Posted on 03/19/2005 8:59:31 PM PST by blam
Archeologist says Central Asia was cradle of ancient Persian religion
Fri Mar 18, 6:24 PM ET Science - AFP
ATHENS (AFP) - The mysterious Margianan civilisation which flowered in the desert of what is now Turkmenistan some 4,000 years ago was the cradle of the ancient Persian religion of Zoroastrianism, Greco-Russian archeologist Victor Sarigiannidis claimed here.
He said the theory would provoke controversy amongst his fellow archeologists, but said his excavations around the site of Gonur Tepe have uncovered temples and evidence of sacrifices that would consistent with a Zoroastrian cult.
The religion was founded by Zarathustra, a Persian prophet who was one of the world's first monotheists, and is still practiced today in Iran (news - web sites) and India. A team of archeologists in the eastern Turkmenistan region have discovered the foundations of a huge palace, seven temples and a vast mausoleum.
Sarigiannidis believes the civilisation emerged with the arrival in the region of people seeking an escape from drought in Mesopotamia (now Syria).
"Ninety-five percent of the ruins of the mausoleum look similar to those of Mesopatamia," Sarigiannidis, a member of the Russian Science Academy said.
He also pointed out the similarity in the palace gate with the Minoan Palace of Knossos on the Greek Island Crete.
The latest finds from excavations in 2004 are on exhibit in the Turkmen capital and suggest a highly refined civilisation. They feature superb mosaics depicting griffins, wolves and lions, as well a marble statue of a ram and finely highlighted vases in gold and silver.
Sarigiannidis has called on the Greek government to continue to fund his excavations at the site and said the 17,000 euros per year grant he had been accorded until 2007 by the former socialist government had been cut by the current minister of culture.
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Also Sprach Zarathustra
I wonder what the inspiration for that musical title was anyway. The stars? Hmmn anyone know?
You should have pinged me on this thread; luckily I logged in at the right time to find it. Remember how excited I was when the discovery of this civilization was first announced, in 2001?
Interesting how propagandists twist history to take virtually 'everything' away from a benevolent empire that controlled the world for hundreds of years - the Persians.
Now even Zoroaster was not Persian, but Turkmen?
I suppose it's reasonable to say that the Persian religion came from Central Asia, since the Persians themselves likely came from that direction.
As another poster has said, though, the writer is also in need of more grant money, thus the spectacular announcement.
Where do you believe they came from?
I don't know where they came from, except that it is likely they arrived in the region South and East of the Black Sea during the migrations of the peoples commonly known as Indo-European.
Peoples speaking what is sometimes called the Iranian language group are spread throughout the Central Asian regions ajoining.
Therefore I presume that the Persian peoples at least passed through Western Central Asia.
Please let me know if my logic is faulty or my information (such as it is) is mistaken.
My personal feeling, based on no evidence other than numerous tiny hints of ancient history, is that the origions of the language group commonly called Indo-European lies in a wide area from central asia into the Ukraine. Even some of the Germanic tribes entered known Roman history from off of the western plains.
So, you think their movement was from Asia toward Europe?
I know I'm really going out on a limb here, but my feeling is that they entered into known, or semi-known, history from far Western Asia. Where they came from before that I haven't a clue.
I think, like you, that the peoples fleeing the Black Sea basin have likely played a major part in history, but I'm not so sure that they were Indo-European speakers.
I took an intense, year-long course in the Chinese-Mandarin language at the DLI. One of the instructors was the leading Chinese Calligraphy expert in the USA. One of his specialties was the history of Chinese writing, and the Chinese people. He had degrees from what he described as the leading university in Beijing before Mao took over.
He described an ancient Han Chinese tradition that the Han tribes had been moving in an easterly direction for a very long time.
My feeling is that Indo-European speakers and Mandarin Chinese speakers have a lot in common, one moving east and the other moving west.
You're right, sorry. I certainly ping you enough for other stuff. :') I'll add you to the GGG list if you'd like, tons of stuff on there.
There's no such thing as a benevolent empire. It's also not surprising that the ancestors of the Persians came from elsewhere. That's the case with everyone's ancestors.
Ancient writing found in Turkmenistan
BBC | Tuesday, 15 May, 2001, 05:57 GMT 06:57 UK | staff
Posted on 11/01/2004 10:24:57 PM PST by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1265930/posts
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