Iranian Monarchical History–Rulers from 559 BCE to 1979
Achaemenids, 559-330 BCE Conquest by Alexander, 330 BCE Seleucids, 312-191 BCE Arsacids (of Parthia), 247 BCE–224 CE Sasanids, 224-651 CE Arab Muslim Conquest, 630s Umayyid Caliphs, 661-750 ‘Abbasid Caliphs, 750-1258 Taherids and Saffarids Samanids, 819-999 Ghaznavids, 997–1040 Saljuqs, 1035-1153 Kharazmshâhs, 1077-1131
Mongol conquest, 1220-1258 Il-Khanids, 1256–1335+ Timurids, 1370-1500 Safavids, 1501-1722 Afghans, early 18th century Afsharids, 1736-1747 Zands, 1757-1779 Qajârs, 1795-1921/6 Pahlavis, 1921/6-1979 Islamic Republic, 1979• “Iran” • lengthy history • patriarchy • monarchy • “Persian” culture
Iran • land bridge • crossroads • plateau • plains • mountains • foothills • salt deserts • Caspian area • Gulf littoral • water lack • brownness • springtime
Sâsânid Emperor Bahrâm Gur (ruled 420-438 CE) hunting a dragon
Achaemenid Persian Empire, 500 BCE
Achaemenid Emperor Cyrus whose crown evokes an impression of mountains as does his tomb at Pasargad
Persepolis Entryway and Apadana Platform
Persepolis from the Air Construction of Persepolis began in 518 BCE.
Imagined reconstruction of Persepolis, which Alexander the Great destroyed in 330 BCE
King Jamshid teaching trades, a medieval miniature painting from a manuscript of Ferdowsi’s 11th-century CE epic called Shahnameh [Book of Kings].
The Persian term for “Persepolis” is Takht-e Jamshid [throne of Jamshid], name for a pre-historical mythological king who was capable of preternatural acts and achievements, which many Iranians in the past thought Persepolis was.
Iranian Postage Stamp Persepolis Image of Faravahar above the king and the king above the people
Cyrus the Great’s Peace Cylinder
(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 19
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 www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/articles/c/cyrus_cylinder__translation.aspx 20
Alexander in 330 BCE and Achaemenid Emperor Darius III
Seleucid Empire
Seleucid Coin
Parthian Empire
Parthian Prince
Sasanid Empire, 224-651 CE
Sâsanid Art (224-651 CE) Naqsh-e Rostam
Investiture of Shâpur I (ruled 224-270/72 CE) by Ahurâmazdâ. Bas Relief at Naqsh-e Rostam.
Sasanid Emperor Shapur I with captive Roman Emperor Valerian Naqsh-e Rostam
Sasanid Plate, depicting the King as Hunter
Mohammad (c.570-632) destroying the idols in Mecca
Mohammad in Battle
Islam, 610-632
Arab Muslims defeat the Sâsânids at the Battle of Qadesiyyeh (636)
Sasanid Ruins at Ctesiphon in Today’s Iraq
Spread of Islam in its first century
Mausoleum for Sâmânid Ruler Esmâ’il (ruled 892-907) Bokhârâ, 10th century
Your Text Here
Sultan Mahmoud of Ghazneh (ruled 988-1030) and his armies attacking the fortress of Zarand
Tomb of Ferdowsi (940-1020) at Tus, completed in 1934 and later restored
Malekshâh Saljuqi (ruled 1072-1092)
Saljuq Prince, 11th-12th century
miniature painting of Tamerlane (1320s/30s1405) at a feast Founder of the Timurid dynasty, Tamerlane began his empire in 1370.
Iran in the Safavid Era, 1501-1722
Battle of Chaldiran (1514)
Tahmasp
Safavid Miniature Painting of a king
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Esfahan Floral Arabesque Medallion Carpet
Royal Square, Esfahân built 1601
\‘Âli Qâpu Royal Pavilion
Portrait of Nâder Shâh Afshâr (ruled 1736-1747)
Nâder Shâh Monument, Mashhad, 1959 • Nâder Shâh Afshâr (1688 or 16981747), 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- to 21stcentury Iranian rulers Fath ‘Ali Shâh Qâjâr, Mohammad Shâh Qâjar, Nâseroddin Shâh Qâjâr, Mozaffaroddin Shâh Qâjâr, Mohammad ‘Ali Shâh Qâjâr, Ahmad Shâh Qâjâr, Rezâ Pahlavi (ruled 1921/6-1941), Mohammad Rezâ Pahlavi (ruled 1941-1979), Ruhollâh Khomayni (ruled 1979-1989), et al.
portrait of Karim Khân Zand (ruled 17501799)
Karim Khân Zand (ruled 1751-1777)
Famous 16th-18th-century rulers of Iran:
Shâh Esma’il, r. 1501-1524 Shâh Tahmâsp, r. 1524-1576 Shâh ‘Abbas, r. 1588-1629 Nâder Shâh Afshâr, r. 1736-1747 Karim Khân Zand, r. 1751-1779 Mohammad Khân Qâjâr, r. 1794-1797
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Portrait of Fath’ali Shâh Qâjâr, ruled 1797-1836
Portrait of Mohammad Shâh Qâjâr, ruled 1834-1848
Portrait of N창seroddin Sh창h Q창j창r, ruled 1848-1896
Mozaffaroddin Shâh Qâjâr, ruled 1896-1906, photograph by Antoin Sevruguin • Throughout the lengthy history of Iran’s patriarchical and monarchical order, its shâhs constituted the quintessential Iranians. The central role of kings in Iranian culture made them the chief subject of much Iranian art. • 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 Qâjar era.
67 photograph of Mozaffaroddin Shâh Qâjâr, ruled 1896-1906
At the end of Mozaffaroddin Shâh’s reign, a European-style constitution took effect in Iran.
Mohammad ‘Ali Shâh Qâjâr, ruled 1907-1909
Ahmad Shâh Qâjâr, ruled 1909-1925
Rezâ Shâh Pahlavi (ruled 1921/6-1979)
Philatelic images have constituted a major iranian graphic art form since the 1920s
Mohammad Rezâ Pahlavi (ruled 1941-1979)
Mohammad Rezâ Shâh Pahlavi next to an image of the Âli Qâpu, the royal pavilion on the Royal Square in Esfahân.
Shahyâd [shâh’s memory] Tower in Tehrân, 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 antiPahlavi demonstrations and as of 2015, with the name Borj-e Âzâdi [tower of 67 freedom], it symbolizes post-Pahlavi Iran.
A stamp commemorating the self-coronation of Mohammad Rezâ Shâh Pahlavi (1918-1980) as Emperor of Iran 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 68 imminent and triumphant return of Shi’ite cleric Ruhollâh Khomeini.
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 Dibâ, as Empress of Iran, with their son Reza 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 celebratioon of 2,500 years of monarchy in 1971-2, the establishment in 1975 of the Rastâkhiz 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 Shâh’s arrogance and incompetence, his secret police, and his authorization of the arrest, incarceration, torture, and sometimes 69 execution of opponents came to light in 1978.
A cancelled Mohammad Rezâ Shâh 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 Esfahân.
In Persian script on the diagonal over the image of Chehel Sotoon appears the phrase “Islamic Revolution.”