Did somebody say Persians?
Ping
Alexander the so-so.
Only in this day and age is history rewritten for and by the alleged victims.
That’s right....in our new more ‘multicultural’ era we must see all sides of everything. I guess the Persians forgot ( or never knew) that victors write history and always have.
The Ayatollahs should be pleased that he razed all those non-Islamic sites for them...
And any thinking person would understand that modern day Iranians would have a different view of Alexander the Great than do we in the west.
Its also true that our view is no less valid than their's.
Their Empire is one of the most impressive, cultural and tolerant examples I can think of.
Poor Darius
It sucks to lose wars.
Prostration was such an issue to the Hellenize warrior-citizen that two Spartan warriors sent to atone to Xerxes for killing his emissaries by throwing them down a well; by having Xerxes kill them - were horrified to learn that they were expected to prostrate themselves in his royal presence. They came to be killed - but not to bow down!
Alexander was generally a benevolent conqueror.
One exception was the city of Tyre but only because that city butchered his heralds on the walls in full view of Alexander and his men.
They thought wrongly, that because the city was on an island with high walls that they were safe from attack. It actually was a very difficult job but Alexander seems to have been particularly determined to conquer Tyre.
The principal problem of the very impressive Persian empire was, as is so often the case in empires in general, one of succession. Alexander caught them at a bad time; so, for that matter did Xenophon's Greek army earlier, who got sucked into fighting for the losing side and ended up having to cut its way to the sea.
Persia's earlier (mid-sixth-century BC) conquest of Ionia was a rather impressive show as well. A good deal of fighting, quite a great deal of diplomacy, intimidation, and bribery. Persian history that complains about Greek invasions should acknowledge that they started the thing, after all.
Once the radiation diminishes, tourists will be able to visit the not-quite-so-spectacular ruins of Tehran.
So where does Cyrus the Great fit in? I’ve always been told he was the golden boy of Persia.
Did somebody say Persians?
An Iranian friend I had, whose father left when the Shah fell, was always emphatic about how great Persian culture had been before the Arabs destroyed it.
Cyrus was a pretty amazing ruler; his heirs not so much.
An Iranian friend I had, whose father left when the Shah fell, was always emphatic about how great Persian culture had been before the Arabs destroyed it.
Cyrus was a pretty amazing ruler; his heirs not so much.