Darius as Pharaoh of Egypt offering lettuces to the Egyptian deity Amun-Ra Kamutef, Temple of Hibis at the Temple of Hibis
As the new Persian King, Darius spent much of his time quelling rebellions throughout his empire. Sometime in late 522 BC or early 521 BC, a local Egyptian prince led a rebellion and declared himself Pharaoh Petubastis III. The main cause of this rebellion is uncertain, but the Ancient Greek military historian Polyaenus states that it was oppressive taxation imposed by the satrap Aryandes. Polyaenus further writes that Darius himself marched to Egypt, arriving during a period of mourning for the death of the sacred Herald of Ptah bull. Darius made a proclamation that he would award a sum of one hundred talents to the man who could produce the next Herald, impressing the Egyptians with his piety such that they flocked en masse to his side, ending the rebellion .
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Elamite man, Persepolis
Elamites (2 figures with arrow quivers) bas-relief from the palace of Ashurbanipal illustrating the Assyrian campaign against the kingdom of Elam (645 BC).
Detail, Persian Archers (or Elamite? scholars not sure) Persepolis
Relief of Persian Guard. Persepolis, Iran. Achaemenid Period, reign of Xerxes, 486–480 Proto-Elamite civilization grew up east of the Tigris and Euphrates river valley, it was a combination of the lowlands and the immediate highland areas to the north and east. At least three proto-Elamite states merged to form Elam: Anshan (modern Fars), Awan (probably modern Luristan), and Shimashki (modern Kerman). References to Awan are generally older than those to Anshan, and some scholars suggest that both states encompassed the same territory, in different eras. The Elamites were likely major rivals of neighboring Sumer from remotest antiquity; they were said to have been defeated by Enmebaragesi of Kish (ca. 25th century BC), who is the earliest archaeologically attested Sumerian king, as well as by a later monarch, Eannatum I of Lagash.
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Bakhtiaris
Bakhtiaris group live in the central and southern part of Zagros Mountain. They are Shia Muslims, and speak Luri which is very close to Farsi. There are two dialects of Luri. Lur Buzurg which is spoken by Bakhtiari, Kuhgiluyeh and Mamasani tribes, and Lur Kuchik, which is spoken by Lurs who lives in Lorestan.
The ancients were sure the Kushites had founded the Elamite civilization. According to Strabo, the Roman geographer the first Elamite colony of Susa, was founded by Tithonus, a King of Kush, and father of Memnon. Strabo in Book 15,chapter 3,728, wrote that "In fact, it is claimed that Susa was founded by Tithonus Memnon's father, and that his citadel bore the name Memnonium. The Susians are also called Cissians; and Aeschylus, calls Memnon's mother Cissia. Elam The most important Kushite colony in Iran was Elam. The Elamites like other Africans practiced the custom of matrilineal descent.
The history of Elam is usually divided into three periods the Kings of Awan, Kings of Simashki and the Sukkalmah period. For over 300 years the Elamite Kings of Awan ruled Elam, and much of Mesopotamia.Much of this period is unknown. During the 3rd Millennium B.C., the Elamites and Su people (a term used for mountain people in the Western Zagros) sacked Ur. The King of the Dynasty of Simaskhi, led to Elamite rule in Sumer. The first king of the Simashki Dynasty was Girnamme.
In Sumer, the Elamites contributed nuch to Sumerian civilization. The Elamite Kings of Sumer were called the Kings of Kish.
After a Sumerian King of Kish pushed the Elamites out of Mesopotamia, Elam went into a period of chaos until around 2500 B.C., when King Peli became the ruler of Elam. After Peli, there were six other Elamite Kings until Elam was conquered by Sargon of Akkad.
Before the Sukkalmah period (c.1900-1500 B.C.) much of what we know about Elam comes from the Akkadian sources. This period is called the Sukkalmah period, because the rulers of Elam were called Sukkalmah ‘grand regent”. The Elamite title for king ws sunkir.
During the Sukkahmah Dynasty there was a tripartite system of rule. The Susa text indicate that there was a senior ruler called sukkalmah ‘grand regent’ of Elam and Shimashki, he was usually the brother of the sukkahmah, and a junior co-regent, entitled sukkal of Susa. This nephew was usually from the maternal side of the King’s family. Thus the sukkal of Susa was often called the ruhusak ‘sister’s son’
The first rulers of the Sukkamah period was Eabarat (=Eparti). He was followed by the ruhusak Addahushu, the “sukkal and magustrate of the people of Susa”. He is known mostly for his building of several temples and the erection of his “justic stele” outlining the laws of Elam .
The Elamites/Old Persians were probably descendants of the Mande people. This is obvious in the language and names of the Elamite Kings. I hope you remember the book Roots, the main character Kunte Kinte. His name is interesting because we have the following ruler during the Sukkalmah Dynasty: Kutur-Nahhunte I (c. 1752) who conquered southern Babylonia The name Kutur Nahhunte, would correspond to a popular Mande name Kunte among the Mande speaking people. The Elamite name Peli, is also popular among the Mande, in the form of Pe, this name was also common among the Olmec people of ancient Mexico.
It should also be noted that the Mande term for people is Si, this corresponds to the word Su, used to designate the mountain people of Elam. The Elamite term Su would correspond to the Mande termSi-u (the /u/ is the plural suffix in the Mande language).
By the 2nd Millennium B.C., a new more aggressive dynasty appeared in Elam. The Kings of this Dynasty called themselves ‘divine messenger, father and king’ of Susa and Anzan. One of the rulers of this Dynasty was Shutruk-Nahhunte. Shutruk-Nahhunte, like Kutur invaded Mesopotamia and took Babylon around 1160B.C.
After Kutur took Babylon, the Elamites ruled Babylon until Hammurabi defeated the Elamite King Rin-Sin. Later the Elamites were driven from Larsa and other Sumerian cities back to the Susiana plains.
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-------------------- C. A. Winters Posts: 13012 | From: Chicago | Registered: Jan 2006
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I like this guy he did a stand up job as Doctorie in Spartacus Blood on the sands..but for real though there was quite a substantial Black presence among the Persians both Asiatic and African.
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The language of the Medes, like Elamite is genetically related to the Manding languages. In addition the term Mandaga agrees with the title of the Manding tribes: for example, Manda agrees with Mande, the name of major group of Africans, who along with the Dravidians settled many parts of Asia.
Further confirmation of the Mande origin of the Medes is haplogroup E3b. It is interesting to note that E3b is found in this area. The Manding speakers carry the E3b haplogroup.
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William Leo Hansberry gives a great discussion of the evidence of African Kushites ruling in Asia and Africa. Some ancient scholars noted that the first rulers of Elam were of Kushite ( Kerma ? ) origin. According to Strabo, the first Elamite colony at Susa was founded by Tithnus, a King of Kush. Strabo in Book 15, Chapter 3728 wrote that in fact it is claimed that Susa was founded by Tithonus Memnon's father, and his citadel bore the name Memnonium. The Susians are also called Cissians. Aeschylus, calls Memnon's mother Cissia.
Here is King Xerxes and other Persian Brothers .
William Leo Hansberry, African History Notebook, (1981) Volume 2 noted that:
In Persia the old Negroid element seems indeed to have been sufficiently powerful to maintain the overlord of the land. For the Negritic strain is clearly evident in statuary depicting members of the royal family ruling in the second millenium B.C.
Hundreds of years later, when Xerxes invaded Greece, the type was well represented in the Persian army. In the remote mountain regions bordering on Persia and Baluchistan, there is to be found at the present time a Negroid element which bears a remarkable resemblance to the type represented on the ancient mounments. Hence the Negritic or Ethiopian type has proved persistent in this area, and in ancient times it seems to have constituted numerically and socially an important factor in the population" (p.52) .
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Happy Nowruz. I guess this is a good enough thread as any since I would like to discuss the Elamite influence on later Persians, culturally or genetically.
It's known that during the Assyrian Empire there were records of various Iranic peoples settling the Iranian Plateau and by the late 8th to early 7th century BC, according to Babylonian and Greek sources, the Medes of northern and northwest Iran were the first to expand from their province of Media (capital Ecbatana) and unite the various ethne and tribes into an empire which the Persians later inherited.
Median Empire
^ Note that the Persians themselves settled in the southern region of the plateau where the major Elamite areas were. In fact the Persian took over the state of Anshan, whereas Susa became a vassal state but retained some autonomy.
According to the Persian chronicles repeated by Greeks, Cyrus the Great who was son of the Persian king Cambyses, inherited the Median Empire from his maternal grandfather Astyages since his mother Queen Mandane was Astyages' daughter. In fact there is debate as to whether Cyrus was the same figure as 'Darius the Mede' in the bible.
Thus was born the first Persian Empire also called Medo-Persian Empire.
Achaemenid satrapies (provinces)
But the fact remains that the indigenous Elamites played a very significant role in Persian society and its empire.
Elam in the Achaemenid Empire Summary The emergence of the Persians as a major power in western Iran must have been aided by the sustained Assyrian assault on Elam in the seventh century BC. But it is important to stress that, notwithstanding the severity of Assyrian aggression against Elam, the Elamites were neither annihilated nor reduced to a state of utter insignificance. Although historians and archaeologists long ignored the role of Elam and the Elamite population in the emergence of the better known Achaemenid Persian empire (539–331 BC), this has changed in recent years. The very facts that Cyrus the Great established his capital in the heartland of what had been Anshan (Potts 2011a), that Elamite was the language of the earliest Achaemenid inscriptions and the language of the thousands of administrative texts found at Darius’ city of Persepolis, that a number of Elamite rulers tried to rebel against Persian authority and that Elamite deities continued to be worshipped in the Persian-controlled cities point to the continuation of an Elamite tradition in southwestern Iran long after Cyrus came to power (for overviews of southwestern Iran in the Achaemenid period see e.g. Henkelman 2012a and Boucharlat 2013). Nor was Susa, an important city throughout all earlier periods of Elamite history, neglected by the Achaemenids (see Briant 2010 for an overview), and it is from Susa that much of the archaeological evidence of the period comes (Ghirshman 1954b; Perrot 1981, 1985, 2010, 2013). The survival of Neo-Elamite iconography on cylinder seals used in the Achaemenid period is another phenomenon which attests to the survival and transformation of Elamite identity in the Persian period, as does the use of military equipment specifically designated ‘Elamite’ or ‘Susian’ at this time. In the late Achaemenid period, at the time of Alexander the Great's conquest of the Persian empire, we see that the highlands of southwestern Iran were inhabited by a tribal group known as the Uxians, who may well mask the Elamites by another name. ---Full paper here
There are some scholars that go as far as speculating that the Achaemenid Persian elites may very well themselves have Elamite ancestry.
https://www.the-persians.co.uk/elam.htm Anshan The Iranians who had been infiltrating the Anshan region since the end of the 2nd millennium had by this time (7th century BC) assimilated with the Elamites and established an identity as Persians - Teispes and his successors were Persian kings of Anshan, part of the land of Elam. So inter-connected were the two peoples by now, that it's rather pointless trying to separate them. The Elamite culture persisted, and the language continued to be written and used for administration throughout the Persian empire. The oldest text on the Bisitun inscription of Darius is in Elamite. Cyrus' own name is Elamite - and it's been suggested that the Persian empire should properly be called the Elamite empire!Posts: 26498 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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quote:BrandonP posted elsewhere: Interesting finds. It makes me wonder about Harappan and other indigenous Indian influences on Hinduism as well, since it would have been a parallel situation with the Indo-"Aryans" settling in South Asia.
The difference though is that not only is the Indo-Aryan religion of Hinduism still thriving in India but even pre-Aryan (Dravidian and others) still persist as well as their religious practices. In Iran however, the Zoroastrian religion while still surviving, does so only in certain pockets of the country, while the Elamite language and religion is totally extinct. Therefore, to find out exactly what influences the Elamites had on the Persians is understandably more difficult to do though not impossible. As I understand it, there are scholars especially in Iran who doing this.
quote:Originally posted by Djehuti:
https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1591/ten-ancient-elam-facts-you-need-to-know/ Preservation & Influence on Culture Through their interactions with Sumer, Elam absorbed – and then preserved – some of the Sumerians' most vital cultural aspects. Beginning in the Old Elamite Period, Elamite artisans began incorporating Sumerian motifs and techniques into their own work. Some of the best-known deities of the Sumerian pantheon were preserved by the Elamites and possibly aspects of their rituals, though this is speculative. The Elamites' own religious beliefs, deities, and rituals seem to have influenced the Early Iranian Religion of the region prior to the rise of Zoroastrianism which, of course, adopted a number of the early rituals to its own use. The concept of sacred spaces on high ground was an aspect of both the Early Iranian Religion and Zoroastrianism as were deities who personified cosmic or natural powers. In Zoroastrianism, these deities became aspects of the one god Ahura Mazda but, in the earlier polytheistic religion of the Iranians, they seem to have shared much in common with the Elamite deities as well as those of the Indus Valley. When Elam was absorbed into the Achaemenid Empire, their culture was adapted to Persian needs and values which would continue to develop from c. 550 BCE through 651 CE when the Persian Sassanian Empire fell to the Muslim Arabs. Afterwards, the Elamite-Persian culture would eventually be valued by the conquerors and disseminated throughout the Near East.
The Role of Elamite Gods in the Formation of the Divine Triad A survey and analysis of the ancient Iranian religion calls for a profound familiarity with the Elamite religion and its gods. Elamite beliefs played an important role in forming the Iranian religion between the 4th millennium BC and the advent of the Indo-Iranians on the Iranian plateau. In this paper, we examine the Elamite religious background and the major gods and goddesses that were worshipped in Elam. The central motif of the serpent in Elamite rites is also discussed. Pinikir, the goddess of heaven, corresponds to the Babylonian Ishtar. She was later replaced by the mother goddess Kiririsha. Humban and Hutran were worshipped in the 2nd millennium BC and Inshushinak, great god of Susiana, formed a divine triad with these two deities. This triad bears remarkable similarity to the Iranian godly triad of Hormazd-Mithra-Anahita, recorded in Later Avesta and Achaemenid inscriptions. The character of Inshushinak undoubtedly helped shape the Iranian figure of Mithra. Other Elamite religious influences include Kidenn or the divine Aura, which influenced the formation of the Iranian Xvarənah
Because of the Persian king's tolerance, Elamite and Babylonian gods received rations for offerings, too. However, they were venerated only by the Elamites. Therefore they were found mainly in the Elymais and in some isolated places in the Persian heartland. (We should bear in mind that Elamites lived all over the country.) The old Elamite god Khumban, who was responsible for the atmosphere and for storms, appeared side by side, or with the same amount of offerings, with the Babylonian weather-god Adad. In several places they were worshiped together. On some tablets it is stated that the offerings are destined "for the gods." In one case "the gods" are described as Khumban and Adad. Therefore one can perhaps assume that the scribes always thought of these two when they wrote "for the gods" in an Elamite context. Outside of the Elymaen region, Khumban was worshiped in some places in the Elamite-Persian border region, where he was the only Elamite god receiving sacrifices. He also was associated with just one village in the district southeast of Persepolis. In another place in the same district, the sole appearance of Adad outside of the Elymais is attested. Together with him is mentioned a god Napazapa, who is otherwise unknown but whose name sounds Elamite. Napirisha, the "Great God," rival of Khumban, was venerated in three places in the Elymais and in four places in the district southwest of Persepolis, which must have been an enclave of his worshipers. A number of other Elamite gods, who cannot be identified, also appeared in a handful of places. Some of them seem to have been responsible for abundance of water and fertility.
Of the highest importance for the Elamites in Achaemenid times must have been the special sacrifice called kusukum, in which rams were slaughtered. It may have had its origin in the old Elamite gusum, which was celebrated for the "Lady of the High City." As we have learned above, the most important element of this festival, too, was the sacrifice of rams. Yet here, we find a decisive difference. As a general rule, the Achaemenid administration never dispensed animals for offering purposes, only grain or flour, wine or beer, or fruits. However, the slaughter of the rams was obviously very important for the Elamites in celebrating their kusukum. Therefore in all known cases where victims were needed, the Elamite priests saved the grain that they had received from the state and bought rams with it. This practice clearly shows that the sacrifice of animals was not intended by the administration.
Outside the Elamites the kusukum is mentioned only once, and there the priest received nothing but wine.
None of this is surprising considering that the Persian heartland is located in what was once the Elamite country of Anshan next to Susiana.
The author shows that Elamite deities like Humban, Naparisha, and others were incorporated into the Achaemenid pantheon which was the predecessor to Zoroastrianism.
Here's an interesting webpage on the five major holy sites of Zorastrianism:
Zoroastrianism is an Organized Religion (+20% Moral Authority) in a Religion Group (Mazdan) of its own. Has five Holy Sites, all located in the de jure Persian Empire:
Dashtestan: Location of The Great Fire of Ādur Farnbāg (Glory-given). Revered by the priestly estate and the first among the three great fires.
Kurdistan: Location of The Great Fire of Ādur Gushnasp (Stallion). Revered by the warrior estate, to which the kings themselves belonged.
Nishapur: Location of The Great Fire of Ādur Burzēn-Mihr (Exalted is Mihr). Revered by the farmers and the last among the three great fires.
Jabal Qufs: Location of Lake Hāmūn, which is said to be the keeper of Zoroaster's seed. In Zoroastrian eschatology, when the final renovation of the world is near, maidens will enter the lake and then give birth to the Saoshyants.
Balkh: Zoroaster, after converting Shah Vishtasp of Bactria, settled permanently in Balkh and made it the centre of his religion.
From what I understand, the webpage is a wiki to a video game about religious wars but the information is still accurate. According to Zoroastrianism these five holy sites were known as the Three Great Hearths and the Two Great Waters. Dashtestan is southern Persis on the Gulf coast. Kurdistan is in modern northeast Iraq and what remains of Media with the Kurds being the descendants of the Medians. Nishapur is in northern Iran and was the capital of the satrap of Parthia. Jabal Qufs where Lake Hamuna is located corresponds with the western part of the satrap of Gedrosia which is modern Baluchistan, while Balkh is the capital of Bactria. What the source fails to mention is that Zarathustra received the first of his revelations in northern Balkh on the bank of the sacred river Yakshu (Oxus) which is why the area is referred to as a 'Great Water'. According to Zororastrian lore there was a third Great Water being the holy river Harauhvati which is said to have vanished or rather returned to Heaven and corresponds with the Hindu Saraswati.
But for the purpose of this thread I am very much interested in the Great Hearth of Farnbaga which may very well have connections to Elamites.
Also not all aspects of Elamite religion accepted as holy especially to later Zoroastrianism whose epics and lore describe heroes struggling against demonic beings who were tyrannical rulers. Perhaps the most famous of which was the demon king Dahak/Zahak who had a serpent growing from each shoulder and was the archfoe of the hero Feyredun. There is now evidence suggesting that Dahak was an Elamite deity.
Interestingly in later Zoroastrianism, women holding snakes in both hands was an overt sign of witchcraft and possible indentity of a witch.
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And here is good paper on the development of Zoroastrianism in Iran rebutting another scholar that the Achaemenids were in fact Zoroastrians: Mazdian CosmologyPosts: 26498 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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