Posted on 01/08/2020 1:54:01 PM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
A world of ancient mystery is located in Iran, with some sites dating back over 7,000 years, far before the civilization of the Persian Empire and its capital, Persepolis. This archaeological site is the number one tourist destination in the country, and with good reason. Culture Trip takes a look into why this forgotten empire is one of the greatest wonders of the ancient world.
Persepolis is no doubt the main attraction that lures tourists to Iran. Located about 70 kilometers (43.5 miles) outside of the modern city of Shiraz, these ancient ruins served as the capital of the Persian Empire, which spanned across Northern Africa, India, and southern Europe at the height of its power between 500 and 350 BC. Referred to locally as Takht-e Jamshid and established by King Cyrus the Great in the 6th century BC and finished by his son Cambyses II and grandson Darius over the course of 150 years, Persepolis means city of Persians. The architecture was to be indicative of its supremacy; therefore, buildings such as the Imperial Treasury, Apadana Palace, and others were constructed. It was so great, in fact, that its splendor continues to act as a model for present-day architecture, as seen in Kish Islands Darius Grand Hotel and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tehran.
Today, however, Persepolis is a mere shadow of its former self. The grand staircases and remaining colonnades of Tachara Palace (the oldest palace) are among the most intact parts. The Hall of 100 Columns once stood with towering wooden pillars, but the only evidence of them which remains at present is the stone bases. The most complete remnants are on display in several museums throughout Europe and North America, but as valuable as their insight may be, they cant begin to capture the magnitude or surreal feeling that one gets by actually walking on these ancient grounds and becoming part of the past.
Bas-reliefs are among the highlights of this archaeological wonder. Lotus flowers and cypress trees frequently appear throughout the site. Other notable carvings represent nobles, dignitaries, and envoys of Ethiopian, Tajik, Indian, Egyptian, and Armenian nationalities, among others, who visited the capital bearing tributes for the King of Kings. Every detail of their face, hair, curly beards, and clothes is both mind-boggling and connected to the present in appearance.
Persepolis is not only a symbol of Iran, but its significance and grandeur are embedded in the psyche of Iranian people today. For this population, its not just ruins of a forgotten empire. Its the place where the Cyrus Cylinder, the first charter of human rights that expressed tolerance and equality for all religions, races, and languages, was recorded. (It is now in the British Museum). Despite the negative attention Iran receives in mass media, Persepolis continues to act as a reminder of one of the most powerful empires and is a source of pride for Iranians who remember that they are descendants of these past great leaders and this most civil of ancient civilizations. You could even say that it serves as an aspiration for Iran to once again become a model society and rise to the top.
I don’t think the Greeks description of the Persians was wrong but that movie was awful.
The Greeks did beat the crap out of them in war tho. From Marathon, Salamis Plataea, to Granicus, Arbela, and the 10,000 Greek mercenaries under Xenophon who was voted co-commander after the Persians treacherously murdered the Greek commanders under a flag of truce.
The book of Daniel also tells of the Greeks prophesied conquest of Persia.
According to Islam nothing important happened before Mo’s revelations. All that’s “cultural to them came after. Almost all (I’ll grant the Taj an exception yet its loving creator was locked up by his more devoutly islamic son for building it) that we deem worth protecting for cultural reasons came before. So leaving be whatever pre-islamic cultural sites they haven’t already destroyed and taking out whatever post-islamic “cultural” sites squares Trump’s and our circle.
Persepolis is not a cultural icon of theocratic Islamic Iran.
Frankly, I’m astounded cultural sites that predate the “revolution” survive at all.
I don’t agree with hitting cultural sites with that said I did not see anyone caring about our cultural sites in 2001...I understand we are a young nation but still.
God raises up kings and kingdoms. And He is the one who numbers their days.
It might look like an earthquake, or an enemy caused the downfall, etc. But God is in ultimate control.
It would be good if all Trumpers and never-Trumpers and Trump-agnostics knew (remembered) this.
The people who hit our ‘cultural site’ don’t give a damn about ‘culture’.
Neither did - nor do - their sponsors.
Seriously?
Most of the countries in the world expressed expressed outrage and solidarity with the US.
I meant the ones who attacked us and the places they chose to hit...I know people around the world cared about us getting attacked.
I can relate. I have great respect for the American people and utter disdain for our criminal government.
Thanks a fool in paradise.
DJT used the phrase “cultural sites” because the Iranians have declared some of their nuclear reactor and nuclear research sites “cultural sites” - it was a message to the mullahs that even those would disappear in the 30 minutes it would take to utterly destroy all tactical and strategic sites in Iran, including its navy.
He said they would be valid targets - never said he was targeting them.
It also pointed out how many terror groups have destroyed the cultural sites of so many others.
He trolls so good he picks up a lot of fringe along the way.
the mooselimbs hide their missiles next to hospitals and day care centers.
Fascinating! Thanks for the posting; I wish I had the time to dig deeper. I am fascinated with 'prehistoric' societies. The old myth that Sumer began civilized societies - a complex urban structure that just mysteriously exploded out of the Mesopotamian desert - is dissolving, opening completely new vistas.
It is not really relevant whether the ancient Persians respected other cultures (they did not, in the modern sense). We live in a post-Enlightenment world, and we abide by our prevailing laws, not those of ancient peoples.
Sumeria gets the nod because it produced the earliest writing system that can be read (more later if desired). Samuel Noah Kramer noted that the names for the major rivers and even the cities in Sumer didn’t have Sumerian names, but thanks to the characteristics of cuneiform (which the Sumerians did invent) and a cultural quirk (they believed that cities were never founded by humans, but by the gods), they preserved tiny bits in transliterations of otherwise vanished languages.
By their own account, the Sumerians arrived by sea. They called themselves “the black headed people” (I guess, complexion problems ;^) and their accounting systems and writing systems endured a long time (it was in use in multiple cultures, languages, eras, for at least as long as we’ve been using the alphabetic system). Sumerian literature survived in translation and adaptation among the Akkadians, a Semitic people who lived alongside and gradually became much like the Sumerians. The Sumerian language continued to be written and probably spoken among the learned class for a long while after the Sumerians themselves ceased to be a discernable people.
The Elamites were the big dog in the area of Iran long before the Persians. They too had a written language, but it’s still obscure (I don’t think a large preserved archive has been discovered). The Harappan script is also pretty old, but hasn’t been cracked to the satisfaction of anyone but the individual translators — there’s been no bilingual texts discovered, which may be a permanent problem and stumbling block.
First of all, the Geneva Convention wasn’t in force back then. Second, I didn’t realize that “Southern” culture had been wiped off the map. Last time I was in Dothan, AL, the southern gentility was quite evident. Lastly, Sherman and Sheridan are still reviled in some localities.
That’s a rather strange definition of culture. What might it not cover?
What does “barbarian” mean to Herodotus?
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