Iranians going back to pre-Islamic Days

Associated Press ^ | 6/8/03 | ALI AKBAR DAREINI

[freedom44]

KISH ISLAND, Iran (AP) -- It started small -- a few babies named after the pre-Islamic heroes Darius or Cyrus, a bit more government money for preserving ancient sites, advertisers using the image of the ruins of Persepolis to sell salad dressing and motorbikes.

Now comes modern Iran's most audacious salute yet to a Persian past that Islamic fundamentalists would rather forget.

It's a $125 million hotel built in the style of Persepolis, all graceful columns, statues of winged bulls with human faces and bas reliefs showing envoys bearing gifts for ancient Achaemenian kings -- decorations that violate Islam's ban on graven images.

"The glory of ancient Persia has been revived. It is the rebirth of Persepolis," tourist Hasan Ezzati said after visiting the new Dariush Grand Hotel on the Persian Gulf tourist island of Kish. The name reflects the modern Farsi pronunciation of Darius, the ancient king.

After the 1979 Islamic revolution, hard-line clerics opposed any symbols from Iran's pre-Islamic days. Few resources were funneled to ancient sites, including the palaces and citadels of Persepolis, a U.N.-designated World Heritage Site about 440 miles south of Tehran.

The ruling clerics particularly disdained Persepolis. The late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who hosted the rich and famous at a lavish party amid the ruins in 1971 to commemorate 2,500 years of Iran's monarchy, had linked his legitimacy as king to Persepolis and the Achaemenian era.

"The destruction of two ancient Buddha statues in Afghanistan by the then extremist Taliban in 2001 reminded me of calls by rigid clerics after the revolution to destroy Persepolis," says Kamal Adib, an Iranian businessman.

Historian Baqer Choubak says the sheer weight of Iran's history and public opposition persuaded clerics to gradually support ancient monuments, rather than destroy or neglect them.

"People simply didn't accept that Iran's history began after the advent of Islam. That rigidity has loosened in recent years, though there is still a degree of resistance," Choubak says.

Public interest in Iran's history rose as first the fervor from the 1979 Islamic revolution waned and then a wider disillusionment with clerical rule set in.

The government's initial rejection of Iran's pre-Islamic past lessened with the realization that ancient monuments could draw tourists and boost the struggling economy. Fears also eased among Islamic leaders that a monarchy with ties to the ancient past would somehow return.

Clerics are now more likely to insist that history since the arrival of Islam in the 7th century should be emphasized, not that pre-Islamic history should be ignored.

The government allocated $5 million to Persepolis this year for restoration work, pollution protection, new facilities for visitors and promotion of the ancient city as a tourist destination. The big jump from last year's allocation of just $62,000 came after experts warned of irreparable damage to the site unless strong steps were taken.

In further evidence of changed attitudes, the government has dropped its ban on parents registering such pre-Islamic names for children as Darius or Cyrus, another ancient king. Images of Persepolis and the tomb of Ferdowsi, Iran's ancient epic poet, turn up on T-shirts, salad dressing and other products.

State TV, though controlled by Islamic hard-liners, shows images of Persepolis and other ancient sites, and filmmakers shoot scenes at such locations.

Opposition has not totally disappeared. The ultraconservative weekly newspaper Ya Lesarat said President Mohammad Khatami should not have attended the April inauguration of the Dariush Grand, thereby giving approval to "the un-Islamic appearance of the hotel."

Mainland Iran may not be as ready as Kish for the architecture of the Dariush Grand. The island has become a freewheeling weekend getaway where Iranian men and women can stroll or swim in clothes that would not be allowed elsewhere in Iran as too revealing.

"I feel I'm regaining a lost identity. Tourists visit ruins of Persepolis in southern Iran but here they see the relic's undamaged modern image," said Marzieh Masaebi as she toured the hotel.

In a demonstration of their support for the private project owned by Hussein Sabet, an expatriate Iranian billionaire, authorities in Kish have named the square nearest the hotel the same name -- after Darius, a king of the Achaemenid dynasty that was established around 500 B.C and was the first significant kingdom of ancient Persia.

"We simply can't remove the name of our ancestors because we don't like it," said Mohammad Alavi, who designed the hotel. "It's part of our history. It's Iran's symbol, identity."

[freedom44]

Destroy the Mullahs!

[freedom44]

on or off iran ping

[freedom44]

The Tomb of King Cyrus is found in Persopilas

http://oznet.net/cyrus/alexande.htm

Alexander had arrived at the site of the Persian capital of Pasargade and had come upon the tomb of an earlier, celebrated world conqueror, the Persian King Cyrus II, known as Cyrus the great. In his day, Cyrus had founded an empire of unprecedented size and power. Because Alexander hoped to surpass the Persian monarch's achievements, he felt compelled to pause here and pay homage to his acclaimed predecessor.
One of Alexander's comrades in arms, Aristobulus, gave an account of their visit to the tomb, which later found its way into the writings of the first-century-BC Greek geographer Strabo. It was "a tower of no great size," Aristobulus reported, "concealed beneath the thicket of trees, in its lower parts massive, but its upper parts having a roof and shrine with a very narrow entrance." The Macedonians cautiously entered the building, all of 200 years old at the time. They found themselves in the royal burial chamber, where according to Aristobulus, they beheld "a golden couch and table with drinking cups, and a golden coffin."
There was also an inscription, cited "from memory," by Aristobulus: "Oh man, I am Cyrus, who founded the empire of the Persians and was king of Asia. Grudge me not therefore this monument." The Greek historian Plutarch, writing Alexander's biography in the late first centuruy AD, reported that as a mark of respect Alexander had ordered a Greek translation of the Persian text to be carved alongside it. Plutarch also offered a somewhat more melodramatic version of Cyrus's original text, which may have been taken from a source other than Aristobulus or embellished in its passage through the intervening centuries:"Oh man, whosoever thou art and from whencesoever thou comest, for that thou wilt come I know, I am Cyrus, who founded the empire of the Persians. Grudge me not therefore, this little earth that covers my bo

[chantal7]

Khoui Kouroush

[dixiechick2000]

Bump!

[FITZ]

Too bad they don't become Christians but they had better religions in Iran before the Arabs forced them into the Arab Muslim religion.

[TopQuark]

Which means..?

[holyh2o]

one stone at a time wall out Islam, let the clerics whine, I want to be King, hear me...
There will be war there, the clerics will not let go that easily.

[blam]

"There will be war there, the clerics will not let go that easily."

I agree, hope it is soon.

[Savage Beast]

I wonder if Iran would be interested in returning to Zoroastrianism? ...just curious.

[USMMA_83]

You mean the Parsi's are back?

[freedom44]

It's interesting you ask that because i had this conservation with someone the other day.

My answer is that it's very difficult for people to simply convert in Iran. However, in the United States and Europe many Iranians have converted to Zoroastrianism or Christianity. Although many that left the country were already Christians. (There are about 1 million Christians in Iran).

The best answer is for an absolute reformation of Islam. Those calling for human rights, democracy, and secularism to reign power. This is very possible, but the people who can lead just haven't had the power to. Plus, the fundamentalists believe in violence so they use it to stave off those using civil disobedience.

It's interesting to note that just last year the original successor to Khomeini and hard-liner Grand Ayatollah Montazeri said that Suicide Bombings are against the teachings of the Koran and un-Islamic, he issued a fawta against it.

In conclusion i believe that the Iranians and Turks share some similiarities in that they see themselves first as nationalists then as Muslims. If there is to be a reformation it will have to come from one of these two countries.

[chantal7]

Cyrus the Great

[McGavin999]

It is very encouraging that the people of Iran are once again becoming aware of their roots. The Persians have a noble history and contributed greatly to civilization and it would be a real shame for it to be forgotten.

The Islamists have almost totally destoyed the beautiful traditions of the middle east. A bedouin would have died of shame if harm had ever come to a guest in their country. Today they bomb tourists and foreign workers, who have been invited as though they mean nothing.

[ZULU]

"Clerics are now more likely to insist that history since the arrival of Islam in the 7th century should be emphasized"

Idiots. What history? The worst thing to happen to Persia was the arrival of the Islamic hordes.

The Persians already had a great kingdom and culture and the world's first monotheistic religion - Zoroastrianism. They succeeded in destroying a Roman army at Carrhae and thus setting an eastern limit to the Roman Empire.

There was nothing those desert bandits from Arabia could offer the civlizaed and sophisticated Persians but devastation.

Unfortunately the Ayatollahs have continued with this tradition.

[SunkenCiv]

A Blast from the Past.

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