ibn Sayyar . He became the de facto Abbasid governor of Khurasan. During the same period, the Dabuyid ruler Khurshid declared independence from the Umayyads but was shortly forced to recognize Abbasid authority. In 750, Abu Muslim became the leader of the Abbasid army and defeated the Umayyads at
2064-582: A stretch of the Shatt al-Arab river spanning several miles. Iraq launched a full-scale invasion of Iran on 22 September 1980. The Iraqi Air Force launched surprise air strikes on ten Iranian airfields with the objective of destroying the Iranian Air Force . The attack failed to cripple the Iranian Air Force: while it damaged some of Iran's airbase infrastructure, it did not destroy a significant number of aircraft. The Iraqi Air Force
2193-532: A surprise airstrike against the Iranian air force's infrastructure prior to the main invasion. It is widely accepted among scholars that Iraq was seeking to annex, or at least to establish suzerainty over, Iran's Khuzestan province , but Saddam Hussein publicly denied this in November 1980. On 10 September 1980, Iraq forcibly reclaimed territories in Zain al-Qaws and Saif Saad that it had been promised under
2322-522: A third century AD inscription that accompanies the investiture relief of the first Sassanid king Ardashir I at Naqsh-e Rustam . In this inscription, the king's Middle Persian appellation is ardašīr šāhān šāh ērān in the Parthian language inscription that accompanies the Middle Persian one. The king is also titled ardašīr šāhān šāh aryān (Pahlavi: ... ʼryʼn ) both meaning king of kings of
2451-559: A turning point in Iranian history, leading to the Islamization of Iran from the eighth to tenth centuries and the decline of Zoroastrianism . However, the achievements of prior Persian civilizations were absorbed into the new Islamic polity. Iran suffered invasions by nomadic tribes during the Late Middle Ages and early modern period , negatively impacting the region. Iran was reunified as an independent state in 1501 by
2580-686: A unified empire of the Medes and Persians, leading to the Achaemenid Empire (c.550–330 BC). Cyrus the Great overthrew, in turn, the Median , Lydian , and Neo-Babylonian empires, creating an empire far larger than Assyria. He was better able, through more benign policies, to reconcile his subjects to Persian rule; the longevity of his empire was one result. The Persian king, like the Assyrian ,
2709-506: Is a large quantity of objects decorated with highly distinctive engravings of animals, mythological figures, and architectural motifs. The objects and their iconography are considered unique. Many are made from chlorite , a grey-green soft stone; others are in copper , bronze , terracotta , and even lapis lazuli . Recent excavations at the sites have produced the world's earliest inscription which pre-dates Mesopotamian inscriptions. There are records of numerous other ancient civilizations on
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#17327648757352838-737: Is believed to have exceeded US$ 1 trillion. There were a number of proxy forces operating for both countries: Iraq and the pro-Iraqi Arab separatist militias in Iran were most notably supported by the National Council of Resistance of Iran ; whereas Iran re-established an alliance with the Iraqi Kurds , being primarily supported by the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan . During
2967-1251: Is generally translated as the Islamic Republic of Iran in English. Other official names were Dowlat-e Aliyye-ye Irân ( Persian : دولت علیّهٔ ایران ) meaning the Sublime State of Persia and Kešvar-e Šâhanšâhi-ye Irân ( Persian : کشور شاهنشاهی ایران ) meaning Imperial State of Persia and the Imperial State of Iran after 1935. Iran-Iraq War Start of war: 110,000–215,000 soldiers KDP: 45,000 Peshmerga (1986–88) PUK: 12,000 Peshmerga (1986–88) Start of war: 200,000–210,000 soldiers KDPI: 30,000 Peshmerga (1980–83) MEK: 15,000 fighters (1981–83, 87–88) Military dead: 200,000–600,000 Military dead: 105,000–500,000 Iraqi invasion of Iran (1980) Stalemate (1981) Iranian offensives to free Iranian territory (1981–82) Iranian offensives in Iraq (1982–84) Iranian offensives in Iraq (1985–87) Final stages (1988) Tanker War International incidents The Iran–Iraq War , also known as
3096-552: Is now the official designation of Persia.") but for international purposes, Persia was the norm. In the mid 1930s, the ruler of the country, Reza Shah Pahlavi, moved towards formalising the name Iran instead of Persia for all purposes. In the British House of Commons the move was reported upon by the United Kingdom Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs as follows: On the 25th December [1934]
3225-599: The Babylonian king Nabopolassar invaded Assyria and laid siege to and eventually destroyed Nineveh , the Assyrian capital, which led to the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire . Urartu was later on conquered and dissolved as well by the Medes. The Medes are credited with founding Iran as a nation and empire, and established the first Iranian empire, the largest of its day until Cyrus the Great established
3354-614: The Battle of the Zab . Abu Muslim stormed Damascus , the capital of the Umayyad caliphate, later that year. The Abbasid army consisted primarily of Khorasanians and was led by an Iranian general, Abu Muslim Khorasani . It contained both Iranian and Arab elements, and the Abbasids enjoyed both Iranian and Arab support. The Abbasids overthrew the Umayyads in 750. According to Amir Arjomand, the Abbasid Revolution essentially marked
3483-499: The Caucasus which were not inhabited predominantly by Iranians". In Kartir 's inscriptions (written thirty years after Shapur's), the high priest includes the same regions (together with Georgia, Albania, Syria and the Pontus) in his list of provinces of the antonymic Anērān . Ērān also features in the names of the towns founded by Sassanid dynasts, for instance in Ērān-xwarrah-šābuhr "Glory of Ērān (of) Shapur". It also appears in
3612-533: The First Gulf War , was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. Active hostilities began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for nearly eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations Security Council Resolution 598 by both sides. Iraq's primary rationale for the attack against Iran cited the need to prevent Ruhollah Khomeini —who had spearheaded
3741-669: The First Persian invasion of Greece , the Persian general Mardonius re-subjugated Thrace and made Macedon a full part of Persia. The war eventually turned out in defeat, however. Darius' successor Xerxes I launched the Second Persian invasion of Greece . At a crucial moment in the war, about half of mainland Greece was overrun by the Persians, including all territories to the north of the Isthmus of Corinth , however, this
3870-504: The Iranian Revolution in 1979—from exporting the new Iranian ideology to Iraq. There were also fears among the Iraqi leadership of Saddam Hussein that Iran, a theocratic state with a population predominantly composed of Shia Muslims , would exploit sectarian tensions in Iraq by rallying Iraq's Shia majority against the Baʽathist government , which was officially secular and dominated by Sunni Muslims . Iraq also wished to replace Iran as
3999-691: The Iranian plateau before the emergence of Iranian peoples during the Early Iron Age . The Early Bronze Age saw the rise of urbanization into organized city-states and the invention of writing (the Uruk period ) in the Near East. While Bronze Age Elam made use of writing from an early time, the Proto-Elamite script remains undeciphered, and records from Sumer pertaining to Elam are scarce. Russian historian Igor M. Diakonoff stated that
History of Iran - Misplaced Pages Continue
4128-686: The Middle Paleolithic period, which mainly have been found in the Zagros region and fewer in central Iran at sites such as Kobeh, Kunji, Bisitun Cave , Tamtama, Warwasi , and Yafteh Cave. In 1949, a Neanderthal radius was discovered by Carleton S. Coon in Bisitun Cave. Evidence for Upper Paleolithic and Epipaleolithic periods are known mainly from the Zagros Mountains in the caves of Kermanshah and Khorramabad and
4257-690: The Middle Persian book of Arda Viraf refers to the invasion of Iran by Alexander the Great in 330 BC. The Proto-Iranian term for Iran is reconstructed as *Aryānām (the genitive plural of the word *Arya); the Avestan equivalent is Airyanem (as in Airyanem Vaejah ). The internal preference for "Iran" was noted in some Western reference books (e.g. the Harmsworth Encyclopaedia, circa 1907, entry for Iran: "The name
4386-601: The Neo-Assyrian Empire and its records of incursions from the Iranian plateau. As early as the 20th century BC, tribes came to the Iranian plateau from the Pontic–Caspian steppe . The arrival of Iranians on the Iranian plateau forced the Elamites to relinquish one area of their empire after another and to take refuge in Elam, Khuzestan and the nearby area, which only then became coterminous with Elam. Bahman Firuzmandi say that
4515-521: The Old Persian Pārsa – the name of the people from whom Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty emerged and over whom he first ruled (before he inherited or conquered other Iranian Kingdoms). The Pars tribe gave its name to the region where they lived (the modern day province is called Fars/Pars ), but the province in ancient times was smaller than its current area. In Latin , the name for
4644-662: The Safavid dynasty , which established Shia Islam as the empire's official religion, marking a significant turning point in the history of Islam . Iran functioned again as a leading world power, especially in rivalry with the Ottoman Empire . In the 19th century, Iran lost significant territories in the Caucasus to the Russian Empire following the Russo-Persian Wars . Iran remained a monarchy until
4773-399: The Zagros Mountains , and were able to block the traditional Tehran–Baghdad invasion route by securing territory forward of Qasr-e Shirin , Iran. On the northern front, the Iraqis attempted to establish a strong defensive position opposite Suleimaniya to protect the Iraqi Kirkuk oil complex . Iraqi hopes of an uprising by the ethnic Arabs of Khuzestan failed to materialise, as most of
4902-480: The shekel (silver coin) was standardized (coinage had already been invented over a century before in Lydia c. 660 BC but not standardized), and administrative efficiency increased. The Old Persian language appears in royal inscriptions, written in a specially adapted version of the cuneiform script . Under Cyrus the Great and Darius I , the Persian Empire eventually became the largest empire in human history up until that point, ruling and administrating over most of
5031-432: The 1979 Iranian Revolution , when it officially became an Islamic republic on 1 April 1979. Since then, Iran has experienced significant political, social, and economic changes. The establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran led to the restructuring of its political system, with Ayatollah Khomeini as the Supreme Leader. Iran's foreign relations have been shaped by the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), ongoing tensions with
5160-535: The 9th century. Shortly thereafter the real power of the Abbasid caliphs began to wane; eventually, they became religious figureheads while the warrior slaves ruled. Name of Iran Historically, Iran was commonly referred to as "Persia" in the Western world . Likewise, the modern-day ethnonym "Persian" was typically used as a demonym for all Iranian nationals, regardless of whether or not they were ethnic Persians . This terminology prevailed until 1935, when, during an international gathering for Nowruz ,
5289-543: The Armed Forces, second only to Saddam Hussein. In this position, he played a crucial role in rebuilding and modernizing the Iraqi military. Though the Iraqi air invasion surprised the Iranians, the Iranian air force retaliated the day after with a large-scale attack against Iraqi air bases and infrastructure in Operation Kaman 99 . Groups of F-4 Phantom and F-5 Tiger fighter jets attacked targets throughout Iraq, such as oil facilities, dams, petrochemical plants, and oil refineries, and included Mosul Airbase , Baghdad, and
History of Iran - Misplaced Pages Continue
5418-444: The Aryans . The gentilic ēr- and ary- in ērān and aryān derives from Old Iranian *arya- ([Old Persian] airya- , Avestan airiia- , etc.), meaning " Aryan ", in the sense of "of the Iranians". This term is attested as an ethnic designator in Achaemenid inscriptions and in Zoroastrianism's Avesta tradition, and it seems "very likely" that in Ardashir's inscription ērān still retained this meaning, denoting
5547-417: The Ba'ath government, which was received with considerable anger in Baghdad. On 17 July 1979, despite Khomeini's call, Saddam gave a speech praising the Iranian Revolution and called for an Iraqi–Iranian friendship based on non-interference in each other's internal affairs. When Khomeini rejected Saddam's overture by calling for Islamic revolution in Iraq, Saddam was alarmed. Iran's new Islamic administration
5676-435: The European Scythians around the Danube river. In 512/511 BC, Macedon became a vassal kingdom of Persia. In 499 BC, Athens lent support to a revolt in Miletus , which resulted in the sacking of Sardis . This led to an Achaemenid campaign against mainland Greece known as the Greco-Persian Wars , which lasted the first half of the 5th century BC, and is known as one of the most important wars in European history . In
5805-419: The Great (r. 712–728), managed to hold his domains during his long struggle against the Arab general Yazid ibn al-Muhallab , who was defeated by a combined Dailamite-Dabuyid army, and was forced to retreat from Tabaristan. With the death of the Umayyad Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik in 743, the Islamic world was launched into civil war. Abu Muslim was sent to Khorasan by the Abbasid Caliphate initially as
5934-452: The Iranian forms: ariya in Old Persian, airya in Avestan , ariao in Bactrian , ary in Parthian and ēr in Middle Persian. The Greeks (who had previously tended to use names related to "Median") began to use adjectives such as Pérsēs ( Πέρσης ), Persikḗ ( Περσική ) or Persís ( Περσίς ) in the fifth century BC to refer to Cyrus the Great 's empire (a word understood to mean "country"). Such words were taken from
6063-418: The Iranian king Reza Shah Pahlavi officially requested that foreign delegates begin using the endonym "Iran" in formal correspondence. Subsequently, "Iran" and "Iranian" were standardized as the terms referring to the country and its citizens, respectively. Later, in 1959, Pahlavi's son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi announced that it was appropriate to use both "Persia" and "Iran" in formal correspondence. However,
6192-429: The Iranian move, but on 24 April 1969, an Iranian tanker escorted by Iranian warships ( Joint Operation Arvand ) sailed down the Shatt al-Arab, and Iraq—being the militarily weaker state—did nothing. The Iranian abrogation of the 1937 treaty marked the beginning of a period of acute Iraqi–Iranian tension that would see significant bloodshed and was to last until the Algiers Agreement of 1975 . The relationship between
6321-429: The Iranian people, as well as by the rulers and emperors of Iran, from the time of the Avesta. Evidently from the time of the Sassanids (226–651 CE) Iranians have called it Iran , meaning the "Land of the Aryans" and Iranshahr . In Middle Persian sources, the name Arya and Iran is used for the pre-Sassanid Iranian empires as well as the Sassanid empire. As an example, the use of the name "Iran" for Achaemenids in
6450-402: The Iranian plateau participated in the traditional ancient Near East with Elam (in Ilam and Khuzestan ), Kassites (in Kuhdesht ), Gutians (in Luristan ) and later with other peoples such as the Urartians (in Oshnavieh and Sardasht ) in the southwest of Lake Urmia and Mannaeans (in Piranshahr , Saqqez and Bukan ) in the Kurdish area. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel called
6579-470: The Iranians". Notwithstanding this inscriptional use of ērān to refer to the Iranian peoples , the use of ērān to refer to the empire (and the antonymic anērān to refer to the Roman territories) is also attested by the early Sassanid period. Both ērān and anērān appear in 3rd century calendrical text written by Mani . In an inscription of Ardashir's son and immediate successor, Shapur I "apparently includes in Ērān regions such as Armenia and
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#17327648757356708-416: The Iraqi advance, though not completely halting it. Meanwhile, Iraqi air attacks on Iran were repelled by Iran's F-14A Tomcat interceptor fighter jets, using AIM-54A Phoenix missiles, which downed a dozen of Iraq's Soviet-built fighters in the first two days of battle. The Iranian regular military, police forces, volunteer Basij, and Revolutionary Guards all conducted their operations separately; thus,
6837-487: The Iraqi invading forces did not face coordinated resistance. However, on 24 September, the Iranian Navy attacked Basra , Iraq, destroying two oil terminals near the Iraqi port of Al-Faw , which reduced Iraq's ability to export oil. The Iranian ground forces, primarily consisting of the Revolutionary Guard, retreated to the cities, where they set up defences against the invaders. On 30 September, Iran's air force launched Operation Scorch Sword , striking and badly damaging
6966-439: The Iraqis had were over the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (formerly the Imperial Iranian Air Force ). Despite the purge of several key pilots and commanders, as well as the lack of spare parts, the air force showed its power during local uprisings and rebellions. They were also active after the failed U.S. attempt to rescue its hostages , Operation Eagle Claw . Based on these observations, Iraq's leaders decided to carry out
7095-419: The Iraqis. They were subordinate to the Revolutionary Guards, and they made up most of the manpower that was used in the Revolutionary Guard's attacks. Stephen Pelletiere wrote in his 1992 book The Iran–Iraq War: Chaos in a Vacuum : The human wave has been largely misconstrued both by the popular media in the West and by many scholars. The Iranians did not merely assemble masses of individuals, point them at
7224-479: The Kirkuk oil refinery. Iraq was taken by surprise at the strength of the retaliation, which caused the Iraqis heavy losses and economic disruption, but the Iranians took heavy losses as well as losing many aircraft and aircrews to Iraqi air defenses. Iranian Army Aviation 's AH-1 Cobra helicopter gunships began attacks on the advancing Iraqi divisions, along with F-4 Phantoms armed with AGM-65 Maverick missiles; they destroyed numerous armoured vehicles and impeded
7353-526: The Parthian cavalry was most notably feared by the Roman soldiers, which proved pivotal in the crushing Roman defeat at the Battle of Carrhae . On the other hand, the Parthians found it difficult to occupy conquered areas as they were unskilled in siege warfare. Because of these weaknesses, neither the Romans nor the Parthians were able completely to annex each other's territory. The Parthian empire subsisted for five centuries, longer than most Eastern Empires. The end of this empire came at last in 224 AD, when
7482-523: The Persian Ministry for Foreign Affairs addressed a circular memorandum to the Foreign Diplomatic Missions in Tehran requesting that the terms "Iran" and "Iranian" might be used in official correspondence and conversation as from the next 21st March, instead of the words "Persia" and "Persian" hitherto in current use. His Majesty's Minister in Tehran has been instructed to accede to this request. The decree of Reza Shah Pahlavi affecting nomenclature duly took effect on 21 March 1935. To avoid confusion between
7611-473: The Persians the "first Historical People". The Iranian empire began in the Iron Age with the rise of the Medes , who unified Iran as a nation and empire in 625 BC. The Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BC), founded by Cyrus the Great , was the largest empire the world had seen, spanning from the Balkans to North Africa and Central Asia . They were succeeded by the Seleucid , Parthian , and Sasanian empires, who governed Iran for almost 1,000 years, making Iran
7740-433: The Roman Empire. During this time, the Sassanian and Romano-Byzantine armies clashed for influence in Anatolia, the western Caucasus (mainly Lazica and the Kingdom of Iberia ; modern-day Georgia and Abkhazia ), Mesopotamia , Armenia and the Levant. Under Justinian I, the war came to an uneasy peace with payment of tribute to the Sassanians. However, the Sasanians used the deposition of the Byzantine emperor Maurice as
7869-453: The Romans at the Battle of Edessa in 260 and took emperor Valerian prisoner for the remainder of his life. Eastern Arabia was conquered early on. During Khosrow II 's rule in 590–628, Egypt , Jordan , Palestine and Lebanon were also annexed to the Empire. The Sassanians called their empire Erânshahr ("Dominion of the Aryans", i.e., of Iranians ). A chapter of Iran's history followed after roughly six hundred years of conflict with
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#17327648757357998-409: The Sasanian Empire and led to the eventual decline of the Zoroastrian religion in Persia. Over time, the majority of Iranians converted to Islam. Most of the aspects of the previous Persian civilizations were not discarded but were absorbed by the new Islamic polity. As Bernard Lewis has commented: "These events have been variously seen in Iran: by some as a blessing, the advent of the true faith,
8127-405: The Sasanian Empire's lifespan was overshadowed by the frequent Byzantine–Sasanian wars , a continuation of the Roman–Parthian Wars and the all-comprising Roman–Persian Wars ; the last was the longest-lasting conflict in human history. Started in the first century BC by their predecessors, the Parthians, and Romans, the last Roman–Persian War was fought in the seventh century. The Persians defeated
8256-643: The Sasanian throne under the two prominent generals Bahrām Chōbin and Shahrbaraz , it remained loyal to the Sasanians during their struggle against the Arabs, but the Mihrans were eventually betrayed and defeated by their own kinsmen, the House of Ispahbudhan , under their leader Farrukhzad , who had mutinied against Yazdegerd III. Yazdegerd III fled from one district to another until a local miller killed him for his purse at Merv in 651. By 674, Muslims had conquered Greater Khorasan (which included modern Iranian Khorasan province and modern Afghanistan and parts of Transoxiana ). The Muslim conquest of Persia ended
8385-423: The Sassanian Persians into the broader Muslim world. In 633, when the Sasanian king Yazdegerd III was ruling over Iran, the Muslims under Umar invaded the country right after it had been in a bloody civil war. Several Iranian nobles and families such as king Dinar of the House of Karen , and later Kanarangiyans of Khorasan , mutinied against their Sasanian overlords. Although the House of Mihran had claimed
8514-400: The Soviet Union and France. Between 1973 and 1980 alone, Iraq purchased an estimated 1,600 tanks and APCs and over 200 Soviet-made aircraft. By 1980, Iraq possessed 242,000 soldiers, second only to Egypt in the Arab world, 2,350 tanks and 340 combat aircraft. Watching the disintegration of the powerful Iranian army that frustrated him in 1974–1975, he saw an opportunity to attack, using
8643-537: The United States, and its nuclear program, which has been a point of contention in international diplomacy. Despite economic sanctions and internal challenges, Iran remains a key player in Middle Eastern and global geopolitics. The earliest archaeological artifacts in Iran were found in the Kashafrud and Ganj Par sites that are thought to date back to 10,000 years ago in the Middle Paleolithic. Mousterian stone tools made by Neanderthals have also been found. There are more cultural remains of Neanderthals dating back to
8772-442: The army being more integrated as a part of the regime by the war's end. Meanwhile, a new paramilitary organisation gained prominence in Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps . Created to protect the new regime and serve as a counterbalance to the army, the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) had been trained to act only as a militia and struggled to adapt as needed following the Iraqi invasion, initially refusing to fight alongside
8901-495: The army. These purges resulted in a drastic decline in the Iranian military's operational capacities. On the eve of the revolution in 1978, international experts in military science had assessed that Iran's armed forces were the fifth most powerful in the world. However, by the eve of war with Iraq, the recently formidable Iranian army was in many crucial ways a shell of its former self, having been badly weakened by losses in experienced personnel. The desertion rate had reached 60%,
9030-491: The balance of evidence suggests Saddam was seeking "a convenient excuse for war" in 1980. On 8 March 1980, Iran announced it was withdrawing its ambassador from Iraq, downgraded its diplomatic ties to the charge d'affaires level, and demanded that Iraq do the same. The following day, Iraq declared Iran's ambassador persona non grata , and demanded his withdrawal from Iraq by 15 March. In Iran, severe officer purges, including numerous executions ordered by Sadegh Khalkhali ,
9159-444: The central Ērānšahr . The exonym Persia was the official name of Iran in the Western world before March 1935, but the Iranian peoples inside their country since the time of Zoroaster (probably circa 1000 BC), or even before, have called their country Arya , Iran , Iranshahr , Iranzamin (Land of Iran), Aryānām (the equivalent of Iran in the proto-Iranian language) or its equivalents. The term Arya has been used by
9288-669: The conflict, Iraq received an abundance of financial, political, and logistical aid from the United States , the United Kingdom , the Soviet Union , France , Italy , Yugoslavia , and the overwhelming majority of Arab countries . While Iran was comparatively isolated to a large degree, it received a significant amount of aid from Syria , Libya , China , North Korea , Israel , Pakistan , and South Yemen . The conflict has been compared to World War I in terms of
9417-550: The crossing points around the Karkheh and Karoun Rivers were undermanned and that the rivers could be easily crossed. Iraqi intelligence was also informed that the Iranian forces in Khuzestan Province , which consisted of two divisions prior to the revolution, now only consisted of several ill-equipped and under-strength battalions . Only a handful of company -sized tank units remained operational. The only qualms
9546-409: The eastern bank of the Shatt al-Arab that it had ceded to Iran in the 1975 Algiers Agreement . Iraqi support for Arab separatists in Iran increased following the outbreak of hostilities; Saddam disputedly may have wished to annex Iran's Arab-majority Khuzestan province . While the Iraqi leadership had hoped to take advantage of Iran's post-revolutionary chaos and expected a decisive victory in
9675-722: The empire's organization had loosened and the last king was defeated by one of the empire's vassal peoples, the Persians under the Sasanians. However, the Arsacid dynasty continued to exist for centuries onwards in Armenia , the Iberia , and the Caucasian Albania , which were all eponymous branches of the dynasty. The first shah of the Sasanian Empire, Ardashir I , started reforming the country economically and militarily. For
9804-612: The empire's territorial borders, reaching as far as Western Europe, Africa, China and India and also playing a prominent role in the formation of both European and Asiatic medieval art. This influence carried forward to the Muslim world . The dynasty's unique and aristocratic culture transformed the Islamic conquest and destruction of Iran into a Persian Renaissance. Much of what later became known as Islamic culture, architecture, writing, and other contributions to civilization, were taken from
9933-468: The empire. The city of Baghdad was constructed on the Tigris River , in 762, to serve as the new Abbasid capital. The Abbasids established the position of vizier like Barmakids in their administration, which was the equivalent of a "vice-caliph", or second-in-command. Eventually, this change meant that many caliphs under the Abbasids ended up in a much more ceremonial role than ever before, with
10062-575: The end of the Arab empire and the beginning of a more inclusive, multi-ethnic state in the Middle East. One of the first changes the Abbasids made after taking power from the Umayyads was to move the empire's capital from Damascus , in the Levant , to Iraq . The latter region was influenced by Persian history and culture, and moving the capital was part of the Persian mawali demand for Arab influence in
10191-641: The end of the age of ignorance and heathenism; by others as a humiliating national defeat, the conquest and subjugation of the country by foreign invaders. Both perceptions are of course valid, depending on one's angle of vision." After the fall of the Sasanian Empire in 651, the Arabs of the Umayyad Caliphate adopted many Persian customs, especially the administrative and the court mannerisms. Arab provincial governors were undoubtedly either Persianized Arameans or ethnic Persians; certainly Persian remained
10320-422: The enemy, and order a charge. The waves were made up of the 22-man squads mentioned above [in response to Khomeini's call for the people to come to Iran's defense, each mosque organized 22 volunteers into a squad]. Each squad was assigned a specific objective. In battle, they would surge forward to accomplish their missions, and thus gave the impression of a human wave pouring against enemy lines. Despite neglect by
10449-474: The establishment of the ancient Sumerian city of Uruk in 4500 BC. The general perception among archaeologists is that Susa was an extension of the Sumerian city-state of Uruk , hence incorporating many aspects of Mesopotamian culture. In its later history, Susa became the capital of Elam, which emerged as a state founded 4000 BC. There are also dozens of prehistoric sites across the Iranian plateau pointing to
10578-420: The ethnic Arabs remained loyal to Iran. The Iraqi troops advancing into Iran in 1980 were described by Patrick Brogan as "badly led and lacking in offensive spirit". The first known chemical weapons attack by Iraq on Iran probably took place during the fighting around Susangerd. Adnan Khayr Allah served as Iraqi Minister of Defence throughout the Iran–Iraq War, and was appointed Deputy Supreme Commander of
10707-519: The existence of ancient cultures and urban settlements in the fourth millennium BC. One of the earliest civilizations on the Iranian plateau was the Jiroft culture in southeastern Iran in the province of Kerman . It is one of the most artefact-rich archaeological sites in the Middle East. Archaeological excavations in Jiroft led to the discovery of several objects belonging to the 4th millennium BC. There
10836-568: The face of a severely weakened Iran, the Iraqi military only made progress for three months, and by December 1980, the Iraqi invasion had stalled. The Iranian military began to gain momentum against the Iraqis and regained all lost territory by June 1982. After pushing Iraqi forces back to the pre-war border lines, Iran rejected United Nations Security Council Resolution 514 and launched an invasion of Iraq. The subsequent Iranian offensive within Iraqi territory lasted for five years, with Iraq taking back
10965-402: The four Iraqi divisions, one mechanised and one armoured, operated near the southern end and began a siege of the strategically important port cities of Abadan and Khorramshahr . The two armoured divisions secured the territory bounded by the cities of Khorramshahr , Ahvaz , Susangerd , and Musian . On the central front, the Iraqis occupied Mehran , advanced towards the foothills of
11094-534: The governments of Iran and Iraq briefly improved in 1978, when Iranian agents in Iraq discovered plans for a pro-Soviet coup d'état against Iraq's government. When informed of this plot, Saddam ordered the execution of dozens of his army's officers, and in a sign of reconciliation, expelled from Iraq Ruhollah Khomeini , an exiled leader of clerical opposition to the Shah. Tensions between Iraq and Iran were fuelled by Iran's Islamic revolution and its appearance of being
11223-466: The hypothetical Zayandeh River Culture . Parts of what is modern-day northwestern Iran was part of the Kura–Araxes culture (circa 3400 BC—ca. 2000 BC), that stretched up into the neighbouring regions of the Caucasus and Anatolia . Susa is one of the oldest-known settlements of Iran and the world. Based on C14 dating, the time of the foundation of the city is as early as 4395 BC, a time right after
11352-492: The initiative in mid-1988 and subsequently launching a series of major counter-offensives that ultimately led to the conclusion of the war in a stalemate. The eight years of war-exhaustion, economic devastation, decreased morale, military stalemate, inaction by the international community towards the use of weapons of mass destruction by Iraqi forces on Iranian soldiers and civilians , as well as increasing Iran–United States military tensions all culminated in Iran's acceptance of
11481-565: The invading Muslim forces. The Sasanian era, encompassing the length of Late Antiquity , is considered to be one of the most important and influential historical periods in Iran, and had a major impact on the world. In many ways, the Sassanian period witnessed the highest achievement of Persian civilization and constitutes the last great Iranian Empire before the adoption of Islam. Persia influenced Roman civilization considerably during Sassanian times, their cultural influence extending far beyond
11610-592: The issue is still debated among Iranians. A variety of scholars from the Middle Ages , such as the Persian polymath Al-Biruni , also used terms like " Xuniras " ( Avestan : Xvaniraθa- , transl. "self-made, not resting on anything else" ) to refer to Iran: "which is the center of the world, [...] and it is the one wherein we are, and the kings called it the Iranian realm ." The Modern Persian word Īrān ( ایران ) derives immediately from Middle Persian Ērān ( Pahlavi spelling: ʼyrʼn ), attested in
11739-533: The language of official business of the caliphate until the adoption of Arabic toward the end of the seventh century, when in 692 minting began at the capital, Damascus . The new Islamic coins evolved from imitations of Sasanian coins (as well as Byzantine ), and the Pahlavi script on the coinage was replaced with Arabic alphabet . During the Umayyad Caliphate, the Arab conquerors imposed Arabic as
11868-536: The modern inhabitants of Iran are descendants of mainly non-Indo-European groups, more specifically of pre-Iranic inhabitants of the Iranian Plateau: "It is the autochthones of the Iranian plateau, and not the Proto-Indo-European tribes of Europe, which are, in the main, the ancestors, in the physical sense of the word, of the present-day Iranians." Records become more tangible with the rise of
11997-426: The new Revolutionary Court judge, and shortages of spare parts for Iran's American and British-made equipment had crippled Iran's once-mighty military . Between February and September 1979, Iran's government executed 85 senior generals and forced all major-generals and most brigadier-generals into early retirement. By September 1980, the revolutionary government had purged some 12,000 officers of all levels from
12126-437: The new government's downfall, or at least end Iran's calls for his overthrow. Of Iraq's six divisions that invaded by ground, four were sent to Khuzestan, which was located near the border's southern end, to cut off the Shatt al-Arab from the rest of Iran and to establish a territorial security zone. The other two divisions invaded across the northern and central part of the border to prevent an Iranian counter-attack. Two of
12255-487: The new regime, at the outset of the conflict, Iran still had at least 1,000 operational tanks and several hundred functional aircraft and could cannibalize equipment to procure spare parts. Continuous sanctions greatly limited Iran from acquiring many additional heavy weapons, including tanks and aircraft. In addition, the area around the Shatt al-Arab posed no obstacle for the Iraqis, as they possessed river crossing equipment. Iraq correctly deduced that Iran's defences at
12384-416: The officer corps was devastated and its most highly skilled soldiers and aviators had been exiled, imprisoned, or executed. When the invasion occurred, many pilots and officers were released from prison, or had their executions commuted to combat the Iraqis. Throughout the war, Iran never managed to fully recover from this flight of human capital . Many junior officers were promoted to generals, resulting in
12513-634: The people rather than the empire. The name "Iran" is first attested in the Avesta as airyānąm (the text of which is composed in Avestan , an old Iranian language spoken in the northeastern part of Greater Iran , or in what are now Afghanistan , Turkmenistan , and Tajikistan ). It reappears in the Achaemenid period where the Elamite version of the Behistun Inscription twice mentions Ahura Mazda as nap harriyanam "the god of
12642-525: The popular name for the region in Muslim literature. They also used Bilād Ajam ( Arabic : بلاد عجم ) as an equivalent or synonym to "Persia". The Turks also used this term, but adapted to Iranian (specifically, Persian ) language form as "Bilad (Belaad) e Ajam ". A Greek folk etymology connected the name to Perseus , a legendary character in Greek mythology . Herodotus recounts this story, devising
12771-475: The power player in the Persian Gulf , which was not seen as an achievable objective prior to the Islamic Revolution because of Pahlavi Iran 's economic and military superiority as well as its close relationships with the United States and Israel . The Iran–Iraq War followed a long-running history of territorial border disputes between the two states , as a result of which Iraq planned to retake
12900-482: The primary language of the subject peoples throughout their empire. Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf , who was not happy with the prevalence of the Persian language in the divan , ordered the official language of the conquered lands to be replaced by Arabic, sometimes by force. In al-Biruni 's From The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries for example it is written: "When Qutaibah bin Muslim under the command of Al-Hajjaj bin Yousef
13029-444: The region. For over 150 years Assyrian kings of nearby Northern Mesopotamia had been wanting to conquer Median tribes of Western Iran. Under pressure from Assyria, the small kingdoms of the western Iranian plateau coalesced into increasingly larger and more centralized states. In the second half of the seventh century BC, the Medes gained their independence and were united by Deioces . In 612 BC, Cyaxares , Deioces ' grandson, and
13158-593: The regular army, resulting in many defeats. It was not until 1982 that the two groups began carrying out combined operations. An additional paramilitary militia was founded in response to the invasion, the "Army of 20 Million", commonly known as the Basij . The Basij were poorly armed and had members as young as 12 and as old as 70. They often acted in conjunction with the Revolutionary Guard, launching so-called human wave attacks and other campaigns against
13287-410: The ruling Arab elite until the end of the Umayyad Caliphate. During this era, Islam was initially associated with the ethnic identity of the Arab and required formal association with an Arab tribe and the adoption of the client status of mawali . The half-hearted policies of the late Umayyads to tolerate non-Arab Muslims and Shias had failed to quell unrest among these minorities. However, all of Iran
13416-499: The same as Iran itself, with known countries such as the Roman Empire and China surrounding it. The Abu-Mansuri Shahnameh describes Xuniras as such: "(and) the seventh, which is the center of the world, Xuniras-e bāmi (splendid Xuniras ), and it is the one wherein we are, and the kings called it the Iranian realm/ Ērānšahr ." Another scheme of the seven regions of the world is reported by Abu Rayhan Biruni , who similarly arranges known nations into six connectedcircles surrounding
13545-623: The southern Iranians might be intermixed with the Elamite peoples living in the plateau. By the mid-first millennium BC, Medes , Persians , and Parthians populated the Iranian plateau. Until the rise of the Medes, they all remained under Assyrian domination, like the rest of the Near East . In the first half of the first millennium BC, parts of what is now Iranian Azerbaijan were incorporated into Urartu . In 646 BC, Assyrian king Ashurbanipal sacked Susa , which ended Elamite supremacy in
13674-592: The successful Greek repelling of the Second Invasion with numerous Greek city-states under the Athens' newly formed Delian League , which eventually ended with the peace of Callias in 449 BC, ending the Greco-Persian Wars. In 404 BC, following the death of Darius II , Egypt rebelled under Amyrtaeus . Later pharaohs successfully resisted Persian attempts to reconquer Egypt until 343 BC, when Egypt
13803-633: The summer of 1959, following concerns that the native name had, as Mohammad Ali Foroughi put it, "turned a known into an unknown", a committee was formed, led by noted scholar Ehsan Yarshater , to consider the issue again. They recommended a reversal of the 1935 decision, and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi approved this. However, the implementation of the proposal was weak, simply allowing Persia and Iran to be used interchangeably. Today, both terms are common; Persia mostly in historical and cultural contexts, "Iran" mostly in political contexts. In recent years most exhibitions of Persian history, culture and art in
13932-599: The supposed "wrong" of the Algiers Agreement , in addition to finally achieving his desire of becoming the regional superpower. Saddam's goal was to supplant Egypt as the "leader of the Arab world" and to achieve hegemony over the Persian Gulf. He saw Iran's increased weakness due to revolution, sanctions, and international isolation. Saddam had invested heavily in Iraq's military since his defeat against Iran in 1975, buying large amounts of weaponry from
14061-504: The tactics used by both sides, including large-scale trench warfare with barbed wire stretched across fortified defensive lines, manned machine-gun posts, bayonet charges , Iranian human wave attacks , Iraq's extensive use of chemical weapons , and deliberate attacks on civilian targets. The discourses on martyrdom formulated in the Iranian Shia Islamic context led to the widespread usage of human wave attacks and thus had
14190-410: The terms of the 1975 Algiers Agreement but that Iran had never handed over, leading to both Iran and Iraq declaring the treaty null and void, on 14 September and 17 September, respectively. As a result, the only outstanding border dispute between Iran and Iraq at the time of the Iraqi invasion of 22 September was the question of whether Iranian ships would fly Iraqi flags and pay Iraq navigation fees for
14319-527: The then known world, as well as spanning the continents of Europe , Asia, and Africa. The greatest achievement was the empire itself. The Persian Empire represented the world's first superpower that was based on a model of tolerance and respect for other cultures and religions. In the late sixth century BC, Darius launched his European campaign, in which he defeated the Paeonians , conquered Thrace , and subdued all coastal Greek cities, as well as defeating
14448-585: The threat of Islamic Revolution as a pretext. Iraqi military intelligence reported in July 1980 that despite Iran's bellicose rhetoric, "it is clear that, at present, Iran has no power to launch wide offensive operations against Iraq, or to defend on a large scale." Days before the Iraqi invasion and in the midst of rapidly escalating cross-border skirmishes, Iraqi military intelligence again reiterated on 14 September that "the enemy deployment organization does not indicate hostile intentions and appears to be taking on
14577-537: The titles of government officers, such as in Ērān-āmārgar "Accountant-General (of) Ērān " or Ērān-dibirbed "Chief Scribe (of) Ērān ". The term Iranian appears in ancient texts with diverse variations. This includes Arioi ( Herodotus ), Arianē ( Eratosthenes apud Strabo ), áreion ( Eudemus of Rhodes apud Damascius ), Arianoi ( Diodorus Siculus ) in Greek and Ari in Armenian ; those, in turn, come from
14706-886: The two neighboring countries of Iran and Iraq , which were both involved in WWII and occupied by the Allies, Winston Churchill requested from the Iranian government during the Tehran Conference for the old and distinct name "Persia to be used by the United Nations [i.e., the Allies] for the duration of the common War". His request was approved immediately by the Iranian Foreign Ministry. The Americans, however, continued using Iran as they then had little involvement in Iraq to cause any such confusion. In
14835-518: The usage of La Perse/persan in French . According to Hooman Majd , the popularity of the term Persia among the Iranian diaspora stems from the fact that " 'Persia' connotes a glorious past they would like to be identified with, while 'Iran' since 1979 revolution … says nothing to the world but Islamic fundamentalism ." Since 1 April 1979, the official name of the Iranian state is Jomhuri-ye Eslâmi-ye Irân ( Persian : جمهوری اسلامی ایران ), which
14964-568: The vizier in real power. A new Persian bureaucracy began to replace the old Arab aristocracy, and the entire administration reflected these changes, demonstrating that the new dynasty was different in many ways from the Umayyads. By the 9th century, Abbasid control began to wane as regional leaders sprang up in the far corners of the empire to challenge the central authority of the Abbasid caliphate. The Abbasid caliphs began enlisting mamluks , Turkic-speaking warriors, who had been moving out of Central Asia into Transoxiana as slave warriors as early as
15093-624: The whole empire was Persia , while the Iranians knew it as Iran or Iranshahr . In the later parts of the Bible , where this kingdom is frequently mentioned (Books of Esther , Daniel , Ezra and Nehemiah ), it is called Paras ( Biblical Hebrew : פרס ), or sometimes Paras u Madai ( פרס ומדי ), ("Persia and Media "). The Arabs likewise referred to Iran and the Persian (Sassanian) Empire as Bilād Fāris ( Arabic : بلاد فارس ), in other words "Lands of Persia", which would become
15222-786: The world have used the exonym Persia (e.g., "Forgotten Empire; Ancient Persia", British Museum; "7000 Years of Persian Art", Vienna, Berlin; and "Persia; Thirty Centuries of Culture and Art", Amsterdam). In 2006, the largest collection of historical maps of Iran, entitled Historical Maps of Persia , was published in the Netherlands. In the 1980s, Professor Ehsan Yarshater (editor of the Encyclopædia Iranica ) started to publish articles on this matter (in both English and Persian ) in Rahavard Quarterly , Pars Monthly , Iranian Studies Journal , etc. After him,
15351-540: Was also " King of Kings ", xšāyaθiya xšāyaθiyānām ( shāhanshāh in modern Persian) – "great king", Megas Basileus , as known by the Greeks . Cyrus's son, Cambyses II , conquered the last major power of the region, ancient Egypt , causing the collapse of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt . Since he became ill and died before, or while, leaving Egypt , stories developed, as related by Herodotus , that he
15480-625: Was also turned out in a Greek victory, following the battles of Plataea and Salamis , by which Persia lost its footholds in Europe, and eventually withdrew from it. During the Greco-Persian wars, the Persians gained major territorial advantages. They captured and razed Athens twice , once in 480 BC and again in 479 BC. However, after a string of Greek victories the Persians were forced to withdraw, thus losing control of Macedonia , Thrace and Ionia . Fighting continued for several decades after
15609-405: Was only able to strike in depth with a few MiG-23BN , Tu-22 , and Su-20 aircraft, and Iran had built hardened aircraft shelters where most of its combat aircraft were stored. The next day, Iraq launched a ground invasion, mounting three simultaneous attacks along a 644 km (400 mi) front. Saddam hoped an attack on Iran would cause such a blow to Iran's prestige that it would lead to
15738-726: Was part of the Fertile Crescent where most of humanity's first major crops were grown, in villages such as Susa (where a settlement was first founded possibly as early as 4395 cal BC) and settlements such as Chogha Mish , dating back to 6800 BC; there are 7,000-year-old jars of wine excavated in the Zagros Mountains (now on display at the University of Pennsylvania ) and ruins of 7000-year-old settlements such as Tepe Sialk are further testament to that. The two main Neolithic Iranian settlements were Ganj Dareh and
15867-464: Was reconquered by Artaxerxes III . From 334 BC to 331 BC, Alexander the Great defeated Darius III in the battles of Granicus , Issus and Gaugamela , swiftly conquering the Persian Empire by 331 BC. Alexander's empire broke up shortly after his death, and Alexander's general, Seleucus I Nicator , tried to take control of Iran, Mesopotamia , and later Syria and Anatolia . His empire
15996-504: Was regarded in Baghdad as an irrational, existential threat to the Ba'ath government, especially because the Ba'ath party, having a secular nature, discriminated against and posed a threat to the fundamentalist Shia movement in Iraq, whose clerics were Iran's allies within Iraq and whom Khomeini saw as oppressed. Saddam's primary interest in war may have also stemmed from his desire to right
16125-487: Was sent to Khwarazmia with a military expedition and conquered it for the second time, he swiftly killed whoever wrote the Khwarazmian native language that knew of the Khwarazmian heritage, history, and culture. He then killed all their Zoroastrian priests and burned and wasted their books, until gradually the illiterate only remained, who knew nothing of writing, and hence their history was mostly forgotten." There are
16254-605: Was still not under Arab control, and the region of Daylam was under the control of the Daylamites , while Tabaristan was under Dabuyid and Paduspanid control, and the Mount Damavand region under Masmughans of Damavand . The Arabs had invaded these regions several times but achieved no decisive result because of the inaccessible terrain of the regions. The most prominent ruler of the Dabuyids, known as Farrukhan
16383-513: Was struck down for impiety against the ancient Egyptian deities . After the death of Cambyses II, Darius ascended the throne by overthrowing the legitimate Achaemenid monarch Bardiya , and then quelling rebellions throughout his kingdom. As the winner, Darius I , based his claim on membership in a collateral line of the Achaemenid Empire. Darius' first capital was at Susa, and he started the building program at Persepolis . He rebuilt
16512-715: Was the Seleucid Empire . He was killed in 281 BC by Ptolemy Keraunos . The Parthian Empire —ruled by the Parthians, a group of northwestern Iranian people—was the realm of the Arsacid dynasty. This latter reunited and governed the Iranian plateau after the Parni conquest of Parthia and defeating the Seleucid Empire in the late third century BC. It intermittently controlled Mesopotamia between c. 150 BC and 224 AD and absorbed Eastern Arabia . Parthia
16641-524: Was the eastern arch-enemy of the Roman Empire and it limited Rome's expansion beyond Cappadocia (central Anatolia). The Parthian armies included two types of cavalry : the heavily armed and armored cataphracts and the lightly armed but highly-mobile mounted archers . For the Romans, who relied on heavy infantry , the Parthians were too hard to defeat, as both types of cavalry were much faster and more mobile than foot soldiers. The Parthian shot used by
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