Iran’s Rulers and Invasions from 559 BCE to 2018 CE © 2018 Michael Craig Hillmann
Achaemenids, 559-330 BCE Conquest by Alexander, 330 BCE Seleucids, 312-191 BCE Arsacids (of Parthia), 247 BCE–224 CE Sāsānids, 224-651 CE Arab Muslim Conquest, 630s Umayyid Caliphs, 661-750 ‘Abbāsid Caliphs, 750-1258 Tāherids (820-891) and Saffārids (861-1003) Sāmānids, 819-999 Ghaznavids, 997-1040 Saljuqs, 1035-1153 Kharazmshāhs, 1077-1131 Mongol conquest, 1220-1258
Il-Khānids, 1256–1335+ Timurids, 1370-1500 Safavids, 1501-1722 Afghāns, early 18th century Afshārids, 1736-1747 Zands, 1757-1779 Qājārs, 1795-1921/6 British and Russians, late 19th c. – early 20th centuries Pahlavis, 1921/6-1979 Americans, 1941Islamic Republic, 1979-2018
Michael Craig Hillmann, 012018 mchillmann@aol.com www.Academia.edu/MichaelHillmann www.Issuu.com/MichaelHillmann
Iranian historical monuments and ruins from the Achaemenid empire (559-330 BCE) onward
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Iran • land bridge • crossroads • plateau • plains • mountains • foothills • salt deserts • Caspian area • Gulf littoral • water lack • brownness • springtime
Iranian Historical Culture • 2,500+ years of history • 2,500 years of monarchy • imperial and territorial glory: Achaemenids, 559-330 BCE Sâsânids, 224-651 CE Sâfavids, 1501-1636 Afshârids (= Nâder Shâh), 1736-1747 • foreign invasions and occupations: Alexander the Great and the Seleucids Arab Muslims and Two Centuries of Silence Ghaznavid Turks, 999-1030 Saljuq Turks, 1055-1153 Mongols, 1220s-1258 Timurids, 13??-1405 Great Britain Czarist Russian America • religious states Zoroastrianism: Sāsānids,224-651 Sunni Islam: Ghaznavids (977-1186) and Saljuqs Shi’i Islam: Safavids (1501-1636), Qājārs (1795-1921), Pahlavis (1921/6-1979) Shi’i Islamic Repubic of Iran, 1979-
• lengthy history • Indo-Europeanness • “Iran” • 900 years without significant immigration • Persian Iranianness “Persian” culture • Persian Iranian cultural nationalism • attachment to Iranian homeland • attachment to the Fārsi Persian language • patriarchy • monarchy
Note: Source where not noted: Encyclopedia Iranica (= www.iranicaonline.org)
Achaemenid Ruler
Cyrus Cylinder
• Written by Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Empire (559-330 BCE. The Achaemenids ruled from 559 to 530 BCE.
( 1) Marduk, king of the whole of heaven and earth, (12) seeking for the upright king of his choice…took the hand of Cyrus, king of the city of Anshan, and called him by his name, proclaiming him aloud for the kingship over all of everything. (13) He made the land of Guti and all the Median troops prostrate themselves at his feet, while he shepherded in justice and righteousness the black-headed people (14) whom he had put under his care. Marduk, the great lord, who nurtures his people, saw with pleasure his fine deeds and true heart, (15) and ordered that he should go to Babylon. (18) All the people of…all Sumer and Akkad, nobles and governors, bowed down before him and kissed his feet, rejoicing over his kingship and their faces shone. (19) The lord through whose help all were rescued from death and who saved them all from distress and hardship, they blessed him sweetly and praised his name. (20) I am Cyrus, king of the universe, the great king, the powerful king, king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four quarters of the world. (22) When I went as harbinger of peace into Babylon, (23) I founded my sovereign residence within the palace amid celebration and rejoicing. Marduk, the great lord, bestowed on me as my destiny the great magnanimity of one who loves Babylon, and I every day sought him out in awe. (24) My vast troops were marching peaceably in Babylon, and the whole of Sumer and Akkad had nothing to fear. (25) I sought the safety of the city of Babylon and all its sanctuaries. As for the population of Babylon…, who as if without divine intention had endured a yoke not decreed for them,
(26) I soothed their weariness; I freed them from their bonds. Marduk, the great lord, rejoiced at my good deeds, (27) and he pronounced a sweet blessing over me, Cyrus, the king who fears him, (28) that we might live happily in his presence, in well-being. At his exalted command, all kings who sit on thrones, (29) from every quarter (30) brought their weighty tribute into Shuanna, and kissed my feet. From Shuanna I sent back to their places, (31) as far as the border of the land of Guti–the sanctuaries across the river Tigris– whose shrines had earlier become dilapidated, (32) the gods who lived therein, and made permanent sanctuaries for them. I collected together all of their people and returned them to their settlements, (33) and the gods of the land of Sumer and Akkad which Nabonidus… had brought into Shuanna, at the command of Marduk, the great lord, (34) I returned them unharmed to their cells, in the sanctuaries that make them happy. May all the gods that I returned to their sanctuaries, (35) every day before Bel and Nabu, ask for a long life for me, and mention my good deeds, and say to Marduk, my lord, this: “Cyrus, the king who fears you, and Cambyses his son, (36) may they be the provisioners of our shrines until distant days, and the population of Babylon call blessings on my kingship. I have enabled all the lands to live in peace.” (44) May Marduk, the great lord, present to me as a gift a long life and the fullness of age, (45) a secure throne and an enduring reign. Excerpted from Irving Finkel’s translation at: www.british museum.org/explore/highlights/articles/c/cyrus_cylinder_-_translation.aspx
Tomb of Achaemenid Emperor Cyrus the Great (ruled 559-530 BCE), Pāsārgād
Achaemenid Emperor Darius the Great (ruled 522-486 BCE) on a bas relief at Persepolis
Persepolis, 518- BCE
Persepolis
Achaemenid Persian Empire, 500 BCE
Seleucid Empire
Seleucid Coin
Parthian Empire
Parthian Empire, 247 BCE– 224 CE
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Parthian Prince
Sāsānid Empire, 224-651 CE
Sāsānid Art (224-651 CE) at Naqsh-e Rostam
Investiture of Shāpur I (ruled 224-270/72 CE) by Ahurāmazdā. Bas Relief at Naqsh-e Rostam.
Sasanid Emperor ShÄ pur I with captive Roman Emperor Valerian Naqsh-e Rostam
Sāsānid (224-651 CE) imperial capital called Ctesiphon (next to the Tigris River, Iraq)
• Achaemenid and Sāsānid ruins, besides suggesting great past Iranian power and beauty, remind observers of the transience of things, including Iran’s unrepeatable glory days.
Sﾄ《ﾄ］id Plate, depicting a Sﾄ《ﾄ］id monarch as hunter
The Muslim Prophet Muhammad (c.570632) in battle
Gabriel communicating AllÄ h’s words to Mohammad (c.570-632) from 610 onward
Islam, 610-632
Arab Muslims defeat the Sâsânids at the Battle of Qadesiyyeh (636)
Spread of Islam in its first century
Mausoleum for Sāmānid Ruler Esmā’il (ruled 892-907) Bokhārā, 10th century
Your Text Here 31
Sultan Mahmoud of Ghazneh (ruled 988-1030) and his armies attacking the fortress of Zarand
Ghaznavid Sultan Mahmud (ruled 999-1030) • During Mahmud’s reign, Ferdowsi (940-1020) completed his epic narratives called Shāhnāmeh [Book of Kings] in 1010. • This post-miniature-era painting depicts Mahmud with his slave Ayyāz and the poets Ferdowsi, Onsori, and Asjadi, the names of all five characters written above or next to them. • That a king is at the center of the world of the universe of this painting and that the three famous poets in the painting apparently play a role similar to the king’s slave in the world of the Ghaznavid royal court imply that Ferdowsi, the Shāhnāmeh poet, may be engaging in narrative panegyric and may be hoping for or expecting a royal reward as recompense for his life’s work.
Walters Ms. W.603, page dated 19th century
• Likewise, Persian miniature and later painters as employees of the king or other members of a royal court may be engaging primarily in visual panegyric.
MalekshÄ h Saljuqi (ruled 1072-1092)
Timurlang [= Tamerlane] (1320s/30s-1405). founder of the Timurid dynasty, Tamerlane began his empire in 1370.
miniature painting of Tamerlane at a feast
Safavid Irān, 16th to 18th Centuries
Safavid Kings of Irān Esmā’il I, ruled 1501-1524 Tahmāsp I, ruled 1524-1576 Esmā’il II, ruled 1576-1578 Mohammad Khodābandeh, ruled 1578-1587 ‘Abbās I, ruled 1587-1629 Safi, ruled 1629-1642 ‘Abbās II, ruled 1642-1666 Solaymān I, ruled 1666-1694 Soltān Hosayn I, ruled 1694-1722 Tahmāsp II, ruled 1722-1732 ‘Abbās III, ruled 1732-1736
Battle of Chaldiran (1514)
Shāh Tahmāsp I, ruled 1524-1576
Safavid Miniature Painting of a king
Safavid Shāh ‘Abbās I, ruled 1587-1629
Portrait of Nâder Shâh (ruled 1736-1747)
Nâder Shâh’s Lion-and-Sun Seal
Nâder Shâh Monument, Mashhad, 1959 • Nâder Shâh Afshâr (1688 or 1698-1747), who deposed the last members of the Safavid royal family in 1736, briefly ruled over the last Iranian empire until his assassination in 1747. • Iranian painters and sculptors have not similarly depicted 19th- and 20th-century Iranian rulers Fath ‘Ali Shâh Qâjâr, Mohammad Shâh Qâjar, Nâseroddin Shâh Qâjâr, Mozaffaroddin Shâh Qâjâr, Mohammad ‘Ali Shâh Qâjâr, Ahmad Shâh Qâjâr, Rezâ Pahlavi, and Mohammad Rezâ Pahlavi.
Karim KhÄ n Zand (ruled 1751-1777)
Āghā Mohammad Khān Qājār, r. 1794-1797
Āghā Mohammad Khān Qājār capturing Tbilisi/Tiflis
Fath ‘Ali Shāh Qājār (ruled 1797-1834)
Portrait of Mohammad Shāh Qājār, ruled 1834-1848
N훮seroddin Sh훮h Q훮j훮r, ruled 1848-1896
portrait
photograph
Mozaffaroddin Shāh Qājār, ruled 1896-1906, photograph by Antoin Sevruguin
• Throughout the lengthy history of Iran’s patriarchical and monarchical order, its shāhs constituted the quintessential Iranians. That tradition ended with the Iranian Revolution in 1978 and the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in early 1979. • The Brooklyn Museum has a collection of 270+ photographs of the later Qājār era.
photograph of Mozaffaroddin Shāh Qājār, ruled 1896-1906
• At the end of Mozaffaroddin Shāh’s reign, a Europeanstyle constitution took effect in Iran.
Mohammad ‘Ali Shâh Qâjâr, ruled 1907-1909
Ahmad Shāh Qājār (ruled 1909-1925)
Rezā Shāh Pahlavi (ruled 1921/6-1979)
• Philatelic images have constituted a major Iranian public relations and graphic art form since the 1920s
Mohammad Rezā Pahlavi (ruled 1941-1979)
Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi next to an image of the Âli Qāpu, the royal pavilion on the Royal Square in Esfahān.
Mohammad Mosaddeq (1888-1967) Prime Minister, 1951-1953
• Ousted in a coup d’état supported (or designed and executed?) by the American government, tried, convicted, and put under house arrest until the end of his life, Mohammad Mosaddeq remains Iran’s chief nationalist hero, and Iranians still blame America for its involvement in his ouster and for the subsequent dictatorial behavior of Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi whom America proceeded to support.
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Shahyād [shāh’s memory] Tower in Tehrān, 1971
•Constructed on the occasion of the celebration of 2,500 years of Iranian monarchy as testimony to the Pahlavi monarchy, seven years later, it became the scene for anti-Pahlavi demonstrations and as of 2015, with the name Borj-e Āzādi [tower of freedom], it symbolizes post-Pahlavi Iran. 58
A stamp commemorating the self-coronation of Mohammad Rez ā Shāh Pahlavi (1918-1980) as Emperor of Iran in 1968
• A decade later in January 1979, MRP, whose reign officially began in 1941, fled Iran upon the dissolution of his royal guards called the Immortals in the face of the imminent and triumphant return of Shi’ite cleric Ruhollāh Khomeini.
Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (ruled 1941-January 1979)
• None of MRP’s chestful of ribbons and testified to any actions or achievements.
• MRP achieved dictatorial power in the aftermath of an illegal coup d’état that deposed Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq (r. 1951-3). • MRP authorized the establishment of a secret police organization called SAVAK that terrorized schools and universities during the 1960s and 1970s. • MRP imposed “Persian” [fārs] Iranian culture on Iran and did not allow Āzarbāyjāni Turks, Kurds, et al. to use their languages on the radio, in print media, or in schools. • MRP crowned himself shāhanshāh [emperor] in 1968 and celebrated the Pahlavi monarchy and the history of Iranian monarchy in lavish fashion in 1971. • Over the years, MRP authorized the incarceration, torture, and execution of thousands of Iranian citizens. • MRP declared Iran a one-party state in 1975. • Lacking higher education, MRP insisted on playing decisive roles in specialized arenas and mismanaged Iran during the last ten years of his rule. • MRP hid his fatal illness during the time when oppositionists began calling for his removal from office and when he might have compromised with them.
A stamp issued on the occasion of the anniversary of the 1968 (Self-)Coronation of Mohammad Rezâ Pahlavi as Emperor of Iran and his coronation of his third wife, Farah Dib ā, as Empress of Iran, with their son Rezā Cyrus Pahlavi, the Crown Prince. Further Pahlavi self-promotion, beyond the renaming and naming many places and institutions “Pahlavi”, were to come, chief among them the celebration of 2,500 years of monarchy in 1971-2, the establishment in 1975 of the Rastākhiz Party as the only political party in Iran, and the institution of a new imperial calendar the next year. The upshot of all of this, and the Shāh’s arrogance and incompetence, his secret police, and his authorization of the arrest, incarceration, torture, and sometimes 61 execution of “opponents” came to light in 1978.
Anti-Pahlavi demonstrations at Tehrān’s Shahyād Monument in 1978
A cancelled Mohammad Rezâ Shāh Pahlavi in a Pahlavi government image paralleling him with the power and glory of Safavid empire (1501-1722) symbolized by the Chehel Sotoon building in Esfahān.
• In Persian script on the diagonal over the image of Chehel Sotoon appears the phrase “Islamic Revolution.”
Map of Iran in the Islamic Republic of Iran Era (1979- )
Iran, 80+ million people Tehr훮n, 8.2 million Mashhad, 2.4 million Tabriz, 2.2 million Esfah훮n, 1.5 million Karaj, 1.3 million Shir훮z, 1.2 million Ahv훮z, 1.2 million Qom, 1 million
2012 census, data not wholly reliable
Islamic Republic of Iran 1991 Bahman 22 [February 11] God’s Day • The Pahlavi government (1941-1979) issued hundreds of postage stamps with Mohammad Rezā Shāh’s image, but very few stamps with images of non-royal Iranians. •Conversely, the Islamic Republic of Iran issued no stamps with images of its Supreme Leadef Ruhollâh Khomeini (19021989) while he was alive, while hundreds of stamps with images of ordinary, anonymous Iranians were printed during the 1980s.