Who Are the Persian

This entry is part 4 of 6 in the series Who Are the Persian

Ardishir Rashidi-Kalhur | Exclusive to iKurd.net

The purpose of this article is to alleviate the confusion preventing a clear understanding of the word Iran and who Iranians are, and the word Persia and who the Persians are.

The latter term, “Persian”, is often used incorrectly by some Iranians living outside of Iran and has become a perpetual source of disagreement, creating a political rift between the Persian and the rest of the Iranian peoples.

References to Medes and Persian are found in many places in antiquity. The work of ancient Greek Historians Herodotus, and Xenophon both of whom lived during the reign of the Persian from c. 550 B.C. to 331 B.C. The Books of Bible, including Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther refer to two distinct groups of ancient peoples in the Kurdish region of modern Iran, namely the Medes and the Persians.

The presence of the Medes in the Iranian plateau dates back to about 3700 years ago, while the presence of the Persian dates back to about 2045 years ago. In 1971, the Shah of Iran celebrated 2500 years of the “Persian Empire” with such pomposity that he drew world’s laughter at the sheer silliness of the event; he was toppled just few short years later by the Islamic revolution of Iran in 1979.

Although the Iranian revolution of 1979 was wholly religious in nature, it did not totally eliminate within its ranks the elements of Persian nationalism. Using the previously built up military power by the Shah, the new Persian Conservatives (Persian Newcons) expected the new regime to resurrect the “Persian Empire” using the miracle of Islam, something that Shah had failed to achieve in the region. Shortly after the revolution, out of the combination of religious and nationalistic fervor was born the SepahPars-Daran (Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the IRGC, or the Islamic Guardian of the Persians).

They were empowered in the image of the “Eternal Guards” of Persepolis, who also during the ceremony celebrating 2500 years, were dressed up in the uniforms of ancient guards. The choice of the name “Sepahe-Pars (with silent “r”, Paas-daran), which means “Protectorates of the Persian” was a naked disregards for the rights of other religious and national minorities who make up over 60% of the Iranian people who are not “Persian”

Why, if such a distinguished history of 2500 years of imperial rule in Iran really existed, was the regime so quickly toppled by Islamic revolutionaries lead by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979?

The real truth is that the Persians never really created an Empire!. Rather, they were usurpers of a previously established Empire created by the Medes centuries before. A simple concept to be grasped is that the Persians have never held continuous political power in Iran. In fact, the rule of the Persians over Iran had ended in 331 BC in the battle of Gaugamela near Arbil Kurdistan.

Gaugamela is a Kurdish word that means the “Bulls Neck” and refers to on one hand, Alexander of Macedonia, and on the other hand to Darius III of the Achaemenide tribe, from whom the Persians are descended according to the Greek Historians.

To know who the Persians are, we need to ask who the Medes are, and we should also ask then who the Achaemenides were. The Medes, from whose name the word “Ma-Da” or Mother originates, rose to power in Kurdistan in the Roj-Halat near modern day Hama-Daan, which is near the Kurdish city of Kermanshah as the ancient capital city of The Medes.

Diako or Deioces, was the first King of the Medes chosen by the village city-state of his time to administer justice within the realm (the word Diocese has since entered our modern day judicial and religious language). He accepted people from all the surrounding areas, all were welcomed and encouraged to visit, settle disputes, and ask for justice.

Diako’s son was Far-Ver-Tish, (Fare-Var-Tishk), whose name carries the meaning “The Much Enlightened”. During Far-Ver-Tish rule (665-633 B.C.), an invading tribe known as the Scythians came to the east of the Kingdom. To prevent the Scythians from frequent incursions into their Kingdom, The King employed the help of the Achaemenides, a previously subdued tribe whose name in modern day Kurdish language means: Ha-Khoy-Manish or as pronounced in Persian “Hakhamanish” and means settled, subdued and obedient. Hakhamanishes, (Achaemenides), were the local village dwellers who were employed by King Far-Var-Tish to defend his Kingdom against the Scythians.

To do so, he built a military base called Pasar-Gadae which in Kurdish language, “Pasar” means parapet, a ledge of a building to use for look-out, and Gadae (Gaah, or Jaah,=place), together means a military base to lookout for enemies. The Medes hired the local villagers to attend the Base as Pars (Guard), whose duty was Parastin (Protection). The word Pars is the singular for Parsian or as known today as the Persian. In reality the word Persian is a job title and not a progenitor of a race or a nation.

After establishing PasarGadae, and appointing the Parsian to their duties, it was time for Far-Var-Tish, to pass on the responsibilities of the Kingdom to his son Cyaxares [(also known as Kyaxares, Kay-Khoy-Sar, Kay-Kusrow, Ghaisar, Kayser, Keyser) Caesar and Kaiser are the well known variations of this name.

Under Kay-Khoy-Saror (The Self-Ruled-Head-King), the Kaiser, the kingdom of Medes expanded to encompass an Empire from Central Anatolia in the West to the Indus Valley to the East. During his reign, practices of all previous known religions were free. The cast of the Magi and the Zoroastrians, who are the forebears of the Yazidies in present day Kurdistan, represented the official religion of the Kaiser Empire.

When the time came for Kaiser to pass on the control of his Empire to his son Astyagus, the Persians were showing their discontent with the Sonless King who only had two daughters named Mandane and Amytis. In order to gain their loyalties, Astyagus gave in marriage his elder daughter Mandane to the chief of the Parsian in Pasargade, Cambyses I of the Achaemenide tribe.

The offspring of this marriage was Cyrus who Persians revere and consider to be the founder of the “Persian Empire”. Side note: the king’s younger daughter Amytis was given in a marriage to Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. Missing the beautiful landscape of her homeland in Kurdistan, Nebuchadnezzar, ordered the construction of the famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon, in order to console his new Queen.

King Astyagus was bitterly aware of the negative publicity that the Persians had orchestrated against him; they had spread rumors that the King had two serpents growing on his shoulders to which he fed daily the brains of children! Learning of the Persian ploy and negative publicity, the king went on to

PasarGadae, where he put to death Cambyses I for his treasonous propaganda against his kingdom. He then appointed his own grandson Cyrus to be defender of the kingdom against all enemies until such time he could take helm of succession of the Kingdom. This appointment of Cyrus was made despite the king having had a prophetic dream where he dreamt that he would have a grandson who would bring dark-fortune to his Kingdom who was named Kurre-Rash (in Kurdish Kurre-Rash means the dark-fortuneson/boy).

The king had a clear and present opportunity to destroy his grandson Cyrus for being an accomplice to his father’s treasonous act, but instead he was pardoned by the king to carry on his duty as a chief Pars at PasarGadae. Unsure of Cyrus’s trustworthiness, the king and his army headed back toward Kurdistan. Cyrus and the rest of the Parsians decided to bypassed the king’s army and ambushed them as they were passing through a deep and narrow pass in the Zagros Mountains.

The Parsians gathered together on the ridge above the pass and mercilessly stoned the king’s army. The king was killed. Astyagus died and his army dispersed into the surrounding mountains. Today’s Peshmerga (Those Who Face Death as Loyal Patriots of the Mada-Land), are the last remaining remnants of king Astyagus’ army who, over the centuries have put up of an unforgiving fight against the false pretense of the Persians representing the Iranians.

At the present time the Persians political parties who have remained loyal to the legacy of Cyrus the minor Prince of the Medes, and his glorification by the late Shah, do not accept the rule of the Islamic conquest over the Iranian people. They are the wishful thinkers that as a result of possible conflict between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran, the may have a chance to return to power.

The Kurdish political parties from Iran on other hand do not accept either ones, the current or the former regimes to be legitimate to rule Iran. The Kurdish opposition parties are the only hope for bringing radical change and true Democracy to the country without the breakup of the country.

It is in Kurdistan that the origin of cultural and spiritual identity of the Iranian people is rooted and has a chance of real revival for all the nationalities in Iran. Otherwise, if the future affair of Iran with or without a war is left to various Persian groups, Iran will break up and the boundaries of the great “Persian Empire” will be reduced to a small province in Southern Iran to be known as Farsistan.

Ardishir Rashidi-Kalhur, the President of Kurdish American Education Society, Los Angeles, U.S.

The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of iKurd.net or its editors.