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.
The most relevant post on the thread...thank You!
Or are you talking about the son of Cambyses I the Elder who was actually Cyrus II?
The Founder’s feared “Democracy” would turn into Mobacracy. We were designed as a new experiment, “A REPUBLIC” (developed through republicanisn) and I am sick and tired of teachers and the lamestream media saying we’re a Democracy. America is a “REPUBLIC.”
Enough of the REVISED HISTORY!
well, the problem is that history doesn’t fit into neat little boxes. Iran in a wider sense included a whole bunch of Irani peoples including the modern day Ossetians, the people of Sogdiana (northern Afghanistan) that are now Tajiks and also Cimmerians and maybe also ancestors of the Germans.
Those xenophobic monsters.
And the only country that doesn't grant suffrage to the rest of of the planet is the United States under the evil Bushitler. Right?
http://hsc.csu.edu.au/ancient_history/societies/near_east/persian_soc/persiansociety.html
Slavery
Domesticated animals and enslaved humans and a vast number of people were needed to work on projects of agriculture, warfare and monumental construction. State owned slaves in the mines (Olmstead, 1948: 74 ff), and they were well paid (Dandemaev and Lukonin, 1989: 161-2), but they had the status of livestock moveable property (op. cit 153). The household of the Great King maintained a large retinue of slaves who functioned as plowmen, millers, cow herds, shepherds, winemakers and beer brewers, cooks, bakers, wine waiters and eunuchs (Dandamaev and Lukonin, 1989: 158, 170). Of the slaves at Persepolis, 12.7% were boys, and 10% were girls (Fortification Tablets). Dandemaev and Lukonin (1989: 160–1), concluded that these slaves lived together as families but they were also moved around the empire in what amounts to job lots. Documents record the movements of between 150 and 1500 slaves from one site to another. In Babylon, Egypt and the Greek cities of Lydia, the arrangements predating the Persians were kept. Slaves were usually acquired through warfare (Falcelière et al, 1970: 433), and were known as “the booty of the bow” (Dandamaev and Lukonin, 1989: 156). The peace established by the Great King would have effectively dried up this source. However, the Great Kings enslaved satrapies and cities which rebelled (Dandemaev and Lukonin, 1989: 170). Slavery was usually seen as a hereditary state, the children of those slaves maintained private stocks. Household slaves could be bought (Herodotos, vm, 1os). There was a privately owned slave labour force doing menial tasks. In Babylon, debtors could sell themselves into slavery (Olmstead, 1948: 74 ff), but this quickly died out under Persian rule (Dandemaev and Lukonin, 1989: 156). Everyone from the highest nobles down were defined as bandaka (the slaves of the Great King) (Kurht, 1995: 687), or ‘those who wear the belt of dependence’ (Wiesehoefer, 1996:31). This meant that taxation was due in money, precious metals, goods, military service and labour.
Kurush I. or Cyrus the Great. Darius the Great wasn’t a son or descendant of Kurush, but killed his sons and ascended to the Throne. Therefore the list of ancestors Darius gives isn’t a list of the Kings before him. This means that Kurush/Cyrus the Great is to be seen as the first Persian Greatking.
My disagreement was on the sources not on the fact whether there were slaves or not. (One could however argue whether families who were getting paid for labour constitutes slavery). I'll try to get hold of Dandemaev's (Soviet I assume) book, for I am curious on what sources exactly he relies.
If one wants to get technical the "Persians" aren't even Persians as they were originally nomadic tribes called the Paarsa, thus giving us the Paarsi language today.
Why did you post this piece of crap?
those are AWESOME lol
You are correct that I tried to have an narrow definition of Persians in this context. The subject was whether there existed institutionalized slavery within the Achaemenid Persian Empire which (in my, and in general definiton) began with Cyrus the Great and ended with the conquest of Alexander. Of course there were Iranian/Persian states, kingdoms, empires etc. before and afterwards.
“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.”
Actually, I think Sassanid Persia could’ve taken the early jihadis without extra territory were it not for the timing of the expansion of the death cult. The problem as I see it is that the Eastern Roman Empire and the Persians spent themselves duking it out with each other. Finally, the Romans under Heraclius won. The Persians then deposed their king and and were only with some difficulty able to put a functioning government back together—then enter the muslimes. Later, they would go up against the Romans (who were likewise exhausted) and seize much of the Middle East and North Africa.
I see it as a great tragedy as these two great powers put all their effort in their war with each other and then the muslimes moved in and basically picked up territory at will (the Romans tried to put up a fight—and I assume the Persians did too, but they were too weak to crush the mohammedans). But that’s getting off topic.
LOL! I love the panda one. The surprise is priceless.
Thanks for good discussions on this thread. I've learned a lot and it's not even 5:00 AM here yet!
That's sort of what all history is.
More lies in a single story than I’ve seen Janet Cooke wrote her last story. Or was that Jayson Blair?
“300” was based on a novel (i.e. fiction).
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