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Persian

Specialty Definition: History of Persia

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

History of Persia

In 1935 Persia became Iran, see also History of Iran

Dynasties

See the Dutch version for a more detailed list.

Median Dynasty

• Deioces 728-675 BC
• Phraortes 675-653 BC
• Cyaxares 625-585 BC
• Astyages 585-550 BC

The Medes were an Iranian people. The Persians, a related and subject people, revolted against the Median empire during the 6th century BC.

Achaemenid dynasty

• Cyrus the Great, ruled from c.550 - 530 BC
• Cambyses, ruled 530 - 521 BC
• Smerdis, ruled 521 BC
• Darius I, ruled 521 -486 BC
• Xerxes I, ruled 486 -465 BC
• Artaxerxes I, ruled 464 - 425 BC
• Darius II, ruled 423 - 404 BC
• Artaxerxes II, ruled 404 - 358 BC (see also Xenophon)
• Artaxerxes III, ruled 358 - 338 BC
• Arses, ruled 338 - 336 BC
• Darius III Codomannus, ruled 336 -330 BC

Macedonian Dynasty

• Alexander the Great (330 BC-323 BC)
• Philip III Arrihadeus (323 BC-317 BC)
• Alexander IV) (323 BC-310 BC)

Seleucid dynasty

• Seleucus I Nicator (312 BC/305 BC-281 BC)
• Antiochus I Soter (co-ruler from 291, ruled 281-261 BC)
• Antiochus II Theos (261-246 BC)
• Seleucus II Callinicus (246-225 BC)
• Seleucus III Ceraunus (225-223 BC)
• Antiochus III the Great (223-187 BC)
• Seleucus IV Philopator (187-175 BC)
• Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164 BC)

(The Seleucid Dynasty gradually lost control of Persia. In 253 BC, the Arsacid Dynasty established itself in Parthia. The Parthians gradually expanded their control, until by the mid 2nd Century BC, the Seleucids had completely lost control of Persia. There were more Seleucid rulers of Syria and, for a time, Babylonia, after Antiochus IV, but none had any effective power in Persia).

Parthian dynasty

• Arsaces I 246-211 BC
• Artabanus I 211-191 BC
• Priapatius 191-176 BC
• Phraates I 176-171 BC
• Mithridates I 171-138 BC
• Phraates II 138-128 BC
• Artabanus II 128-124 BC
• Mithridates II 124-87 BC
• Gotarzes I 91-78 BC
• Orodes I d.78 BC
• Sanatruces 77-70 BC
• Phraates III 70-58 BC
• Mithridates III 58-57 BC
• Orodes II 57-37 BC
• Phraates IV 37-30 BC
• Tiridates II 30-29 BC
• Phraates IV (restored) 29-28 BC
• Tiridates II (restored) 28-26 BC
• Phraates IV (restored) 26-2 BC
• Phraataces 2 BC - 4 AD
• Orodes III 4-7
• Vonones I 7-11
• Artabanus III 11-38
• Gotarzes II 38-51
• Vardanes 39-47
• Vonones II 51
• Vologases I 51-78
• Pacorus II 78-79
• Artabanus IV 79-81
• Pacorus II (restored) 81-115
• Vologases II 106
• Chosroes 109
• Parthamaspates 116
• Chosroes (restored) 117-128
• Mithridates IV 128-147
• Vologases III 148-192
• Vologases IV 191
• vacant 192-207 (?)
• Vologases V 207-213
• Artabanus V 213-226
• Artavasdes 226-227

Sassanid dynasty, 224-651

• Ardashir I from 224 to 241.
• Shapur I from 241 to 272
• Hormizd I from 272 to 273.
• Bahram I from 273 to 276.
• Bahram II from 276 to 293.
• Bahram III year 293.
• Narseh from 293 to 302.
• Hormizd II from 302 to 310.
• Shapur II from 310 to 379
• Ardashir II from 379 to 383.
• Shapur III from 383 to 388.
• Bahram IV from 388 to 399.
• Yazdegerd I from 399 to 420.
• Bahram V from 420 to 438.
• Yazdegerd II from 438 to 457.
• Hormizd III from 457 to 459.
• Peroz I from 457 to 484.
• Balash from 484 to 488.
• Kavadh I from 488 to 531.
  • Djamasp from 496 to 498.
• Khosrau I from 531 to 579.
• Hormizd IV from 579 to 590.
• Khosrau II from 590 to 628.
  • Bahram VI from 590 to 591.
  • Bistam from 591 to 592.
  • Hormizd V year 593.
• Kavadh II year 628.
• Ardashir III from 628 to 630.
  • Peroz II year 629.
• Shahrbaraz year 630.
• Boran and others from 630 to 631.
• Hormizd VI (or V) from 631 to 632.
• Yazdegerd III from 632 to 651.

part of Umayyad Caliphate, 661-750 part of Abbasid Caliphate, 750-867 divided, 867-1029

Seljuk Dynasty, 1029-1194

divided, 1194-1256

Ilkhans, 1256-1343

divided, 1343-1380

Timurid Dynasty, 1380-1449

divided, 1449-1502

Safavid Dynasty, 1502-1736

Afsharid Dynasty, 1736-1749

Zand Dynasty, 1750-1794

Qajar Dynasty, 1779-1925

• Abbas Mirza

Pahlavi Dynasty, 1925-1979

• Reza Pahlavi
• Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

Islamic Republic, 1979 -

See also History of Levant

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "History of Persia."

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Persia

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

One of their chiefs, Teispes, conquered Elam in the time of the decay of the Assyrian Empire, and established himself in the district of Anzan. His descendants branched off into two lines, one line ruling in Anzan, while the other remained in Persia.

Cyrus the Great, king of Anzan, finally united the divided power, conquered Media, Lydia, and Babylonia, and carried his arms into the far East. His son, Cambyses, added Egypt to the empire, which, however, fell to pieces after his death. It was reconquered and thoroughly organized by Darius I, the son of Hystaspes, whose dominions extended from India to the Danube.

More to be added.

At Masjid-al-Salaman in southwest Persia, the first major commercial oil strike in the Middle East was made on May 26, 1908. The rights to the resource were quickly acquired by the United Kingdom, however.

Persia was renamed Iran on March 21, 1935.

External link

• The History of the Ancient Near East

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Persia."

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Persian cat

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The Persian cat is one of the oldest breeds of show cat. A show-quality Persian has an extremely long thick coat, short legs, a wide head with the ears set far apart, large eyes, and an extremely foreshortened muzzle. The breed was originally established with a short (but not non-existent) muzzle, but over time this feature has become extremely exaggerated, and Persians are prone to a number of health problems (specifically affecting their sinuses and breathing) caused by it. However, conscientious breeders eliminate this by careful choice of breeding stock, as the goal is first and always healthy cats.

Persian cats can have any colour or markings except Siamese, including torty, blue, and tabby. There was an attempt to establish the silver Persian as a separate breed called the Sterling, but it was not accepted and silver and gold longhaired cats are judged in the Persian category of cat shows.

Because their fur is too long and dense for them to maintain themselves, Persian cats need extensive and regular grooming. To keep their fur in tiptop condition they must be bathed regularly, dried carefully afterwards, and brushed thoroughly every day. Their eyes need to be checked for problems on a regular basis because some animals have trouble keeping them clean.

A Persian cat without an established and registered pedigree is classed as a domestic longhair cat.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Persian cat."

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Persian Empire

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Persia emerged in the 6th century BC under the Achaemenid dynasty as a vast empire that controlled an area from India to Greece. It was conquered by Alexander the Great, but soon after Persia regained its independence in the form of the Parthian and Sassanid Empires. The latter was defeated by Islamic Arab forces in the 7th century AD, who were followed by Seljuk Turks, the Mongols, and Tamerlane.

Many dynasties have ruled Iran, the first of which was under the Achaemenids (559 - 330 BC), a dynasty founded by Cyrus the Great. After the Hellenistic period (300 - 250 BC) came the Parthian (250 BC - AD 226 ) and the Sassanid (226 - 651) dynasties.

The seventh century Arab-Muslim conquest of Iran was followed by conquests by the Seljuk Turks, the Mongols, and Tamerlane. Iran underwent a revival under the Safavid dynasty (1502-1736), the most prominent figure of which was Shah Abbas. The conqueror Nadir Shah and his successors were followed by the Zand dynasty, founded by Karim Kahn, and later the Qajar (1795-1925) and the Pahlavi dynasties (1925-1979).

See Iran

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Persian Empire."

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Persian language

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Persian (also known as Farsi or Parsi) is a language spoken in Iran, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Gorjestan (Georgia), part of India and part of Pakistan. It has over 46 million native speakers. It belongs to the Indo-European language family. It is of the Subject Object Verb type.

Persian is a member of the Indo-European family of languages, and within that family, it belongs to the Indo-Iranian (Aryan) branch, within which, the Iranian sub-branch consists of the following chronological linguistic path: Avestan/Old Persian -> Middle Persian (Pahlavi) -> Modern Persian.

The language itself has greatly developed during the centuries. Due to technological developments new words and idioms are created and enter into Farsi like any other language. In Iran the Academy of Persian language and literature is a center that evaluates the new words in order to initiate and advise its Persian equivalent.

Is the name of the language Persian or Farsi? To answer this question you can ask is it Spanish or Español? In other words, Persian is an English word, and Farsi or Parsi are Persian words.

However, both terms have made their way into the English language by different routes. Persian is the Hellenized form of the native term Parsi and is more widely recognized. Farsi is the Arabicized form and its use in the English language is very recent.

Native Iranians typically call it Farsi and Parsi in modern usage.

• Judeo-Persian was a language spoken by the Jews living in Persia.
• Dari is a dialect of Farsi, one of the two official languages of Afghanistan.
• Tajik is considered as dialect of Farsi by some linguists.

Persian phonology -- adapted from this Structural Sketch of Persian.

Vowels

	front	back
high	i:	u:
mid-high	E	o
low	ae	A:

Consonants

	labial	dentals	palatals	velars
voiceless stops	p	t	tS	k
voiced stops	b	d	dZ	g
voiceless fricatives	f	s	S	x
voiced fricatives	v	z	Z	Y
nasals	m	n
liquids		l, r
glides			y	h

The functional contrast for vowels appears to be between long {/i:/, /u:/, /A:/} and short {/E/, /O/, /a/}. Therefore, it seems possible to represent the phonology as {/i:/, /u:/, /a:/} and {/i/, /u/, /a/}. Also note that /tS/ and /dZ/ are affricates, not stops.

Persian syntax

Normal sentences are structured: (S) (PP) (O) V

If the object is definite, then the order is (S) (O + "rA:") (PP) V

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Persian language."

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Persian Wars

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The Persian Wars were a series of conflicts between the Greek world and the Persian Empire that started about 500 BC and lasted until 448 BC.

At the end of the 6th century BC, Darius ruled over an immense realm. But the conquest of Asia Minor left the Ionian Greeks under Persian rule, while the other Greeks were free, a state of affairs that was going to cause trouble sooner or later.

In 499 BC, instigated by Aristagoras in Miletus, the Ionian Revolt broke out; Ionian cities threw out the "tyrants" that the Persians had set over them, formed a league, and applied for help from the other Greeks. Athens sent twenty ships and Eretria five, and the fleet helped spread rebellion all along the coast. In 498 the Greeks captured and burnt Sardis, thereby requiring a Persian response in the form of an invasion. The Greek fleet was crushed at the Battle of Lade in 494, and the Ionian cities sacked, although they were permitted to have democratic governments afterwards.

In 492, Mardonius overran Thrace and Macedonia, followed in 490 by the punitive expediation of Datis and Artaphernes. The islands of the Cyclades surrendered, Eretria was captured, and the expedition landed in Attica near Marathon. Phidippides got the message for help to Sparta in record time, but in the end the Athenians and Plataeans alone defeated the Persians in the battle of Marathon.

In 480, Darius' successor Xerxes I mounted a massive expedition, consisting of perhaps 100,000 soldiers and 1,000 ships. A preliminary diplomatic offensive secured the surrender of Thessaly, Delphi, Argos, and much of central Greece. Opposed to Xerxes was a Greek league led by Athens and Sparta, and a fleet hastily built by Themistocles. Attempts to hold back the Persians, at Thermopylae and Artemisium, both failed. Athens was evacuated, and the Greek fleet withdrew to Salamis. While the Peloponnesians proposed a defensive line at the Isthmus of Corinth, Themistocles instead engaged the Persian fleet at the Battle of Salamis, destroying most of their ships. Xerxes and his fleet retired to Asia, leaving Mardonius winter over in Thessaly with the army.

The following spring (479), Mardonius twice offered Athens a separate peace, but was rebuffed. Maneuvers in Boeotia, particularly cavalry harassment of the 38,000 Athenian and Peloponnesian hoplites, ended with the Battle of Plataea; Mardonius was killed, and his army routed. The remnants of the Persian army left Greece. Also in this year a Greek fleet commanded by the Spartan king Leotychides destroyed the remaining Persian fleet in the battle of Mycale.

Encouraged by Xerxes' failures, the Greeks of Asias and the islands revolted again. In 478, a fleet under Pausanias captured Byzantium and started a rebellion in Cyprus. At this point the Peloponnesians withdrew from involvement (apparently due to various disputes), but Athens carried on, forming the Delian League. The records become scanty, but Cimon destroyed a Persian army and fleet around 467. About 459 Athens sent 200 ships in support of a revolt in Egypt, although after driving the Persians up the Nile, the fleet was lost in a counterattack at Memphis ca. 454. Another expedition in 450 failed to revive the Egyptian rebellion, and Cyprus was abandoned.

Around 449/448, with the support of Pericles, Callias negotiated the Peace of Callias with the Persians. While the exact nature of the agreement remains unclear (formal treaty or non-aggression pact), the result was independence for the Greeks of Asia, Persian rule for Cyprus, and the closure of the Aegean to Persian warships.

The Persians never really renounced their ambitions, and continued to meddle in Greek affairs in a sort of "cold war"; seducing cities with diplomacy and/or buying them off with gold, and employing Greek mercenaries (most famously Xenophon), until Alexander put an end to the Persian empire. For the Greeks, the Persian Wars engendered a consciousness of Greek unity, but the reality was short-lived, and a mere twenty years later the Greek world was torn apart by the Peloponnesian War.

References

• Herodotus, The Histories (the primary source)
• Thucydides i. 93-112
• Diodorus Siculus
• Plutarch, Themistocles, Aristides, Cimon
• Peter Green, The Greco-Persian Wars (University of California Press, 1998) ISBN 0520203135
• A. R. Burn, Persia and the Greeks (1962)
• G. B. Grundy, The Great Persian War (1901)
• C. Hignett, Xerxes' Invasion of Greece (1963)

External link

• Dr. J's Illustrated Persian Wars

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Persian Wars."

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Sassanid dynasty

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The Sassanid dynasty (also Sassanian) was the name given to the kings of Persia during the era of the second Persian Empire, from 224 CE until 651, when the last Sassanid shah, Yazdegerd III, lost a 14-year struggle to drive out the Islamic Saracens.

The Sassanid era began in earnest in 228, when the Shah Ardashir I destroyed the Parthian Empire which had held sway over the region for centuries. He and his successors created a vast empire which included those lands of the old Achaemenid Persian empire east of the Euphrates River. It was their long sought-after goal to reunify all of the old empire, and this brought them into frequent wars against the Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire.

Shah Khosrau II (Kasrâ in Persian) fleetingly achieved this goal in a series of wars against the Byzantine Empire between 602 and 616, conquering Egypt, Syria and Palestine. However, the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius turned the tide with a daring invasion of Persia itself. In 628, Khosrau was deposed with Heraclius' army at the gates of the capital of Ctesiphon. In the peace that followed, the Sassanids retreated to their traditional frontiers.

The long war exhausted both sides, and the Sassanids were soon destroyed by the rise of Islam.

Sassanid rulers

• Ardashir I from 224 to 241.
• Shapur I from 241 to 272
• Hormizd I from 272 to 273.
• Bahram I from 273 to 276.
• Bahram II from 276 to 293.
• Bahram III year 293.
• Narseh from 293 to 302.
• Hormizd II from 302 to 310.
• Shapur II from 310 to 379
• Ardashir II from 379 to 383.
• Shapur III from 383 to 388.
• Bahram IV from 388 to 399.
• Yazdegerd I from 399 to 420.
• Bahram V from 420 to 438.
• Yazdegerd II from 438 to 457.
• Hormizd III from 457 to 459.
• Peroz I from 457 to 484.
• Balash from 484 to 488.
• Kavadh I from 488 to 531.
  • Djamasp from 496 to 498.
• Khosrau I from 531 to 579.
• Hormizd IV from 579 to 590.
• Khosrau II from 590 to 628.
  • Bahram VI from 590 to 591.
  • Bistam from 591 to 592.
  • Hormizd V year 593.
• Kavadh II year 628.
• Ardashir III from 628 to 630.
  • Peroz II year 629.
• Shahrbaraz year 630.
• Boran and others from 630 to 631.
• Hormizd VI (or V) from 631 to 632.
• Yazdegerd III from 632 to 651.

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Sassanid dynasty."

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Modern Usage: Persian

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Commercial Usage: Persian

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Image Slideshow: Persian

Photos: Persian More pictures...

Illustrations: Persian More pictures...

Computer Images: Persian More pictures...

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Photo Album: Persian

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Persian Gulf. Credit: NASA.		A Combat Videographer with the 1st Combat Camera Squadron, Charleston Air Force Base, S.C., documents aircraft operations in the Persian Gulf Region Oct. 19. She is part of the coalition force here to support Operation Southern Watch, a military effort to.
	13. Avicenna - the "Persian Galen" (About 980-1037 A.D.) / Robert A. Thom. Credit: National Library of Medicine.		Transiting the Suez Canal, en route to the Persian Gulf to support Operation "Desert Shield", 8 August 1990. Photographed by PH3 Frank A. Marquart. Note ferry crossing, with waiting vehicles, in the center background. Credit: NAVY.
	Erivan--Armenian refugees under arch of old Persian mosque. Credit: Library of Congress.		President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Army and Navy, reviews officers of the Persian Gulf Command at Camp Amirabad. Credit: Library of Congress.
	Indian riflemen take over Iranian refinery, Iran. A detachment of Indian riflemen march into the world's largest oil refinery on island of Aradian, at the head of the Persian Gulf, after the short, brief battle with the Iranian forces defending it / Acme. Credit: Library of Congress.		Persian theatre in the Oriental Village, Cal. Midwinter Fair, 1894. Credit: Library of Congress.
	Somewhere in the Persian corridor. A United States Army truck convoy carrying supplies for Russia. Credit: Library of Congress.		Desert storm/shield--Service in the Persian Gulf / W.E. Duke. Credit: Library of Congress.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

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Familiar Quotations: Persian

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Use in Literature: Persian

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Non-Fiction Usage: Persian

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Speeches: Persian

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Usage Frequency: Persian

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Derived & Related Names: Persian

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Expressions: Persian

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Persian

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Modern Translation: Persian

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Ancestral Language Translations: Persian

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Bible Trace: Persian

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Matched Bible Translations: Persian

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Misspellings: Persian

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Anagrams: Persian

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