Posted on 02/19/2008 3:02:57 PM PST by blam
Excavations In Iran Unravel Mystery Of 'Red Snake'
ScienceDaily (Feb. 18, 2008) — New discoveries unearthed at an ancient frontier wall in Iran provide compelling evidence that the Persians matched the Romans for military might and engineering prowess.
The 'Great Wall of Gorgan'in north-eastern Iran, a barrier of awesome scale and sophistication, including over 30 military forts, an aqueduct, and water channels along its route, is being explored by an international team of archaeologists from Iran and the Universities of Edinburgh and Durham. This vast Wall-also known as the 'Red Snake'-is more than 1000 years older than the Great Wall of China, and longer than Hadrian's Wall and the Antonine Wall put together.
Until recently, nobody knew who had built the Wall. Theories ranged from Alexander the Great, in the 4th century BC, to the Persian king Khusrau I in the 6th century AD. Most scholars favoured a 2nd or 1st century BC construction. Scientific dating has now shown that the Wall was built in the 5th, or possibly, 6th century AD, by the Sasanian Persians. This Persian dynasty has created one of the most powerful empires in the ancient world, centred on Iran, and stretching from modern Iraq to southern Russia, Central Asia and Pakistan.
Modern survey techniques and satellite images have revealed that the forts were densely occupied with military style barrack blocks. Numerous finds discovered during the latest excavations indicate that the frontier bustled with life. Researchers estimate that some 30,000 soldiers could have been stationed at this Wall alone. It is thought that the 'Red Snake'was a defence system against the White Huns, who lived in Central Asia.
Eberhard Sauer, of the University of Edinburgh's School of History, Classics and Archaeology, said: “Our project challenges the traditional Euro-centric world view. At the time, when the Western Roman Empire was collapsing and even the Eastern Roman Empire was under great external pressure, the Sasanian Persian Empire mustered the manpower to build and garrison a monument of greater scale than anything comparable in the west. The Persians seem to match, or more than match, their late Roman rivals in army strength, organisational skills, engineering and water management.”
The research is published in the new edition of Current World Archaeology and the periodical Iran, Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies 45.
Adapted from materials provided by University of Edinburgh.
That may have been so, then. But they are still living in those days. They haven’t come far from that time period.
The Romans warred on and off for centuries with the Persians. The Persians gave as good as they got and the Romans never managed to defeat them. The Persians might have been a real challenge to Roman domination in the region but they practiced a kind of fuedalism that kept them fighting one another more often than they did their neighbors. They could unite to fight off the Romans but once they managed that they went back to going at each other.
“The Persians seem to match, or more than match, their late Roman rivals”
Today, they are living under the boots of muslim dictators!
Ever heard of Marathon, Plataea, Thermopylae, Issus, Granicus?
This was apparently the pre-islam Persian empire. Islam halted the advancement somehow. How and why that occured is the question that needs an answer.
Actually, parts of the Great Wall were built about the same time as this one, although what one thinks of as the wall today was completed about a 1000 years later.
I’m sure this all very encouraging for Iranians - as long they don’t think too closely about what it says regarding their culture’s long degenerate slide for the last few thousand years...
And portions of the Great Wall were actually built 6-700 years before the Persian one.
Hadrian: 76-138 AD Red Snake built sometime between 400 & 599 AD
I would hope, that with 300-500 years to study Roman methods, the Persians could ‘exceed’ their accomplishments!
Unfortunately, like 20th Century Frenchmen, they built their wall to fight the last war, instead of the next one: The Muslims attacked along a different front.
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Thanks Blam.the 5th, or possibly, 6th century ADIt's amazing that ancient construction of a such frontier walls comes off as such a huge surprise. It wasn't rocket science to build walls. One advantage the Persians had was that parts of the empire were so harsh that they weren't practical as invasion routes. :') |
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:’) Under Trajan, the Romans did kick the Persians out of Mesopotamia, but big T died at the end of that campaign, and his successor Hadrian abandoned it almost immediately. Perhaps the best chance the Romans had of conquering Persia was following Pompey’s campaign in Asia Minor, but that was made impossible by the Senate. Years later Marc Antony started on such a Parthian campaign, but from the sound of it must have spent most of the money on booze, and that fell apart.
:’) The Persians were benevolent after they got done kicking the hell out of everyone they felt like conquering. In that, they took the same approach as successful conquerors throughout history, including Alexander the Great, the Romans, and the colonial powers of Europe. They had a foothold in Europe, but never could whelm the Greek mainland or the Scythians, whom they chased all over until winter approached and the Persians had to run for it. I’ve often wondered that Napoleon didn’t learn from that, and the Germans (twice) in the 20th century.
Ardashir I's son Shapur I (241–272) whose his mother was daughter of a Parthian monarch, possibly Ardavan IV or one of the members of Suren-Pahlav Clan, continued this expansion, conquering Bactria and Kushan, while leading several campaigns against Rome. Penetrating deep into Eastern-Roman territory, Shapur I conquered Antiochia (253 or 256) and finally defeated the Roman emperors Gordian III (238–244), Philip the Arab (244–249), and Valerian (253–260). The latter was taken (259) into captivity after the Battle of Edessa, a tremendous and hitherto unknown disgrace for the Romans. Shapur I celebrated his victory by carving the impressive rock reliefs in Naqsh-e Rostam.
Relief of Shapur I at Naqsh-e Rostam, showing the two defeated Roma Emperors, Valerian and Philip the Arab
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The abrupt fall of Sasanian Empire was completed in a period of five years, and most of its territory was absorbed into the Islamic caliphate; however many Iranian cities resisted and fought against the invaders several times. Cities such as Ray, Isfahan and Hamadan were exterminated thrice by Islamic caliphates in order to suppress revolts and to terrify Iranian people. The local population either willingly accepted Islam, thus escaping from various restrictions imposed on non-Muslims, including the requirement to pay a special poll tax (jizya), or were forced to convert by the invading armies. Invaders destroyed the Academy of Gundishapur and its library, burning piles of books. Most Sasanian records and literary works were destroyed. A few that escaped this fate were later translated into Arabic and later to Modern Persian. During the Islamic invasion many Iranian cities were destroyed or deserted, palaces and bridges were ruined and many magnificent imperial Persian gardens were burned to the ground...
islam destroys pretty much anything it touches.
Yeah, the region would have been almost impossible to hold even if the Romans had taken it. Too far and people too fractious. Besides it fell outside the “natural” boundaries of the empire which were centered on the Mediterranean (did I spell that right?). I have read that Augustus understood this and made it policy that while there were Roman interests in the region there would be no real effort to conquer farther east.
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