Magic and fire worship
The empire was self-sufficient not
only in timber but also in metals, particularly copper, iron and silver. Large
quantities of stone, quarried in the mountains of Elam (north of the Persian
Gulf), provided the material to build the royal capitals. Shipwrights
constructed Persian vessels of up to 200 tons that could sail up to 80 nautical
miles a day. These plied up and down the Nile, Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The
Achaemenian kings developed Persia’s ports and regulated shipping. Captains had
to carry ships’ documents, and sailors were given ranks that corresponded with
their skill.
Persia rose to political supremacy
before it developed its own distinctive art. At first the Persians borrowed and
skilfully adapted the arts of other peoples particularly the Babylonians and
Greeks. Later, in Persepolis and other royal cities, they developed a Persian
style of architecture — sculpture favouring particularly the use of columns.
They painted this stonework in bright colours. The Persians borrowed the
cuneiform (wedge-shaped) writing of the Babylonians and improved it for their
own use. This particular writing (which did not survive the Achaemenian
dynasty) is recorded in a historically important document carved on the
inaccessible Rock of Behistun (near present-day Kermanshah). This document
shows Darius standing before defeated rebel chiefs and traitors. Ahura-Mazda,
god of the Achaemenian family, dominates the scene.
The Persian religion in Darius’ time
was a complex amalgamation of Babylonian and Aryan beliefs, together with
earlier, local cults. The Magi (from whom the word magic comes) were a sect of
priests who practised magic rites and ceremonies. They were probably Median
rather than Persian in origin, and became important for a while when Gaumata
usurped the throne of Cambyses. They declined in influence under the
Achaemenian kings whose own god, Ahura-Mazda, is quoted and portrayed in
practically every document and sculpture that has survived the Achaemenian
period. As Darius was king of kings, so the winged Ahura-Mazda was gods of
gods, and was worshipped as ‘protector of the just king’.
Up the great Staircase to the Audience Hall of Darius I troop for ever tribute bearers bringing animals and gold - though now the palace is ruined and weeds grow on the stairs. |
Towards the end of his reign, Darius
was increasingly preoccupied with campaigns against the Greeks. After his death
in 486 BC his successors became embroiled in wars with Greece for more than 150
years. Alexander of Macedon finally defeated Darius III, the last Achaemenian
king, in 330 BC. Darius III was killed by one of his own generals, the
Achaemenians disappeared from history, and the Persian domains became part of
Alexander’s empire. A year before the final defeat, Alexander committed an act
of vandalism uncharacteristic of him. Having taken Persepolis, he destroyed its
magnificent palaces by fire. Only. the stones endured to remind future
generations of the glory of the Achaemenians the kings of kings.
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