Who Are the Persian – Part III

Ardishir Rashidi Kalhur | Exclusive to iKurd.net

If Hollywood could somehow produce a film reenacting the written and oral history of the world in vivid detail, it would not simply be over four hours long like the Epic movie Cleopatra, it would be well over five thousand years long! We would all most certainly pass away in the grand theater of history, consuming silos sized buckets of popcorn before the end was even neared. Unlike the movies though, history has no rewind button or replay button, after-all, “real history is irreversible, and does not repeat itself” and “you can not step in the same river twice”.

Events of the past do inspire generations to make countless sequels or even to make new history similar to our historical events. Pressed into generational memories, particular bygone episodes leave explicit impressions on our individual and collective consciousnesses, forming the foundation of our cultural, racial and ideological group identities. Once such an identity is cast and rigidly formed in our consciousness, they often become difficult to rid ourselves of.

Only deep thinkers and savants, who take the time and energy to consider and develop an unbiased knowledge of history can develop an identity that goes against the norm, and maybe this is a truer version of our identity. Through rigorous self-examination of one’s own fixed-identity, with an eye toward creating a more adaptable-identity, it is possible to change and transform ourselves to the point where we can say with ease, ‘I no longer am who I thought I was!’. Some may call this a ‘search for truth’ and makes one to be a ‘Truth Seeker’ who will one day reach a point of ‘self-doubt’ in life and therefore not undertake this worthy goal.

The good news is that it is beyond this point of self-doubt where glimpses of truth and a higher universal and spiritual identity begins. One may call this transition of identity from fixed to adaptable, from base to sublime, to be on a ‘spiritual journey beyond the roots’. The ‘Roots ’in this case being the ‘3R’s of identity, namely our lifelong personal claims to earthly possessions, our ‘Resources’, ‘Race’, and ‘Religion’. Regardless in what parts of the world one lives, from the past to present, all our wars and conflicts and collective identity strife has always revolved around the axis of these “3R”s encompassing economic, ethnic, and ideologic differences between the different groups of people around the world.

A good example is today’s Ukraine. Ukrainians think of themselves as having a distinct set of ‘3R ’values and identity separate from that of the Russians, whereas, the Russians most decidedly think otherwise. Therefore, the war in Ukraine is squarely rooted in one or even all of the ‘3R’s.

Another good example is found in the case of Azerbaijan, where for all practical and political purposes the Azeris have lost and even forgotten their true original cultural identity as Azeri speaking people being subsumed and assimilated into a Turkish speaking people. This change of identity was not the result of natural adaptation or a natural affinity of the Azeris toward the Turkish culture, but was a direct result of repeated Turkic invasions and assaults on Azerbaijan over the course of a thousand years. Throughout the centuries the savage Turkic policies of Turkification enacted through fear, force, genocide and linguistic assimilation have persisted and these policies unfortunately worked in Azerbaijan, and continues today against the Kurdish population in Kurdistan.

These policies have caused the Azeris to mistakenly consider themselves to be a part of the pan-Turkic countries of central Asia (1). However, historically, the Azeris are not of Turkic origin but ethnically related to the Kurdish and Iranian peoples. The most lamentable fact is that most of the Turkified Azeris in Iran, are oblivious to their own history and are now being put in a “Mandingo fight” against the Persians and the Kurds in Iran. This conflict has been carefully plotted by Turkey to promote their language in order to eventually become an official language within the borders of Iran.

It is important to emphasize that the writing this article is not to rewrite history or alter the accounts of events of the past, but to serve as a stark reminder of these unfortunate events so we may prevent their reoccurrence in our present-day situation.

Consequently, on the subject of identity, this article is Part III of “Who Are the Persians”?

In Part I and II, of “Who Are the Persians” it was mentioned that in the official accounting of the previous regime under the Shah, in 1971, the 2500th anniversary of the foundation of the “Persian” empire was celebrated (2). As of this writing, it was approximately over 2552 years ago that King Cyrus (550-530 BC) the grandson of the last king of the Medes killed his own grandfather Astyages taking over the already established empire of the Medes created under King Kaiser (Kay-Khoy-Sara= Cyaxares) and he, Cyrus, was the appointed (not anointed!) head of the “Guards=Parsian”. In the annals of history, this was the beginning of the Persian empire which was imperiously celebrated in 1971 by the Shah regime.

As it was explained in Part I & II, the word “Persian” is a plural form of the singular word “Pars”. The etymology of the word “Pars” comes from the Kurdish word “Parstin”, one who guards and protects something. It was a job title given to those who were assigned to protect the border of the Kingdom of Medes against the powerful Scythian tribes located east of their kingdom. The number of the guards (Persian), under Cyrus, was estimated to be as high as 10,000.

These paid and uniformed soldiers became to be known as the eternal guards or ‘guard-e-Javidan ’were hired by the Kings of the Medes from the subjugated local tribe of Haxamanishyan, known as the Achaemenids, and who were inhabiting the south-central part of the Mede’s kingdom.

The etymology of “Haxamanish” comes from the Kurdish word “Ha-Khoy-Manish”, which means subdued and obedient (one who has been put in his place of belonging), and is an antonym of “Ha- Khoy-Sara” literally meaning the ‘Self-Ruled-Head ’or Khoy-Sara=-Kaysar=Kaiser, the name given to the third King of the Medes Cyaxares.

The story of the 10,000 immortal guards is one of key interest which will be referred to during the time of Alexander the Great’s capturing of Pasargadae or Parsgadae (military base of the appointed guards), and Persepolis some 50 miles southwest of Pasargadae in the Fars province of Iran. It is interesting that to this very date Pasargadae is located in a district called Kord-e-shul or Kord-e-shun, which means the place of Kurds. It is also the original site of the Haxamanish tribe. The place is found near the UNESCO World Heritage site where the alleged tomb of Cyrus the Great is located.

After Cyrus’s death, the reign of his two sons Cambyses II (530-522 BC), and his younger son Bardiya, did not last long. Cyrus’s son-in-law Darius (reigned 522-486 BC) usurped power from the house of Cyrus.

Darius was a soldier among the Persian (border guards) who was married to Atoosa, the daughter of Cyrus and from a different lineage than Cambyses I, the father of Cyrus who was among the Achaemenid tribe.

Darius was a brash, and vindictive young soldier with an unproven claim of a royal lineage, since as a member of Achaemenids, they were a subjugated people with no history of being an independent state or having their own house of royalty. He rose to kingship through a coup, assuming control of the 10,000 guards in Pasargade. With his first military campaign he aimed to invade Media’s capital Ecbatana (modern day Hamadan), and also Kermanshah located in present day Western Iran near Hamadan. This coup was the result of two major contributing factors, namely, a) Cambyses II, the elder son of Cyrus who at the time was away on a military campaign in Egypt and then died on his return back to Iran, and

b) in the absence, and the death of Cambyses II, Cyrus second son Bardiya assumed power, but according to various historical sources he too, was killed, either by Darius, or at the orders of his own brother Cambyses II to prevent him from becoming the King in his absence. Most likely, this was done by the order of Darius, who was known among the Medes to be an envious cheater vying to assume power at any cost. The other group who opposed Darius were the cast of the Magians of the Medes who found themselves leaderless with their King’s death. The Magi started revolts in Kermanshah along with Ecbatana, which was the capitol of the Kingdom of the Medes, located in Western Iran. The Magian revolt was headed by a Magi named Gaumata in an effort to reinstall the control of Medes over Iran and the Parsian who by now were under the leadership of Darius.

Darius first political priority was to purge the guards of any remnant of loyalty to the House of Cyrus, including Bardyia. Furthermore, Darius harbored a deep retaliatory vengeance against the Magi, the priestly cast of the Medes, and their temples. This resentment of the Zoroastrian Magi was due to the fact that the Haxamanishian (Achaemenids), did not have a religion of their own. The Haxamanishian (Achaemenids) had been under the spiritual auspices of the Magi. It was from this very influence he wanted to free the Achaemenids from. His main fear of the Magian priests was that they would mobilize the Western tribes of Kurds who by now had culturally absorbed the Medes, to restore the legitimate house of the Medes back to power. The descendants of the Magi and their followers are known today as the Yaresan (The Truth Worshipers) mostly inhabiting the Kermanshah region in Eastern Kurdistan Rojhelat).

The image below shows Darius ’relief on mount Bestun in Kermanshah with his soldier’s boot on the head of magus Gaumata. In the same inscription he gives himself a royal lineage which no historian has ever proven to be true. In addition to falsification of his lineage, and after destroying the original Magian/Zoroastrian Temples built in the Zagros Mountains, he built farcical Zoroastrian temples in the Achaemenids region appointing his equivalent to the Magi priests known as “Zoroastrian Mobads”.

After his destruction of the Magian Temples, there remained no possibility of the Medes regaining their political and military power over their last kingdom. Resistance to Persian rule over Media (Modern day Greater Kurdistan) continues to this day by Peshmergas, the professional Kurdish resistance fighters. From Kermanshah onward Darius put down another rebellion in Lydia which had been brought under the Mede Kaiser’s rule and later under Cyrus the great’s rule. Soon afterward Darius had reached the edge of the Aegean see where he came to confront the Greeks. This instigated the Greco-Persian wars that lasted between 499-449 BC. More about this period will be written in Part IV of “Who Are the Persians”

The etymology of the name Darius (Dari-Eush) is subject to various interpretations including that his name relates to the Dari language spoken by the Achaemenids and the Persian, the guards. Therefore, in Western Iran, among the Kurdish speaking people, he may have been known as Dari-Uesh (Dari- Speaker). Another and more plausible interpretation of his name can be found, from him acquiring a a Zoroastrian Magi title of “Drujin=Kurdish word for the “Sayer of Falsehood”), also known as “De-Ru- Eush” or De-Ru-Eush Yekim, or Darius I, the first liar king of Persia or the two-faced king of the Parsian and the Achaemenids”. He earned this name by exaggerating his royal lineage on mount Bistun, being generally known as a cheater and a swindler. His prior background as a common soldier among the Persian guards was known to both the Magian and to the Mede’s nobility before he had risen to power. Thus, knowing that he had fabricated a big elaborate lie on his mount Bestun inscription regarding the non-existent royal background, hence, the Mede’s gave him the name De-Ru-Eush, the two-faced liar.

Before Part III is concluded, it is important to summarize the following:

1. There is no records of the Persians being a member of a nation or a race, except that they were local hires form the subjugated tribe of the Achaemenids.

2. Among the Medes, beside the major religion of Zoroastrianism and cast of the Magians, other religions such as Judaism, Mithraism, Yazdanism (see article “Understanding the Yazidis of Kurdistan) were in practice.

3. Another neighboring power, Babylon, had a belief system of their own which was the belief in a god named Marduk. The Assyrians had their god Ishtar.

4. Among all these Abrahamic faiths, Judaism especially which was the oldest and it logically follows the most prevailing belief system. This reality of Judaic faith, was very much to the envy of the Babylonians who mistreated the Jews as the result of their faith in Yahweh, and not in Marduk.

5. The Greeks had their own belief system of pantheism.

6. The Romans too, had their own polytheistic pagan religion believing in gods and goddesses.

7. The Persian guards, and their Achaemenids tribe are not known of have had a regimented government or an organized religion of their own except that they were under the governance and belief system of the Medes and the Zoroastrian faith ruling from Kermanshah in modern day Kurdistan.

The above reality was one which Darius found himself face to face, and compelled him to be even more envious toward all the above peoples and cultures who did in fact have a history of civilization, art, culture, music, architect, literature, diplomacy, good morals, and just governance.

In the authoritative tome, The Story of Civilization, Our Oriental Heritage vol. 1, by Will and Ariel Durant, the writers relate the following:

“To the Persians, The Medes gave:

Their language, their alphabet of 36 characters, the replacement of clay with parchment and pen as writing material, the extensive use of columns in architecture, their moral code of consciousness in times of peace and war, their Zoroastrian religion of Ahura-Mazda and Ahriman, and their body of Law.

One can add, astrology of the Magi, celebration of NuRoj, (Newruz), reverence for colors, cultivation of the land, their culinary arts, poetry and music systems, and celebration of “Women, Life, Freedom”, which is the hallmark of the Kurdish culture demonstrated in today’s Greater Kurdistan.

Part IV to be continued…

Ref:

1-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_the_Azerbaijanis#…..
2- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2,500-year_celebration…
3- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardiya
4- https://www.britannica.com/event/Greco-Persian-Wars/The-Ionian-Revolt-499-493-bce

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.

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