Free Republic

The Persian conquest of Palestine in 614 CE is described in historical sources as a most violent military raid that dramatically affected the political and administrative stability of Byzantine Palestine, involving large scale damage to churches and a mass killing of the local Christian population. Common view has it that the conquest marked a turning point in the history of the Near East and was one of the causes for the rapid Early Islamic conquests, twenty years later. Although the Persian domination - lasting only 14 years (614-628), was a very brief episode in the long historical sequence of Palestine,...

In 1979, after a long campaign of political pressure applied by the Carter administration in the United States, the Shah of Iran fell to the Islamic Revolution, ending a tradition of monarchic rule that had persisted in Iran for thousands of years since the rule of Cyrus the Great. The stage was set for the rise of the Ayatollah, and the establishment of a theocracy in Iran that, today, most Iranians do not even want. But what if none of that had ever happened? While a momentous departure from actual history, it is not nearly so far-fetched as it sounds....

Cyrus the Great was the founder of the Archaemenian dynasty and the Persian Empire. Cyrus' military victories eventually put him in possession of the largest empire in the world at that time. No doubt he was a remarkably humane ruler for his time. Certainly he has achieved his greatness not by words but by hard and difficult choices, actions, and sacrifice. Without any doubt all the above selected criteria in regard to Cyrus the Great is true. Even the Greeks, who for a long time considered the Persian Empire to be the chief threat to their own independence, never ceased...

Ever since Donald Trump began to surge as a candidate last year, Christians have been pointing to the book of Isaiah and comparing Trump with the ancient Persian King Cyrus. Some have even claimed that God has revealed to them that He will use Trump for the good of America just as He used Cyrus for the good of the Jewish people, even though Cyrus was a "pagan" king. Could this be true? Let's first look at the biblical and ancient Near Eastern evidence. Cyrus (whose name was pronounced "ko-resh" in Hebrew) became king of Persia in 559 B.C. and...

Maybe Donald Trump isn't invincible, after all. On Saturday, Ted Cruz nuked Trump from orbit in Kansas, pantsed him in Maine, and almost scored coups in the other two states, Kentucky and Louisiana, where he fell short of Trump by just two delegates in the first case and one in the second. Overall, the Texas senator trails Trump in the delegate race by a very manageable 378-295. There's an awfully long way to go to get to the 1,237 needed for the nomination. It's enough to launch a thousand think pieces on what's become of the GOP's once-unstoppable frontrunner. But...

WASHINGTON -- The presidential candidates have been talking about God lately, which is understandable because most of them haven't a prayer of being elected. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who was raised in the Jewish faith and rarely discusses his religious views, was compelled to talk about it this week as he campaigned in Iowa -- a state heavily populated by evangelical voters who will pick the winner of next week's nominating caucuses. The Vermont Democrat, who went to Hebrew school in his youth and was bar-mitzvahed, is drawing big crowds in the state, as he does everywhere he goes. But he's...

Sometimes a picture is worth a ten thousand word essay.

It’s a bromance with a payoff—the senator has been developing the billionaire’s support and their aides are even discussing joint events, but if Trump drops out, Cruz aims to clean up.Donald Trump and Ted Cruz’s mutual admiration is turning into a conservative bromance—one that could have a huge strategic payoff for the Texas senator’s presidential campaign. Behind the scenes, Cruz has been methodologically developing Trump’s support. The two candidates have met in person at least five times and talk by phone occasionally. And in the future, they may even hold events together. The two campaigns privately discussed a possible joint...

For a Christian faith speaker, however, Trump is serving as an instrument of God and a modern "prophetic voice" to wake up America, which some prominent pastors have described as having strayed from Christian values. In an editorial published on Charisma News, Os Hillman, president of Marketplace Leaders, said Trump was sent by God "to uncover the veil of the current political leadership and culture in America." Hillman, who is an internationally recognised speaker on the subject of faith at work, said Trump is exposing the morally corrupt ways of America's current leaders. "Trump is articulating what we all felt...

Ever since Sir Robert Anderson published his seminal work, The Coming Prince at the turn of the 20th century, prophecy watchers have been trying to figure out who he is. Sir Robert took his title from Daniel 9:26’s identification of the antichrist as a prince of the Roman Empire: “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.” Of...

Within the enclosure, by the way which led up to the tomb, a small building had been constructed for the Magi who guarded it, a duty which had been handed down from father to son ever since the time of Cyrus' son, Cambyses. They had a grant from the King of a sheep a day, with an allowance of meal and wine, and one horse a month to sacrifice to Cyrus. There was an inscription on the tomb in Persian, signifying: O man, I am Cyrus son of Cambyses, who founded the empire of Persia and ruled over Asia. Do...

In January or February 324, Alexander reached the old religious capital of Persia, Pasargadae. Here, he visited the tomb of Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid empire, who had lived two centuries before. The Greek author Arrian of Nicomedia describes the events in section 29.1-11 of his Anabasis. The translation was made by Aubrey de Sélincourt. At the same time he moved forward himself with the lightest infantry units, the mounted Companions, and some regiments of archers, along the road to Pasargadae. [...] Arrived at the Persian frontier, he found that Phrasaortes, the governor, had died while the...

A clay cylinder dating from the time of one of Persia's greatest rulers, Cyrus the Great, has been returned on loan to Iran following a prolonged dispute with the British Museum in London. In February Iran threatened to cut ties with the British Museum in protest to what it called politically motivated delays in returning the cylinder. However the museum says the delay occurred so that the cylinder could be compared with two stone tablets that were recently discovered. British Museum director Neil MacGregor says the cylinder has plenty of historical significance. "It's about Cyrus's respect for different peoples and...

The Islamic Republic Is Not Iran By Amil Iman We just don't get it. The Left in America is screaming to high heaven that the mess we are in, in Iraq and the war on terrorism has been caused by the right-wing and that George W. Bush, the so-called "dim-witted cowboy," has created the entire mess. The truth is the entire nightmare can be traced back to the liberal democratic policies of the leftist Jimmy Carter, who created a firestorm that destabilized our greatest ally in the Muslim world, the shah of Iran, in favor of a religious fanatic, the...

A few months ago, the normally hostile Iranian regime took the rather unusual step of adding a Jewish holy site to its National Heritage List. On December 9, 2008, Iranian news outlets reported that the tomb of Mordechai and Esther, the heroes of the Purim saga, would now be under official government protection and responsibility. The purported tomb of Mordechai and Esther in Iran. Photo: Courtesy The move cast a brief spotlight on the site, which is well-known to Iranian Jews but largely unfamiliar to those outside the country. And with Purim being celebrated this week, it is worth taking...

 In Remembrance of Cyrus the Great by Amil Imani The Islamic Republic of Iran seems to be fearful.   It happened on January 26, 2008, at the UCLA Freud PlayHouse in Los Angeles, California. It brought the world's most renowned scholars and top performing artists together to remember the life of Cyrus the Great, the founding father of Persia and the mighty Persian Empire - perhaps the most exemplary, magnificent and just king the worldPerhaps the most exemplary, magnificent and just king the world has ever known.has ever known.   The event put together visual arts, the ambiance of...

TEHRAN - The Jewish women in the back rows of the synagogue wear long garments in the traditional Iranian style, but instead of chadors, their heads are covered with cheerful, flowered scarves. The boys in their skullcaps, with Hebrew prayer books tucked under their arms, scamper down the aisles to grab the best spots near the lush, turquoise Persian carpet of the altar. This is Friday night, Shabbat - Iranian style, and the synagogue in an affluent neighborhood of North Tehran is filled to capacity with more than 400 worshipers. It is one of the many paradoxes of the Islamic...

"Iranian people's feelings toward Israelis are not as bad as you think," Saeed Kharazi Zadeh, a greying Iranian IT engineer told me after I introduced myself as a reporter for The Jerusalem Post. Zadeh was part of the Iranian delegation which had a booth at the UN Summit on Information Society held in Tunis November 15-17. I reminded the 48-year-old government employee that in October his president declared that "Israel should be wiped off the map." I told him that many Israelis fear that Iran would indeed try to attack Israel. Zadeh laughed incredulously. "There have been many terrorist actions...

WATCH THE VIDEO HEREThe video is about the recent "Forgotten Empire" exhibition at British Museum in London

Tehran, Iran, Aug. 31 – Iran is building a dam which once completed will destroy the 2,500-year-old historic ruins of tomb of the first Achaemenian king of ancient Persia. The Sayvand Dam being constructed in the central Fars province will inevitably cause river waters to submerge Persepolis, the capital of ancient Persia, and Pasargard, the site of the mausoleum of the first Persian conqueror Cyrus the Great. The dam which is near completion is some eight kilometres from Pasargard and 50 kilometres from Persepolis, according to an official in Iran’s Cultural Heritage Organisation. The dam is to start operation in...