One year has passed since that post. Time flies does it not?

"We revere the sanctity and the Fravashi of Zarathushtra Spitama; Who first thought what is good, who first spoke what is good, who first did what is good; who was the first Priest, the first Warrior, the first Farmer of the ground; who first knew and first taught."

—Avesta, Frawardin Yasht, 87-88.

"The Persians, of all foreigners, became the most renowned among the Greeks, because none of the other foreigners who ruled Asia ruled Greeks; neither were these people acquainted with the Greeks nor yet the Greeks with the non-Greeks, except for a short time by distant hearsay... The Lydians had indeed ruled over Greeks, but not also over the whole of Asia — only over a small part of it, ..and that too for only a short time... later Persians even crossed over into [mainland] Greece; and, though defeated in battles, still they continued to hold Asia as far as the places on the sea until they were subdued by the Macedonians."

—Strabon, "Geographica", Book 10, Chapter 3, 23.

"Even if the novelist Herodotus, dramatist Aeschylus, orator Isocrates, Plutarch and others were permitted to tell lies about Iran to feed their propaganda because they were Greeks, the so called "historians" of 19th & 20th century have no right to - out of spite - feed their audience with the lies and nonsense of Herodotus and even the epic tragedy of Aeschylus as actual history and knowledge."

—Amir Badi' (1915-1994), late Iranian philosopher, historian and scholar.

— On the Qarmatians, Pt. 1.

The Qarmatians (Arabic: قرامطة‎) were originally a sect of Ismailite Shia Islam, but were excommunicated and announced as infidels. They're most known for their revolt against the Abbasid Caliphate, and the sacking and destroying of Mecca and the Ka'ba.

In 930 AD, Mecca was sacked by the Qarmatian leader Abu Taher Soleyman al-Jannabi/Ganavi (1st Jan 906-944 AD), who was of Iranian descent, which lead to the destruction of Ka'aba, removal and desecration of the Black Stone (Hajar al-Aswad) and the Zamzam well, highly sacred to Muslims.

"One of Abu Taher's men entered the Ka'ba with his horse and told the pilgrimes: 'You donkies! You prostrate yourselves before this house of stone, walk around it, dance to it and rub your faces against its walls, and your elders who you follow teach you nothing else. There remains no other option to destroy these superstitions except this sword."
—Algizar, "Zaad al-Musafir".

Whilst the original intentions of the attack is not known, Abu Taher had captured other important cities such as Basra (1), the pilgrimes of Mecca numerous times before, even blocking its path entirely (2), but in 17th January 930 AD, a full-scale siege was laid on Mecca. During its capture and destruction, a varying, but great number of pilgrimes were killed. To go even further, their bodies were thrown inside the Zamzam well (3) (gift of Allah to Ishmael, son of Abraham, in Islamic tradition). The decorations of the well and the Ka'ba were also removed and torn to pieces. (4)

Upon Abu Taher's order to remove the Hajar al-Aswad, one soldier stepped forward and hit the stone with his mace, saying: "Where is the flock of birds? Where are the clay stones?" (5), in reference to a story of Quran where a Christian Ethiopian king is killed by flocks of birds throwing stones on his soldiers to protect the Ka'ba.

———
(1) "Al-Bidaya wa'l-Nihaya", Ibn Kathir, 11.172.
(2) ibid, 11.163-165.
(3) "Tarikh-e Makka", Ahmad al-Saba'i, 1.171.
(4) "Tabari Continuatus", Arib ibn Sa'ad, 95.
(5) ibid, Ibn Kathir, 11.182.

"When Abu Taher and his father went to Ahsa (1) they gathered and burnt all Torah, Injil (2) and Quran and defecated on them, and Abu Taher would say 'Three men depraved the people on earth; A shepherd, a physician and a cameleer, and my hate for the cameleer is greater for he was cunning and sly (3). He tore the black stone apart, and put it on the two sides of a toilet hole, and would put his feet on the stones whenever he used the toilet."

—Khwaje Nezam ol-Molk (1018-1092), "Siasatname" [Book of Politics], 250.

———
(1) A region of east Arabia, on the coasts of Persian Gulf
(2) New Testament
(3) A reference to the three Abrahamic prophets (Moses, Jesus, Mohammed)

Picture: Current state of the black stone in Arabia.

From the 8 year war: Body of an Iranian soldier lying between flowers, 100 km away from Basra, Iraq.

📸 Jacques Pawłowski, 18th March 1986.

Patterns on diadems worn by royal guards depicted in reliefs of the palace of Xshayarsha (Xerxes) the Great, Persepolis.

Sketch by: Brit Tilia, Ann, "Studies and Restorations at Persepolis and Other Sites of Fārs" (1972).

—Map of the Arsacid (Parthian) Empire at its greatest extent, under Mehrdad (Mithridates) I the Great.

"[Mithridates I], being a mild and gracious king, was exceedingly prosperous and successful, and greatly enlarged the bounds of his empire. He conquered all before him, as far as to India with a great deal of ease. He was kind to his subjects, and valiant in warfare against his enemies; and having subdued many nations, he collected the best of their customs, and imparted them to the Parthians."

—Diodorus Siculus, "Bibliotheca Historica", 33.18.

"He [Ardashir Babakan] accordingly became a source of fear to us; for he was encamped with a large army so as to threaten not only Mesopotamia but also Syria, and he boasted that he would win back everything that the ancient Persians had once held, as far as the Grecian Sea, claiming that all this was his rightful inheritance from his forefathers."

—Cassius Dio, "Historia Romana", 80.3.4

Along with the last post, these two accounts of Roman history are some of the most important pieces of evidence on the vivid memory of Achaemenid kings between Iranians of the Sassanian era.

پارسی:
"بِدان دادگَر کآفَرید او بِهِشت
بِدان نور کآورده بُد زردِهِشت
که گفتار من نیست جُز راستی
نخواهم به تو کژّی و کاستی"

Transliteration:
"bedān dādgar kāfarid ū behesht
bedān nūr kāvarde bod zardehesht
ke goftār-e man nīst joz rāsti
nakhāham be to kazhī o kāstī"

Translation:
"To the just judge, who's spawned heaven
To the light brought by Zardosht, I swear
That my word, is nothing but truth
For you I wish not ill and defect"

—Rostam-e Dastān, "Bahman-nāmeh", by Iranian poet Irānshāh (12th century AD).

Picture: "Rostam", by Farhad Jamshidi.

"Themistocles wrote a letter to king Artaxerxes, the newly crowned son of Xerxes, as: 'I, Themistocles, come to you, who did your house more harm than any other Hellene when I was compelled to defend myself against your father's invasion,—harm, however, far surpassed by the good that I did him during his retreat. For the past, you are a good turn in my debt. I am here in the present, able to do you great service, pursued by the Hellenes for my friendship for you. But I desire a year's grace, when I shall be able to declare in person the objects of my coming.'

The king approved his intention. He employed the interval in making what progress he could in the study of the Persian language, and of the customs of the country.

Disease was the real cause of his death; though there is a story of his suicide by poison, finding himself unable to fulfil his promises to the king. There is a monument to him in the market of Asiatic Magnesia."

—Thucydides, "Histories", 1.137-8, on the defection of Themistocles to Persia.

He stood silent before the king.

—Illustration by W. Crane (1845-1915)

The 6th century Chinese historical text 'Wèi Shū' (魏书) on Sassanian royal succession:

"The king after succeeding to the throne chooses among his sons the most virtuous one, enters secretly his name on a letter (or, a book), and seals it; it is kept in the (royal) treasury. His sons and the ministers all ignore what (he has written). When the king dies, then all (assemble and) open the letter to see what (has been written in it); he, whose name is in the sealed letter, is to be enthroned as king. The other sons leave (the capital, and) are appointed to border posts. The brothers thus do no longer meet each other."

—Source: Raham Asha, "The Wèi-shū and the Persian calendar".
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