[neverdem]

National Museum of Iran
A lapis lazuli head of a man from the British Museum show, "Forgotten Empire."

National Museum of Iran
Parts of a lion sculpture, made from lapis lazuli.

National Museum of Iran
A fragment of a stone column from Persepolis.

National Museum of Iran
A polished black limestone statue of a large mastiff.

National Museum of Iran
A detail of a stone bull from Persepolis.

[neverdem]

ping

[Andy from Beaverton]

[DeuceTraveler]

So since someone can make a carving of a bull it means that their culture must not be corrupt or decadent?

[Criminal Number 18F]

Cyrus the Great, huh? That's the New York Times for ya. They've run out of tyrants' boots to lick, and now they're exhuming old tyrants so that they can lick their sandals.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Siena Dreaming]

The Greeks had individualism and democracy; the Persians were ruled by dictators. Thus the fact that the West was more enlightened.

[bkepley]

What little I have red in Herodotus was very non-judgemental about the Persians. Certainly he was pro-Greek but he did try to tell history from the way he thought it happened.

[TomasUSMC]

After all, to Persians then and Iranians now, there was nothing great about the Alexander

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Funny thing is that the Persians then as the Iranians now, use their enemies from the west as merceneries - well at least the Greeks got paid.

Today the Iranians are using our troops to establish or extend their shiite influence in putting down the sunni rebellion. The end product being another Shiite Sharia Oil Rich Islamist Country.

ANOTHER Shiite controlled Islamic Shari'a enforcing, woman beating Oil rich country - like Iran.

....Iraq's Prime Minister is Ibrahim al-Jaafari....
Asked if his government would institute Islamic Shari'a law, al-Jaafari replied: "Yes … that is only natural in a country that is populated mainly by Muslims."

"This is a new chapter in relations with Iraq," enthused Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref during al-Jaafari's visit. Agha Panayi, an Iranian intelligence official, has offered a similarly enthusiastic assessment: "Throughout Iraq, the people we supported are in power."

Iraq new constitution contains Koranic veto clauses which state:

ISLAM shall be a source of legislation
and
NO law will contradict ISLAM.

At least the Greeks got paid.

Only when the greeks turned on the Persian/Iranians did they suceed in getting rid of the constant threat from the east....hint for the world of today.

[RoadTest]

They're revising all the history books - most of the revision has long since been finished.

But Cyrus did a good thing: he rebuilt Jerusalem and for that God granted that throne to exist until modern times, when the Shah of Iran died in the United States.

You can rely on that history because it's written in the King James Version of The Bible by God who doesn't lie, not the revised versions written by men who do..

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks neverdem.

Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, wrote that "the exhibition clearly gives the lie to the common Western perception that the Achaemenid empire was a nest of despotism and tyranny that was swept away by Alexander.

Alexander, like his father Philip, was influenced by Isocrates, and Alexander had Aristotle as a teacher. Both were monarchists. However, the idea that the Persian Empire, with its living god kings was anything but despotism is just foolish, and MacGregor should be fired and blackballed.

The sum of his argument is, "oh lookie, what pritttie statues the Persians made! Must be they were trying to establish democracy throughout the part of Asia they brutally conquered. And those attempts to overrun Greece through force of arms, that's just a misunderstanding. It helps to justify the continued ownership of the Elgin Marbles by the British Museum."

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[Knitting A Conundrum]

Somehow or other, in my study of history, I never thought of the Persian empire as barbarian...I don't know why one should have that impression.

The Scythians, on the other hand...

[MattinNJ]

Alexander ripped them to pieces. If they were great, that just makes his feat all the more impressive.

[Ignatz]

...a nest of despotism and tyranny...

He must mean like most of the Mideast is currently.

[SunkenCiv]

ping.

[SunkenCiv]

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The Battle of Salamis: the Naval Encounter That Saved Greece -- and Western Civilization by Barry Strauss

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[SunkenCiv]

my current reading:

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The Death of Alexander the Great: What - or - Who Really Killed the Young Conqueror of the Known World? by Paul Doherty

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