Posted on 08/19/2007 11:22:00 PM PDT by freedom44
"the ancient Greeks defeated the Asian invaders (Persia) and saved Europe in what scholars call one of the first great victories of freedom over tyranny" - William J. Broad, (NY Times)
What stretches the limits of hypocrisy is that there isn't a single shred of archeological evidence that the Persians ever owned slaves. Yet we know that slavery was an integral cornerstone of Greek society. Aristotle's manifesto even sanctions it. Persia, which was once a haven for runaway slaves from Egypt, Greece, and later Rome, is today branded as a slave-hungry empire by cultures which were built on slavery!
What makes Herodotus's propaganda so difficult to refute is that it is peppered with facts. But in reality, it is a desperate diatribe. Perhaps his biggest ploy is his attempt to equate democracy with freedom. These two words are used virtually interchangeably throughout his book. And the West has swallowed it hook-line-and-sinker.
But America's founding fathers knew better. They implemented many safeguards to protect freedom from the pitfalls that mired Athenian democracy. Even Winston Churchill said, "Democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others which have been tried."
Democracy may well be the best form of government. But what makes America great is not so much democracy, as it is its Bill Of Rights. And this is exactly what made Persia Great. Democracy can often lead to tyranny by the majority as was the case in democratic Athens, where women, slaves and foreigners did not have the right to vote.
In monarchic Persia, however, women enjoyed a level of gender equality unmatched even to this day, and slavery was not practiced. The fact is, Persia's monarchy was more free than Athens' democracy, all because of Persia's Bill Of Rights.
No one exemplifies Persia's freedom better than Herodotus himself. He describes Athens as the bastion of freedom, yet he chose to live in Persia. Xenophon, on the other hand, who actually lived in Athens, reminisces enviously about the monarchy of Cyrus The Great.
Herodotus claims Persia had enslaved most of the known world, yet we know Herodotus was not a slave. He traveled freely throughout the empire, openly criticizing it.
Why did Herodotus not live in Greece? Because Persia - the empire he is so quick to demonize - afforded him the very freedom to publish his scathing report of it. People want to live where their god-given rights are protected, regardless of whether its democratic or monarchic.
These god-given rights were first drafted into law by the founder of the Persian empire, Cyrus The Great. In fact, ancient Persia may well have served as the blue print for America's Bill Of Rights. Both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, the architects of America's Constitution, were great admirers and owned several copies of Xenophon's Cyropaedia.
Today, no other country resembles ancient Persia as closely as does the United States. If any country should sympathize with, rather than celebrate, Persia's quagmire in Greece, it is the United States. Few events in history mirror America's war on terror as closely as Persia's war on Greece.
The Greeks had been carrying out terrorist attacks on Persian holdings for years. They had attacked Persian cities, set fire to Persian temples, disrupted key trade routes, and pirated merchant ships crossing the Bosphorus. They incited rebellions inside Persian provinces, but perhaps most abhorrent to the Persians was the ease by which the Greeks broke their treaties and betrayed Persia's trust.
Rather than resort to violence, however, Persia tried to keep the Greeks in check by financially supporting Greek politicians who were "pro-Persian," much the same way America fights its proxy wars. But what finally triggered Persia's wrath was an act rarely mentioned in the West, though well documented, even by Herodotus (7:11).
Persia's 9/11:
In 498 BCE, Athens carried out a terrorist attack on Sardis, a major Persian city, which made 9/11 seem like child's play. Aristagoras, an Athenian, set fire to the "outlying parts" of Sardis trapping most of its population "in a ring of fire." (Herodotus 5:101)
More innocent civilians died at the hands of Aristagoras than Osama bin Laden could ever hope to kill. And just as most of the world supported America's retaliation against Al Qaeda, so did it rally in support of Persia's attack on Athens.
The Spartans were not even targets of Persia's attack, until they violated a universal protocol by killing a Persian messenger who Herodotus claims was asking for Sparta's submission but in reality was probably sent by Persia's king, Xerxes to convey the same message America sent to the entire world after 9/11: "you're either with us, or against us."
The Spartans were Greek Jihadists who lived only to die. They were by all accounts ruthless savages who murdered Greek slaves known as "Helots" just for sport, cultivated a culture of thievery and rape, and practiced infanticide, as the movie '300' rightly points out in its opening scenes. Sparta was not even democratic. It was an oligarchy at best. Despite knowing all this, the West continues to hail the Spartans as the saviors of Western democracy.
Yes, the Spartans died fighting a foreign invader. But so do countless terrorists. Yet few would consider them "good guys." Those who do are then not much different from Westerners who cheer for the Spartans.
Persia was drawn into a protracted war against terror, much the same way the U.S. was. Cheering for the Spartans merely because they were underdogs, is like cheering for Osama bin Laden today.
The Power Of Film:
History is no longer written by the victors, it is written by filmmakers. Most minority groups in America have come to realize this fact and are quick to bankroll films that communicate their stories to the rest of the world. Perhaps the movie '300' was a necessary wake-up call for the Iranian/Persian community to support responsible filmmakers, who report history with honesty and integrity.
Alex Jovy's epic movie about Cyrus The Great could have done wonders for the Iranian image (www.chahayagroup.com). But Alex Jovy's movie today sits idle due lack of money. My documentary film about Cyrus The Great has languished for a mere want of $400,000 (www.spentaproductions.com/cyruspreview.htm).
Iranians are the most affluent minority group in America. If they set their mind to it, they could set the historical record straight virtually overnight. Until then, their history will be written by the likes of Zack Snyder.
Watching 300 does not make me mad at Iran.
Iran’s pursuing nuclear weapons to wipe Israel off the face of the earth makes me mad at Iran.
Points off your argument for when the Iranians allowed themselves to be conquered and colonized by human history’s biggest slave traders, the Muslim Arabs.
Ooooh boy, this guy is going to be the one to teach us history??.....
Cyrus Kar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_Kar
The United States is not a democracy. It is a representative Republic. The Democrats are loathe to admit this, since “Democratic” is their whole schtick. This makes it tough for them to recognize our form of government in name. It would kill them to acknowedge, for a lack of a better term, that we have a Republican form of nation.
As we reach out to other nations like we have in Iraq, we set up Republics. We don’t set up Democracies.
I suspect you could have a Bill of Rights under a democracy. I still don’t think that form of government would be superior to our own.
"He also claimed that he was hooded, threatened, taunted and insulted by US soldiers."
Geez, glad they could get an objective reviewer to look at this flick!
Inaccurate. Persian society had as many slaves as the Greeks, if not more. Most importantly, every Persian and Persian subject was by definition a slave of the King, and referred to himself as such.
In monarchic Persia, however, women enjoyed a level of gender equality unmatched even to this day
I keep hearing this, but have not seen anythin resembling proof. The Persians actually invented the custom of keeping women in purdah (a Persian word), and Arabs and Muslims adopted it from them.
Democracy can often lead to tyranny by the majority as was the case in democratic Athens, where women, slaves and foreigners did not have the right to vote.
This is, of course, much worse than Persia, where only the King had the right to vote.
The Spartans were Greek Jihadists who lived only to die. They were by all accounts ruthless savages who murdered Greek slaves known as "Helots" just for sport, cultivated a culture of thievery and rape, and practiced infanticide, as the movie '300' rightly points out in its opening scenes. Sparta was not even democratic. It was an oligarchy at best.
A not inaccurate description of the Spartans, although rather incomplete. As far as infanticide goes, all ancient peoples except the Jews practiced it. The difference in Sparta is that the State rather than the father decided which children would be raised and which killed.
Despite knowing all this, the West continues to hail the Spartans as the saviors of Western democracy.
The Spartans (and the other Greeks) did save Western democracy, although that was certainly not the Spartan intent. Had the Persians conquered Greece, we would live in a very different world, one in which Western civilization had been crushed as a seedling. It might be a better world, or worse, but it would certainly be different.
I really don’t see what the author is worried about - I didn’t see “300” but from the endless commercials it apparently featured some bearded guy who would not stop yelling like a crackhead. From what I remember about the Spartans, they practiced and encouraged pederasty, killed children who didn’t measure up to military standards, and murdered slaves as part of their training. There’s nothing in the history of the Greek-Persian wars to embarrass Iran. It’s today’s insane Islamism that should embarrass Iran.
Ping to read the full text later.
IMO 300 was a entertaining movie with a good core message on freedom. But it has almost zero value on history.
The core truth of the film is that few brave Spartans held off a superior Persian army, which was later defeated at Platea. That’s about it. Admittedly the film never claims to be historical. It’s a grapic novel adaption narrated through the eyes of an Spartan specator. Fair enough.
It is fully justified for Freepers (and a lot of other people) to hold this film in high esteem, especially in the face of the evil Islamic Republic of Iran, our arch-enemy.
But the point is that it’s ISLAM which makes them evil. Islam is the problem, not Persia. The Mullahs despise the old Persian heritage and are since 30 years eradicating it.
The Zoroastrian faith is the older cousin of Christianity and Judaism, and we should look not only to Greek authors but also to the Bible when learning about Persia.
Let us also not forget the long and close friendship between Americans and Iranians which reaches back to 1906 when the American Missionary Baskerville died fighting alongside the Persian constitutionalists in the struggle for an modern Iran. Also don’t forget the numerous Americans like Millspaugh, Shuster who were Iranian finance ministers and not at least the close Iranian-American military and political partnership under the Shah.
Maybe when the Islamic regime in Iran is dead we’ll see a shift in perception of Persian history again.
Slavery under the Persians.
http://hsc.csu.edu.au/ancient_history/societies/near_east/persian_soc/persiansociety.html
Source of strain on American-Iranian relations:
JIMMY CARTER’S FAULT
LOL. Were Persian women even allowed to own swords?
There was actually at least one Persian Empresses reigning.
In Sassanian Persia (during the time of the wars with Rome) there were numerous Persian woman soldiers.
Sexual equality is a fundamental core of Zoroastrian religious thought and teaching in the Avesta.
LOL!
The Muslim Arabs should be glad, too. If Persia had been able to expand its empire into Europe, it would have been that much more to draw resources from for when Muhammed came along.
I wonder how his armies would have fared against a few legions of Spartans.
Thats a bunch of BS. The Spartans hated Democracy, in fact, they fought against the Athenians against the concept. They also did not believe in human rights nor did they have one God like the Persians.
Dear Mr. Kar,
The film was based on a comic book.
Thank you for your time.
Kudos! There are alot of FR posters with unusual hobby-horses - but you’re the first I’ve seen whose hobby-horse is to defend the honor of the ancient Persian Empire. And to that I say good luck - good luck in overturning history as it has been taught in the West for over 2,400 years.
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