a talk on the history of persia discussed the rulers, architecture and art of iran. PHOTOS COURTESTY: AGA KHAN UNIVERSITY
The lecture, Iran — the story of Emperors and Kings, was organised by AKU’s Sixth Sense Forum on Monday. While talking about art and the country’s culture, Dr Salahuddin said that Iran’s history started in the 6th Century BC when it became what was called the Persian empire. He claimed that it was Cyrus the great who established his dynasty in the area first. He added, that Cyrus was considered to be the first emperor of the world.
a talk on the history of persia discussed the rulers, architecture and art of iran. PHOTOS COURTESTY: AGA KHAN UNIVERSITY
“He was the ultimate king,” said Dr Salahuddin. “His rule was disturbed by what was going on next door in Babylon, but, despite all of that, he managed to win and develop one of the of the oldest cities in the world, Shiraz.” He added that when the Persians went to battle with the Greeks, the war last for about 20 years.
Dr Salahuddin mentioned the rule of the Sassanid dynasty and its significance for Iran as it was in power for more than 400 years, this period is considered to be like the Renaissance of the East.
To explain Iran and the Persian empire better, Dr Salahuddin said, that the country’s history can be broken down into two distinct periods - pre and post-Islam.
a talk on the history of persia discussed the rulers, architecture and art of iran. PHOTOS COURTESTY: AGA KHAN UNIVERSITY
When Hazrat Umer (RA) was in power, his military leader Hazrat Khalid Bin Waleed defeated the Sassanid armies and captured Persia. This is when Muslims came to power in the area.
The empire, he said, boasts of great scholars, philosophers, physicians and poets including Ibn Sina, Al Razi, Firdausi and Omer Khayyam.
a talk on the history of persia discussed the rulers, architecture and art of iran. PHOTOS COURTESTY: AGA KHAN UNIVERSITY
Genghis Khan also occupied Iran and during the Mongol period, art and literature in the country blossomed - Rumi, Saadi and Hafiz are some of the big poets from that time.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 27th, 2014.
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Enjoyed the short article on the Persian Empire. Your readers may not know from this article that after the Arab Muslim invasion and conquest of the Persian empire, there was genocide, mass murders, especially of intellectuals, priests, etc., selling of women and children as slaves, forced conversions of the majority population of Zarathushtis (Zoroastrians) to Islam, humiliation, persecution, and coercion of surviving Zarathushtis over the centuries, kidnapping of young girls who were forced to marry Muslims.
Losing hope of preserving their monotheistic religion and Persian culture, some Zarathushtis migrated to the west coast of India ( known as Parsis (Persians)) where they were allowed to settle and practice their 4,500 year old religion by the Hindu king Jadi Rana and who eventually prospered and became pioneers of modern industry, banking and trading in their adopted land. Parsis also helped their beleaguered co-religionists in Iran by sending funds, medical doctors, etc., and successfully petitioning Iran's ruler, Naseeruddin Shah, to remove the burden of the Jizya tax. When Reza Shah Prahlavi came to power through a military coup and started to modernize Iran (like Kemal Ataturk of Turkey) the Zarathushti population gained some level of relief and prosperity. But when Khomeini came to power and established Islamic rule, the discrimination and harassment started once more. In Iran, Muslims cannot convert to another religion, otherwise they are executed.
Was any mention made of Shah Ismail Safavi, during whose regime, Iranians were forcefully converted to Shia'ism?
Its our duty to keep this history alive by maintaining the archeological remains . I say open up the borders of the subcontinent for religious / study / tourism purposes. After all said and done , its our collective history .
@Ashref, Really its gone then why american or russian, or Europeas are still trying that and what happening in muslim world???? is it not empires greed??
Hopefully, the concepts of "empires" and "conquests" are gone forever. The innocent citizens of the conquered nations paid the price with blood and money all for the vanity and greed of the "emperors".